CONCEPTION, Mo. (AP) — A grudge over a 43-year-old divorce and later annulment could be the motive behind a shooting rampage at a Roman Catholic abbey, investigators say.

Lloyd Jeffress, 71, was said to be upset about the way he was treated by the church after the breakup of his five-year marriage in 1959. Investigators said that bitterness was the best lead they had as they seek to determine why he killed two monks and wounded two others at Conception Abbey before killing himself.

The abbey was expecting several hundred mourners at Thursday’s wake and Friday’s funeral for the Rev. Philip Schuster and Brother Damian Larson. Both men were well-known: Schuster, 85, had spent 51 years at the abbey, and Larson, 64, had been there 32 years.

Did grudge over divorce spark shooting spree?
Thursday, June 13, 2002