Jeffery Don Lundgren

Jeffery Don Lundgren, 56, a prisoner of Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, on October 24, 2006, took multiple naps and enjoyed a meal of Turkey, potatoes and gravy, a salad, and pumpkin pie, confident in the fact that Governor Bob Taft would accept his request for clemency for the April 17, 1989, slaughter of the Avery family.

Lundgren, who was 38 at the time, considered himself to be more than a prophet as he led a militant group known as the "Community of Christ" after being expelled from the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints in Missouri. Whereupon he moved his family and followers to Kirkland, Ohio, the location of the Kirkland Temple, the first Mormon temple constructed by Joseph Smith which was completed in 1836.

Lundgren served as a guide and taught congregants from the Bible and the Book of Mormon and stole money from collections. After being rejected by the Temple, Lundgren and some of his followers moved into a farmhouse, where he prophesied that the kingdom of God would not return until the Kirkland Temple was reclaimed by force. A plan was formed to use his militant parishioners to overtake the Kirkland Temple on his birthday, May 3rd, 1988, but he changed his mind.

Lundgren, upset with some of his followers for questioning his status as a deity and a lack of contributing their paychecks to his cause, had a group of his followers secretly dig a six by seven foot hole under the floorboards of a barn on the property. Five days before he would enact his plan.

On April 17, 1989, the Avery family consisting of Dennis, 49, Cheryl, 46, Trina, 15, Rebecca, 13, and Karen, 7, had dinner with the Community of Christ members. After the meal was finished, as the Avery family cleaned up, Lundgren and four of his followers went to the barn where each zealot was ordered to return with a member of the Avery family from oldest to youngest.

Each member of the family was lead out to the barn. They were bound hands and feet by duct tape and gagged. Lundgren, in the possession of a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol, and under the cover of a running chainsaw, dispatched each of the Avery's with three shots and then dropped them unceremoniously into the pit.

The next morning, the F.B.I. showed up and questioned members of the group in connection to the planned attack on the Kirkland Temple. Finding nothing, they would stay unaware of the human sacrifices for another eight months when a follower, upset with Lundgren for claiming his wife Katherine Johnson, for himself, informed the police of the fate of the Avery family and Lundgren's involvement.

On January 14, 1990, police unearthed the Avery family. Steve LaTourette, a prosecutor for Lake County, recalls, "Even after sixteen years, I can't get the vision out of my head of 7-year-old Karen Avery. As we removed the parents from the pit, we all said. We didn't want there to be children."

On October 24, 2006, Jeffery Don Lundgren realized he would not be getting clemency as he was strapped to the execution table. "I profess my love for God, my family, my children, for Kathy. I am because you are." Were Lundgren's last words as Midazolam rendered him unconscious, Rocuronium bromide rendered him paralyzed, and Potassium Chloride stopped his heart.

Lundgren was pronounced dead at 10:26 am. The self-proclaimed prophet's body was unclaimed, he was buried in the prison's cemetery. Donald Bailey, the brother of Cheryl Avery, said, "Dead is dead it doesn't matter how you get there."

Community of Christ Members:

Alice Lundgren - Aggravated Murder (5 counts), Kidnapping (5 counts) - 150 years to Life.

Damon Lundgren - Aggravated Murder (4 counts), Kidnapping (4 counts) - 120 years to Life.

Ronald Luff - Aggravated Murder (5 counts), Kidnapping (5 counts) - 170 years to Life.

Daniel Kraft - Aggravated Murder (5 counts), Kidnapping (3 counts) - 50 years to Life.

Gregory Winship - Murder (5 counts), 15 years to Life.

Richard Brand - Murder (5 counts) - 15 years to Life.

Sharon Bluntschly - Conspiracy to Aggravated Murder - 7-25 years.

Deborah Olivarez - Conspiracy to Aggravated Murder - 7-25 years.

Susan Luff - Conspiracy to Aggravated Murder and - 7-25 years.

Kathryn R. Johnson - Obstructing Justice - 1 year.

Dennis Patrick - Obstructing Justice - 18 months, sentence suspended and placed on 1 year probation.

Tonya Patrick - Obstructing Justice - 18 months, sentence suspended and placed on 1 year probation.