U.S. Agents Say Cultists Aimed to Hide Out in National Forest : Crime: The leader and his followers were reportedly trained in survival techniques, and planned to leave the youngest children in safer hands.

Cult leader Jeffrey Lundgren and his wife had arranged for her mother to come to San Diego and pick up the couple’s three minor children so he and a remaining small group of followers could hide out in the Cleveland National Forest, federal investigators said Thursday.

Andy Vita, special agent in charge of the Los Angeles office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said that Lundgren’s wife, Alice, had asked her mother to come to San Diego from Missouri to retrieve the three younger children, ages 15, 10 and 9.

Apparently Lundgren had planned to take his wife, their 19-year-old son, Damon, and followers Kathryn R. Johnson and Daniel Kraft Jr. into the wilderness after the children were picked up, investigators said. Survivalist training was part of the group’s religious teachings.

The grandmother took custody of the children after Lundgren, his wife and older son were arrested Sunday in National City.

Vita said that Alice Lundgren’s parents, who were not identified, “cooperated with the investigation . . . and gave us some insight of the group and their beliefs.” He refused to say whether the grandparents were also cult members or whether they led investigators to the motel where the Lundgrens were arrested by agents from the bureau. He added that other group members “provided information about what was going on,” but he refused to elaborate.

Search warrant affidavits filed in El Cajon Municipal Court by Kansas City-based ATF agents allege that Lundgren is linked to at least one of the ritualistic slayings of a family of five in Kirtland, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. According to court documents, witnesses, presumably cult members, saw “one particular individual being shot” by Lundgren. The victim and witnesses were not identified.

Other cult members indicted in the killings admitted that they helped dispose of the bodies, the documents say. They also told agents that the graves had been dug in advance, and that Lundgren had told them of his participation in “those homicides,” the papers say.

The bodies of Dennis and Cheryl Avery and their three young daughters--ages 13, 9 and 5--were discovered last week under a barn in Kirtland, where the cult lived communally on a farm. Agents said the Averys, who were also cult members, were killed in a religious sacrifice.

Agent George Rodriguez in Kansas City said agents were led to the bodies of the family by an informant, who was told of the killings by a Missouri cult member. Agents interviewed the cult member, who told them where the bodies were buried, Rodriguez said. Neither the informant, who does not belong to the cult, nor the cult member has been charged in the killings, he said.

Johnson, 36, of Holden, Mo., and Kraft, 25, of Nauvoo, Ill., were arrested Wednesday on California 79, north of Santa Ysabel in rural East County. The pair had been the object of an intensive manhunt since Sunday, and are believed to have been living at a campsite near the Cleveland National Forest. They were the last two people out of 13 cult members, including the Lundgrens, who have been arrested in the killings.

Jeffrey Lundgren, 39, is a defrocked minister of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Investigators said he declared himself a “prophet” of his own religion and founded a cult with 29 members.

On Thursday, agents displayed an impressive arsenal of weapons and survivalist gear taken from members. Vita said a .45-caliber revolver owned by Lundgren and allegedly used in the killings was also recovered and was undergoing ballistic tests.

“The potential for violence was extreme,” Vita said, adding that agents were not prepared to deal with the firepower that was at the cult members’ disposal.

Also recovered was a purple vestment that Vita said was used by Lundgren in the group’s religious ceremonies. The garment has a white star resembling a Star of David, and an eagle in flight embroidered in red floss.

New details were released Wednesday about Lundgren’s arrest. Vita said that Lundgren was at a public telephone in National City calling Kraft, who was staying with Johnson at a Chula Vista motel, when he was arrested. Lundgren’s wife and son were taken into custody a few minutes later at the nearby Santa Fe Motel.

After Lundgren’s arrest, Johnson and Kraft fled, leaving several weapons, personal items and documents in their room. Investigators were called Tuesday by the motel manager, who said a maid had discovered the abandoned weapons.

Vita said that Johnson and Kraft rode a bus to San Diego from Missouri to reunite with Lundgren, who arrived here with his family in December. Investigators said that they are not sure when Johnson and Kraft arrived in San Diego, but that once here the Lundgrens gave the couple a pickup truck, which they were driving when arrested.

Vita said agents are still not sure why the cult members chose to come to San Diego. However, he said that Lundgren served here in the Navy 17 years ago.

Deputy Dist. Atty. John Hewicker said Thursday that Johnson and Kraft have refused to waive extradition to Ohio and will be arraigned in Municipal Court today. The Lundgrens were arraigned Tuesday and are also contesting extradition to Ohio.