Post by gellibee on Nov 5, 2006 10:27:48 GMT -5
LUCASVILLE, Ohio - A religious cult leader was executed Tuesday for murdering a family of five followers who were taken one at a time to a barn, bound and shot to death. The youngest was a girl just 7 years old.
Jeffrey Lundgren, 56, did not think the family was enthusiastic enough about his teachings and referred to the killings during his trial as "pruning the vineyard."
"I profess my love for God, my family, for my children, for Kathy (his wife). I am because you are," Lundgren said in his final statement before he died by injection at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility.
Lundgren was convicted in the slayings of the Avery family — Dennis, 49, Cheryl, 41, Trina, 15, Rebecca, 13, and 7-year-old Karen.
In 1989, Lundgren arranged a dinner hosted by cult members. Afterward, he and his followers led the family members one by one — the father first, young Karen last — to their deaths while the others unknowingly cleaned up after dinner.
Lundgren shot each victim two or three times while a running chain saw muffled the sound of the gunfire.
Lundgren argued at his trial that he was prophet of God and therefore not deserving of the death penalty.
"It's not a figment of my imagination that I can in fact talk to God, that I can hear his voice," he had told the jurors. "I am a prophet of God. I am even more than a prophet."
Lundgren formed the cult with about 20 members in the northeast Ohio town of Kirtland after he was dismissed in 1987 as a lay minister of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, an offshoot of the Mormon church.
He said God commanded him, through interpretation of Scriptures, to kill the Avery family, who had moved from Missouri in 1987 to follow his teachings.
Before the slayings, Lundgren ensured that no one would look for the Averys by directing Cheryl Avery to write to relatives and inform them that the family was moving to Wyoming and would provide contact information when they got settled.
The case was cracked eight months later when a dissident cult member, upset that his wife had been selected to become Lundgren's second wife, tipped off authorities.
Thirteen cult members were charged in the case, including Alice Lundgren, 55, Jeffrey Lundgren's wife at the time of the killings, and their son, Damon, now 35. Both are serving life prison terms.
Jeffrey Lundgren, 56, did not think the family was enthusiastic enough about his teachings and referred to the killings during his trial as "pruning the vineyard."
"I profess my love for God, my family, for my children, for Kathy (his wife). I am because you are," Lundgren said in his final statement before he died by injection at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility.
Lundgren was convicted in the slayings of the Avery family — Dennis, 49, Cheryl, 41, Trina, 15, Rebecca, 13, and 7-year-old Karen.
In 1989, Lundgren arranged a dinner hosted by cult members. Afterward, he and his followers led the family members one by one — the father first, young Karen last — to their deaths while the others unknowingly cleaned up after dinner.
Lundgren shot each victim two or three times while a running chain saw muffled the sound of the gunfire.
Lundgren argued at his trial that he was prophet of God and therefore not deserving of the death penalty.
"It's not a figment of my imagination that I can in fact talk to God, that I can hear his voice," he had told the jurors. "I am a prophet of God. I am even more than a prophet."
Lundgren formed the cult with about 20 members in the northeast Ohio town of Kirtland after he was dismissed in 1987 as a lay minister of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, an offshoot of the Mormon church.
He said God commanded him, through interpretation of Scriptures, to kill the Avery family, who had moved from Missouri in 1987 to follow his teachings.
Before the slayings, Lundgren ensured that no one would look for the Averys by directing Cheryl Avery to write to relatives and inform them that the family was moving to Wyoming and would provide contact information when they got settled.
The case was cracked eight months later when a dissident cult member, upset that his wife had been selected to become Lundgren's second wife, tipped off authorities.
Thirteen cult members were charged in the case, including Alice Lundgren, 55, Jeffrey Lundgren's wife at the time of the killings, and their son, Damon, now 35. Both are serving life prison terms.