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Perhaps the last recruits, Yvonne McCurdy-Hill and her husband Steven, ran into the cult while online. But only after they had passed a face-to-face interview did Do ask the Cincinnati, Ohio, couple to "put their affairs in order." Says Steven Hill's mother Eartha: "They were told to get rid of all their debts, even parking tickets. Do didn't want anybody coming after them for something like that." Hill left the cult by November. Says his mother: "He just didn't buy into the grandiosity of the thing, but that's exactly what got his wife."
Yvonne was with the group as they went on what appears to have been a last fling in February and March, touring Sea World, gambling in Las Vegas (they spent $1,900 for the spree, leaving a final tally of $12,183.21 in their meticulously kept books). One of the exit statements posted on the Web last week explained that the last days of touring helped members "re-examine if there's anything that might hold any attraction for any individual...[Those] things...now seem such a waste of time." Soon the time was right: Hale-Bopp was in sight, and on March 20, 1997, UFO enthusiasts noted heightened activity in Arizona. The suicides began on March 22.
In the aftermath, a sense of devotion is evident even among disciples who have fallen from the faith. Says Althuiszes: "Ti and Do were not some kooky New Agers. They heard voices. They were controlled." As for Sawyer, he still believes Do and Ti's religion "makes the most sense of anything else I've heard." Of his dead compatriots, he says, "I think they're outside their bodies. I believe that 100%. I suspect they might be on a spacecraft somewhere."
There has been one copycat suicide in California, apparently by a nonmember, a sobering presage to the cult's Web invitation posted soon after: "During a brief window of time, some may wish to follow us...If you should choose to do this, logistically, it is preferred that you make this exit somewhere in the area of the West or Southwest of the United States...You must call on the name of Ti and Do to assist you...We suggest that anyone serious about considering this go into their most quiet place and ask, scream, with all their being." Enough noise perhaps to wake the dead.
--Reported by Cathy Booth/Los Angeles, James L. Graff/Cincinnati, Richard N. Ostling/Mahopac, Noah Robischon/New York and Richard Woodbury/Denver