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For months, he and his followers committed burglaries under the cover of night reselling the items to financially support the group. They stockpiled weapons and supplies believing they would be needed during an imminent battle of [[Armageddon]], assumed to occur in the form of a [[Ethnic conflict|race war]].<ref name="Wickstrom"/>
Ryan was arrested in 1985 after reports and a criminal investigation indicated that he had abused and killed five-year-old Luke Stice and later killed fellow group member James Thimm (age
Ryan was tried to a jury in Omaha, Nebraska after a change of venue. The jury convicted him of [[first degree murder]] and the court [[capital punishment|sentenced Ryan to death]] on April 10, 1986 and October 16, 1986, respectively. He claimed to be in direct contact with [[God]] and vowed to spend his days in prison rewriting the [[Bible]], but he later recanted both statements. He died, age 66, of natural causes (brain cancer) at the [[Tecumseh State Correctional Institution]] on [[death row]] on May 24, 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.omaha.com/news/nebraska/nebraska-death-row-inmate-michael-ryan-dies/article_f35c008c-02e4-11e5-a86b-b7ba1e438c2c.html|title=Cult leader Michael Ryan dies on Nebraska death row|work=Omaha.com|date=May 25, 2015 |accessdate=May 25, 2015}}</ref>
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