Last 2 Cultists Sought in Deaths Seized on Road Near San Diego

The two remaining members of a religious cult sought in the ritualistic slayings of an Ohio family of five were arrested Wednesday in central San Diego County, authorities said.

Kathryn Renee Johnson, 36, and Daniel David Kraft, 25, were stopped by local and state authorities as they drove north on a remote highway near Julian, according to April Freud, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Johnson and Kraft were the last of 13 cult members to be arrested in connection with the killings of Dennis and Cheryl Avery and their three young daughters at a farm near Kirtland, Ohio. The cult’s leader, Jeffrey D. Lundgren, his wife, Alice, and 19-year-old son, Damon, were arrested Sunday in National City, where they had been living in a motel.

The bodies of the Averys--Dennis, 49; his wife, Cheryl, 42, and their daughters, Trina, 13; Rebecca, 9, and Karen, 5--were found last week buried in a barn. The faces of all five were bound with duct tape, and each had been shot at least twice. It is believed they were slain in April.

The discovery of the bodies launched a national manhunt for the 13 cult members indicted for the murders. Eight of the cult members were arrested late last week in the Midwest. And since Sunday, when the Lundgren family was captured, law enforcement officials focused their search for the two remaining fugitives--Johnson and Kraft--on the San Diego area.

Authorities had said they believed the pair were driving a blue Nissan pickup truck with a camper shell. And it was that vehicle that caught the eye of Lt. Jim Simms, a San Diego County sheriff’s deputy. About 2 p.m., Simms spotted Johnson and Kraft as they drove north in the pickup on California 79, according to Officer Jerry Barber of the California Highway Patrol.

Simms, driving an unmarked car, decided a car with sirens and flashing lights was better equipped to stop the suspects, so he radioed for help, Barber said. California Highway Patrolman Harry Jones overheard the request on his police scanner as he headed south on California 79, and soon saw the suspects coming toward him, with Simms following, Barber said.

Jones made a U-turn and pulled behind Simms’ car. Two officers then pulled the pickup over and arrested Johnson and Kraft, Barber said

The law enforcement net had begun tightening around Johnson and Kraft on Tuesday, when federal agents tracked them to a downtown Chula Vista hotel. Federal Agent Jim Stathes said investigators staked out the motel on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“We had the place under observation, thinking they might come back. Their stay expired on Sunday, but they never returned,” Stathes said.

Inside the hotel room, agents on Wednesday found two high-powered rifles, Stathes said. Religious books, clothing and camping gear were also found.