Editing Order of the Solar Temple (section)

=== Morin-Heights, Cheiry and Salvan ===
{{main|1994 Solar Temple massacres}}

On 30 September 1994, the Dutoits were lured to Di Mambro's chalet in [[Morin-Heights]] by Dominique Bellaton.{{sfn|Bédat|Bouleau|Nicolas|2000|p=212}}{{sfn|Clusel|Palmer|2020|p=229}} Two members, Joël Egger and Jerry Genoud, killed the family, including the three-month-old child, stabbing them repeatedly.{{sfn|Bédat|Bouleau|Nicolas|1997|p=215}}{{sfn|Bédat|Bouleau|Nicolas|2000|p=213}} As ordered by Di Mambro, these murders were carried out in a ritualistic fashion.{{sfn|Clusel|Palmer|2020|p=230}} Bellaton and Egger left for Switzerland the same day; the Genouds spent the next four days cleaning the scene and preparing for death.{{sfn|Michaud|1996|p=30}}{{sfn|Bédat|Bouleau|Nicolas|1997|p=217}} On 4 October they set incendiary timers to go off and burn the house down, dying as a result.{{sfn|Hall|Schuyler|2000|p=145}}

During the night from 2 to 3 October 1994, 23 died in Cheiry.{{sfn|Clusel|Palmer|2020|p=230}}{{sfn|Bédat|Bouleau|Nicolas|2000|p=214}} Twenty of the dead had been shot with one gun;{{sfn|Hall|Schuyler|2000|p=115}} 21 of them had died from gunshot wounds after being drugged with sleeping pills, with another two suffocated in plastic bags.{{sfn|Clusel|Palmer|2020|p=231}}{{sfn|Hall|Schuyler|2000|p=146}} Egger and Jouret are known killers in this event, though it is possible they were not the only ones.{{sfn|Bédat|Bouleau|Nicolas|2000|p=214}}{{sfn|Bédat|Bouleau|Nicolas|1997|p=220}} In Salvan, the dead had been injected with poison; according to the investigative report, it is likely that the fatal injections at Salvan were done by Line Lheureux, with Annie Egger doing the same to the children.{{sfn|Michaud|1996|p=10}}{{sfn|Bédat|Bouleau|Nicolas|1997|pp=223–224}} On the morning of 5 October, the Testament letters were mailed out.{{sfn|Bédat|Bouleau|Nicolas|1997|p=20}}

On 4 October 1994, the bodies of the Genouds were found in the burned-out chalet; the next day the bodies of the Dutoits were found in the building's cellar.{{sfn|Clusel|Palmer|2020|p=229}} On 5 October, Swiss [[examining magistrate]] André Piller was called by the police to a fire in Cheiry, where bodies had been discovered.{{sfn|Hall|Schuyler|2000|p=115}} Soon after this they heard news of the fire in Granges-sur-Salvan; when the fire died down, bodies were discovered.{{sfn|Hall|Schuyler|2000|p=115}} These two fires were connected when Egger's car, who lived in the Cheiry house, was found parked outside the Salvan commune; the next day, the Canadian police realized that there was likely a connection between the Morin-Heights fire and the Swiss fires as the properties were owned by the same men.{{sfn|Hall|Schuyler|2000|p=116}}

The leadership of the OTS cared deeply about the group's legacy, and spent a large amount of time preemptively creating a "legend" through both the manifestos they mailed to various media and scholarly sources, and by destroying all evidence that would have conflicted with their own story. This plan was disrupted, as some of the incendiary devices had failed. This left behind a large number of the Temple's written documents, some of which were found on the group's surviving computers, as well as audio and video cassettes.{{sfn|Mayer|1999|pages=172–174}}

According to Thierry Huguenin, Jouret and Di Mambro had planned for there to be exactly 54 dead, in connection with 54 Templars who had been burned at the stake in the fourteenth century. This was to allow an immediate magic contact with these departed Templars.{{sfn|Introvigne|2006|p=36}} However, Huguenin, having sensed danger, escaped at the last minute, leaving the death toll at only 53.{{sfn|Lewis|2006|p=3}} After the event, some other members declared their continued support for the group's ideas, and even regretted not having been chosen for transit.{{sfn|Morath|Lemasson|2023c|loc=12:20–13:00}} A Swiss magistrate concluded that of the 52 deaths, only fifteen could be confirmed as suicides.{{sfn|Wessinger|2000|p=219}}