NEW HARTFORD, N.Y. -- A new book from a Rochester journalist takes a deep dive into a New Hartford church whose members made international headlines after the beating death of a 19-year-old man and the brutal beating of his 17-year-old brother.

In October 2015, Lucas Leonard, 19, died after an hours-long beating inside a sanctuary of the Word of Life Christian Church in New Hartford. Assailants included his parents and half-sister, and was provoked by church leader Tiffanie Irwin, 29, according to prosecutors.

The case was covered by Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard, as well as media from around the world.

Leonard and his brother, Christopher, 17, were called into the sanctuary to answer accusations that they had molested children in the church. Those allegations and the church members’ conduct were detailed in a criminal trial that ended with multi-year convictions for the assailants and their leader, Irwin.

The book, “Without a Prayer: The Death of Lucas Leonard and How One Church Became a Cult,” was written by Susan Ashline. It explores the forces that led the Leonard boys into that that small sanctuary.

And it delves into the oppressive environment faced by church members who were constantly regarded with suspicion and forced to divulge their innermost thoughts and secrets as if they were sins.

The book also reveals a wild saga of the final days of the church’s founder, Jerry Irwin, and how church leader kept his illness and eventual death hidden from church members.

The 400-page book, which traces the church’s history and fills in portraits of each of its leaders, will be published on Tuesday.

The day the book publishes, Ashline will host a panel discussion 6 p.m. at the Barnes & Noble, 4811 Commercial Drive, New Hartford. She’ll be joined by a member of the Leonard family and law enforcement who investigated the case.

Ashline’s book is based on police reports and interviews with those close to the church and its members. She told Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard in an interview that the full story of the Word of Life Christian Church is much deeper than what played out in court.

“There were so many layers. It was the proverbial peeling the onion. Once I thought I had nailed down one interesting aspect, I would talk to someone else...,” she said. “The story kept getting deeper and more entangled every day.”

Rochester journalist Susan Ashline wrote a new book that takes a close look at the Word of Life Christian Church beatings.

The saga of Jerry Irwin’s body

Before Tiffanie Irwin took control of the Word of Life Christian Church and steered it toward the fatal encounter, her father, Jerry Irwin, had reign over the parishioners.

He guided the church from a bible study group in 1984 to an old schoolhouse in New Hartford where the beatings took place. Ashline’s book describes him as a tyrant who dictated whom church members should marry and other aspects of their lives.

After news broke of the beatings, information about Irwin’s death was difficult to come by. Ashline’s book reveals why that might have been, and it details a multi-state journey involving Irwin’s corpse.

In May 2012, Irwin suffered a stroke, which left him unable to speak. Irwin’s family did not call 911 or an ambulance, as they are distrustful of traditional medicine, according to the book.

“In (Jerry Irwin’s) eyes, doctors were godless people who believed themselves to be God,” Ashline writes.

The church leaders did not mention that Irwin had a stroke for several months. When they did mention it, leaders claimed God had alerted them to the attack, despite phone records showing that Tiffanie Irwin had called her family and told them to rush home, Ashline wrote.

Instead of going to a hospital, Jerry’s wife, Traci Irwin, spent about $30,000 to buy a hyberbaric chamber to treat her husband. They can’t be sold in the United States without a prescription. Ashline wrote the device was bought internationally.

Chambers of the sort Irwin bought her husband are only approved in the United States to treat altitude sickness, though it is also used for “alternative” medicine, according to the book.

Irwin’s condition did not improve. His wife was convinced in December 2012 to bring him to a doctor recommended by a friend, so she bought a van and brought Jerry to Indiana, along with her kids, to seek medical care.

While in Indiana, Jerry Irwin died in his sleep at age 55.

Instead of calling 911, Traci Irwin decided to drive his body to Missouri in hopes getting him resurrected by Mel Bond, a pastor who promises miracles.

“Traci and her kids -- and Jerry’s corpse -- showed up at Mel Bond’s ministry and were promptly waved away,” Ashline wrote.

While the Irwins sought resurrection, church members in New Hartford were instructed to pray for hours to ask God for help. The silent prayer at the church went on for 12 hours, Ashline wrote.

The Irwins ultimately drove back to Indiana -- Irwin’s body wrapped in a sheet -- and ultimately called police. His death was recorded by the Indiana health department as having occurred around 4 a.m. on Dec. 8, 2012.

Traci Irwin later told parishioners that their prayers had worked, but that her late husband appeared to her in a vision saying that his quality of life would be poor after being risen from the dead. So Irwin decided to let her husband stay dead, Ashline wrote.

The story of what happened next, and why a police officer in New York felt it necessary to trace Jerry Irwin’s final days, are described in Ashline’s book.

In addition, Ashline takes a close look at the molestation allegations against Chris and Luke Leonard, and she prints jail-house interviews with Bruce Leonard, the boys’ father, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence.

The book is published by Pegasus publishers.