Jeffrey Don Lundgren (May 3, 1950 – October 24, 2006) was an American self-proclaimed prophet, cult leader, and mass murderer who, on April 17, 1989, killed a family of five in Kirtland, Ohio. Lundgren led a Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints movement-based cult and interpreted scripture using an unconventional version of chiasmus, which involved searching a text for recurring patterns.

In 1989 Lundgren and several of his followers murdered the Avery family, fellow members of his cult, for which he was convicted and sentenced to death. He was executed in 2006.

Background

Jeffrey Lundgren was born on May 3, 1950, in Independence, Missouri, and grew up as a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church, now known as the Community of Christ). According to Lundgren, as well as some of his former neighbors, he was severely abused as a child, particularly by his father. Lundgren was, by most accounts, a loner when he was in middle and high school. He became an expert hunter when he began to spend time with his father as a teenager, becoming knowledgeable in the use and maintenance of firearms.

Lundgren enrolled at Central Missouri State University The foundation of Lundgren's claim was that in everything created by God, the right side is a mirror image and, therefore, scripture had to be interpreted using that same method. Lundgren cited the Kirtland Temple as an example because the right side was a mirror image of the left side. To apply this concept to scripture, one takes a sentence from scripture; if the sentences before and after are consistent, the center sentence is the "truth"; when the sentences before and after conflict, the center sentence is a lie. These teachings of scriptural interpretations by Lundgren attracted followers. He claimed that he moved to Ohio because the word <small>"OHIO"</small> is "chiastic". Lundgren was asked to leave the Kirtland house around 1987, and his job as tour guide was terminated due to suspicions of theft.

Lundgren and his family moved to a rented farmhouse located at 8671 Chardon Road on U.S. Route 6, east of Ohio State Route 306. At that time, some followers started to move into his new home. Among these followers were Kevin Currie, Richard Brand, Greg Winship, Sharon Bluntschly, Daniel Kraft, and Debbie Olivarez. Ronald and Susan Luff, Dennis and Tonya Patrick, and Dennis and Cheryl Avery maintained their own residences. Some of his followers had known Lundgren in Missouri, while others were drawn to Lundgren at the Kirtland Temple. While Lundgren was living at the farmhouse, he began to practice methods which were consistent with Robert Lifton's criteria for mind control. For example, cult members were forbidden to talk amongst themselves; doing so was a sin, called "murmuring". Lundgren would eavesdrop on cult members to cause them to believe that he could read their minds.

On April 23, 1988, a neighbor told Kirtland police officer Ron Andolsek that she suspected that a cult was living at the farmhouse, and that Lundgren's son warned the neighbor's children that the earth would open up and demons would emerge on May 15. On April 28, 1988, a former cult member, referred by the FBI, contacted Kirtland Police and reported a conspiracy by the cult to take over the Kirtland Temple. Kirtland's police chief, Dennis T. Yarborough, did not believe the informant's information and, on May 2, 1988, confronted Lundgren at Kirtland police station. When Lundgren left, Yarborough said that he "neutralized the situation" by warning Lundgren that there were complaints about gunfire on Lundgren's property. Lundgren went back to his followers and called off the temple takeover, planned for May 3, because he had purportedly spoken to a higher power. Kirtland police initiated surveillance of his residence and of church-owned properties. In September 1988, a second informant came forward. Officer Andolsek cultivated the informant and made contact with the FBI and the ATF. The FBI initiated a domestic terrorism investigation.

On October 10, 1988, the day that Lundgren was excommunicated from the RLDS Church, there was a thunderstorm at the south end of Kirtland. When the sun emerged, a large rainbow appeared to the east. Lundgren told his followers that the rainbow signified the opening of the "Seven Seals". Lundgren and his family soon abandoned the group, and he claimed he began to feel a call to teach the Bible in the way he understood it. He formed his own splinter group soon after; its membership never exceeded twenty. This group was largely composed of conservative RLDS members who believed that God communicated through regular revelations, although some members admitted that they claimed to have revelations even when they did not. They were also opposed to more liberal rights for women in the RLDS Church, which contributed to their decision to join the new sect. Keeler told followers that she had once had a revelation that she would meet an important leader of the RLDS Church, concluding that this alleged revelation referred to Lundgren.

Arrest and conviction

On April 18, 1989, the day after the murders, officers coincidentally came to Lundgren's farm to talk to him. After this encounter, he became paranoid about being caught and left Ohio with the rest of his cult, moving south to West Virginia. As months went by and nothing happened, Lundgren became disillusioned, and he and his family moved to California, leaving the rest of the surviving cult members behind in West Virginia.

Nine months after the killings, on January 3, 1990, a tip from an informant led police back to the long-abandoned farm, where the five bodies of the Avery family were uncovered. Jeffrey's last words were "For my last words I'd like to profess my love for God, my family, my children and my beloved Kathy (Lundgren had married Kathryn Johnson after his conviction). ... I am because you are."

Nobody claimed Lundgren's body, so he was buried in the prison cemetery.

See also

  • List of people executed in Ohio
  • List of people executed in the United States in 2006

References

  • Clark County Prosecutor
  • "Bloodline and Blind Faith: Untold Stories of the Kirtland Cult Killings", 2025 five part series on WKYC+ Cleveland, Ohio