Columbus, USA - Jeffrey Lundgren said he thought "the end of time was near" when he received a vision from God that commanded him to kill five members of his Kirtland religious cult in 1989.
After spending 16 years on death row, the end of time finally does appear to be near for Lundgren after the Ohio Parole Board voted unanimously Monday to recommend that Gov. Bob Taft deny him clemency. He faces an Oct. 24 execution date.
Taft leaves Sunday for a weeklong trade mission to Mexico. His spokesman, Mark Rickel, would say only that the governor will rule on Lundgren's plea for mercy before the 24th.
"Mr. Lund gren systemati cally and pre meditatedly killed five peo ple, three of whom were in nocent children," the eight Parole Board members wrote. "Mr. Lundgren's motive for killing this particular family involved financial gain, an increase in power over the lives of others, as well as the exploitation and manipulation of the fears and beliefs of others."
At Lundgren's clemency hearing last week, the board was clearly unswayed by attorney Henry Hilow's claim that Lundgren, 56, received a "deific decree" -- an order from God -- to commit the murders.
Even psychologist Sandra Mack -- the only board member who has voted more than twice to grant clemency since Ohio reinstituted capital punishment -- told Hilow she thought Lundgren was motivated more by greed than God. Mack has recommended clemency in four of the 25 capital cases she has heard.
The board's report contains excerpts from a one hour and 40 minute interview that board member Kathleen Kovach did with Lundgren at the Ohio State Penitentiary on Sept. 20.
The excerpts quote Lundgren as saying he grew up in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, where he learned that "love equals justice."
"Mr. Lundgren shared that he thought that the 'end of time was near' and that he had to build a city where he and his followers would dwell together, have a place of refuge and escape the enemy," the report says. It says he "compared himself to Moses and stated that the Lord communicated to him '. . . to go and get the sacred records,' " which led him from Missouri to the Kirtland Temple.
Lundgren told Kovach that he was "commanded by God" to kill Dennis, 49, and Cheryl Avery, 46, and their daughters Trina, 15, Becky, 13, and Karen, 7, but that he has found "redeeming love" on death row.
Lundgren's wife, Alice, 55, is serving 150 years to life for the murders. But Lundgren - who took multiple wives - told Kovach that his second wife, Kathryn Johnson, and their 16-year-old daughter constitute his sole support system. He said they visit him from Missouri every 12 to 14 months.
Johnson, a former cult member who served one year in prison for obstructing justice, was previously married to cult member Larry Johnson. Authorities arrested Lundgren in 1990 in California after Larry Johnson tipped them to the April 1989 murders.