Jeffrey Don Lundgren (May 3, 1950 – October 24, 2006) was an American self-proclaimed prophet, cult leader, and mass murderer who, on April 17, 1989, killed a family of five in Kirtland, Ohio.

Lundgren led a Latter Day Saint movement-based cult and interpreted scripture using an unconventional method that he described as "chiastic", which involved searching text for recurring patterns.

He and several of his followers murdered the Avery family, fellow members of his cult, for which he was convicted and sentenced to death.

Lundgren enrolled at Central Missouri State University[2] and spent time at a house that was specially built for RLDS youth.

Prior to receiving an honorable discharge at the end of his first term of duty, he sought an early release arguing that his presence was necessary for the sustenance of his family.

People close to the couple claim that Lundgren seemed frustrated by the family's money problems and generally tired of his wife; he allegedly became abusive after the birth of his daughter.

Lundgren was asked to leave the Kirtland house around 1987, and his job as tour guide was terminated due to suspicions of theft.

Among these followers were Kevin Currie, Richard Brand, Greg Winship, Sharon Bluntschly, Daniel Kraft, and Debbie Olivarez.

While Lundgren was living at the farmhouse, he began to practice methods which were consistent with Robert Lifton's criteria for mind control.

Lundgren went back to his followers and called off the temple takeover, planned for May 3, because he had purportedly spoken to a higher power.

On October 10, 1988, the day that Lundgren was excommunicated from the RLDS Church, there was a thunderstorm at the south end of Kirtland.

Lundgren and his family soon abandoned the group, and he claimed he began to feel a call to teach the Bible in the way he understood it.

Avery, who had sold his Missouri house in order for his family to move to Ohio, believed in and trusted Lundgren.

On April 10, 1989, Lundgren ordered two of his followers to dig a pit in the barn in anticipation of burying the Averys' bodies there.

According to followers' admissions, Lundgren later went inside the barn with a church member named Ron Luff, luring Avery into a place where the other men awaited by asking him for help with equipment for the camping trip.

After this encounter he became paranoid about being caught and left Ohio with the rest of his cult, moving south to West Virginia.

As months went by and nothing happened, Lundgren became disillusioned, and he and his family moved to California, leaving the rest of the surviving cult members behind in West Virginia.

Nine months after the killings, on January 3, 1990, a tip from an informant led police back to the long-abandoned farm, where the five bodies of the Avery family were uncovered.

[4] The Lundgrens became fugitives, media attention increased, and police began to track the cult members, with the FBI joining in the manhunt.

Eventually, Lundgren's abandoned followers were found back east and they helped catch him and his family.

[8] Prosecutor Charles Coulson confirmed that the original plea agreements meant that the five were to be eligible for release "at the earliest possible time", but the Ohio State Parole Board had repeatedly denied earlier requests for parole by Richard Brand and Greg Winship (both were serving 15 years to life), as well as Sharon Bluntschly, Debbie Olivarez and Susan Luff (all were serving 7 to 25 years).

[9] The Ohio Supreme Court set October 24, 2006, as Lundgren's execution date, and according to the state attorney general's office, as of August 2006, he had exhausted his appeals.

[4] On October 17, 2006, Judge Gregory L. Frost issued an order temporarily delaying Lundgren's execution.

[11] The U.S. Supreme Court refused a last-minute request to stop his execution, and Governor Bob Taft also denied clemency.