JUST IN: Jeffrey Lundgren Executed | Cult Massacre of Entire Family | Last Meal + Final Word

JUST IN: Jeffrey Lundgren Executed | Cult Massacre of Entire Family | Last Meal + Final Word

On October 24th, 2006, after spending 17 years on death row, Jeffrey Don Lundren was executed by lethal injection at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. He was 56 years old. In this video, we will talk about what happened, his last words, and his last meal. But to uncover the events of that fateful night and why Jeffree ended up being executed, we have to go back to a spring evening in April 1989 and a dinner invitation that would end in the massacre of an entire family.

 April 17th, 1989, a quiet Monday evening in Kirtland, Ohio. Jeffrey Don Lundren, a 39-year-old self-proclaimed prophet of God, stood in his rented farmhouse preparing for what he called a sacrifice. Inside the home at 8671 Chardan Road, his followers moved quietly, setting the table, preparing dinner, following orders.

About 20 people lived with Lundren in that farmhouse. People who called him dad, people who had given him their paychecks, their savings, their free will. They believed Jeffrey Lundren spoke directly to God. They believed he was the last prophet, the successor to Joseph Smith, the man who would lead them to salvation.

What they didn’t know was that their prophet was planning to commit one of the most horrific crimes in Ohio history. That night, Jeffrey Lundren would execute an entire family one by one in a barn behind his house while the rest of his followers unknowingly cleaned up after dinner. Five people would die. a husband, a wife, three daughters, and it would all be done in the name of God.

 To understand how Jeffrey Lundren became a cult leader and mass murderer, we have to go back to his childhood in Independence, Missouri. Jeffrey was born on May 3rd, 1950 and raised in the reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known as the RLDS church. Today, that church is called the Community of Christ, but back then it was a small offshoot of the mainstream Mormon church.

Jeffrey’s childhood was marked by severe abuse. His father, Don Lundren, was a strict disciplinarian who beat Jeffrey regularly. Neighbors later confirmed they witnessed the abuse. Jeffrey’s mother, Lois, never defended him, never stepped in to protect her son. By the time Jeffrey reached middle school and high school, he was a loner.

 He had few friends, struggled socially, but excelled at one thing, hunting. Jeffrey became an expert marksman, spending hours with his father, learning how to handle guns, how to shoot with precision, how to kill. In 1970, Jeffrey met Alice Keeler at an RLDS youth house. Alice had also been abused as a child. The two damaged young people bonded over their shared trauma.

 Alice became pregnant and both dropped out of college. They married in the spring of 1970 and Jeffrey’s parents refused to attend the wedding. Jeffrey enlisted in the United States Navy that same year and served as an electronics technician from 1970 to 1974. He received an honorable discharge in July 1974 and he and Alice settled in San Diego, California.

 They had four children together. Damon Paul, born in December 1970, Jason Dawn, a daughter born in 1979, and another son, born in 1980. But Jeffrey struggled. He couldn’t hold down a job. Economic problems forced the family to move back to Missouri. And according to hospital records, Jeffree became abusive toward Alice. She was hospitalized with a ruptured spleen, an injury that may have been caused when Jeffree pushed her into a closet door handle.

Jeffree stole from nearly every employer he worked for. He was dishonest, manipulative, and increasingly obsessed with religion. By 1981, Jeffrey had become disillusioned with the RLDS church. The church was becoming more progressive, allowing women to be ordained as ministers. Jeffrey hated this.

 He saw it as a betrayal of true scripture. So, he started his own splinter group in Missouri, teaching his own interpretations of the Bible. In 1984, Jeffrey claimed God told him to move to Kirtland, Ohio. Kirtland was significant to the RLDS church because it was home to the historic Kirtland Temple built by Joseph Smith himself in the 1830s.

Jeffrey saw this as a sign. He moved his family to Kirtland and got an unpaid position as the senior temple guide living in a church-owned home right next to the temple. Jeffrey was a charismatic speaker. He had an IQ of 124, above average, and he knew the Bible inside and out.

 He began teaching something he called kayastic interpretation, a method of reading scripture that involved looking for mirror images and patterns in the text. Jeffrey claimed he had invented this method, though in reality kayasmus had been used for centuries. He told his followers that everything God created is a mirror image, that scripture must be interpreted the same way.

 He even pointed to the word Ohio, claiming it was kayastic because it reads the same backward and forward. Followers were mesmerized. Jeffrey seemed to have knowledge no one else had. He seemed to understand the Bible in ways their ministers never could. People began gathering around him, listening to his teachings, following his guidance.

 But Jeffrey wasn’t just teaching the Bible. He was building a cult. He forbade his followers from talking amongst themselves, calling it murmuring and declaring it a sin. He eavesdropped on conversations, making his followers believe he could read their minds. He demanded all of their money, claiming it was needed for the group.

 He selected certain women to become his plural wives, telling them it was God’s will. He made women dance naked in the wilderness to cleanse themselves. He dominated every Bible study session, intimidating anyone who dared question him. By 1987, the RLDS church had had enough. Jeffrey was dismissed as a lay minister after church officials suspected he had stolen donations, about $40,000 that had been given to him and were supposed to go to the temple.

 The church evicted Jeffrey and his family from their home and the Lundrrens moved to a rented farmhouse on Chardan Road in rural Kirtland. About 20 followers moved with them, living in the farmhouse, turning over their paychecks, dedicating their lives to Jeffrey’s teachings. Among those followers were Dennis and Cheryl Avery and their three daughters.

Dennis Avery was 49 years old, a devout RLDS member from Independence, Missouri. He had heard about Jeffrey Lundren’s teachings and was captivated. Dennis believed Jeffrey was a true prophet of God. In April 1987, Dennis sold his house in Missouri and moved his entire family to Kirtland to follow Jeffrey.

 He gave Jeffrey the proceeds from the sale of his home, contributing tens of thousands of dollars to the group. Cheryl Avery, Dennis’s wife, was 46 years old. She was a devoted mother and wife, loyal to her husband’s beliefs. Their three daughters, Trina, Rebecca, and Karen, came along. The Avery family trusted Jeffrey Lundren completely.

 They had no idea he saw them as expendable. By 1988, Jeffrey’s teachings had taken a dark turn. He began preaching about the second coming of Christ, claiming it would occur at the Kirtland Temple on May 3rd, his birthday. He told his followers they needed to seize the temple by force, that they would have to kill anyone who stood in their way.

Jeffrey had his followers digging tunnels, stockpiling weapons, preparing for a violent takeover. But then an informant tipped off the Kirtland police. In May 1988, police chief Dennis Yarbro confronted Jeffrey at the police station, warning him that there had been complaints about gunfire on his property. Jeffrey went back to his followers and called off the temple takeover, claiming he had spoken to a higher power.

 But the police didn’t stop watching. In September 1988, a second informant came forward. Officer Ron and Doulsece began cultivating the informant and contacted the FBI and the ATF. The FBI initiated a domestic terrorism investigation. Jeffrey knew the authorities were closing in. He decided on a new plan. He told his followers that the second coming wouldn’t happen unless a sacrifice was made. A blood sacrifice.

 A family had to die to cleanse the group to bring about the prophecy to reach Zion. And Jeffrey knew exactly which family he wanted dead. The Avery family. Jeffrey Lundren hated Dennis Avery. He saw Dennis as weak, as disloyal, as a problem. The Averies were the only cult members who didn’t live in the farmhouse, which Jeffrey considered a sin.

 Dennis had set aside a small amount of money in a bank account for his family’s use instead of giving every cent to Jeffrey, another sin in Jeffrey’s eyes. Jeffrey began referring to the murders as pruning the vineyard, a reference to scripture. He told his followers that the Averies had to be sacrificed for the group to reach salvation. Prosecutors would later say that the real reason Jeffrey targeted the Averies was simple.

 He didn’t like them and he wanted to use their deaths to solidify the group’s commitment to him. On April 10th, 1989, Jeffrey ordered several of his male followers to dig a pit in the barn behind the farmhouse. The pit was 6 ft x 7 ft x 4 ft deep. When the followers asked why they were digging it, Jeffree told them it was for storage.

 But it wasn’t for storage. It was a grave. Over the next week, Jeffrey prepared his followers for what was about to happen. He told them they were going on a wilderness trip to see God. He instructed Cheryl Avery to write a letter to her family in Missouri, telling them the Averies had gotten a job in Wyoming and were moving there, and that they would provide contact information once they got settled.

 The letter was designed to make sure no one would come looking for the Averies after they disappeared. On April 17th, 1989, Jeffrey moved all of the Avery’s belongings from their residence into his farmhouse. He rented a motel room for the family, telling them they would stay there before the wilderness trip.

 Then that evening, Jeffrey hosted a farewell dinner at the farmhouse for all of his followers, including the Avery family. The Averies had no idea it would be their last meal. They sat at the table, ate, talked, prayed, completely unaware of what was about to happen. After dinner, Jeffrey called all of the men except Dennis Avery into his bedroom.

 He pulled a gun from his holster, held it up, and asked, “Are you with me?” Every man in that room pledged their support. The participants included Jeffrey Lundren, his 19-year-old son Damon, Ronald Luff, Daniel Craft, Richard Brand, and Greg Winship. Jeffrey told them the plan. They would lure the Avery family members one by one into the barn.

 They would bind them with duct tape. They would shoot them and they would bury them in the pit. A chainsaw had already been set up in the barn and would be left running to mask the sound of gunshots. The murder weapon was a 45 caliber semi-automatic handgun. And the killing was about to begin. Ronald Luff was sent to bring Dennis Avery to the barn.

 L approached Dennis and told him they needed help moving some camping equipment in the barn. Dennis, trusting and oblivious, followed L outside. When they reached the barn, the men were waiting. L tried to use a stun gun on Dennis, but it malfunctioned. The men tackled Dennis to the ground. They bound his hands, his feet, his mouth with duct tape.

 Dennis struggled, fought, tried to break free, but there were too many of them. They carried him to the pit, and forced him in. Dennis got to his knees in the dirt, looked up at Jeffrey Lundren, and screamed through the tape, “No, no, this isn’t necessary. Please, this isn’t necessary. God damn it.

 God damn it. God damn it.” Jeffrey Lundren raised the 45 caliber handgun and shot Dennis Avery twice in the back. Dennis’s body slumped forward into the dirt. Blood pulled around him. Jeffrey made each man look at the body, forcing them to witness what they had done, binding them to the crime. Damon Lundren, Jeffrey’s 19-year-old son, saw his father shoot Dennis Avery and broke down.

 He cried hysterically and refused to participate any further. Jeffrey allowed Damon to act as a lookout instead. Then they went back inside to get Cheryl. Ronald Luff returned to the farmhouse and told Cheryl Avery that her husband needed help in the barn. Cheryl followed him outside, unsuspecting, trusting. When she reached the barn, the men grabbed her.

 They gagged her and put duct tape over her eyes. Cheryl never saw the pit, never saw her husband’s body, never knew what was coming. Jeffrey Lungren shot her three times, twice in the chest, once in the abdomen. Cheryl Avery’s body was placed next to her husband’s in the pit. Then they went back for the daughters. Trina Avery was brought to the barn next.

 She was bound with duct tape and shot twice in the head. The first shot ricocheted off her skull, missing her brain. The second shot killed her instantly. Her body was thrown into the pit with her parents. Rebecca Avery was shot twice, once in the thigh and once in the back. She was left to die in the pit, bleeding out, surrounded by her family.

The last to die was the youngest daughter, Karen. Karen was told she was going to see horses. Ronald Luff gave her a piggyback ride to the barn. She was placed in the pit herself, sitting in the mud, noticeably frightened when the duct tape was wrapped around her mouth and eyes. Jeffrey Lundren stood over her, pointed the gun at her head, and pulled the trigger.

 He shot her twice, once in the head and once in the chest. Five members of the Avery family were dead. The bodies were covered with lime, soil, rocks, and garbage. The pit was sealed, and the entire time while the Avery family was being executed one by one in the barn, the remaining cult members were inside the farmhouse cleaning up after dinner.

 They had no idea five people had just been murdered a few yards away. The next morning, April 18th, 1989, Kirtland police and FBI agents arrived at the farmhouse. They were there to investigate complaints about cult activities and improper firearm use. They searched the barn, walking directly over the graves of the Avery family, but they had no knowledge of the murders.

 They asked the followers if they were being held against their will. Everyone said no. The authorities left, but Jeffrey panicked. He feared the police would return with search warrants. Immediately after the authorities left, Jeffrey ordered everyone to pack up. The entire cult fled to a remote campsite in West Virginia.

 For the next eight months, Jeffrey Lundren and his followers lived off the grid, moving from place to place, avoiding detection. The bodies of the Avery family remained buried in the barn, decomposing, forgotten. No one came looking for them. Cheryl’s letter to her family in Missouri had worked. Everyone thought the Averies had moved to Wyoming.

 But by the end of 1989, cracks were forming in Jeffrey’s cult. Larry Keith Johnson was a cult member who had become increasingly disillusioned with Jeffrey. Johnson was angry because his wife Catherine had been selected by Jeffrey to become his second wife as part of a polygamous arrangement. On December 31st, 1989, Johnson contacted ATF agents in Kansas City, Missouri, and told them everything.

He drew a map showing exactly where the bodies were buried in the barn at the Chardan Road farmhouse. On January 3rd, 1990, Kirtland Police Chief Dennis Yarro obtained a search warrant for the property. Investigators, including Kirtland Police, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI, and the ATF, descended on the farmhouse and began excavating the barn.

Assistant prosecutor Karen Cole would later say, “We waited hours and we dug in that barn and we hoped he was wrong and we prayed he was wrong and he wasn’t wrong.” On January 4th, 1990, all five bodies were discovered. Each was bound with duct tape. Each had been shot with a 45 caliber handgun.

 On January 10th, the coroner confirmed the identities. Dennis Avery, 49. Cheryl Avery, 46. Trina Avery, 15. Rebecca Avery, 13. Karen Avery, 7. An entire family wiped out by a self-proclaimed prophet in the name of God. Jeffrey Lundren, his wife Alice, and their son Damon were arrested on January 7th, 1990 at a motel between San Diego and the Mexican border.

 They had been arranging for Alice’s parents to pick up their three youngest children. Jeffrey had planned to flee to Mexico with Damon, Katherine Johnson, and Daniel Craft, but the arrests came too soon. Daniel Craft and Catherine Johnson were also arrested near San Diego. Eventually, 13 cult members were charged in connection with the murders.

Jeffrey’s trial began on August 13th, 1990 in Lake County Common Police Court. The evidence against him was overwhelming. Witness testimony from cult members who had participated in the murders. Forensic evidence linking Jeffrey to the crime scene. Testimony about his control over the group.

 His claims of divine authority. His plan to sacrifice the Avery family. The defense tried to argue that Jeffree suffered from a mixed personality disorder with narcissistic, paranoid, and antisocial traits. They claimed he genuinely believed he was following a deific decree, a command from God. But the prosecution painted a different picture.

 They described Jeffrey as a vulgar, debauched criminal who killed for control, not religion. On August 29th, 1990, the jury found Jeffrey Lundren guilty of five counts of aggravated murder and five counts of kidnapping. On September 20th, 1990, after deliberating for just 2 hours, the jury recommended the death penalty. Jeffrey Lundren was sentenced to death by electric chair, though the method would later be changed to lethal injection.

 Alice Lundren, Jeffrey’s wife, was not present during the murders. She had remained in the house while her husband executed the Avery family in the barn. Prosecutors initially wanted to offer Alice a plea deal 15 to 50 years with the possibility of parole after five, but the judge refused. On August 1st, 1990, Alice was convicted of five counts of conspiracy, complicity, and kidnapping.

 On August 29th, 1990, she was sentenced to 150 years to life. She will be eligible for parole in October 2092, long after she’s dead. Damon Lungren, Jeffrey’s son, who had been 19 years old at the time of the murders, was convicted on September 18th, 1990 of four counts of aggravated murder and four counts of kidnapping.

The jury acquitted him of Cheryl Avery’s murder because they believed he had been too hysterical after witnessing his father kill Dennis to have participated further. Damon was sentenced to 120 years to life. Ronald Luff, who had been instrumental in planning and executing the murders, received 170 years to life.

Daniel Craft received 50 years to life. Richard Brand and Greg Winship, who had participated, but to a lesser extent, both pleaded guilty and received 15 years to life. Richard Brand was parrolled on March 29th, 2010. After serving 21 years, Greg Winship was parrolled on December 28th, 2010. Several other cult members who had lesser roles received sentences ranging from 7 to 25 years.

 Susan Luff, Sharon Bluntley, and Deborah Oliver were all parrolled on December 28th, 2010. Katherine Johnson, who had been selected to be Jeffrey’s second wife and had not participated in the murders, received one year for obstruction of justice and was released in 1991 after serving 7 months. Jeffrey Lundren spent the next 17 years on death row at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown.

 He filed multiple appeals, all of which were rejected. He claimed the murders had been a misinterpretation of scripture that he had genuinely believed God commanded him to kill the Avery family. His attorney, Henry Hyo, claimed Jeffrey had changed, that he showed remorse. Prosecutors disagreed. They said Jeffrey Lundren had no remorse, that even after 17 years, he still believed he had done the right thing.

In September 2006, Jeffrey appeared before the Ohio Parole Board for a clemency hearing. Board member Kathleen Kovatch interviewed him for 1 hour and 40 minutes. Jeffrey shared details about his strict religious upbringing about how he had been taught that love equals judgment. The parole board unanimously denied clemency.

In October 2006, Jeffrey’s attorneys made a final attempt to delay his execution. They filed a lawsuit arguing that Ohio’s use of lethal injection constituted cruel and unusual punishment. They pointed to Jeffrey’s obesity, 275 lbs, and his diabetes, claiming these conditions made him more likely to experience pain during the execution.

 On October 17th, 2006, Judge Gregory Frost temporarily delayed the execution. But late Monday, October 23rd, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order allowing the execution to proceed. The United States Supreme Court refused a lastminute request to stop the execution. Governor Bob Taft denied clemency.

 Jeffrey Lundren would die on October 24th, 2006. October 24th, 2006, Jeffrey Lundren’s final day on Earth. The night before, on October 23rd, at 10:49 p.m., Jeffrey appeared to be sleeping when he got a call from the warden informing him that the stay of execution had been lifted. At 10:50 p.m., he called his wife, Alice. No answer.

 He tried her cell phone 2 minutes later and got through. They spoke for several minutes. At 11:04 p.m., his attorney called and they spoke briefly. At 11:05 p.m., Jeffree called Alice again. On the morning of October 24th, at 8:13 a.m., medical staff gave Jeffree medications for his high blood pressure and blood sugar, treatments for the obesity and diabetes he had hoped would save his life. At 8:23 a.m.

, while on the phone with Alice, Jeffree began to cry. The official time log noted that with 2 hours and 28 minutes left in his life, the 6’1, 275-lb man, who had spent 17 years on death row for murdering a family of five, broke down and cried. His last conversation with Alice ended 1 hour and 11 minutes before he would be pronounced dead.

 For his last meal, Jeffrey Lundren requested turkey, potatoes, and gravy, a salad, and pumpkin pie. Since he was being executed in the morning, he was also offered a cup of coffee, two cups of juice, two cups of milk, rice krispies, three pancakes, and three servings of syrup. Jeffrey declined the coffee and the syrup.

 He ate his final meal knowing that in just a few hours he would be dead. At 10 Davos Cake AM, Jeffrey was escorted from his holding cell to the execution chamber at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. It was 17 steps from the holding cell to the chamber. He walked slowly, his massive frame moving deliberately. Witnesses began gathering.

 Among them were Cheryl Avery’s brothers, Donald Bailey and Kent Klby. They had waited 17 years for this moment. Donald Bailey stood up and approached the window in the death chamber as Jeffrey was brought in. “I wanted him to know I was there,” he said later. Also among the witnesses was Steven Latterette, the prosecutor who had secured Jeffrey’s conviction and death sentence.

 Later had witnessed the excavation of the bodies in 1990. He had seen the Avery family pulled from that pit in the barn. He had spent years prosecuting this case. and now he was here to watch Jeffrey Lundren die. No one witnessed the execution on Jeffrey’s behalf. He did not acknowledge the presence of any of the witnesses. Jeffrey was strapped to a gurnie, his arms extended, IV lines inserted into his veins.

 Shunts for the injections had been placed in Jeffrey’s arms before he was brought into the execution chamber. Prison staff had trouble inserting shunts in a previous execution and did not want to repeat that mistake. At 10:17 a.m., the warden asked Jeffrey if he had any final words. Jeffrey turned his head slightly and spoke. For my last words, I’d like to profess my love for God, my family, my children, and my beloved wife.

 I am because you are. Those were the last words Jeffrey Lundren would ever speak. At 10:17 a.m., the warden gave a secret signal and the execution process began. Two syringes of thopental sodium, a sedative designed to render Jeffrey unconscious, were injected at 10:17 a.m. and 10:18 a.m. At 10:19 a.m., a full flush was administered to clear the IV lines.

 At 10:20 a.m. and 10:21 a.m., pancarium bromide, a paralytic that stops breathing, was injected. At 10:22 a.m., another full flush. At 10:23 a.m., the final syringe containing potassium chloride, the drug that stops the heart, was injected. Jeffrey did not move as the drugs were administered.

 His massive body lay still on the gurnie. His breathing slowed, then stopped. His heart ceased beating. At 10:25 a.m., the injection process was concluded. At [clears throat] 10:26 a.m., Jeffrey Don Lundren was pronounced dead. The warden announced the time of death at 10:27 a.m. The witness curtain was closed at 10:27 a.m. Jeffrey Lundren, the self-proclaimed prophet who had murdered an entire family in the name of God, was dead at the age of 56.

After the execution, Steven Laterret, the prosecutor, spoke to reporters. He said he didn’t take any pleasure in seeing Jeffrey die. I can’t get the scene of the murder out of my mind, he said. I had hoped there would be no children as the bodies were being unburied. Those of us who were in the barn remembered it was the parents first, then the children.

 For the community of Kirtland, Ohio, Jeffrey’s execution brought a sense of closure. Kirtland was a small town known for the historic Mormon temple, but the Lundgrren cult murders had overshadowed that history for 17 years. Fire Chief Rick Martinic said, “I think with him getting executed, it’s going to help the whole community.

 This will help put an end to it.” The farmhouse at 8671 Chardan Road, where Jeffrey had lived with his followers, where the Avery family had eaten their last meal, where five people had been executed in a barn, became infamous. A man named Jeff Howell moved into the farmhouse 6 years before Jeffrey’s execution.

 He told reporters, “I went down and laid in that grave to tell them I’m not afraid of them.” On November 13th, 2007, just over a year after Jeffrey’s execution, the barn was demolished. A new church, New Promise Church, now stands on the property. The church purchased the land for $350,000, hoping to bring something positive to a place marked by horror.

 Police Sergeant Ronald Andulsek, who had led the investigation into the cult killings, compared Jeffrey Lundren to other infamous cult leaders. He mentioned David Caresh who led the branch devidians and died in the Waco siege in 1993. He mentioned Jim Jones who orchestrated the Jonestown massacre in 1978 where over 900 people died.

 He mentioned Charles Manson who orchestrated the Tate Labianca murders in 1969. They used the same methods on their followers. And said Jeff wasn’t the first. Jeffrey Lundren was one of Ohio’s most notorious criminals. At the time of his execution, three other Ohio death row inmates had killed five people each. In 1975, James Rupert had gunned down 11 family members, but he was serving a life sentence because Ohio had no death penalty when he was convicted.

 Jeffrey’s execution was the fifth in Ohio in 2006 and the 24th since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1976. It was the 46th execution in the United States in 2006 and the 1000’s 50th since the death penalty was reinstated nationwide in 1976. The case of Jeffrey Lundren raises difficult questions that have no easy answers.

Can someone who genuinely believes they are following God’s command be held fully responsible for murder? Does religious delusion absolve someone of guilt? Should cult leaders who manipulate followers into committing murder receive the death penalty even if they claim divine authority? These are questions philosophers, theologians, and legal scholars continue to debate.

 What is clear is that the Avery family should still be alive. Dennis Avery, a devoted husband and father, should have watched his daughters grow up, get married, have children of their own. Cheryl Avery, a loving mother, should have been there for every milestone, every holiday, every moment. Trina, Rebecca, and Karen should have had the chance to live full lives, to experience love, joy, success, and all the things that were stolen from them.

 Instead, they were executed in a barn by a man who claimed to speak for God. Their bodies were thrown into a pit and covered with dirt. They were left there for 8 months while their killer fled to the wilderness. And when they were finally found, they had been dead for so long that identification required forensic analysis.

The Avery family was betrayed by someone they trusted completely, someone they had moved their entire lives to follow, someone they believed was a prophet. Jeffrey Lundren spent 17 years on death row. During that time, he claimed to have found remorse. His attorney said he had changed, but the prosecutors who knew him best disagreed.

 They said Jeffrey Lundren never truly understood what he had done. That even at the end he believed he had been following God’s will. Whether Jeffrey experienced genuine remorse or simply said what he thought people wanted to hear is something we will never know. What we do know is that on October 24th, 2006, justice was served. The families of the Avery victims, who had waited 17 years, finally saw the man who murdered their loved ones held accountable.

 Cheryl Avery’s brothers, who stood at the window of the execution chamber and watched Jeffrey die, said it brought them peace. The community of Kirtland, which had lived under the shadow of the cult murders for nearly two decades, said it brought them closure. And the barn where five innocent people were executed in the name of a twisted religious vision was torn down, replaced by a church that offers hope instead of horror.

 The case of Jeffrey Don Lungren is now closed. A self-proclaimed prophet who manipulated two dozen followers into believing he spoke for God. A cult leader who demanded absolute obedience and punished perceived disloyalty with death. a mass murderer who executed an entire family, including three daughters, in a barn while his followers cleaned up after dinner inside the house. 17 years on death row.

 Multiple appeals all denied. A final meal of turkey, potatoes, gravy, salad, and pumpkin pie. A final statement professing love for God and family. And finally, on a Tuesday morning in October 2006, a needle in the arm and a heart that stopped beating. Justice, such as it is, was served.