Twenty-six years ago this Friday, Ronald Luff, the former right-hand man of self-appointed prophet and cult leader Jeffrey Don Lundgren, assisted in the systematic execution of an entire family in Kirtland, Ohio.
"[I saw] their deaths as not only justified, but mandated by God," Luff told The Huffington Post from inside the Allen Correctional Institution in Lima, Ohio.
Luff was 29 years old on April 17, 1989 -- the day Lundgren chose for the execution date of his followers Dennis Avery, 49, Dennis' wife Cheryl, 41, and the couple's three children, Trina, 15, Rebecca, 13, and 7-year-old Karen.
Lundgren told his followers that "the end of days" was approaching. Unbeknownst to the Averys, Lundgren had promised his other followers salvation from Armageddon if they sacrificed the Avery family.
Luff, who remembers the Avery family today as "truly good people against whom I never desired any harm," played a key role in each of the executions.
At 6:30 that April evening, Lundgren met with Luff and several other followers inside a barn next to a farmhouse they had rented in Kirtland.
Kirtland Cult Killings Were 'Mandated By God,' Former Member Says
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