Higher Purpose

On March 15, 1996, 13 members of a cult known as the Higher Purpose Group were found dead, having engaged in a mass suicide. Many of the deceased had been poisoned, but seven had been smothered. Amidst the dead was found Adam Booth, 26, who was taken into custody by police and committed suicide in his jail cell later that day. During a police interview on the 15th, Booth revealed that he had actually left the group the day before but had felt compelled to return the following morning. Upon finding his congregation dead and dying, he said, he moved amongst the rows of bodies tending to those who were still alive. The poison had not been entirely effective in some cases, and Elder Paul, the leader of the group, was paralyzed, but still alive. It was then, he recalled, that he found his faith. That he realized that it was his duty to ease the passing of his patriarch. And so he smothered him with his coat, and waited for the police to arrive. We will perhaps never know why Adam did not immediately take his own life, nor why he chose to commit suicide after being detained. One thing, however, is certain: he did not regret his actions, and he conducted himself with an air of quiet but steadfast conviction.