Time: Thu Mar 27 04:15:54 1997 by primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id MAA10743 for [address in tool bar]; Thu, 27 Mar 1997 12:08:00 -0700 (MST) Delivered-To: liberty-and-justice-outgoing@majordomo.pobox.com Date: Thu, 27 Mar 1997 04:13:59 -0800 To: liberty-and-justice@pobox.com From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: L&J: Hmmmm, Hale Bopp's first victims? Sorry. I don't think so. ;-( /s/ Paul Mitchell At 01:32 PM 3/27/97 -0500, you wrote: > >-> SearchNet's SNETNEWS Mailing List > > > >Mass Suicide Linked to Comet >A California computer-cult whose members produced Internet sites died in a >mass suicide. They may have timed their deaths to rendezvous with a UFO >they believed was traveling behind the Hale-Bopp comet, a source said >today. Thirty-nine bodies were found. >======== >39 Cult Members May Have Timed Suicide With Comet > The mysterious computer-cult whose members died in a mass suicide left >a videotape announcing their plans and may have timed their deaths to the >approach of the Hale-Bopp comet, a source said. The 39 men and women sent a >farewell videotape to a former member and died in their rented California >mansion, lying in apparent peace on their backs, each covered across the >face and chest with a triangular shroud of purple cloth. Full Story >======== >RANCHO SANTA FE, Calif. (AP) -- The mysterious computer-cult whose members >died in a mass suicide left videotapes announcing their plans and may have >timed their deaths to the approach of the Hale-Bopp comet, an associate of >a former member said today. The 39 men and women dressed in black, wore >their hair in buzz cuts and lived -- dozens of them -- in an antiseptic, >million-dollar mansion stocked with bulk food and computer hardware used to >create Internet sites. They sent a farewell videotape to a former member >and died in the same mansion, lying in apparent peace on their backs, arms >at their sides, each covered across the face and chest with a triangular >shroud of purple cloth. Sheriff's deputies who went to the Spanish-style >mansion on a tip Wednesday found the victims of one of the biggest mass >suicides in U.S. history. Other than the bodies, they found little but >mystery. ``There's no gunshot wounds, there's no knife holes in anybody,'' >said San Diego County Sheriff's Cmdr. Alan Fulmer. ``Nothing to my >knowledge has been found in the way of poison.'' The home apparently was >the center of a thriving business designing Web pages for businesses that >want a presence on the Internet. Customers of the company called Higher >Source described the home's occupants as cultlike and clannish, but >businesslike and proficient. Nick Matzorkis, a Beverly Hills businessman >who employs a former member of the Higher Source group, said today that >members sent the employee -- whom he identified only as Rio -- two >videotapes this week that described their intentions. He told NBC's >``Today'' show that it was his understanding that they died Monday and used >sleeping pills to kill themselves. Members believed it was time to ``shed >their containers,'' perhaps to rendezvous with a UFO they believed was >traveling behind the Hale-Bopp comet, Matzorkis said. The comet is >currently visible from Earth. > > Rio received the videotapes by mail Tuesday >evening, Matzorkis said, and Rio discussed them with Matzorkis on Wednesday. > One video was of the group's elderly male >leader, he said. The other contained each member's taped farewells. > Matzorkis told ABC's ``Good Morning America'' >that they went to the house and Rio went in and found the bodies. > ``When he came out he was as white as a sheet. >... At that point no one else in the world essentially knew this had taken >place,'' > Matzorkis told ABC. He said they then notified >police. > A Website that ``Today'' said was apparently >designed by Higher Source described the group's desire to leave Earth and > rendezvous with a spaceship behind the >Hale-Bopp comet. > ``The joy is that our Older Member in the >Evolutionary Level above human (the `Kingdom of Heaven') has made it clear >to us > that Hale-Bopp's approach is the `marker' we've >been waiting for. ... Our 22 years of classroom here on planet Earth is >finally > coming to conclusion -- `graduation' from the >Human Evolutionary Level. We are happily prepared to leave `this world' and go > with Ti's crew,'' the Heaven's Gate Website >reads. > However, there was no information on the >Heaven's Gate Website that connected it to the Higher Source group. There is a > separate Website under the Higher Source name. >The Heaven's Gate Website said suicide was unacceptable for people who > were not part of the group but was an >acceptable way for members to ascend to a higher level of life. > Overnight, investigators searched the house and >refrigerated vans from the coroner's office stood by. One of the vans, >which is > capable of holding 20 bodies, pulled away from >the home about 5:15 a.m. and arrived at the morgue in San Diego an hour and > a half later. Authorities would not immediately >confirm whether there were bodies in it. > Members of the cult told the landlord, Sam >Koutchesfahani, that they were sent to Earth as angels and met in ``middle > America,'' Milt Silverman, Koutchesfahani's >attorney, told San Diego radio station KFMB. > Members also said the group has branches in >Arizona and New Mexico, Silverman said. He didn't elaborate. In Santa Fe, > N.M., police Sgt. Jerry Archuleta said one car >parked outside the house was registered to a mailbox there, and authorities > knew of no cult branch there. > Silverman told CBS' ``This Morning'' that the >group had previously rented from a couple who were doctors and came with > good references. ``They seemed to be perfectly >reasonable people, always paid their rent on time,'' he said. > Tom Goodspeed, director of the San Diego Polo >Club, said Higher Source designed a Web page for the club. He visited the > house and described quiet men with buzz-cut >hair and stylish, collarless black shirts. > ``They had that look about them that maybe they >were a little bit strange of appearance, but that they could probably sit down > in front of a computer and really get it >done,'' Goodspeed told ABC's ``Nightline.'' ``They did a fantastic job for >us.'' > Goodspeed was one of several visitors who >thought of Higher Source as a cult. He and others said the group appeared to > answer to an older man known as ``Father >John,'' and that a ``Brother Logan'' appeared to be a second in command. > Bill Grivas of nearby Solana Beach said he >looked at the home as a potential buyer and heard them referring to >themselves as > monks. > The Higher Source Website is adorned with >pictures of stars and nebulae, but appears largely a straightforward >business site, > touting the company's abilities and listing >satisfied customers. > ``The individuals at the core of our group have >worked closely together for over 20 years,'' boasts one entry on the site. >``We > try to stay positive in every circumstance and >put the good of a project above any personal concerns or artistic egos.'' > The age of the victims and the neighborhood in >which it took place fit the profile of modern cult activity, said Ronald E. >Enroth, > a professor at Westmont College in Santa >Barbara, Calif., and a leading expert on new religious movements. > The case began Wednesday with a pair of >anonymous calls -- one to the San Diego Sheriff's Department and one somewhat > later to Beverly Hills police. Both suggested >checking the house in this wealthy enclave of walled estates and polo >fields in the > rolling hills 20 miles north of San Diego. > A deputy made his way up the steep, gated >drive, went in an open door and found 10 bodies in a room. More deputies >arrived, > wearing surgical masks against the putrid odor >of decaying bodies. > Fulmer said at first that all 39 victims were >male between 18 and 24. He later said some were women and some were older, but > was unable to provide further detail. > The smell was so bad that officers at first >thought it might be poison gas. Later, Fulmer said it was the smell of >death, bad > enough to indicate the victims had been dead >for some time. > There were no marks on the bodies and no >suicide notes, Fulmer said. The bodies were lying on cots and bunks >throughout the > house, each with a 3-foot triangular purple >cloth lying over the face and chest. > Investigators discovered that the home had been >rented in October. The nine-bedroom, seven-bathroom house sits on 3.11 > acres with a swimming pool and tennis court. It >was valued at $1.325 million in 1995. > In Washington today, Attorney General Janet >Reno said there was no immediate indication that a federal crime had been > committed, but the FBI was monitoring the >situation and was ready to help local authorities if needed. > Koutchesfahani, the landlord, pleaded guilty >last year to tax evasion and fraud after admitting he took up to $350,000 from > Middle Eastern students between 1989 and 1995. > Prosecutors said Koutchesfahani used the money >to bribe college instructors at three San Diego-area colleges into illegally > enrolling students into the schools and >certifying them as California residents. > On April 19, 1993, Branch Davidian leader David >Koresh and 80 followers -- including 18 children -- died by fire or gunfire, > six hours after the FBI started filling their >cult compound near Waco, Texas, with tear gas. The government called the >deaths a > mass suicide after a 51-day armed standoff. > > > > >-> Send "subscribe snetnews " to majordomo@world.std.com >-> Posted by: Galactic Research <cleo@athena.gmu.edu> > >=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= >Unsub info - send e-mail to majordomo@majordomo.pobox.com, with >"unsubscribe liberty-and-justice" in the body (not the subject) >Liberty-and-Justice list-owner is Mike Goldman <whig@pobox.com> > > ======================================================================== Paul Andrew, Mitchell, B.A., M.S. : Counselor at Law, federal witness email: [address in tool bar] : Eudora Pro 3.0.1 on Intel 586 CPU web site: http://www.supremelaw.com : library & law school registration ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech, at its best Tucson, Arizona state : state zone, not the federal zone Postal Zone 85719/tdc : USPS delays first class w/o this ======================================================================== =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Unsub info - send e-mail to majordomo@majordomo.pobox.com, with "unsubscribe liberty-and-justice" in the body (not the subject) Liberty-and-Justice list-owner is Mike Goldman <whig@pobox.com>
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