by Pete Earley
Donald and Lois Lundgren. Jeffrey’s parents have refused to respond to letters that he has written them. Before Debbie Olivarez was arrested, she told Don and Lois that Jeffrey had considered killing his mother and recruiting his father into the group in order to get their money.
Shar Olson. Shar returned to Independence, where she remains friends with Dennis and Tonya Patrick. She continues to write regularly to Richard Brand, Greg Winship, and Debbie Olivarez.
Kevin Currie. “I understand the horror that took place,” Kevin said at Jeffrey’s trial, “but I still consider myself a friend of Jeffrey’s.” Even so, Kevin has an unlisted number and said that he still fears that Jeffrey might try to have him murdered. In the spring of 1991, Alice contacted Kevin and asked him to write her. “I’m still considering it,” he said.
Dennis, Cheryl, Trina, Becky, and Karen Avery. The bodies of the Averys were returned to a suburb of Independence for burial. About 240 mourners attended the memorial service held at a “restoration” branch of the RLDS. The minister did not mention Jeffrey Lundgren, but in his eulogy, Elder Garth McCulloch warned mourners about following false prophets. “We must carefully lead,” he said, “lest we are led astray.”
Afterword
Jeffrey Lundgren had assured his followers that God would intervene and save him if he ever were arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. He prophesied that God would allow him to be strapped onto a cross shaped gurney in a prison execution room and raised up before his accusers who would be seated on the other side of glass windows. However, when the lethal dose was administered, Jeffrey would grin, shake his head in disgust, break free from his bonds and bring down God’s anger and wrath on those who were responsible for condemning him.
If he had been in a rush for judgment day, Lundgren didn’t show it. Instead, his lawyers did everything they could to stall and delay his execution. Lundgren spent his time in his prison cell studying the Book of Mormon, writing love letters to his wife, Kathy, answering fan mail from outsiders who’d read about his case, and engorging himself on prison food. Without exercise, his weight ballooned.
By summer August 2006, Lundgren had exhausted all of his legal appeals. In a last ditch effort to delay his execution, Lundgren joined five other inmates in filing a legal challenge to Ohio’s death penalty law, claiming that lethal injection would be cruel and unusual punishment under the 8th Amendment due to his extreme obesity.
On October 17, 2006, Judge Gregory L. Frost issued an order to temporarily delay Lundgren’s execution. In response, State Attorney General Jim Petro appealed to the State Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, located in Cincinnati, which ultimately issued an order green lighting Lundgren’s execution. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to accept his final appeal, and Governor Bob Taft denied Lundgren’s request for clemency.
Apparently confident that he would either win a legal delay or, in fact, be saved by God, Lundgren napped much of the morning on the day of his execution. He was served a last meal of turkey, potatoes and gravy, a salad, and pumpkin pie, and spent some time of the phone speaking to his son, Damon and Kathy. As Lundgren was escorted into the execution chamber, Cheryl Avery’s younger brother, Donald Bailey, walked toward the glass window to ensure Lundgren knew he was there. Also in attendance was Cheryl Avery’s other brother Kent Clisby and U.S. Rep. Steven LaTourette, who served as the prosecutor in Lundgren’s case.
After he was strapped onto the gurney, Lundgren was asked if he had any final words. “For my last words I’d like to profess my love for God, my family, my children and my beloved wife. ... I am because you are,” he declared.
He showed no sign of fear when he was given the first of a series of shots intended to relax him and then stop his heart. At 10:26 A.M. on October 24, 2006 at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, Jeffrey Lundgren was pronounced dead.
Alice Lundgren, Damon Lundgren, Ronald Luff, and Daniel Kraft each continue to serve out their sentence, Damon being the first eligible for parole in February 2098. Greg Winship was released on December 28, 2010. Sharon Bluntschly, Deborah Olivarez, and Susan Luff also all were released in the last week of December 2010. Richard Brand was paroled on March 29, 2010, after serving 16 years of his 15-years-to-life prison sentence.
Jeffrey Lundgren’s vision about his execution did not prove true -- like all of the rest of his claims -- and he died with all of his followers, who had participated in the murders, rejecting him as a false prophet.
Pete Earley, 2014
About the Author
Pete Earley is a storyteller who has penned 13 books including the New York Times bestseller The Hot House and the 2007 Pulitzer Prize finalist Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness.
After a 14-year career in journalism, including six years at The Washington Post, Pete became a full-time author with a commitment to expose the stories that entertain and surprise.
His honest reporting and compelling writing helped him garner success as one of few authors with “the power to introduce new ideas and give them currency,” according to Washingtonian magazine.
Since becoming a full-time author in 1986, Pete has written 10 non-fiction books and 3 novels for a total of 13 books.
For more information, you can connect with Pete online at PeteEarley.com.