SEDONA, AZ -- Documents released Monday by Arizona authorities investigating a fatal sweat lodge ceremony show that serious medical problems occurred at past events led by self-help guru James Arthur Ray.
Three people died after the Oct. 8 sweat lodge ceremony that was the highlight of Ray's five-day "Spiritual Warrior" event at a retreat near Sedona.
The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office has focused a homicide investigation on Ray.
According to the documents, Ted Mercer, who Ray hired to build the sweat lodge told investigators that people emerged in medical distress all three times he has assisted with the ceremonies.
Mercer says Ray repeatedly told the most recent participants that, "You are not going to die. You might think you are, but you're not going to die."
In the newly released documents, Mercer claims medical personnel should have been called but were not.
Mercer says Ray's sweat lodges were hotter and longer than others and involved three times the number of people than normal.
The documents were released in Prescott after a judge ruled that they be made public.
The documents quote other witness who claim to have heard people yelling "I don't want to die" and asking to be let out.
However, the witnesses say Ray refused and instead replied, "It's a good day to die."
Mercer's 17-year-old daughter, Sarah, told investigators when Ray was informed people inside the tent were unconscious, he replied "good."
The court documents also indicate Mercer's wife, Debra, told Ray she needed to open up the back of the tent.
Investigators say she claims Ray replied it would be "sacrilegious."
But Debra did it any way and pulled out Kirby Brown and James Shore who along with Liz Neuman all died as a result of the ceremony.
SEE INVESTIGATORS' PHOTOS FROM THE SCENE IN THE ATTACHED SLIDESHOWThe allegations are nothing new for Ray.
In early December, Melinda Martin, a former employee of Ray's, told ABC News the author did nothing to help the people who had collapsed inside his Sedona sweat lodge.
"He came out and he stretched his arms up and everybody hosed him off and he's like, 'Hey thanks!'… and it really stopped me in my tracks. I just stopped, and I said, 'How can you walk out of there with all these people down, and they're, they just looked near death, and you guys can walk out there looking like you just spent the day in the spa,'" Martin said in an exclusive interview with ABC News.
See more from ABC News' exclusive interview
Fire-heated rocks filled the 400-square-foot makeshift tent with steam while more than 60 participants crammed inside while Ray led them in a spiritual ceremony. The guests paid nearly $10,000 to spend the week with Ray at the retreat.
Martin said that while people were being dragged out from the tent in front of him, Ray neither stopped the ceremony nor helped afterward as Martin performed CPR on the dying.
"And I look up, and he's standing right over my head, watching. He's watching from a standing position. He didn't offer to help. He didn't say anything, nothing at all," Martin said, adding that she did not see Ray help anyone.
Several weeks after the deadly event Martin said she stopped receiving pay checks from the company.
Some participants inside have said some people inside were saying "We need water," vomiting and fighting to stay alive.
Kirby Brown, 38; James Shore, 40; and Liz Neuman, 49; died in the incident.
In response to Martin's comments, Ray's company said in a statement to ABC News that Ray tried to help, according to the information the company collected from employees and event participants during its private investigation:
"According to the signed statement of one participant, 'my impression was that James Ray was stunned about what was happening and was attempting to help as many people as he could. I do not feel there was any more James Ray could have done.' The signed statement of a second participant said that 'I realize that what has happened is a horrible tragedy, but I do not feel that James Ray is responsible for what has occurred.' Finally, the signed statement of a JRI employee indicates that 'the press reports stating that James abandoned the participants that night are completely false.'"
In his most recent public comments on the incident, Ray posted a statement on his Web site Nov. 30, 2009: "As you know, I've asked members of my team to travel to Arizona, meet with authorities there and provide all the information they have to offer. That process has gone on for the last two weeks, and we believe it's been helpful. Of course, if additional information is required, my team is ready to provide it in our continuing hope that the causes of the Sedona accident can be determined as quickly and authoritatively as possible."
