by Pete Earley
Selling his pistols gave Jeffrey enough cash to finance a return trip to Macks Creek. This time he took the Patricks with him and once again left Kathy behind. She was livid. He was running home to Alice and she was stuck dealing with Debbie, Greg, Richard, Sharon, Danny, and worst of all, Keith. The group was completely out of money and Kathy was on her own.
After Jeffrey was gone, Kathy rode on the ATV into Davis and began calling friends in Missouri. She finally found one who was willing to drive his semi-trailer truck to West Virginia and haul her and the others back to Kathy’s mother’s house. She returned to camp and told everyone to begin packing the tents.
On October 15, the group arrived at Kathy’s mother’s house in the back of a truck, like cattle. Everyone was crabby. Kathy had sent word to Jeffrey and he was waiting. He told Kathy that he and his children would continue living with Alice at the Keehlers’ until the group could find a place to stay. Ron, Susie, Dennis, Tonya, and their children were sleeping in tents pitched in the Keehlers’ backyard.
“Have you told Alice?” Kathy asked.
Jeffrey had told Alice that God wanted him to take Kathy as his second wife. But, he added, he’d given Alice the impression that he and Kathy hadn’t started sleeping together.
Kathy, who was exhausted, was irritated. She had given up Keith and her four children to be with him. Now it was his turn to make a commitment, particularly since Kathy was now certain that she was pregnant. “We hadn’t taken any precautions,” Kathy explained later. “We both knew that there was a good chance it would happen.” Kathy didn’t intend to be kept hidden in the background.
“Alice is just going to have to face reality,” Kathy said. “You are going to have to deal with her, Jeff.”
He promised he would, but said he needed more time. He and Kathy would face Alice together once the group found a permanent place to live, he promised.
Once again, Kathy began telephoning her friends and relatives. She found one willing to let the group stay in an abandoned dairy barn on his farm near Chilhowee, a rural community south of Warrensburg. On October 21, the group moved into the abandoned and drafty barn. Ron, Susie, Dennis, Tonya, and their children rejoined the others. Everyone pitched their tents inside the barn. Kathy supervised setting up Jeffrey’s tent and moved her belongings inside it. When Jeffrey arrived that afternoon, he assured everyone that he would soon find a house for them. “It will be just like it was in Kirtland,” he promised. His followers would get jobs and support Jeffrey while he continued to search the scriptures. Meanwhile, he would divide his time between the dairy barn and Macks Creek.
Now that Kathy had found shelter for everyone, she once again confronted Jeffrey about her status as his wife, and he agreed to take her to Macks Creek with him. He had already told Alice that he would be bringing Kathy home with him. He wanted the three of them to live together. In fact, he was going to take Kathy back to Macks Creek that very night.
“I was nervous,” Kathy recalled, “because I was going into her home. I also had to get over my own feelings. I didn’t want to share him with Alice.”
As they drove down the state highway toward Macks Creek, Kathy tried to reassure herself. “If God has truly ordained this,” she said, “then I am certain that it will work out.”
Jeffrey agreed. But he didn’t sound nearly as confident as he had when the two of them had been sleeping together in the mountains of West Virginia and Alice was a thousand miles away in her mother’s house.
Chapter 48
FROM the moment that Jeffrey and Kathy rode up the gravel driveway at the Keehlers’ house, Alice was annoyed. “Jeff walked around and opened her car door,” Alice recalled. “He never opened a car door for me.”
Jeffrey had told Donna and Ralph that Kathy needed someplace to stay. She and Keith were having marital problems, he said. Donna, who had no idea what was actually going on, said Kathy was welcome to stay in the guest bedroom across the hall from Alice’s room. Donna and Ralph slept in the master bedroom at the opposite end of the house.
Alice hugged Jeffrey when he walked in and gave him a passionate kiss. Jeffrey motioned toward Kathy. With obvious disdain, Alice hugged her and grunted a welcome. Alice showed Kathy where her bedroom was.
It was nearly 11:00 P .M . and the Keehlers and the Lundgren children were all in bed. Jeffrey told Alice that he’d join her in her bedroom after he helped Kathy unpack. Alice slipped into her nightgown and perched herself seductively on the bed. After ten minutes of waiting, she crept into the hall and quietly opened the door to the guest room so that she could peek inside.
They were sitting on the bed kissing.
Alice hurried back into her bedroom and began to sob as loudly as she could.
“Are you all right?” Jeffrey asked a few minutes later when he came into the room.
“Oh, sure, Jeff, I’m fine,” Alice replied bitterly. “This is my idea of a fun time!” He started to kiss her, but she pulled away.
“I could smell the residue of her kissing him,” Alice later recalled. “I said, ‘At least wash her off before getting in bed with me.’ He got angry and accused me of being rebellious. He rolled me over on my stomach, pulled my gown up over my head, and began having anal intercourse with me.”
The next morning, Jeffrey decided to take Alice, Kathy, and the children shopping. Alice had borrowed some money from her parents. All of the kids jumped into the back of the truck while Alice hurried outside and slipped into the center of the seat in the truck’s cab. “Even when it came to something that little,” Kathy recalled, “Alice wanted me to know that she was number one, that sitting next to him was her place.”
As he drove down the highway, Jeffrey put his right arm on the back of the seat so that it touched both women. Alice noticed that he was playing with Kathy’s hair.
It was almost lunchtime so Jeffrey stopped at a Taco Bell, and this time it was Kathy who hurried inside and scooted next to Jeffrey in a booth. Alice sat across from him and began handing out the food to her children.
“Jeffrey, you didn’t get enough drinks,” Alice announced. There were only six cups and there were seven people.
“Yes, he did!” Kathy retorted. “We always share our drink.”
Alice left the table and hurried into the women’s bathroom. “Jeffrey never, ever let me drink out of the same cup as he did,” she said later. “It was humiliating.” After about twenty minutes, Alice emerged to find everyone waiting for her in the truck.
When they got to the grocery store, Kathy started pushing the cart. Once again, Alice was angry. By the time the two women had reached the meat counter, Alice exploded.
“You whore!” she screamed at Kathy as other shoppers stared. “It was simply too easy for Kathy,” Alice later said. “She was stepping into twenty years of marriage and it wasn’t bothering her one little bit.” Alice lunged at Kathy with her fingernails but Jeffrey grabbed her before she reached Kathy. Alice aimed her knee at his groin and Jeffrey pushed her back. She tried to kick him.
“I caught her leg,” Jeffrey later said, “and swung her around and then I slapped her. I’m not proud of that, but I lost it. The scriptures say that it is better to slap someone than to have them perish for being unsubmissive so what I did wasn’t wrong, particularly since Alice was asking for it. She always tries to look like she is poor and helpless, but she was going to hurt Kathy and I had to stop her.”
Alice burst into tears and ran out of the store. As soon as she was gone, Kathy and Jeffrey finished shopping. Alice waited for them in the truck—in the center seat.
On the way home, Jeffrey decided to buy some shampoo at a Wal-Mart store. This time, he walked between the two women and pushed the cart.
“Since this is your first night together,” Alice said cattily, “maybe you should buy something to make you feel feminine, Kathy.’’ It was a thinly disguised slap at Kathy’s tomboy manners.
“Don’t worry about me,” Kathy replied icily. “Jeffrey finds me femi
nine enough.”
When they got back to Macks Creek, Kathy and Alice avoided each other. After Ralph, Donna, and the Lundgren children went to bed that night, Jeffrey ordered Alice to prepare his bath. Kathy went into the guest room and closed the door. “Jeffrey was my lord and master,” Alice said, “so one of my jobs was giving him his nightly bath. I washed his body and his hair and dried him off. It was all scriptural. Christ was anointed by Mary so it was my job to anoint Jeff. I put his favorite perfume on him and he kissed me on the cheek and said, ‘I’m going to spend some time with Kathy.’ He said, ‘Alice, I’m not on a timetable. I’ll be back when I get back.’ He then went into Kathy’s room.”
Jeffrey and Kathy would later claim that they did not have sex that night. They simply talked for a while, but Alice recalled that evening much differently.
“I went to bed, but I just laid there staring at the clock. At about fifteen till two, I went out into the hall and I could hear him snoring, then I heard him wake up and he and Kathy had sex. I went into my room. Finally, he came in and I acted like I was asleep and he shook my shoulder and said, ‘Hey, you awake?’ He told me that he and Kathy were really hungry and he wanted me to fix them hamburgers. I got up and cooked them hamburgers like he wanted and then I fixed him a big glass of Pepsi because I know Jeff likes to drink a big glass of Pepsi after he makes love. He usually kept one by the side of our bed just for that. I put the cup down and Kathy leaned over and she took a drink out of it. I don’t know why but that was the ultimate insult. Here I was fixing that bitch hamburgers and she had just fucked my husband. I ran into the bedroom and started crying and Jeffrey came in and sat on the bed and then Kathy came in and I was in the fetal position and he was sitting at my knees with his hand rubbing my back and she was sitting on the floor stroking my hair and they were holding hands while they were doing this. Kathy says, ‘It’s okay to cry,’ and then he moved me over on the bed and laid down and he put my head on one shoulder and Kathy laid her head on the other shoulder so that he had both of us in his arms. I wanted to die. I wasn’t going to spend my life that way. The whole thing was so awful to me, I went into the bathroom and threw up. When I came out of the bathroom, she had gone to her bedroom and he had gone to sleep.”
The next morning, Jeffrey announced that he needed to go to the dairy barn and get the ATV. Alice’s brother, Charles, had offered to sell it and the electric generator. As they had the day before, both women hurried outside, both hoping to sit in the center of the cab next to Jeffrey. Alice won out, but before they reached the dairy barn, Kathy began to cry and Jeffrey pulled the truck to the side of the road.
“It’s Kathy’s turn to ride in the middle for a while,” Jeffrey said. Alice traded places with Kathy.
When they got to the barn, Jeffrey left the two women alone in the cab.
“This isn’t going to work,” Alice said coldly.
“Of all the women in the world,” Kathy replied, “I thought we could make this work out.’’
“Over my dead body,” Alice replied.
The two women’s eyes met. Both were furious.
That night after dinner, Jeffrey decided to take everyone to play miniature golf. Damon, Jason, Kristen, and Caleb piled into the back of the truck and Alice and Kathy argued about who was going to sit next to Jeffrey. Alice won and when they got to the course, Kathy decided to stay behind in the truck. She needed a break from Alice, she told Jeffrey.
The Lundgrens went on without her, but Alice had reached her limit too and she blistered Jeffrey with profanity while he and the children tried to play golf. Halfway through the course, Jeffrey quit and ordered everyone back to the truck. None of the children said a word. Kathy climbed into the back of the truck and rode with them. All the way home, Alice screamed at Jeffrey. She never mentioned Kathy by name. She simply called her “the bitch.”
Alice went directly to her bedroom when they finally got home. Jeffrey suggested that Kathy go into the guest room while he tried to get Alice cooled down. He went into Alice’s bedroom and told her that he was ready for his bath.
“There’s the bathroom,” she shrieked. “Do it yourself.” Jeffrey walked across the hall to be with Kathy. Alice cried for several minutes and then went into the kitchen and retrieved a bottle of rum that she had hidden there. By 2:00 A.M., she was drunk.
“I could hear them horsing around next door,” she recalled. “So I decided to join them.’’ Alice swaggered across the hall and pushed open the door. She marched inside and pulled the sheets off Kathy.
“Get up!” she screamed. “Get out of here!”
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Jeffrey yelled.
“The bitch is gone,” said Alice. “The party is over, Jeffrey.’’
“Alice,” he snapped. “Get control of yourself.’’
It was at this point that Alice would later claim that Jeffrey attacked her. Jeffrey would later insist that Alice attacked him. Kathy would claim that she had been asleep alone in the bedroom when Alice barged in and attacked her. Regardless, the noise woke the Keehlers and Donna hurried out of her bedroom. She found Damon and Jason, who had been asleep in the living room, fully dressed and standing near the back door of the house.
“What’s wrong?” Donna asked.
“Mom’s throwing us out,” said Damon. “She told us to leave.’’
At that point, Jeffrey emerged from Alice’s bedroom. “His face was bleeding and big pieces of hair had been torn out of his head,” Donna recalled.
“My God!” Donna exclaimed.
“Alice is drunk,” Jeffrey said. “She’s throwing a fit. We’re leaving.”
“Wait a minute,” said Donna. “Get those kids back in here. You can’t leave in the middle of the night like this. It’s cold out there.”
Damon and Jason had already sent Kristen and Caleb outside to the truck. Jeffrey called them back into the house and told them to go back to bed. Kathy, meanwhile, came out of the guest room, carrying her suitcase. Jeffrey told Damon and Jason to drive her to the barn in Chilhowee. Kathy looked upset as Jeffrey escorted her outside.
Donna, meanwhile, hurried down the hallway to Alice’s bedroom. She found her daughter sprawled on the bed.
“I told him to leave,” Alice screamed. “I’m through, Mom! I’ve been cheated on and lied to and I’m not going to put up with it any longer.”
Donna was mad. “What’s he done this time?” she asked. “I’m going to talk to him.”
Alice panicked. She shot up from the bed. “Don’t interfere in this, Mama,” she warned. “You don’t know what he is capable of doing.”
Donna went back to the kitchen to wait for Jeffrey. As soon as she left the room, Alice grabbed a bottle of extra-strength Excedrin. “I took all fifty pills,” she later said. “I washed them down with rum. I wanted to kill myself.”
Donna told Jeffrey that she wanted to talk to him, but he hurried past her, went into Alice’s bedroom and shut the door. Donna decided to go back to bed.
“Jeffrey walked in and backhanded me,” Alice claimed, “and then he saw the pill bottle.”
“What have you done now?” he asked.
“I don’t want to live anymore,” Alice said. “I’m going to kill myself.”
Jeffrey dragged her into the bathroom and forced her to vomit. He put her head under the shower and splashed her with cold water. Finally, he forced her to go outside into the chilly air and walk around.
“I remember him telling me, ‘Live for me, Alice! Live for me! Don’t die!’”
The next morning Alice felt sick and dizzy when she woke up. Her arms were bruised. Her head hurt and she was alone in bed. Jeffrey was loading the truck. He had decided to move into the dairy barn with Kathy and he was taking the children with him.
When Jeffrey came into the bedroom to tell Alice what he had decided, she began to weep.
“Don’t take my children,” she whimpered.
“You’re an unfit mother,” he replied. “Y
ou’re a drunk.”
“You can’t leave me,” she continued. “I can’t live without you.”
Jeffrey told Alice that he was tired of her rebellion and disobedience. She began to nod. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she said. “I know I’ve been bad, but I can change. I can stop being bad.”
“Jeff told me that I needed to be punished,” Alice later said. “He told me to go into the bathroom and take off my clothes. I did. He told me to lay down on the floor and when I did, Jeff squatted over me and had a bowel movement on my face. He rubbed it all over my face and then he turned me over and had anal intercourse with me. After he came, he lifted me up and put me in the tub and then he washed me very gently. He washed my hair and face and everything. He told me that I was purified now and I told him that I was no longer rebellious. He dressed me and put a coat on me to hide the bruises on my arms. He told me that he had decided to take me to the barn with him. I thanked him and he told me that he loved me.”
Donna was waiting when Jeffrey and Alice came out of the bedroom.
“Alice, you don’t have to go,” she said, stepping between them and the back door.
“Yes, I do, Mother,” Alice replied.
Donna put her hands on the sides of Alice’s face. She made her daughter look directly into her eyes. “Alice looked so beat up, so sad,” Donna later remembered. “It was breaking my heart.”
“Alice, your father and I will do anything for you. You don’t have to go with Jeffrey. You can stay here with us.”
Jeffrey didn’t say a word. Alice looked at her mother. “Yes, I do have to go, Mother,” she said. “I want to go. I want to go with Jeff.”
Donna stepped out of the way. As soon as Jeffrey and Alice drove down the driveway, Donna burst into tears.