Thirteen former members of a religious commune have been charged with murder or conspiracy after the bodies of a family of five were found buried at an Ohio farm rented by the group's leader.
Seven of those charged were arrested in the Kansas City area by Friday afternoon, said George Rodriguez of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in Kansas City. Six others were being sought."Two of those arrested have confessed to their participation in the mass murders," Rodriguez said at a news conference. He said authorities have a motive but would not release it.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer, quoting unnamed police sources, said the five may have been killed as part of a religious sacrifice. Rodriguez said federal authorities would not comment on that report for fear of prejudicing juries.
No federal charges were filed in the case, and Rodriguez said the defendants will be extradited to Ohio to face state charges.
The bodies were found Wednesday night and Thursday at a farm near Kirtland, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland near Lake Erie.
The dead were identified tentatively as Dennis Avery, 49; his wife, Cheryl, 42; and their three daughters, Trina, 13; Rebecca, 9; and Karen, 5. Rodriguez said the family, originally from Independence, had lived off and on at Lundgren's farm in Ohio and were killed sometime in mid-April.
Rodriguez said the Averys were members of a splinter religious group led by Jeffrey Lundgren, a former lay minister of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which is based in Independence.
Authorities would not say how they had been killed.
Lundgren, 39, and his wife, Alice, 38, were among those charged and were being sought Friday. Lundgren was charged with five counts of aggravated murder, and his wife was charged with five counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder.
Dave True, a spokesman for the ATF in Kansas City, said Lundgren was thought to be somewhere in Missouri.
"At this time at least, we don't have anything that tells us there's bodies anywhere else," True said.
Rodriguez said the group following Lundgren consisted of 29 men, women and children, but some members, including the Avery family, came and went.
In addition to the Lundgrens, those charged but not in custody Friday were Kathryn Johnson, 36, Holden, five counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, and the Lundgrens' 19-year-old son, Damon, address unknown, five counts of aggravated murder; and two others whose names were not released.