A Jan. 4 tweet on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter, announced that self-proclaimed self-help “guru” James Arthur Ray, made notorious by his involvement in three deaths in the Verde Valley, had died at age 67.

After taking a brief stint away from Larson Newspapers at another publication, I had been hired back as assistant managing editor the first week of October 2009. The following week, on Thursday, Oct. 8, Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Verde Valley Fire District crews responded to a mass casualty event at the Angel Valley Retreat Center between Cornville and Sedona following Ray’s weeklong “Spiritual Warrior” retreat.

After spending hours in a large, makeshift “sweat lodge,” two victims were pronounced dead at local hospitals, 21 victims were hospitalized for issues ranging from heat exhaustion to kidney failure and a third woman lingered for about a week before dying at Flagstaff Medical Center.

One of our photojournalists had arrived at the crime scene that night inadvertently wearing a VVFD jacket given to him, leading to some confusion with authorities.

Ray had risen to national prominence on cable talk shows after Oprah Winfrey catapulted him to fame by promoting his film and subsequent book called “The Secret,” which was circulating around Sedona at the time in New Age circles. The eponymous “secret” purported to bring people wealth, prosperity, material goods and happiness simply by positive thinking and “manifesting” their wants and desires. Ray would charge upwards of $10,000 per person for weeklong retreats for participants who wanted to learn how to manifest their will in the real world.

I had several friends at the time who had been taken in by this quackery and who set up “manifestation boards” in their bedrooms, in front of which they would sit and focus on the things they desired. It was perhaps not unlike offering a prayer or sacrifice to a religious deity, although it was intentionally more materialistic than most modern religions and involved replacing the name of a god with “the universe.” Ray’s subsequent trial, held in Camp Verde, made national news. Ray’s high-priced lawyers filed scores of pre-trial motions to toss evidence and witnesses and delay the trial as long as possible.

The trial made the career of Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk, who had previously been a Prescott-based bureaucrat prosecuting methamphetamine dealers and users in a relatively backwater Arizona county office.

The trial gave her a national stage in major newspapers from New York to Los Angeles and cable news and she was suggested as a candidate for higher statewide office, but Polk ultimately stayed within the county, retiring in 2022, although she used her prominence to fight against the legalization of recreation marijuana in 2016 and then lost her crusade in 2020.

Polk initially planned to question as many as 140 witnesses, a number that was later whittled down to just 34, including victims, first responders and witnesses, as well as Ray’s then-current and former staffers. They testified to Ray’s recklessness, history of other accidents and the incidence of injuries at previous “Spiritual Warrior” retreats, including broken bones and one woman who jumped to her death at a San Diego mall in July 2009 when Ray’s participants were pretending to be homeless to test their willpower.

Our then-reporter Mark Lineberger covered the trial’s back-and-forths over the months with more than a dozen stories in The Camp Verde Journal that we shared in the Cottonwood Journal Extra and Sedona Red Rock News. A pool reporter from The Arizona Republic provided photos from the courtroom that were shared among publications.

While Ray was not found guilty of manslaughter, the jury did find him guilty of three counts of negligent homicide, and Judge Warren Darrow sentenced him to two years in prison; he served 87% of his sentence before being released in July 2013.

Ever the huckster, Ray tried to rebuild his career as a motivational speaker, but the stigma of the three victims hung over him and he never conducted interviews except on the friendliest terms, during which the deaths he caused and the Angel Valley incident were off limits for discussion.

Ray never took responsibility for the deaths he caused, nor for the injuries to nearly two dozen of his loyal followers. He argued for a mistrial for years afterward, alleging prosecutorial misconduct, bias because the trial was held in the Verde Valley and that the victims were responsible for their own injuries and their deaths. When asking for his civil rights to be restored in 2017, he also asked the judge to vacate his convictions, which was flatly denied. Before his death last week, he would rail on X against the “corrupt” justice system that “wrongly” convicted him when commenting on other cases in the news.

The post on X announcing his death makes no mention of the victims who died, but in any story about Ray, they should rightly have the last word: Their names were James Shore, Kirby Brown and Lizbeth Neuman.

James S. Shore, 40

April 22, 1969-Oct. 8, 2009

James S. Shore died Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009, in Sedona, AZ, at the age of 40.

He will always be remembered and loved by his beloved wife Alyssa Anne Gillespie; proud and cherished children, Inaya, Amrita and Darshan Shore. He will further be remembered by his loving mother Jane (Tom) Shore Gripp, his sister Virginia (Tom Hardart) Shore and Christopher Shore; Alyssa’s family, James and Judy Gillespie, Heidi, James Jr. Benjamin, Jerry and Amber, and other relatives and friends.

He was preceded in death by his father, Dr. Richard T. Shore and his older brother, Richard Shore, Jr. A memorial gathering will be held Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009, from 4 to 7 p.m.at Hubbard Park Lodge, 3565 N. Morris Blvd., Milwaukee, WI 53211, to celebrate James’ life.

James was a man of many interests. He was a philosopher always in search of the truth. He was drawn to holistic medicine and was a therapeutic medicine practitioner having graduated from the New Mexico School of Natural Theraputics.

James felt most at home in the American Southwest surrounded by its culture and customs. He was a drummer in a band that captured Native American Music. Professionally, James excelled in internet development, which led to the creation of his two companies with his oldest friend, Matt Collins.

In lieu of flowers, a fund has been set up for the children. Contributions can be sent to Shore Children Education Fund, c/o Schmidt & Bartelt Funeral Home, 10121 W. North Ave., Wauwatosa, WI 53226.

Kirby Anne Brown, 38

Feb. 8, 1971-Oct. 8, 2009

Kirby Anne Brown of Baja, Mexico, formerly of Westtown, died unexpectedly on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009 in Sedona, AZ. She was 38.

The eldest of George and Virginia Brown’s four children, she was born on February 8, 1971 in Brooklyn, N.Y. Kirby graduated from Minisink High School in 1989 and SUNY Geneseo in 1993. Over the years, she managed horse farms, drove limousines in Manhattan, worked in restaurants and operated a successful faux painting company out of Baja, Mexico.

Kirby had the uncanny ability to bring out the best in other people, she was an incredible friend to many. Her powerful spirit changed and saved peoples lives as she touched them. She was affectionately known to her cousins as ” their action figure cousin.” She left an indelible imprint on the lives of her family and friends and she leaves this world a better place for having lived. Her family asks that those who had the good fortune to have known Kirby, to come to her services with your best stories and your best pictures of her.

In addition to her loving parents, George and Ginny of Westtown, she is survived by her sister Kate Holmes and her husband Mitchell of Baja, Mexico; her brother Bob and his wife Kory of Darien, CT; and her sister Jean Allison and her husband Michael of VanKleek Hill, Ottawa; her niece Lyle and nephews George and Angus; as well as many dear aunts, uncles, beloved cousins both in the States and in Scotland and friends too numerous to list.

Visitation hours will be held on Thursday, October 15, 2009 and Friday, October 16, 2009 from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 pm at Applebee-McPhillips Funeral Home, Inc., 130 Highland Avenue, Middletown, NY 10940.

A Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated on Saturday, October 17, 2009 at 10:30 am at Holy Name of Jesus Church, 45 Highland Avenue, Otisville, NY. Kirby’s Godfather, Monsignor Larry Hinch of Brooklyn, will officiate. Cremation will take place at Cedar Hill Crematory in Middle Hope, NY.

Memorial contributions in Kirby’s name may be made to either The Friends of the Orange County Arboretum, 416 Rt. 211, Montgomery, NY 12549 or www.orangecountyarboreum.org or to Parkinson’s Unity Walk, P.O. Box 275, Kingston, NJ 08528 or www.unitywalk.org. Funeral arrangements under the direction of Applebee-McPhillips Funeral Home.www.applebee-mcphillips.com

Lizbeth Marie Neuman, 49

Aug. 27, 1960-Oct. 17, 2009

Lizbeth Marie Neuman, 49, of Prior Lake, passed away Sunday, Oct. 17, 2009 at Flagstaff Medical Center in Flagstaff.

Family and friends knew Neuman, 49, as active and health conscious. In a statement, her family said “She was loved and will be missed by many.”

Neuman is survived by her three adult children, her mother, her brother and sister.

Private family services were Monday, Oct. 26, at 6 p.m. at Ballard-Sunder Funeral Home, Shakopee.