Print

Mail

wiki links

Sweat lodge mishap claims third victim

A woman who was hospitalized with damage to multiple organs after she was overcome in an Arizona sweat lodge ceremony died on Saturday, sheriff’s officials said.

The death of 49-year-old Liz Neuman brings the total number of deaths from the Oct. 8 incident at a resort near Sedona to three, Yavapai County sheriff’s spokesman Dwight D’Evelyn said.

Authorities are treating the deaths as homicides, but no charges have been filed.

Neuman, of Minnesota, was among more than 50 people crowded inside the sweat lodge run by self-help guru James Arthur Ray.

An emergency call two hours after they entered the lodge reported two people not breathing.

Twenty-one people were taken to area hospitals with illnesses ranging from dehydration to kidney failure. Kirby Brown, 38, and James Shore, 40, died upon arrival at a hospital.

Authorities haven’t determined what caused the deaths. Autopsy results on Brown and Shore are pending further testing.

The Reverend Meredith Ann Murray, who has completed all of Ray’s retreats, said Neuman was among Ray’s earliest followers and had attended dozens of his events.

Ray’s Web site says Neuman was the leader of the Minneapolis-area “Journey Expansion Team.” The teams, developed by Ray’s friends and followers, meet to exchange ideas on Ray’s principles, the Web site said.

Ray had rented the Angel Valley Retreat Center for his five-day “Spiritual Warrior” event that culminated in the sweat lodge ceremony. Participants paid between US$9,000 and US$10,000 to attend the retreat near Sedona.

Ray declined to be interviewed by the sheriff’s office on the night of the incident and Arizona authorities said he had not spoken to them as of Thursday.

In his first public appearance on Tuesday in Los Angeles, Ray told a crowd of about 200 that he has hired his own investigative team to determine what went wrong.

His spokesman, Howard Bragman, has said that Ray’s team and Ray’s attorney are cooperating with the sheriff’s investigators.

More than 100 people attended the funeral for Brown on Saturday at Holy Name of Jesus Church in Otisville, New York, the Times Herald-Record newspaper said.

Services for Shore were held late Saturday afternoon at the Hubbard Lodge in Milwaukee.
This story has been viewed 604 times.