March 29, 1997

Suicide Cult Member Profiles

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 5:59 p.m. EST

humbnail sketches of some suicide cult members:

NANCY DIANNE NELSON

Ms. Nelson, 45, worked for Dr. Richard Mickle of Mesa, Ariz., during portions of 1995 and 1996. A former co-worker said she called herself A.J. and described herself as a nun without a last name, saying she lived in a monastery with two men who were highly knowledgeable about computers and did some work for Mickle.

Mickle, an osteopathic surgeon, said he knew nothing of the suicides or the California connection.

The address listed on her driver's license was an age-restricted mobile home park in Scottsdale, Ariz. The manager, Gordon Miles, said no one under that name is listed in rental records from the past three years.

NORMA JEANE NELSON

Ms. Nelson, 59, told a former neighbor at a North Dallas apartment complex that she was from Star Trek.

``We just looked at her in surprise. ... It just didn't dawn on us that she was in a type of cult,'' neighbor Cynthia McGowan said. ``We thought that maybe she was crazy.''

THOMAS NICHOLS

Nichols, 59, who was found with an Arizona driver's license, was the brother of actress Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura on the original ``Star Trek'' television series.

Her brother had cut off all communication with the family for 20 years in keeping with his religious beliefs, Miss Nichols said on ``Larry King Live.''

He resurfaced several years ago, when their mother died, to assure relatives he was OK, she said. He sought her advice in 1994 when the group planned to ``go public,'' she said.

Thomas Nichols apparently knew the arrival of a comet would be a momentous personal event, calling it ``the great comet that would come some day,'' she said.

MARGARET ELLA RICHTER

Richter, 46, was valedictorian at Las Plumas High School in Oroville, Calif., in 1969, said her sister, Jean Long.

She majored in computer science, math and German at the University of California at Berkeley, graduating in three years, Ms. Long said.

After her three-year marriage ended, she went to Los Angeles in 1975 and earned a master's degree in computer science at UCLA, Ms. Long said. After that, her family and friends had little contact with her.

Over the next 22 years, Richter visited relatives in Oroville twice.

MICHAEL BARR SANDOE

Sandoe, 26, of Boulder, Colo. had been in the Army, where he became a paratrooper and a Ranger, said his mother, JoAnne Sandoe, of Abingdon, Va.

``He was in Desert Storm. He was in the infantry -- out of Fort Benning, Ga.,'' she said.

After that, he ``worked and traveled.''

Mrs. Sandoe said she had no indication her son might be involved with the Heaven's Gate group.

DAVID CABOT VAN SINDEREN

Van Sinderen, 48, was the son of the former chairman and chief executive officer of South New England Telephone Co.

In the 21 years that he was a member of the Heaven's Gate group, his family saw him four times and spoke with him a handful of other times, his family said in a statement Saturday.

``While we did not completely understand or agree with David's beliefs, it was apparent to us that he was happy, healthy and acting under his own volition,'' the statement said. ``It seemed to us that the group members were a supportive family unit and David was spiritually fulfilled in his life with them.

``To David, wherever you may be, we love you,'' the statement said.

David Van Sinderen bought property on a 40-acre former youth camp near Mountaineer, N.M., in June 1995, according to an official of the insurance company that sold the property. The cult apparently lived there until about eight months ago.

Van Sinderen's father, Alfred White Van Sinderen, 72, of Woodbridge, Conn., is an alumnus of Yale University and of Harvard University's business school.

GARY JORDAN ST. LOUIS

St. Louis, 44, left his northern Idaho home in 1992 to join the cult, leaving his Coeur d'Alene girlfriend, Shelly King, with his personal belongings and a videotape explaining his decision.

``Today is February 12, 1992. It's Wednesday. I want everybody who may see this, or to know, that I have chosen to leave,'' he said on the tape. ``I want to rejoin my heavenly father, and my classmates, the students of my heavenly father. ... I'm really happy about this. ... To walk away and begin doing some work for my real father means more to me than anything.''

SUSAN FRANCES STROM

Ms. Strom, 44, was the daughter of retired U.S. District Judge Lyle Strom of Omaha, Neb.

She was listed as a resident of Texas by the coroner's office.

Lyle Strom said he hadn't spoken with his daughter recently and didn't know how long she had lived in California.

Ms. Strom was the only one of Strom's seven children not in attendance when he was sworn in in 1985.