35th Anniversary of the Kirtland Cult Killings

Who Killed...?

Bill Huffman

True Crime, Society & Culture, History

3.8 • 595 Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2025

⏱️ 81 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On today’s episode, we will dive into the Kirtland Cult Killings that took place in Kirtland, Ohio. This small town, situated in Lake County and only a 25-minute drive east of Cleveland, became a national headline in January 1990. After moving to Kirtland, Lundgren established himself as a lay minister for the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Dale Luffman, the president of the northeast Ohio chapter of the Reorganized Church, confirmed that Lundgren served at the church temple in Kirtland from 1985 to 1987. During this period, he took charge of guiding tours of the church's 153-year-old temple for the public after relocating from Kansas City, Missouri. The victims were the Dennis Avery family: Dennis, Cheryl, and their three daughters—Trina (15), Rebecca (13), and Karen (7). They had moved from Missouri to join Lundgren’s group around 1987. On April 17, 1989, Lundgren invited the Averys to his farm in Kirtland for a “last supper”-type gathering. One by one, they were taken to a barn behind the house, where they were bound, gagged with duct tape, and shot to death. Reports indicate that a chainsaw was used to muffle the sound of the gunshots. SOURCES: https://www.news-herald.com/2014/12/30/kirtland-cult-killings-looking-back-at-lake-countys-worst-mass-murder-25-years-later/ https://web.archive.org/web/20080828040940/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/24/ap/national/mainD8KV5DV80.shtml https://www.news-herald.com/2014/12/30/kirtland-cult-killings-time-has-healed-the-city-of-faith-and-beauty/ https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna14500204 https://web.archive.org/web/20061019025800/http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/10/18/bc.na.gen.us.cultleader.ap/index.html https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kirtland-cult-killings_n_7088210 https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/ohio/cleveland/kirtland-cult-cle/ https://fox8.com/news/true-crime-in-cleveland-kirtland-cult-murders/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZJso4RfdCg http://www2.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=68347 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88389254/ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88389475/ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88390405/ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88391008/ https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/kirtland-ohio?lang=eng&abVersion=V02&abName=GLOB88 caselaw.findlaw.com https://www.news-herald.com/news/ohio/kirtland-cult-killings-timeline-of-events/article_d13876c8-f5bb-5134-8ee3-3f0df58ed99f.html https://youtu.be/OZJso4RfdCg Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	Sean has had some good ideas over the years,
0:05.0	but using Canva was a really good one.
0:08.0	Sean designed some social posts to promote his friend's car boot sale.
0:13.0	They looked good, really, really good.
0:17.0	Next thing he knows, someone came and bought the lot, including the car.
0:24.5	Now Sean doesn't know how he's going to get home.
0:28.0	Thanks, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. You know, You know, Thank you. If a president cares to make DOJ an arm of his own political operation, he can do that.
1:19:05.7	And there's not a heck of a lot we can do.
1:19:07.4	Why isn't the U.S. justice system able to hold the powerful to account?
1:19:11.7	So many guardrails, protections, norms, traditions have been discarded.
1:19:15.9	Why didn't Trump get indicted over the Jan 6 insurrection?
1:19:20.0	People wanted Mueller to say, I do find, that he committed an indictable offense.
1:19:25.5	Mueller did not say that.
1:19:26.8	Why aren't you listening to Disorder yet to find out?
1:19:30.4	I'm Jason Pack. I'm a senior analyst at the NATO Foundation and the host listening to Disorder yet to find out? I'm Jason Pack.
1:19:31.6	I'm a senior analyst at the NATO Foundation and the host of the Disorder podcast.
1:19:36.1	Each week alongside my rotating group of co-hosts and world-leading experts,
1:19:40.5	we analyze why the world is so disordered, why disordering leaders make it worse,
1:19:45.7	and then we ask, what can we the individual do to fix it?
1:19:48.8	The people matter as much or more than the rules.
1:19:52.8	This week, we're joined by Elie Honig, CNN's senior legal analyst.
1:19:57.0	He and I look at exactly why the U.S. legal system isn't working
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