Kirtland cult murders: The detective who never forgot what he saw in the barn

Kirtland, Ohio — Ron Walters remembers it all, clear as day: the red barn, the mud and what was buried inside.

More than 35 years ago, an urgent call in the middle of the night sent Walters, then a young detective with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, to that barn. It changed him.

“As we were exhuming the bodies, water kept filling up in the grave, and it was almost like you were standing in muck,” Walters said.

Digging for the Avery family

Walters can still picture the boxes stacked up inside the barn, the path that led investigators to a mass grave, and the slow, methodical process to make sure they didn’t miss a single piece of evidence.

We asked him if investigators knew at the time they were looking for the Avery family.

“We suspected there were five of them,” Walters said. “And it would appear that they were let out to the barn one at a time, executed, shoved in the grave and lime dumped on them.”

The victims were Dennis and Cheryl Avery and their daughters: 15-year-old Trina, 13-year-old Rebecca and 7-year-old Karen.

“It’s sombering,” Walters said. “I know when I went home, I stripped down in my garage and left all my clothes, boots, everything in the garage, and ended up burning them. But you think about those kinds of things once in a while. As you’re exhuming bodies and you’ve got kids that age, it just makes you want [justice] for them even more.”

Keeping the victims in mind

The experience deepened Walters’ resolve to get justice for the Avery family.

“You always keep the victims in your mind, but you’re always thinking, how do I prove this case?” Walters said.

Jeffrey Lundgren, his wife Alice, his son Damon and 10 others were arrested in connection with the murders.

Walters once spoke with Lundgren face to face. He said Lundgren’s demeanor never changed.

“I could see how people could fall for his rhetoric or his preachings, whatever you want to call it,” Walters said. “He was very persuasive in his conversation. He 100% in my opinion believed what he was saying is factual.”

Still serving Lake County

Walters still serves Lake County today as the police chief in North Perry.

It’s a case he will never forget. He said he fears the power of dangerous cults like Lundgren’s can’t always be prevented.

“I’m sure there’s other people out there just like Jeffrey Lundgren,” Walters said. “They have their strong beliefs. They are very convincing in what they say and do. I’m sure it can happen again. I don’t know how you ever even prevent it.”

Jeffrey Lundgren was executed in 2006, 20 years ago this month. Walters believes his followers got the sentences they deserved.