Word: jouret
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Those were some of the mysteries that tantalized investigators on three continents last week as they continued to probe the deaths of 53 members of the Order of the Solar Temple, an apocalyptic religious cult, in Switzerland and Canada two weeks ago. One question was answered: Luc Jouret, 46, the spiritual leader of the cult, was among those whose bodies were found in three burned ski chalets in Granges-sur-Salvan, east of Geneva. Jouret's charred remains, along with those of co-leader Joseph di Mambro, 70, were identified from dental records. The finding ended an international manhunt...
...least five children were among the 53 who died in what Swiss and Canadian officials believe was mass murder followed by mass suicide. Jouret, a Belgian born in Zaire, and Di Mambro, a French Canadian, apparently were among the suicides. Twenty-five people died at Granges-sur-Salvan, 23 in a barn in the village of Cheiry and five in a chalet north of Montreal. The sites were set on fire with devices made from canisters of gasoline and butane and a phone- activated detonator...
Some 300 officials and organizations worldwide received packets from the Solar Temple, all mailed by cult member Patrick Vuarnet, the son of one of France's best-known skiers, on instructions from Jouret. Vuarnet, now in Swiss custody, was one of several well-connected converts to the Solar Temple, many of whom signed over their assets. Investigators suggested that the cult may have amassed as much as $93 million and that part of the money was used to support a posh life-style for Jouret and Di Mambro and to buy houses in Western Europe and Canada. Last week...
Swiss, French and Canadian officials also probed the possibility that Jouret < and Di Mambro had been involved in gunrunning or money-laundering schemes. Jouret had publicly urged followers to stockpile weapons to prepare for the end of the world and last year pleaded guilty in Canada to illegal arms possession. Canadian officials confirmed they were pursuing specific information implicating Di Mambro in money laundering, but they expressed skepticism at a report that Solar Temple leaders had purchased guns and other military equipment in Australia and resold the materiel in the Third World...
...away, in Granges-sur-Salvan, investigators found 25 additional bodies in three burned-out chalets. Many had bullet wounds indicative of point-blank execution. Almost simultaneously, Canadian authorities reported the death of five more suspected cult members near Montreal. Police are searching for the cult's two leaders, Luc Jouret, a Belgian homeopath who emigrated to Switzerland via Canada, and Joseph di Mambro, a French Canadian...