25 YEARS AFTER THE HEAVEN’S GATE TRAGEDY

Twenty-five years ago sheriff ’s deputies responded to an anonymous 911 call reporting a mass suicide in a Rancho Santa Fe mansion.

In all, 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate cult were found dead.

The cult members had poisoned themselves in an elaborate ritual carried out over several days. They left documentation indicating they had systematically planned their deaths for months, even years. They left behind videotapes that said they were shedding their bodies, which they referred to as “containers,” in order to board a spaceship traveling behind the Hale-bopp comet.

From The San Diego Union-tribune, Thursday, March 27, 1997:

MANSION OF DEATH YIELDS 39 BODIES

By Ruth L. Mckinnie, Staff Writer

RANCHO SANTA FE — At least 39 members of a religious group, who referred to themselves as angels, were found dead yesterday inside a rented million-dollar-plus estate.

Sheriff’s investigators, who began searching the house only late last night, said the deaths appeared to be a mass suicide. If so, it would be one of the largest such incidents in U.S. history.

The men and women, many between the ages of 18 and 24 but some older, had been dead at least three days, authorities said.

The bodies were found by a sheriff’s deputy sent to the house just after 4 p.m. yesterday in response to an anonymous caller’s tip to check on the welfare of the people inside the secluded house on Colina Norte. A similar call was received by Beverly Hills police and routed to San Diego sheriff’s officers.

The first deputy to enter the home found several bodies and stopped counting at 10. He left the house and waited until another deputy arrived. Together they counted 39 bodies.

The dead were scattered throughout the rambling two-story house, sheriff’s officials said. Some were on their backs on the floor with their hands at their sides, while others were lying on cots or mattresses. Sources said all but two had their heads and shoulders draped with purple, silky scarves, with one corner on the forehead and two corners on the shoulders.

There were no survivors.

Initially investigators thought all of the dead were young men, but they revised that report early this morning.

“They were all in a prone position on their back with their arms at their sides,” said sheriff’s Cmdr. Alan Fulmer. “All appeared as if they’d fallen asleep.”

All the dead were wearing dark trousers, sneakers and light-colored shirts. There were no obvious signs of injury on any of the bodies, and there was no sign of a struggle inside the house, he said.

“This is the worst (crime scene) in terms of the numbers of people in one place at one time that I’ve ever seen,” Fulmer said.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” said veteran homicide Detective Lt. Jerry Lipscomb.

There were many computers inside the house. One computer monitor was on with a note indicating that it should not be turned off.

“I’ll bet that’s their suicide note,” a law enforcement source said.

An attorney for the businessman who owns the home said it had been rented in October to a religious group he knew by the name of WW Higher Source. Others said the men designed pages for the World Wide Web.

Realtors said the home’s owner, Sam Koutchesfahani, rented it for $10,000 a month after unsuccessfully trying to sell it for $1.595 million.

The renters “referred to themselves as angels,” said Milton Silverman, Koutchesfahani’s attorney. “They didn’t drink, they didn’t smoke, (they) were celibate . . . .

“They believed they were sent to Earth as angels,” he added. “They met in Middle America, U.S.A.” Silverman said there are affiliates or chapters of their group in New Mexico and Arizona.

Sheriff Bill Kolender, Undersheriff Jack Drown and Gov. Pete Wilson were said to be on their way to the mansion from out of town last night.