The Los Angeles group splintered in late 2000 when longtime leader Reverend Al pranked the society itself and declared a "bold new direction" for the branch and allegedly joined an Orthodox Christian community out of guilt over the deaths of two young Cacophonists who reportedly died in a drunken post-event car accident (though one of the men eventually turned out to be completely fictitious, and the other, Peter "Mr. Outer Space" Geiberger, was discovered some months later, alive and well and quite amused at tumult resulting from his 'death'. On September 13, 2006 Geiberger actually died, which proved somewhat anticlimactic in light of the elaborate mourning of his initial "passing.") In spring 2001, Al Ridenour stepped down as leader of the chapter.