Jeffrey Lundgren

Jeffrey Lundgren , also called Jeffrey Don Lundgren , (born May 3, 1950 in Missouri , † October 24, 2006 in Lucasville , Ohio ) was an American sect leader and self-proclaimed prophet , who in 1989 together with his wife Alice Keehler committed a five-fold murder planned and perpetrated by sect members.

Life

Lundgren was born in Missouri and raised in the Reorganized Church of Latter-day Saints , the second largest Mormon denomination . He was raised in a strictly religious manner, but was also sexually abused by his father . After graduating from high school, he enrolled at Central Missouri State University , where he met his future wife Keeler, who was also abused in her childhood, in the student residence specially set up for young Mormons. They married in 1970 and he was drafted into the US Navy . Between 1970 and 1980 the couple had four children. In 1974, Lundgren's request for an honorable discharge was granted at the second attempt. As a result, they ran into financial difficulties. Domestic violence allegations against his wife were brought forward in court but not proven. They lived in San Diego , and Lundgren was in 1981 as a lay pastor appointed (lay minister), a religious official of his church. In 1987 he and his family moved to the spiritual hub of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ LDS in Kirtland , Ohio, where the Kirtland Temple , the first temple in the Mormon tradition, stands. In the same year he was dismissed from the Church for personal misconduct as a lay chaplain. He was charged with stealing $ 40,000. By his own account he had lost at that time his confidence in the Church because his liberal views, in particular the recently previously decided ordination of women , the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ LDS, as opposed to stricter largest Mormon denomination Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not seemed justifiable.

sect

However, he stayed in the temple in Kirtland and gave spiritual speeches for temple visitors there. In his speeches he used the stylistic device of chiasmus for his religious teaching for his strongly pronounced dichotomous worldview. Life is a mirror and all good has its evil counterpart. He soon declared its Community of Christ ( Community of Christ ) for split. Several followers moved with him to a spacious farm. In numerous religious exercises he taught his followers to free themselves from evil thoughts and forbade "rumors", hence the separate conversation. He had secretly overheard and observed several sect members and pretended to read their minds. His personal interpretation of the Bible comes from divine revelations, his followers believed and dared not argue. After he named himself "the last prophet", some followers gave him all their savings in anticipation of the imminent return of Christ . His followers also included the Avery family of five, who lived close to but not directly on the property and also had a separate bank account. That's why Lundgren called them "sinners" with his remaining maximum of 20 and at least 12 followers.

The fact

In April 1989 the sect leader gave end-time speeches: On his birthday, May 3, 1989, which he had declared the day of the second coming of Christ, the sect was to storm the Mormon temple of Kirtland to await Christ there. Whoever stood in their way should be slain. But the temple was well attended and the small crowd of the Community of Christ seemed unable to cope with the crowd. The cult leader changed his mind and ordered the murder of the Avery family for their sins. He called this "pruning the olive tree" according to chapter 5 of the Book of Jacob , part of the Book of Mormon :

“ 4 And it came to pass that the master of the vineyard went and saw that his olive tree was beginning to rot; and he said, I will circumcise it, and hack it up all around, and nourish it, so that it may sprout young and tender branches , and that it may not perish. 5 And it came to pass that he circumcised him and chopped up all around him, and nourished him according to his word. "

On April 17, 1989, first the family man Avery and then the rest of the family members were overwhelmed, tied up and shot by several sect members. The children were 7, 13 and 15 years old. They were then hurriedly buried in previously dug graves. The bloody acts initially went unnoticed. The next day the police drove up because of a minor matter, but they did not suspect anything. Lundgren ordered immediate relocation to West Virginia pending prosecution . When, contrary to his prophecy, Christ did not return, he separated completely from his sect and hid in California . After an anonymous tip-off, the abandoned farm was searched in January 1990 and the traces of the crime were discovered along with corpses. The FBI searched for the now separated cult members with massive support from the media and was able to arrest Lundgren, his wife and eleven other people. Lundgren and his wife were accused of criminal conspiracy by disappointed former supporters.

Judgments

The criminal trials began between March and August 1990. The remaining defendants testified against the Lundgren family, pleaded guilty of complicity, and received various time sentences through an arrangement with the prosecution. Jeffrey Lundgren received the death penalty in an Ohio criminal court and his wife Alice and son Damon, who denied guilt, were each given life imprisonment . Lundgren made no statements about the crime, nor did he name exonerating witnesses. He gave his three-hour pleading himself, extolling his prophetic gift without referring to the crime. At the convict's request, a judge postponed the execution because of unreasonable cruelty , as his obesity would reduce the blood flow to the injection of poison and would face an agonizing agony. However, the Ohio State Supreme Court ruled the execution lawful, and the Parole Board and Governor signed the death warrant, which was carried out on October 24, 2006. His wife previously divorced him.

swell

• Pete Earley, "Prophet of death: the Mormon blood-atonement killings," 1991
• DESTRUCTIVE MORMON SPLINTER GROUP, LED BY JEFFREY LUNDGREN
• Ohio executes cult leader Jeffrey Lundgren for killing family of five
• Lundgren cult profile
• Clark County Prosecutor