Barn site of cult murder cleared for church

The leader of the cult was executed last year for the
killings.

KIRTLAND, Ohio (AP) — A barn that has long stood as a reminder of the slayings of five family members who were part of a religious cult has been demolished to make way for a church.

On Tuesday, the barn where each member of the family was bound, shot to death and buried was torn down to make way for the congregation of New Promise, which has bought it as part of a 15-acre site about 20 miles east of Cleveland.

Ohio executed cult leader Jeffrey Lundgren by injection at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility last October for the 1989 deaths of Dennis Avery, 49; his wife, Cheryl, 41; and their daughters, Trina, 15, Rebecca, 13, and 7-year-old Karen.

Lundgren formed the cult with about 20 members after he was dismissed in 1987 as a lay minister of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Lundgren considered the Averys disloyal and was upset by what he thought was a lack of faith by the family, who had moved from Missouri in 1987 to follow his teachings. He said God commanded him, through interpretation of Scriptures, to kill them.

The barn has been considered a blight in the community, said Robert Umholtz, a New Promise member and president of Kirtland City Council. “The barn stood as an offensive symbol of Jeff Lundgren and his followers.”

Although the property wasn’t on the market, owner Stan Skrbis was willing to sell. The location also has a rental home where the Lundgren cult had lived, and it also is to be demolished.

“I was here when they were digging the bodies out, and I’m here when they’re tearing down the barn,” Skrbis said. “My wife is the happiest person in the world.”

New Promise, which has met in Kirtland Middle School the last several months, bought the site for $350,000.

New Promise pastor Dale Diggs said some in the church were initially surprised at the choice of location, where New Promise officials plan to start building a 30,000-square-foot building within a year and hope to be finished within the next two years.

“We’re going to try to take something bad and make something good for the Lord,” Diggs said as he watched the demolition.

Lundgren and his followers led the Avery family members one by one — Dennis first, Karen last — from a house to the nearby barn.

Each was bound and shot two or three times. A chain saw was used to muffle the gunfire.

Lundgren was careful to make sure no one would be looking for the Averys. Before the murders, he directed Cheryl Avery to write to her family and inform them that the Averys were 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. On Jan. 4, 1990, the bodies were found.

Thirteen cult members were charged in the case, including Lundgren’s ex-wife, Alice, now 56, and their son, Damon, now 36, who are both serving life prison terms.