KIRTLAND, Ohio —

The night after he murdered the Avery family, Jeff Lundgren gathered his group of followers and chose exile. They landed in rural West Virginia, a place Jeff felt called to, and a place he claimed God would appear.

“The idea was that we would go into the wilderness so that we could remove ourselves from the rest of the world,” explained Kraft. “God would feel comfortable to come down and live among us.”

But even Jeff’s most devout followers struggled with the way they lived. Tents and cold conditions were tough enough, but life with Jeff himself was the biggest challenge.

“It was an expression of labor for godliness, and that just takes all the damn fun out of it,” said Damon Lundgren, detailing the group’s way of life in West Virginia and how his father started to wea

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