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Paul Michael Hamilton, a 61-year-old former log-cabin builder who was born and raised near Lititz, and his second wife founded the Angel Valley Retreat Center near Sedona in 2002.
Hamilton said the creation of the 70-acre resort was the result of a "spiritual journey" and years of traveling across the United States and Europe following a divorce from his first wife.
"I began a journey of only doing what my heart was guiding me to do — following my excitement is another way of saying it," Hamilton said in an e-mail exchange. He declined to be interviewed by telephone.
"Angel Valley is a place where all are invited to use Nature and the Elementals to discover and to be One's True Natural Divine Self," Hamilton wrote. "It is about finding and living one's connection with God, with Spirit, with the Creator, or whatever name one wants to give to the Eternal Source of Life."
Court records on file here show that Hamilton changed his name. His given name was Paul Weidler Groff, and he last lived in the county on Westbrook Drive in Ephrata, according to records. He is a 1966 Warwick High School graduate and has four children from his first marriage. His ex-wife is a Garden Spot High School graduate.
Hamilton was president and owner of Lititz-based Century Log Homes Inc., which built and sold log homes here from 1974 through 1983. Hamilton then moved to California.
He said he and his second wife, Amayra, were guided to the property in Sedona by Archangel Michael and launched the retreat in 2002.
"Archangel Michael is one of the Archangels that is assisting mankind to a higher state of awareness and consciousness," he wrote in his e-mail. "I made my first conscious connection with Michael in July of 1995 and he has been with me since."
The resort offers a host of New Age and holistic services, such as "soul retrieval" and "angel healings," in which a practitioner connects with archangels it says are "strongly connected with and present" at the resort and channels their energies to help with healing clients.
The resort also was the scene of a now-infamous sweat lodge ceremony on Oct. 8. Three people died and nearly two dozen others were hospitalized after being overcome during the event, part of a five-day "Spiritual Warrior" retreat run by self-help expert and author James Arthur Ray.
Ray had rented the Angel Valley Retreat Center for the event.
Hamilton declined to speak about the incident and instead forwarded his prepared statement from earlier in the month that reads, in part: "We express our deepest feelings of sympathy, love and support for the families and friends those who passed on and for those who are still recovering. Our Angel Valley team is in pain and grief by what has occurred."
Between 55 and 65 people were in the makeshift sweat lodge over a two-hour period, and authorities said participants were encouraged but not forced to remain inside for the entire time. An emergency call reported that two people were not breathing and did not have pulses.
Sheriff's investigators in Arizona's Yavapai County are treating the deaths as homicides but have yet to determine the causes.
Investigators are looking into the construction of the sweat lodge, the fact that people had fallen ill at previous sweat ceremonies led by Ray and questionable medical care at the retreat as they try to determine whether criminal negligence contributed to the deaths and illnesses.
The Associated Press has reported that the sweat lodge was a temporary structure built with a wood frame and covered with layers of tarps and blankets. The ceremonies often are sponsored by American Indian tribes to cleanse the body and prepare for hunts, ceremonies and other events.
Ray is the primary focus of the probe, but others also are being investigated, Sheriff Steve Waugh has said.
Ray's pricey retreats are meant to push people beyond their physical and emotional limits. The "Spiritual Warrior" event is arguably the most physical of Ray's events. Participants paid between $9,000 and $10,000 to attend.
They engaged in a 36-hour fast during a "vision quest" in the nearby wilderness and were served a breakfast buffet before entering the sweat lodge, authorities said.
Hamilton would not comment orally to the newspaper because, he said, his remarks have been taken out of context or distorted by other media.
"We've had so many things in the past week and a half where one thing is said and another shows up in the newspaper," he wrote in his e-mail.
Hamilton still has family in the county. His brother, Ray Groff, of Lititz, said he visited the resort about five years ago but doesn't understand much of what goes on there.
"There are so many unknowns I'd rather not go into it," Groff said. "It's a gorgeous place, though. He has the ideal property there. And there's been a lot of people who have gone there over the years.
"When I went out there, I talked to some of the people. They just love it. It's a peaceful area. It's just something. You get away from the telephones, the day-to-day."
The retreat is in a secluded valley about 20 miles from Sedona, a town 115 miles north of Phoenix that draws many in the New Age spiritual movement.
Angel Valley is surrounded by thousands of acres of national forest land.
Groff described his brother as a lifelong traveler. "He never really hung around here much, even when he was younger," Groff said. "He met this other woman, his new wife, over in Holland."
Hamilton's wife declined to comment extensively.
"It doesn't serve us to go in front of the camera. I hope people understand," she said. "We are still very traumatized by the incident ourselves."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
