encampment about 250 miles (400 kilometers) from the Guyana capital of For seven weeks, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Hollywood writers strike over streaming pay after talks fail, El Chapo sons send Mexico cartels cheap fentanyl into U.S., indictment says, Far from Russia, a pro-Moscow sliver of land tries to cling to its identity and keep war at bay, Virginia Gov. ", 20 Years Later, Jonestown Survivor Confronts Horrors, LAYTON01/B/20OCT98/MN/SLF ---Deborah Layton is a survivor of Jonestown. Example video title will go here for this video. Northern California Larry now lives in Northern California.. Jackie Speier is a congresswoman representing Californias 14th congressional district, which includes San Francisco and the peninsula.Excerpt from UNDAUNTED: Surviving Jonestown, Summoning Courage, and Fighting Back by Jackie Speier, reprinted under a license arrangement originating with Amazon Publishing. "It was devastating to him. March 5, 1999 Laurence Laird Layton, a distinguished scientist whose later life was devastated by his family's involvement with the Peoples Temple cult, died Wednesday in his Emeryville home. Jones died of a gunshot wound to the head. The icon which characterizes Jonestown in the public mind is a picture of a galvanized metal vat, surrounded by bloated bodies. Mr. Layton died of congestive heart failure, five days before his 85th birthday. [11] He then began robbing jewelry stores along the Atlantic Coast,[3] using his contacts within the Gambino crime family to fence the stolen merchandise. days before the murder-suicide, she hit an emotional wall. He was freed by Guyanese authorities Friday and arrived in New York City Friday night in the custody of U.S. marshals. Jones, who demanded that his flock call him Father, was one of the most politically powerful people in San Francisco, wined and dined by such luminaries as Rosalynn Carter, Assemblyman Willie Brown, Mayor George Moscone and Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally. afraid. NEW YORK -- Larry Layton, a member of Jim Jones' Peoples Temple cult, flew to New York Friday night to face arraignment for the killing of Rep. Leo Ryan in the Guyanese jungles two years ago. Later that night, Jones had another suicide exercise. [23][34], The superintendent of student services at Brevard Public Schools declined to use the program and questioned its effectiveness: "[w]hile the program is well-organized and well-intentioned, it does not follow the scientific evidence-based research guidelines". At the airport, Temple members who found out she was fleeing implored her not to leave. Jones himself sat onstage in a throne beneath a sign that read: Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. The members sang and danced and, by every appearance, were happy. Ryan and I asked one or two Temple members at a time to come talk to us. (It was the 60s.) [16] Then in October 1994, four individuals robbed a jewelry store in Palm Bay, Florida. After over twenty years in prison, Larry Layton was released on parole in 2002, largely due to the testimony of Vernon Gosney, one of the few survivors of the massacre, and the Federal Chief Judge, Robert F. Peckham. Lawton gained notoriety for committing a string of jewelry store robberies along the Atlantic Seaboard prior to his arrest in 1996. fake healings. In 1965, after riots shook Watts, an African-American neighborhood in Los Angeles, Ryan briefly took a job there as a substitute teacher while serving in the state Assembly, and used the experience to shape education policy. It was. Others were buried in a mass grave in California. [7] Lawton attended Intermediate IS 192 and Lehman High School, but did not graduate. Some were shot by When we touched down in Georgetown, a U.S. Air Force medevac plane was waiting. But I refused to spend the rest of my life as a victim of Guyanathere were too many of them. Rep. Leo Ryan, who was working with San Francisco area residents worried were innocent. On November 17, we landed at the tiny airstrip at Port Kaituma. Her book "Seductive Poison" will be in bookstores in November. Dont know why youre here, but were happy to have you, Jones said. At 16, Im not sure I understood what a state assemblyman did, but when my parents received a solicitation from Leo Ryans reelection campaign in 1966, I mailed back a note: Im in high school. to Jones at the first Peoples Temple in far Northern California, where Charismatic and tall with salt-and-pepper hair, he commanded a room. That same day, precipitated by the shootings, over 900 members of the People's Temple Cult led by Reverend Jim Jones died in Jonestown, Guyana of mass murder and suicide. Police investigating homicide at northwest Austin apartment complex Monday night, DPS searching for driver responsible for killing motorcyclist, fleeing scene, Storm chances return Thursday; some could be strong, Slow debris clean-up in Little Walnut Creek leads to flooded homes during rainstorms. [35][36] It also hosts an annual bowling tournament. by As I shook his hand, I looked at his sideburns. I was almost one of them. at the airstrip. Answering wasn't easy -- "How do you tell a child that hundreds of children family members in the cult. Ryan joined us for the trekone of roughly two dozen of us crammed in the bed of the truck, with dozens of would-be defectors left behind, belongings packed, waiting to escape. Behind the wheel of an airplane, I waited for the shooting to stop and said my Act of Contrition, praying for forgiveness and waiting for the lights to go out. I knew him well enough to understand what would happen next. UNDAUNTED: Surviving Jonestown, Summoning Courage, and Fighting Back, write a letter to President Jimmy Carter extolling Joness work, California's road to recovery runs through D.C. Republicans, Why New Jerseys ventilator guidelines may favor younger, whiter patients, Rhode Island ends specific restrictions on New Yorkers by making them national. But he was acquitted, partly because witnesses would not return there from the United States. Research has shown that the artificial dyes in Kool-Aid may cause hyperactivity in your child. Layton's sister Debbie's departure from the Peoples Temple and denunciation of Jones in May 1978 led her brother to leave California to join the settlement in Guyana. In Jonestown, the able-bodied among the 1,000 or so residents worked the We landed in Georgetown, Guyanas capital, on November 14, 1978. Instead he proposed a better use of law enforcement resources would be to "help inmates with drug addiction. Instead, she grabbed her daughter's acrylic paints But I was one of very few women who held senior staff positions in Congress at the time, and I was concerned that if I gave in to my reluctance and let a male colleague go in my place, Id be setting back women in politics. a life A few showers this morning with mostly cloudy conditions during the afternoon hours. Among them were George Moscone, who the Peoples Temple played a significant role in electing mayor in 1975, and Harvey Milk, the pioneering openly gay city supervisor, who went so far as to write a letter to President Jimmy Carter extolling Joness work and rebutting charges that he was abusive. Hundreds of children and a U.S. congressman died at Jonestown, and 911 decomposing bodies were brought to Dover Air Force Base, home to the U.S. military's largest mortuary. They reported the car's license plate, which linked the car to Lawton. robes, Jones, known as Father to his flock, soon became a San Francisco Five bullets had ripped through me, devastating the right side of my body. There she contacted her sister and U.S. At one point, Congressman Ryan interrupted our tour to make sure that the press and Concerned Relatives had been given the transportation to join us. Her mother's cancer pain medications were taken away. He said that some of the recipients could be innocent. The robbers drew what police at the time believed were firearms, and restrained the store owner. Many of the bodies were decomposed and could not be identified. The robbers had been there the day before and returned asking about a ring. SAN FRANCISCO . SAN FRANCISCO -- Former People's Temple member Larry Layton, freed from jail Thursday for the first time since the cult's 1978 mass murder-suicide ritual in Guyana, will be retried on. Larry Layton had gotten onto the truck with us, which struck me as a glaring red flaghe was an entrenched member of the hierarchy, one of the true believers. Ryan, three journalists and a defector were killed. "Whatever journey the ashes took in the U.S. is secondary. This was not a mass suicide. Along the way, she exorcised the family ghosts. Wed have to make multiple trips in the truck. "But The building showed few signs of its former use, although a floral design was etched in glass panes at the entrance. | Amazon. ", (The night before the trip in December 1977, another secret: The I only wish there was something I could do to ease the pain, he said, fighting to keep his voice from breaking. None of those red flags made the congressman reconsider. in. -- the signal that meant an attack was imminent, an excuse for conducting a suicide drill. Jones then orchestrated a ritual of mass murder and suicide at the group's nearby agricultural commune, ordering followers to drink cyanide-laced grape punch. Others, who presumably refused to drink the Kool-Aida flippant, misguided phrase I very much wish could be scrubbed from our lexiconwere injected with cyanide and other poisons. Jim Jones orchestrated the mass murder-suicide of Peoples Temple cult members on November 18, 1978. Everybody bolted in different directions. Guyana charged Layton as an accomplice in all five airstrip murders, but tried him first for the attempted murder of two Temple defectors. A family memorial service will be conducted at a later date. She was entrusted with flights to Europe and Panama to open Temple bank accounts, where Jones stashed the millions he was taking from Temple. All of those people I had been standing beside, speaking to, sharing a cabin with. ", Crimes for which children went to the well included "stealing food from the kitchen, expressing homesickness, failing a socialism exam, or even natural childish rebelliousness.". Then the adults. Then-State Assemblyman Leo J. Ryan behind the bars in a Folsom prison cell in Feb. 1970, where he spent a week living as an inmate to learn needs for reform. It was imminently clear Jonestown was a hierarchical community, with the power structure resembling some sort of plantation: the majority of the Temple members were black, while the leadership was almost exclusively white. Dwyer, who was wounded in the attack, has retired from the Foreign Service. Most of them were sent back home," said funeral director William Torbert Sr., 79. Born in Crete, Indiana, in 1931, Jim Jones grew up an outcast and underdog, and was fixated on being recognized as someone greater. When did the Jonestown massacre occur? After his campaign received my note, I started volunteering as a Ryan Girl, part of a troop of young women clad in houndstooth bobby hats, miniskirts, black tights, black turtlenecks and bright-white boots. The outfits were a ridiculous gimmick, and the role was clearly objectifying. spiritual. A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? But this particular morning, Jones told his followers that they had to kill themselves to keep from being tortured by mercenaries who were preparing an ambush. Leave a sympathy message to the family on the memorial page of Larry Layton to pay them a last tribute. ", She blithely ignored the warning signs -- the fake "cancer healings" and the increasingly hostile confrontations, when Jones would scream at members of his flock for faintly perceived faults or have them paddled harshly with the "board of education.". Layton had denounced his sister Debbie for defecting, telling Speier that Jonestown was "an extraordinarily good . was feted by politicians. Long-term consumption may increase the risk of obesity, diabetes, and even cancer. He pulled out a gun and shot and wounded two cult defectors. With Ryan dead, Jones concluded that the United States would retaliate, so he exhorted his followers to kill themselves by drinking cyanide-laced punch. Nearly 300 children were administered the poison, including a number of infants in the arms of their parents. It was utter pandemonium. Then, as a group of men dug the truck out of the mud, we heard a loud commotion from the pavilion. [30] In 2009, the Brevard County Sheriff's Office spent $4500 on 500 DVDs from the Reality Check program. Please help us get out of Jonestown. Soon after, Don was approached by another member, who claimed that many Temple members desperately wanted to leave but were too terrified to come forward. Five months later, on the night of November 18, 1978, Jones sent a gang of gunmen to an airstrip in Port Kaituma, where Representative Leo Ryan of San Mateo and a fact-finding party that had visited Jonestown were preparing to leave. November 18, 1978 Jim Jones' compound in Guyana, a witness testified Wednesday. All I could think was I am not going to make Grandma live through my funeral. An eyewitness who escaped described how people who did not cooperate were injected with poison where they sat, or were held down and injected with poison.. With Joness wild gaze on us, I tape-recorded affidavits of their wishes to return to the United States. ", "I thought, what a waste. But how? That was the last moment I remember with any real clarity before I surrendered my body to the medical staff. Laytons mother, also a Peoples Temple member, died of cancer in Jonestown two weeks before the massacre. I admired Ryans worthy missions, but questioned if I shared his bottomless capacity to bear witness. There were piles of used syringes at the scene. Get the day's top news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every . In 2009 the Rockledge Florida police used the DVDs as part of a community policing project with the money to buy the DVDs procured through asset forfeiture. "I understand what these well-meaning secrets were for," Layton says. He was jailed at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. Lawton was critical of the move, saying that "[c]hain gangs send a bad message about [the US]." I was 28, lying on a dusty airplane runway in the Guyanese jungle, and dying. He In August 1979, he joined the Coast Guard[9] and took part in the Mariel boatlift. And he assigned two of his staff members to come along: Jim Schollaert and me. [22] Fingerprint evidence connected Lawton to the October 1994 Palm Bay heist, and he was charged with that crime as well. By the time I returned, more than 900 people died. I barely got a wink of sleep. Get the day's top news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning. It was coined after a delusional, pseudo-guru named Jim Jones led his cult, the Peoples Temple, to mass suicide. A former high school teacher, he was swept into politics by the idealism of the Kennedy era and elected mayor of South San Francisco before running for state Assembly. Joseph Russoniello did not criticize Peckhams sentence, but in urging that Layton serve 20 years before being eligible for parole, he cited Laytons suggestion to Jones that Layton use dynamite to blow up Ryans plane and its unwanted outsiders--a fact that was not revealed until Tuesday. I had read the articles and listened to hours of testimony. To the volatile flight home. However, Layton was acquitted of the lesser charges and the prosecution announced it would not try him on the murder counts, carrying a mandatory sentence of death by hanging. If Layton waives his right to a hearing to establish his identity, he will be sent on to San Francisco to face the charges there. "All the survivors in touch with me are traumatized because that door had been closed," said Jonestown survivor Laura Johnston Kohl, now a retired teacher from San Diego. Rep. Ryan and I arranged to meet her. Jones wove his way through the camp, repeating that he wasnt upset that they wanted to leave; it was just that they were doing it in the wrong way. Loudspeakers Peckham sentenced Layton to 15 years in prison for the other three counts, but said the terms will run concurrently with the life term. 1970, and she was on summer vacation from the British boarding school him -- and later from him as she plotted her escape months before he jumped out a New York apartment window before Layton was born.). Only one man, Temple member Larry Layton, was tried in the United States for his involvement in the November 18 events. She had an extremely anxious demeanor, and we moved quickly as we went to her cabin to pack. Lawton gained notoriety for committing a string of jewelry store robberies along the Atlantic Seaboard prior to his arrest in 1996. Members of the press and the Concerned Relatives waited behind on the airstrip until the truck could come back for a second load. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. As I was lying seven miles away waiting for medical help, Sam Houstons granddaughters, Patricia and Judy, 14 and 15, were murdered, along with their mother, dozens of other would-be defectors and the rest of the Peoples Temple. Jim Jones orchestrated the mass murder-suicide of Peoples Temple cult members on November 18, 1978. It was a mass murder. It was just a matter of time. same time, it's because of those secrets that I think my mother and my Syringes surround one of the vats used to mix up the position drink used in the mass murder at Jonestown. Ryan traveled to Guyana after winning his fourth congressional term to investigate reports from cult defectors--including Laytons sister, Debra--that the cult was holding members against their will. [30][33] He was the first ex-con to ever become an honorary police officer. On the plane to Guyana, Nov. 18, 1978. Find showtimes and movie tickets near you at Megaplex Theatres. He was appointed to the San Francisco Housing Her brother, Larry, later became the only person ever charged in connection with the airstrip massacre and, after two trials, was convicted in 1986 of conspiring to murder Ryan. She left with her 8-month-old daughter before the massacre. "[10], While in prison in 2003, Lawton was sent to solitary confinement for 27 days as punishment. ". So many people wanted to defect that we had to call Georgetown to request an extra plane. Jones had become increasingly paranoid, convinced that the CIA, the FBI and the media were out to destroy him. It was an implausible ending for the fiery preacher, who had curried favor among the fashionable elite of the Democratic Party. He later became a world expert in the field of human allergies. Escape came in May 1978 when Jones sent Layton to Georgetown as Although some of Joness most zealous followers may have consumed the poison voluntarily, the vast majority were murdered outright and against their will. Larry Layton is a scapegoat for everyone connected with the Peoples Temple mass deaths eight years ago and had no part . I would never have left Jonestown with Congressman Ryan. ordered 912 of his followers to drink cyanide-poisoned punch in the Guyana . He treasured it. Most complied, although survivors described some people being shot, injected with poison, or forced to drink the deadly beverage when they tried to resist. View the profiles of professionals named "Larry Layton" on LinkedIn. only one I "Every week we're ordered to drink some liquid," she writes, culling her memories of the "old tapes (of Jonestown recollections that) are running in my head. None of the Temple members showed any interest in receiving correspondence from home. He knew that Jones had considerable political clout, with close ties to Democratic leaders in San Francisco, Sacramento, and even with the State Department. I am taking solace in knowing that Larry Layton is going to pay back society for having assassinated the first congressman ever in this country, said Assemblywoman Jackie Speier (D-San Mateo), who had accompanied Ryan on the trip as an aide. The hundreds of elderly were told that if they attempted escape, they would be left to die prolonged deaths alone in the depths of the jungle. After the war, Mr. Layton had a series of government jobs. Ever on the alert for malcontents, Jones would order recalcitrant Temple members -- those who questioned his authority -- into "The Box," a stifling underground cubicle the size of a coffin. Bodies lay crumpled on the tarmac around me. 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Meanwhile, ex-devotees of the Peoples Temple began sharing stories about Jones darker side. Even later, she learned another Lawton filed a lawsuit against the prison and staff alleging that they violated his rights. The Kool-Aid Man is merely a jug a sentient jug whose morning routine is filling himself with water and then pouring some Kool-Aid powder into his head, so he can then crash through walls and provide sugary goodness to the neighborhood kids. Children had their own special punishment, Layton writes. Larry Layton was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison for his role in conspiring to murder Rep. Leo Ryan in Guyana in 1978. Chief among my concerns was how cozy Jones appeared to be with members of the embassy: How could any Jonestown resident feel safe reporting an injustice to a U.S. official who is arm in arm with Jim Jones in every image? "[2] He was critical of Brevard County stopping letters to inmates in 2013. During World War II, he did research on cancer and the healing of wounds at Johns Hopkins University's School of Hygiene and Public Health in Baltimore. Layton, the cult's X-ray technician and a former conscientious objector, allegedly posed as a false defector from Jones and left the Jonestown commune the day of the mass-suicide. Witnesses offer conflicting accounts, Mars Voltas lead singer broke with Scientology and reunited with the band. Larry Layton was convicted in 1986 by a federal jury in San Francisco of conspiring in the 1978 murder of California congressman Leo Ryan and aiding and abetting in the attempted murder of Richard Dwyer, a U.S. diplomat wounded in the attack.