Barn where cult leader killed family razed to make way for church

Barn where cult leader killed family razed to make way for church

KIRTLAND, Ohio (AP) -- A barn where a couple and their three children were bound, shot to death and buried by a cult leader nearly 20 years ago has been demolished to make room for a church.

The building where Jeffrey Lundgren killed the Avery family was torn down Tuesday, to the relief of many area residents. The nondenominational New Promise church bought the land about 20 miles east of Cleveland.

"The barn stood as an offensive symbol of Jeff Lundgren and his followers," said Robert Umholtz, president of Kirtland City Council and a member of the congregation.

Ohio executed Lundgren last year for the 1989 deaths of Dennis Avery, 49; his wife, Cheryl, 41; and their daughters, Trina, 15, Rebecca, 13, and 7-year-old Karen. The bodies were found in 1990 after a dissident cult member tipped off authorities.

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or living in a house on the property, knowing what happened.

in some weird way.

Kirtland doesn't have very good luck with religious nutcases, apparently.

Lundgren was a wacko who broke away from the Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints in Kirtland and started his own cult. Ended up killing some of his own followers. Yet another case of someone abused as a child who grew up into a psychopath who thought nothing of abusing others.