From ............. Associated Press

November 18, 1994

TORONTO (AP) -- Police wrapped up their investigation of the Solar Temple cult deaths in Canada on Friday, concluding two were suicides and three were ritual murders -- including the repeated stabbing in the heart of an infant believed to be the Antichrist.

In all, 53 people connected to the mysterious Solar Temple doomsday cult died in a mass suicide-murder last month. On Oct. 5, authorities discovered 48 charred corpses in two burned-out Alpine chalets and a farmhouse in two remote Swiss villages.

Another five were found in a chalet in Morin Heights, Quebec, north of Montreal. The buildings were set on fire by timed, self-igniting devices.

Michel Brunet of the Quebec provincial police said investigators believe the entire mass killing was to have taken place in Canada last year, but plans changed when police conducted several raids.

"We are pretty sure we saved many, many lives because between 40 and 80 members quit the Temple after that," Brunet said.

Lt. Richard St. Denis, a police analyst who studied the philosophy of the Solar Temple and interviewed former members, said many of those who died believed they had to suffer a fiery death to be reborn on another planet.

Swiss police also believe money and power might have played a role in the deaths. They say there was a split between the Canadian and Swiss branches of the cult and in-fighting between cult leader Luc Jouret and Joseph di Mambro, thought to have been the true power behind the Solar Temple.

St. Denis told a news conference in Montreal that Di Mambro, who helped found the organization more than two decades ago, lost interest in the spiritual element and concentrated on the group's finances, according to the Canadian Press news agency. Both men died in the fires in Switzerland.

Cult members who died in Canada included Antonio Dutoit, a Swiss citizen, his British-born wife Nicky Robinson Dutoit and their 3-month-old son Christopher Emmanuel. They were all murdered, according to police.

Brunet said Dutoit had been stabbed 50 times. Mrs. Dutoit was stabbed 14 times, eight in the back, four in the throat and once in each breast, which police said had ritual significance in the cult because she used the breasts to feed the supposed Antichrist child.

The baby had only six external stab wounds but 20 or 21 internal ones, according to the autopsy. Brunet said that means the killer twisted the knife around inside the baby's body to insure the heart was pierced several times.

Quebec police believe two of the cult members who died in the Swiss fires killed the Dutoits.

The other two victims in Quebec were Jerry and Colette Genoud, Swiss citizens who lived in Morin Heights. Authorities said they committed suicide.

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