January 2025 marks 35 years since ‘Kirtland Cult Killings’
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KIRTLAND, Ohio — January 2025 marks 35 years since the gruesome discovery of the bodies of a family of five from under a local barn.
The case, known as the Kirtland Cult Killings, was the worst mass murder in the history of Lake County.
Officers from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Kirtland Police Department, and the Lake County Crime Lab worked alongside the FBI and ATF on a tip that bodies were buried under a barn at 8671 Chardon Road.
Investigators on scene found five bodies later identified as members of the same family: Dennis Avery, his wife Cheryl, and their daughters, 15-year-old Trina, 13-year-old Rebecca, and 7-year-old Karen. All five victims were gunned down in April 1989, but their bodies weren’t recovered until January 4, 1990, according to police.
Jeffrey Lundgren, a self-proclaimed prophet, lived at the barn. The Missouri -native formed a cult in Kirtland after he was dismissed as a lay minister of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints’ Kirtland Temple, a denomination that emerged out of Mormonism.
Lundgren said on trial that God commanded him to kill the Avery family through interpretation of scriptures. The Avery family relocated to Ohio from Missouri to follow his teachings.
A total of 13 cult members were charged in the case including Lundgren’s wife, Alice Lundgren, their son, Damon Lundgren, and several others for their involvement in the Avery family’s deaths.
A jury found Lundgren guilty of kidnapping and murder, and he was sentenced to death. He died in 2006 by lethal injection. but at least four others remain behind bars, including Daniel Kraft, Ronald Luff, and Alice Lundgren, who is eligible for parole in 2092, and Damon Lundgren who is eligible for parole in 2098.
Content retrieved from: https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/lake-county/january-2025-35-years-since-kirtland-cult-killings/95-e8d3128f-2d32-4afe-b378-98fd0021f515.
