3 Suspects in Ohio Slayings to Be Extradited

A San Diego judge Tuesday ordered three people, including a reputed cult leader, returned to Ohio to face charges in the slaying of a five-member family.

Municipal Court Judge Terry J. Knoepp ordered the extradition for reputed cult leader Jeffrey Lundgren and two followers, Kathryn Johnson and Daniel Kraft. The three are among 13 people indicted in Lake County, Ohio, in the slayings of Dennis and Cheryl Avery and their three daughters.

The three had been fighting extradition since their arrests in January in National City. Ohio authorities now have 10 days to return them to Ohio.

Defense attorneys had filed legal challenges to the extradition, but an appeals court denied those challenges last week. An attorney for Lundgren filed another petition with the California Supreme Court, but it had not issued a ruling before the hearing this morning.

Lundgren’s extradition would be postponed if the high court issues a stay to the extradition.

Deputy District Attorney John Hewicker said he would call Lake County, Ohio, authorities Tuesday to tell them about the extradition order.

Lundgren and Johnson, who is 7 1/2 months pregnant, held hands during the 15-minute hearing.

Lundgren’s 19-year-old son, Damon, who also was arrested earlier this year in San Diego, was returned to Ohio last week after his legal challenges to the extradition failed.

Jeffrey Lundgren, 39; his wife, Alice, 38; and Damon Lundgren, were arrested in a National City motel room on Jan. 7. Kraft, 26, of Nauvoo, Ill., and Johnson, 36, of Holden, Mo., were arrested Jan. 10 in rural San Diego County.

Alice Lundgren waived extradition shortly after her arrest and was returned to Ohio.

Jeffrey Lundgren is a defrocked lay minister of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was ousted for radical teachings and then formed the sect.

The bodies of the Avery family were found in early January in a barn on their farm near Kirtland, Ohio. They were last seen in April 1989.