More Members of Doomsday Cult in Danger, Expert Believes

The doomsday cult disciples who died last month in a murder-suicide witnessed a similar ritual killing in 1994, according to a cult expert who believes other witnesses are in danger.

Jean-Luc Chaumeil, an expert on the shadowy Order of the Solar Temple cult, said in a newspaper interview published Sunday that nine witnesses to the 1994 killings in Switzerland are still alive--and in danger of being abducted or murdered.

Under Chaumeil’s advice, French and Swiss police have expanded their probe into the recent deaths and are collaborating on a search for former Solar Temple followers to offer them protection.

“The people who died [last month] were all witnesses to the Swiss massacres,” Chaumeil told the respected newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche. “I think they were kidnapped and murdered. Nine others remain who, to my knowledge, are still alive, and I have informed the authorities.”

On Dec. 23, the charred bodies of 16 cult followers were discovered in an Alpine forest in southeastern France. The deaths looked at first like a case of murder-suicide, but mounting evidence suggests they may not have been voluntary.

One of the victims, Patrick Vuarnet--a son of Olympic ski champion and entrepreneur Jean Vuarnet--had told the French magazine L’Express in 1994 that he feared he would be among the next to die.