James Arthur Ray, the new age guru whose Sedona, Ariz. sweat lodge may have caused three deaths, sent one victim's family a check for $5,000, about half the participation fee for the deadly event, the family told CNN's Larry King on Monday night.

The check came in a sympathy card on Oct. 22, two weeks after the Oct. 8 tragedy, with a note that read, "Please accept this financial assistance. And on the check he wrote, 'In honor of Kirby Brown.'"

It was supposed to be a religious awakening, the culmination of a $9,000-plus-a-person retreat outside Sedona, Ariz., aimed at helping people find a new vision for life.

"It's laughable," Kirby Brown's mother, Virginia Brown said on Larry King Live. "My daughter paid twice that to go to his (Ray's) event."

More than 50 followers of the spiritual guru had endured five strenuous days of fasting, sleep-deprivation and mind-altering breathing exercises when he led them into a sweat lodge ceremony, according to the Associated Press. But it wasn't long before the ceremony turned into a terrifying experience.

Ray has become a self-help superstar by packaging his charismatic personality and the promise of financial wealth through spiritual awakening. He uses free seminars to recruit people to expensive seminars like the Sedona retreat that led to the sweat lodge tragedy.

Ray has not said exactly how much he made at the deadly ceremony held at the Angel Valley Retreat, but if each of the more than 50 participants

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paid around $9,000, Ray would have taken in almost half a million dollars.

Ray's press agent would not tell Crimesider how much, if any, of that money, was refunded.

Ray told participants that the sweat lodge ceremony would be one of the most intense experiences of their lives.

Ultimately, that experience left Kirby Brown and two others dead.

"We had to bring her body east. We had to bury her," Virginia Brown said. "Nothing is going to bring her back."

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