May 8, 2024

her, one of my biggest fears is religion. Not religion in general, but the way it can be used against you. It can be twisted and deformed into only an echo of what it truly is. 

Simply put, I am terrified of religious cults.

April 17th, 1989, Kirtland Ohio: The Avery family, including Dennis (49), Cheryl (42), Trina (15), Rebecca (13) and Karen (7), were executed. In that exact order, oldest to youngest, they were lured away and shot two to three times each with a .45 caliber pistol. The reason? They were the “sacrifices” to witness God—at least, that’s what the other 12 cult members were told. But why did they believe this?

The Temple was founded in 1836 by Joseph Smith, and it later became the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (RLDS) in Kirtland, Ohio. It was the first temple built by Smith’s adherents. In 1986, Jeffrey Lundgren (born in Independence, Missouri on May 3rd, 1950) went there with one idea in mind. His wife, Alice, his four children and the first few members of his cult came along with him. 

Jeffrey became a volunteer tour guide, somehow managing to gather a small group of members disgruntled due to the church’s “liberal” changes. Jeffrey and his followers were excommunicated after rebelling against RLDS, leading them to meet at the Lundgrens’ home for “Bible study sessions” of their own. Jeffrey started telling his followers that on May 3rd, they, the cult, would witness the “second coming of Christ” at the Temple. He told them they would seize the temple and cleanse it, getting rid of anyone who stood in their way. 

But then something changed.

It is speculated that Jeffrey was angered by the Averys, perhaps because they were the only ones who lived separately from the Lundgrens or because they would not pool all their money together with the rest of the cult (saving some to fund themselves as a family). Whatever the reason, Jeffrey saw the Averys’ behavior as a sin. And because they had sinned, he saw it as his right to punish them.

Jeffrey convinced the other cult members that they needed to kill the Avery family so that they would be able to gaze upon God, as well as to get rid of them for their “disloyalty.” On April 17, 1989, the Averys were lured out and shot, one by one. The next day, police officers coincidentally visited the Lundgren farm. Paranoid, Jeffrey moved to West Virginia. Nine months later, the police discovered the Avery family’s remains in the abandoned farm.

Jeffrey Lundgren was arrested on January 7, 1990, and twelve other cult members were taken into custody soon after. Their sentencings went as follows:

• Jeffrey Lundgren: death by lethal injection

• Alice Lundgren: 5 life sentences (150 years)

• Damon Lundgren (their eldest son): 120 years to life

• Ronald Luff: 170 years to life

• Daniel Kraft: 50 years to life

• Richard Brand and Greg Winship: 15 years/served 20; released 2010/early 2011

• Sharon Bluntschly, Debbie Olivarez and Susan Luff: 7 to 25; served 20; released 2010/early 2011

• Tonya Patrick, Dennis Patrick and Kathryn Johnson: only convicted of obstruction of justice, received one-year sentences.

October 24, 2006: Jeffrey Lundgren was executed by lethal injection at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville. His body was not claimed and remains buried in the prison cemetery. 

There’s even more to this story, and I recommend looking into it yourself. I wasn’t able to include some details due to them being too graphic and unsettling for a high school audience, but if you are fascinated by true crime, the case is worth investigating on your own.  

Either way, religious cults are deeply unnerving. They need to be studied and monitored carefully, in case there are other Jeffrey Lundgrens out there, waiting to deceive and kill.