User:PARAKANYAA/Sandbox6

On 22 March 1997, five members of the cult the Order of the Solar Temple (OTS) committed mass suicide, setting their house on fire with them inside. The dead included two couples, and one of their parents. The children of one of the couples had initially been included in the plans, but after the initial failure of the ignition devices, were allowed to leave.

This followed two prior mass suicides by the group in 1994 and 1995, which had eliminated the group's initial leadership. After the incident, the Solar Temple disintegrated.

Background
The Order of the Solar Temple was a cult active in several French-speaking countries

Luc Jouret Joseph Di Mambro

equinox

Chantal Quèze Didier Quèze

The Quèzes managed the bakery at the OTS's Saint-Anne-de-la-Pérade commune

Didier Quèze

Suzanne Druau, Chantal's mother, was not a member of the OTS, but was associated with the movement and lived in a way permissible to the group's beliefs.

Pauline Riou

Bruno Klaus (ex-husband of Rose-Marie Klaus)

Following the 1994 massacre, Klaus and Didier Quèze were distraught, viewing themselves as having been abandoned by Jouret.

Mass suicide
On 22 March 1997, an old farmhouse in Saint-Casimir, Quebec abruptly caught fire.

After a call from a neighbor, firefighters soon arrived, and after the fires diminished an hour later they were able to enter the home. At 7:35 p.m., they discovered four of the burnt bodies – two couples – found in the master bedroom on the second floor, arranged in a crucifix formation. Red rose petals were scattered throughout the room, and while searching the house police found a sword engraved with a woman's name ("Pauline Riou") and medieval-style clothing. Once the smoke cleared, another woman's body was found on the first floor at 8:05.

After officers arrived, three teenagers, the children of the Quèzes, came out of the shed in the garden, and were found by the chief fire officer who believed them to be possibly drugged. The teenagers were taken to be medically examined, and were found to have traces of benzodiazepine in their blood.

The fire had been set deliberately; three propane tanks had been detached from the detonation mechanism and were unaltered by the fire. In the debris, metal grills were discovered containing cloth drenched in flammable substances. The timers used in the detonation mechanism resembled those used for the fire set at Morin Heights. The attempt to burn the house down initially failed due to mechanical error. The teenagers had successfully convinced their parents that they wanted to live, and were then allowed to leave. As explained in a note that was found, the members had taken their own lives believing that their deaths would let them "transit" to another planet to continue living.

Investigation
Yvon Naud

Aftermath
Less than a week after the incident occurred the Heaven's Gate suicides, a group with similar beliefs, which lead to initial suspicions of a connection

Interviewed 15 years after the suicide, one of the three teenagers to have survived stated he did not blame his parents.