With the soldierly base camp now up and running in West Virginia, Lundgren embarked on a tough regime. There was round the clock guard duty and Lundgren instructed the men of the group to shoot down anybody or anything that came towards them, they even had an anti-aircraft sub-machine gun for use if helicopters were to attack. Jeffrey Don Lundgren was at his most paranoid and at his most vicious, and by August 1989 his teachings had become as extreme as his personality, he even ordered that the men surrendered their wives to him so that they could be cleansed and purified by his godly seed.
On October 13, 1989, Lundgren decided that it was time for his flock to move on. He knew that a friend of one of his women had an empty barn just outside of Chilhowee, Missouri that they had been given permission to use temporarily. The group stayed there for around ten days before Lundgren decided that they should all split up for the winter, get jobs, save their salaries, meet back up in the spring and pass their earnings over to him.
Was Lundgren now scared that he was going to get found out for what he had done? Was he worried that his flock were about to turn on him? Did he really think that after the winter break his flock would still be willing to return to their master?
The winter parting was the moment a few of Lundgren’s trustee members had been waiting for. It was their chance to escape from Jeffrey’s throws without any worries. Richard Brand and Greg Winship, both of whom had been heavily involved in the April massacre, had started to see the past few months from a new perspective, they could no longer live with the past or live with a future at the hands of Lundgren and his teachings. The two men left camp at the end of October and were followed closely after by Ron Luff and two of the women, Sharon Bluntschly and Kathy Johnson, who were both carrying Lundgren’s children.
By December, Jeffrey was starting to panic, realization hit him that many of his members were probably glad to be out of his clutches and may even feel the need to confess to either friends or the police about their lives under the rule of him. The Lundgren family and a few others decided to move on to California, where they would lay low and see if any investigation arose. Lundgren stored all his weapons and ammunition in a safety deposit box and waited.
On December 31, 1989 Keith Johnson was crushed, the guilt that had been building up inside him since April had finally exploded and he decided that he needed to inform the police about Jeffrey Lundgren and the murders that had taken place. He told the Kansas police everything about life under Lundgren’s regime and gave detailed accounts of each of the five murders, ending his confession by drawing a map of where the bodies were buried. The map was immediately faxed over to the FBI department in Cleveland. The FBI agent who received the fax, did not for a minute believe what he was reading and thought it would be a waste of the bureau’s time if they were to investigate the report. Instead, the FBI passed the telephone number of Kirtland police department onto Kansas police department. Thankfully the Chief of Police in Kirtland, Dennis Yarborough took the matter as serious, he knew that his Deputy, Ron Andolsek, had been commenting on the oddities of Lundgren and his flock for months now and appointed him the task of tracking down the Avery family – why they did not go straight to the barn as drawn on the map, is another matter altogether.
After a few days of speaking to friends and family members of the Averys, it became apparent that there had been no sight or sound of them for months. Cheryl Avery’s mother, Donna Bailey, had always received letters from her daughter but they had recently stopped. Deputy Adolsek took this as a sign that a search of the farm needed to take place. He gained permission from the farmhouse owner and on January 3, 1990, both Adolsek and Yarborough made their way to the farmhouse that had been the Lundgrens home for over a year. With the map in hand that Johnson had sketched, the police officers made their way to the barn and could never have been ready for what they were about to encounter.
The first thing that hit the Chief and his Deputy was the putrid smell of decay, there is nothing quite like the smell of rotting flesh. When they reached the area marked on the map it did not take long for the policemen to work out what they had uncovered. They were standing next to the grave of the Avery family. The two men immediately called for back up and also requested the service of the fire brigade to help with the excavation.
Although they had been briefed on the situation, the firemen were not quite ready for the smell that rapidly got worse as they started to dig. The smell got so bad that many officers had to leave the barn and were violently sick. The ones that carried on were met with murky brown water with what looked like flesh floating on the top. After a few minutes they unearthed the first body which was less than a metre under the ground and there was now no getting away from what they had found. The FBI were called and this time they had to take the call seriously. They began an intensive search of the barn and the rest of the buildings.
It wasn’t long before the horrific news was broadcasted over TV stations across the world and slowly members of Lundgren’s flock came forward and gave themselves up, maybe hoping that it would help them get a lesser sentence.
Steven Tourette, a county prosecutor, was given the Avery murder case, and the more information that came in regarding the murders the more disgusted he became. There was no way he was going to let anybody involved in the crime get an easy ride. He immediately obtained arrest warrants for the 13 adults within the Lundgren clan and within hours Ron Luff, Susan Luff, Dennis Patrick, Tonya Patrick and Deborah Olivarez were at Jackson County Jail for questioning. It didn’t take long for Sharon Bluntschly, Richard Brand and Greg Winship to give themselves up, but there were still five members at large; Kathy Johnson, Danny Kraft and the Lundgrens – Alice, Damon and Jeffrey.
MEXICO AND FREE?
Jeffrey was smart, if he made it to the Mexican border he would be free, whether it was the guilt that was making him run or if this was still part of God’s master plan is anybody’s guess, but he was determined not to get caught.
But Jeffrey was too trusting, he called his mother-in-law on January 5, 1990 and told her to go to California in order to collect her grandchildren. He gave her a phone number of where he could be contacted. Alice’s mother agreed implicitly to his request but as soon as she was off the phone she contacted the police. The FBI traced the phone number to a Californian motel just six miles from the Mexican border. Jeffrey Don Lundgren was six miles from heaven.
The Ohio FBI agent in charge of the case flew south immediately as he wanted to be there when the arrest was made. Local Californian agents surrounded the motel and as soon as they spotted him they pounced – Jeffrey Don Lundgren was arrested on five accounts of murder. It was a much smoother arrest than it could have been as when they searched his motel room and safety deposit box they found a small arsenal, which they did not doubt that Lundgren would have used if he had been given the chance.
They also found Alice Lundgren, Damon Lundgren and the younger children all sitting in the motel room watching television awaiting their master’s return. As soon as Damon saw the FBI he immediately told them that he hadn’t done the shooting.
Compassion has to be felt for somebody like Damon, from a baby he had lived and learned from his father, but was also scared of his father due to years of abuse. How was he ever to know the real right and wrong, it is up to parents or guardians to nurture children into loving human beings and to teach them the ways of the world. All Damon had done was to obey his father but in the eyes of the law Damon Lundgren was as much at fault as every other group member over the age of 18. As an adult, law believes that Damon should have been able to work out the real right and wrong for himself.