Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 14, 1994 TAG: 9410140086
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: GENEVA LENGTH: Medium
Swiss police said Thursday that the body of Luc Jouret, the guru of the Order of the Solar Temple cult, was among the charred corpses found in an Alpine chalet last week.
The identification ended the international hunt for the 46-year-old Belgian homeopath. It also dimmed hopes of uncovering the reason behind the deaths of five cult members in Canada and 48 others in Switzerland.
Did Jouret - who was obsessed with the end of the world - lead them into suicide? Or did murder play a bigger role?
Chief pathologist Thomas Krompecher said Jouret's body - like others found in two chalets - bore no trace of bullet holes. By contrast, many of the victims found in a Swiss farmhouse had multiple shot wounds. Three of the dead in Canada were stabbed.
There are no witnesses to the tragedy. The cult's mastermind, Joseph di Mambro, its treasurer and Canadian branch leader are dead.
Even Patrick Vuarnet, who mailed suicide-type documents to the media and French interior minister the day after the Oct. 4 fires, said he was baffled.
``They obviously discussed it among themselves a lot before the hour arrived,'' he told the French weekly L'Express newspaper. ``But it seems something went wrong, and I don't know why.'' He is the son of one of France's best-known skiers.
Vuarnet said he did not know why he and his mother, Edith, both cult members, had not been summoned to the chalets in Granges-sur-Salvan.
Twenty-five people died in the chalets, another 23 in a farmhouse in the village of Cheiry, and five in an apartment owned by di Mambro north of Montreal. All the buildings were set ablaze by timed, self-igniting devices.
About 15 bodies still have to be identified as they are burned beyond recognition. Jouret was identified by his dental records.
Vuarnet's lawyer, Dominique Warluzel, said di Mambro had handed over the suicide documents a few hours before the fires with orders to mail them the following day.
He told France 2 television that Vuarnet was unaware of the contents of the documents and had voluntarily gone to police last Monday to give evidence.
Swiss police said Vuarnet was taken into custody Wednesday and released without charges Thursday.
The documents Vuarnet posted to organizations, including The Associated Press, are now regarded as the cult's will.
``Thus with a clear mind we do leave this Earth for a dimension of truth and perfection,'' one extract said. ``There, away from obstruction, hypocrisy and hostility, we shall give birth to the seed of our future creation.''
The documents accused justice and police authorities and the media of harassing the sect.
Vuarnet said in the magazine interview that Jouret told his followers there was nothing to fear from death.
Money and power might have played a role in the deaths. There reportedly was a split between Canadian and Swiss branches of the cult, and in-fighting between Jouret and di Mambro, who allegedly was involved in a multimillion-dollar money laundering and arms racket spanning Canada, Europe and Australia. Di Mambro wielded the power, but Jouret was the figurehead.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB