CHAPTER 14

Jim Doop, who buried Gary Dunhoff, told me how he died, as did Del Duncan, and John Desmond gave the same account to the Indianapolis Star. Dunhoff came out of Doop's fellowship in Mill Valley, and was in the Corps with Doop in 1974-75, as was Desmond. The Corps was on the infamous "colon cleanse," a mandatory three-week diet that involved one week of consuming only water mixed with a volcanic ash solution while taking laxatives and vitamins. In the second and third week, food was gradually reintroduced. The aim was to clean out the colon, for which enemas were also used.

Desmond told the Star that Dunhoff got tired of the colon cleanse and drove into St. Marys to buy a bag of cookies. Doop said Dunhoff and another member, John Nave, went into town for another reason and did pick up a bag of cookies, but he called it "a very spontaneous thing." On their way back, their car was struck by a woman driving 40 miles an hour.

"Gary was in intensive care for 12 days, and my wife and I had to take care of his mom and dad while they were there," said Doop. "We were with them round the clock."

Back at Headquarters, said Desmond, "We were told that we were going to pray this guy out of the hospital because we were spiritual macho men. Dr. Wierwille really believed and had us believing that no one could die while in the Way Corps."

Dunhoff died anyway. Wierwille called a meeting to announce his death. Then, said Desmond, Wierwille told everyone who had cheated on the colon cleanse to raise their hands. Then he told everyone who knew about the cheating to raise their hands. Everyone with a hand in the air, he said, was directly responsible for Gary Dunhoff's death.

"You were taught to follow the leader, right or wrong," said Desmond. "After that God show, if you didn't believe it before, you did at that point."

Doop said they buried Gary in the woods at Headquarters. "Probably the most devilish thing that came out of it was that John Nave was completely ostracized by Wierwille, treated very, very poorly," said Doop. "He never got off his back. John did everything he possibly could to redeem himself."

Del Duncan was in Wierwille's office when John Nave came to talk to him, seeking forgiveness more than a year after Gary's death. "And as he walked in the door, these are the exact words that Wierwille used: 'Well, how's the murderer of Gary Dunhoff doing today?' And John never got over that. It's been a scar in his life ever since. He's still a very damaged man from that."

I showed Duncan the "Death List," asking if he knew anyone on it besides Gary, and he said yes when he came to the following:

1974 - Dead - Sandra Ann Sullivan - committed suicide one month after becoming a secretary at Way Hdq. in New Knoxville, Ohio.

Del said she had been sexually involved with Wierwille. "She had already been involved before she became a secretary, with Wierwille and Howard Allen, and the impact on her was so great that she took her life," he said. "I talked to her and counseled with her a little bit, and also went before the Board of Trustees on it to try to get some reckoning about what this girl was going through, and others, but it was to no avail."

© Karl Kahler 1999