For 17 years, the white barn in Kirtland Hills held the final moments of the Avery family.
Children's books owned by little Karen Avery were left in the dirt. A mound of heavy mud piled by the Avery family's first grave remained untouched.
The main support beam of the infamous Kirtland Hills barn gave way with a sharp crack, Tuesday, as the New Promise Church tore down the barn to make way for construction at the site, Deborah Setliff, spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Bainbridge, said.
"I got this call that they were demolishing the old Kirtland barn, and I went over to see it for myself," Setliff said. "I guess we are all just a little unsettled by it," she said.
Setliff said workers at site confirmed the construction of a new church.
The Averys — Dennis Avery, 49; his wife, Cheryl, 46; and their daughters, Trina, 15, Rebecca, 13, and Karen, 7 — were executed by cult leader Jeffrey Lundgren in 1989 and buried in a muddy hole in the barn. Lundgren himself was executed for the murders Oct. 24, 2006, at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.
In 1989, Lundgren headed a small cult, preaching altered Mormon scriptures. His followers believed Lundgren was a prophet of Jesus Christ and their faith in him would lead them to eternal glory at Christ's second coming, which they believed to be near.
To illustrate his power and his devotion to God's will, Lundgren accepted the Averys' savings and credit cards, fed them a "last supper" and led the family into a Kirtland barn, where he bound, shot and buried them together, according to Lake County Common Pleas Court testimony given during Lundgren's trial. LaTourette was the Lake County prosecutor at the time of the murders, and he remembers that rainy day when he watched police officers pull little Karen Avery's body from her family's makeshift grave.
"My heart is not healed by Jeffrey Lundgren's death," LaTourette said last year. "I will carry what I saw in that barn with me until I die," he said.
Setliff said she isn't sure what the church plans to do with the land.
"I guess it is just ironic that a church would go in there," she said.
Church executive committee member Jim Arnold neither confirmed nor denied the church's ownership or plans for the Kirtland barn land, referring all questions to Pastor Dale Diggs. Arnold also declined to comment on the church's religious affiliation.
Diggs did not return several calls for comment Tuesday.
The New Promise Church's Website newpromisechurch.us invites guests to its location at 7789 Russellhurst Drive in Kirtland. It promises "a casual atmosphere, friendly people, messages relevant to your daily life and activities for children."
New Promise Church was founded in April, according to the Web site.
