A motel room was booked for the Averys and all their belongings were brought from their rented accommodation to the farm house. They suspected nothing, Lundgren had so many rules and regulations that anything was possible.
On April 17, 1989 the group prepared for what would be their final meal together. After dinner the Averys’ fate became real. Once Dennis Avery seemed to be deep in concentration in whatever he was doing, Lundgren gathered five of his right hand men in his bedroom. He produced a pistol from his belt and asked for a show of hands to confirm that the men were all in allegiance with him, and they were. So the plan, that unbeknown to the Averys had been discussed over the previous few weeks started to be put into action. They had decided that the best way to do it would be to lead the family one by one into the barn and kill them separately, and this is what they did.
First to meet their fate was Dennis Avery. Ron Luff, who was seen by Lundgren as one of his most righteous brothers, someone who never questioned his teachings, walked out of the barn and back into the house. He went over to Dennis and asked for his assistance in the barn to help with packing the equipment for the subsequent pilgrimage that they were about to embark on. Dennis, of course agreed, and why wouldn’t he? He followed Ron into the barn where they were met by Richard Brand, Danny Kraft, Greg Winship, Jeffrey’s son Damon and of course Jeffrey himself. As soon as Dennis got close to his comrades his was shot at by a stun gun. The desired effect of this was to silence him but the stun wasn’t strong enough and instead he cried out in pain and then in mercy as it was now obvious to him that the end of his life was close.
The five men grabbed Dennis, bound his arms and gagged his mouth with duct tape, and threw him into the ready made grave. Greg, who was now outside, was given the signal to start the chain saw in order to muffle the sound of things to come, whilst Jeffrey took aim. Two shots were fired straight into Dennis’s back and the chain saw stopped. The men stood in silence and one by one filed into the area of the barn where Dennis’s body now lay in a blood stained crumpled heap, and took stock of the gruesome murder they had all been involved in. A few contemplative moments later Ron left the barn and made his way back up to the barn to collect the second victim.
Cheryl Avery, Dennis’s wife, was pottering around when Ron reached her, completely oblivious to the fact that Dennis was lying dead in a shallow grave a few metres from where she was standing.
Ron told Cheryl that Dennis needed her help in the barn packing their bags, again it was an extremely normal request, so she immediately accompanied Ron back to the barn. As they entered, Cheryl was met with the stun gun which for the second time did not have desired effect, she was in pain but still totally conscious and aware. Unlike her husband, Cheryl did not scream or beg for her life, she just slid down onto her knees whilst she was bound with the tape. Ron and Richard dragged her over to the pit where her husband lay and threw her in, at the same time Greg started the chain saw. Ron and Richard then stepped out of the room and Jeffrey prepared to take a second life. He fired three shots, two hit Cheryl on the right side of her chest and the other hit her in the stomach. Like her husband she was dead in an instant.
After this murder, there was no time to stand around looking at the aftermath, as Jeffrey was worried that the shots may have been heard, so he ordered the men to check the area. Everything was done in the style of a commando operation; quickly and quietly. Once the men were sure that they had not been heard, Jeffrey instructed Ron to go back to the house for a third time to get the first of the Avery children.
The three daughters had been sitting in the living room playing computer games and discussing the next day’s trip, a couple of the females who were part of the plan were with them in order to make sure they didn’t stray. Ron entered the living room and asked Tina Avery to accompany him. The 15-year-old followed Ron into the barn and stood completely still, in complete shock and confusion as the men bound her. A few minutes later and she was lying in a pit with her dead mother and father. Jeffrey Don Lundgren, still completely calm and in control pulled the trigger for a sixth time and the bullet shaved past the top of Tina’s skull. She attempted a muffled scream of pain but moments later she was shot again, this time the bullet went directly into her skull. Tina Avery had met the same fate as her parents, callously murdered in cold blood.
The men were now possessed, no human remorse was apparent on that day, whether or not guilt was being felt inside may never be known. Lundgren and his flock continued with their task. Next on the hit list was 13-year-old Rebecca Avery. Ron re-entered the living room and asked Rebecca and her younger sister Karen if they wanted to see the horses. Ron said that they could only go one at a time so as not to scare them. Karen waited with the women as her older sister was escorted by Ron back to the barn.
Once in the barn the men pretended they were playing a game and picked her up and bound her. They lowered her into the blood-spattered pit and she was placed on top of her dead mother. For the fourth time that evening Greg powered up the chain-saw, the routine was well rehearsed now, it was automatic. Jeffrey fired the gun and the bullet pierced her thigh. A second shot was fired which hit Rebecca in the chest. She was left spluttering for her life. Jeffrey never fired a compassionate shot to put her out of the pain she was in so Rebecca Avery was left to die a slow, painful and lonely death.
So with four out of five sacrifices complete, Ron went back to the house for the last surviving member of the Avery family. Six-year-old Karen Avery was so excited about seeing the horses that she jumped up onto Ron’s back and was given a piggy back ride to her fate. The same routine took place and after Jeffrey Lundgren had fired two shots their mission was complete. All five members of the Avery family were now lying in a heap in the make-shift grave. Lundgren ordered a couple of the men to smother the bodies with a lime solution and then cover them with dirt. Afterwards, bin bags were placed on top of them and the job was complete. The men made their way back to the farm house.
Whilst the murders had taken place, Alice Lundgren had left the compound with the younger children. After confirming that the job had been done she returned. Soon after, Alice went with son Damon and husband Jeffrey to the motel where some of the Avery belongings had been stashed, and removed them. Upon their return Jeffrey called the rest of the group into the classroom for a late night prayer meeting. There was silence throughout the class and it is reported that Richard Brand was the only one brave enough to speak. He believed that no one deserved to die in the way that the Averys just had. Lundgren was quick to give an explanation for the events stating that it was God’s will that it had happened.
After what must have been quite a disturbed night’s sleep, the group prepared for their departure from the farmhouse. Lundgren ordered them to split up into smaller groups, leave at intervals, and meet up in Pennsylvania for further instructions.
The group did this, they were extremely fearful of their leader now, but also of their fellow members, no one knew who could be trusted, therefore any angst was not relayed to the others. Lundgren finally found a well-hidden campsite in West Virginia that they were ordered to make base for the next few weeks, he loved the new power he now had over his flock and adored being feared. He often boasted to members of the group who had not witnessed the massacre, about the events of that horrid night; Lundgren was indestructible.
Back in Kirtland, the police officer who had been contacted by the FBI after Kevin Currie had left Lundgren’s group for a second time, was doing a routine patrol past the farmhouse the day after the murders when a ghostly shiver travelled up and down his spine. Deputy Ron Andolsek noticed that the farmhouse was deserted and he thought to himself that it was odd that the group had just suddenly disappeared. But there was not much he could do as they had not, he thought, done anything wrong. Little did he know that a family of five were laying murdered in a shallow grave within one of the barns on the farmhouse’s land.