Layton, 41, is the only former Peoples Temple member who was tried in the United States in connection with the slaughter on Nov. 18, 1978. passage; Larry had been told years earlier. When did the Jonestown massacre occur? Layton was originally charged in Guyana with the attempted murder of three defectors from the Peoples Temple. Larry Layton, who posed as a defector, was captured after badly wounding two people inside a plane trying to take off. [13], In May 1994, three males robbed a jewelry store in Daytona Beach, Florida, netting $500,000 (nearly $950,000 in 2022)[14] worth of gold and diamonds. [15] The robbers had dropped off jewelry for repairs, and later returned to rob the store. | AP. Although Larry Layton must be held responsible for his actions, a just sentence requires consideration of the environment in which Layton and other members were virtually imprisoned, Peckham said. Layton was arrested shortly after the killings by Guyanese authorities and signed a confession taking responsibility for the airstrip deaths--a confession that his lawyers maintained was coerced. She got a job in investment banking, married, had a child, divorced. With the camp surrounded by his armed guards, he told his followers to give the medicinegrape FlavorAid and Kool-Aid laced with cyanide and tranquilizersto the children and the elderly first. It was impossible to cope with the pain. [10] Afterwards, another jewelry store in Lower Bucks County became suspicious of a person they believed was casing the place for a future robbery. [27] Lawton says he regrets his time spent in prison, because he missed out on seeing his children grow up; his grandmother died, and his father became afflicted with Alzheimer's disease while he was inside. 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. fixture. She mentioned a Bay Area couple, the Stoens, who had defected and were fighting for the return of their young son, John. Nearly 30 years later, her mother long dead in a rotting jungle outpost in Guyana, her brother doing life in a federal prison and her father so broken that he weeps at the mention of anything connected with Jones-, town, Deborah Layton has, as she put it the other day, "decided it was time to come out of the cobwebbed attic.". I felt my stomach knot. At the end of the evening, Rep. Ryan walked onstage and thanked the group. 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. afraid. It turned out to be a sort of family consulate officials. Infants cannot commit suicide. [8][9] The 367-page book covers his early life, his string of crimes, and his post-release career. Larry Lawton is the only ex-con in the US to be sworn in as an Honorary Police Officer and the only ex-con to be recognized on the Floor of the United States Congress for helping Young People . jungle. In May 1978, she was sent by Jones to Georgetown to chaperone some Temple children on a cultural exchange. [29][13] The program is four hours long. Much later, Layton writes, she would find them "on the bookshelf in Father's house with the many other prescription drugs taken from Temple members.". Along the way, she exorcised the family ghosts. 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. was ambushed After the churchs initial development, it began to be based more and more on social and humanitarian efforts. Others were buried in a mass grave in California. broadcast Jones' voice at all hours. "I understand what these well-meaning secrets were for," Layton says. 1998-11-02 04:00:00 PDT CALIFORNIA -- For a young woman of 17, flinging herself on the world after the cloistered atmosphere of an English boarding school, Peoples Temple seemed daring and exciting. fields, subsisting mostly on rice, Layton writes. robes, Jones, known as Father to his flock, soon became a San Francisco Nearly 300 children were administered the poison with no comprehension of what it meant, including a number of infants in the arms of their parents. Instead he proposed a better use of law enforcement resources would be to "help inmates with drug addiction. He and four others were killed. Each cup of Kool-Aid has 20 grams of sugar, or to be precise, the equivalent of 5 teaspoons of sugar. Ryan decided that we would wait until the morning and suggested we keep a low profile until then. [42][13], Lawton has made many media appearances. encampment about 250 miles (400 kilometers) from the Guyana capital of Her book "Seductive Poison" will be in bookstores in November. Jones died from a bullet to the brain. I was beaten once a month. For those who don't know, Larry Layton is a man who pretended to be a Jonestown defector and asked to leave Jonestown with Leo Ryan and the NBC News crew, and Layton opened fire on the plane that was supposed to carry people from Port Kaituma back to a larger city in Guyana. Traumatizing family rifts erupted on the spot, with mothers and fathers engaged in literal tug-of-wars over their children. Ive shared my Guyana story countless times, but its still a challenge to go back and relive those days. Jonestown survivor Deborah Layton grew up in a house of secrets. He has appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Christian Broadcasting Network, and Fox News. (AP) -- Thirty-five years ago, funeral directors in Delaware struggled to quickly bury and cremate the remains of more than 900 people who died in a suicide-murder in Jonestown, Guyana, many of them Peoples Temple followers who drank cyanide-laced punch. Then a tractor-trailer from the People's Temple arrived, and its occupants opened fire on the entire group, including both planes. The two store owners were bound while two individuals robbed the store and a third acted as a lookout and the other as the getaway driver. Layton was already aboard one of the two planes, posing as a defector. "I saw things and I didn't stand up and say, 'Stop!' He was jailed at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. Increasing numbers of people approached us. In Congress, he joined a March 1978 Greenpeace mission to investigate the slaughter of baby seals in Newfoundland, Canada. | Amazon. Jones died of a gunshot wound to the head. [25], Law enforcement officials and judges have supported the program. Mr. Layton is survived by two sons, Thomas and Larry (Laurence John Layton); two daughters, Deborah Layton and Annalisa Layton Valentine, both of Piedmont, and three grandchildren. homeless and help addicts get clean. Layton was 17 when her already converted brother, Larry, introduced her to Jones at the first Peoples Temple in far Northern California, where he believed he could best survive the atomic apocalypse he expected. Funeral directors say it is not uncommon for family members to never retrieve cremated remains. But how? All were visiting Jonestown on a fact-finding mission to investigate reports of abuses of members. Mr. Layton retired in 1978, at the height of the Jonestown tragedy, and never worked again. They all swore that Jonestown was the one and only place they could ever consider home. Layton was reportedly found at the scene in possession of the revolver with four rounds in the cylinder and one shell . [3][4] He has acted as a spokesman for prisoners and prisoner issues,[5] been a vocal advocate for prison reform, and made appearances in the media as an expert on robberies. and and Mr. Layton died of congestive heart failure, five days before his 85th birthday. As I took down their names, I looked over at Don Harris, who was interviewing Jones. In 1977, after a magazine expose, Jones and his followers fled to Jonestown, a compound carved out of the remote jungles of Guyana. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Jones became active in local politics, giving money, running food programs and busing Temple members to attend rallies and get out the vote for his favored candidates. "The reason I did well," Layton says now, "is that I'm a little soldier and I follow orders so well.". People's Temple follower Larry Layton, center stands with police following his arrest Nov. 18, 1978 in the shooting of two people on a remote Guyana airstrip. Georgetown, "I knew we'd entered a prison camp and I knew I wanted out. Witnesses offer conflicting accounts, Mars Voltas lead singer broke with Scientology and reunited with the band. "So we as a family all sat down and we voted him out of his job." Only one man, Temple member Larry Layton, was tried in the United States for his involvement in the November 18 events. How to plan a weekend getaway to Mount Shasta, Your Privacy Choices (Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads). Once out, Layton sounded the alarm: Jones planned to force his followers Family and friends can send flowers and condolences in memory of the loved one. "They were looking for something larger than themselves to be involved I was almost one of them. It was an implausible ending for the fiery preacher, who had curried favor among the fashionable elite of the Democratic Party. She left with her 8-month-old daughter before the massacre. It was just a matter of time. Vernon Gosney and Monica Bagby, it read. His following grew, and Jones became the leader of one of the first mixed-race churches in Indiana. Debbie said the couple had gone to court to try to compel the Guyanese government to intervene; Rev. In all, 913 died. [7] In grades one through six, Lawton served as an altar boy at St. Francis de Chantal in The Bronx,[8] where he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest. Jim Jones orchestrated the mass murder-suicide of Peoples Temple cult members on November 18, 1978. L.A. Times Archives. Many of his papers on this top-secret work are still classified. He is serving a life sentence in the federal prison at Lompoc. This time, it was not a drill. Don put it in his pocket and took a few more steps before carefully unfolding it. Few heeded. A full body orgasm at the L.A. Phil? While trying to keep the peace, he had been attacked with a knife. It was 1970, and she was on summer vacation from the British boarding school Sam was far from the only person concerned about Jones malicious influence over a loved one. Ryan wanted to investigate. His appearance was part of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program. We worked quickly to locate and speak to the individuals whose families had contacted our office and had been campaigning for their return. The fact is, those who died in Jonestown were real people, with families, friends, and loved ones. Twenty years after Jonestown, a survivor looks back. Jones had a penchant for suddenly getting on the compound loudspeaker long after everyone had gone to bed and shouting, "White Night! Former Jonestown cult member Larry Layton was convicted of conspiracy today in the killing of California Rep. Layton Guilty of Role in '78 Ryan Murder - Los Angeles Times 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. Before I could even comprehend what was happening, about a dozen men leapt from the tractor, leveled their automatic weapons, and fast approached. "But Larry Layton, who had posed as a defector and wounded two people, is serving Layton had denounced his sister Debbie for defecting, telling Speier that Jonestown was "an extraordinarily good . It was a mass murder. He would hang a picture of my mom in his office and look at it in an effort to immunize himself to the feeling of loss, to challenge himself so he would get over it. brown eyes on her and warmly invited her to "join me and my family of all Officers & convicted felon give 'real talk' to Havelock Middle School students", "Real-Life Jewel Thief Breaks Down Inaccuracies of GTA 5's Jewelry Heist Mission", "Was ein Ex-Hftling zu "Prison Architect" zu sagen hat", Former Jewel Thief Reviews Famous Heist Movies, From Oceans Eleven to Heat, Posey Presents Reality Check Community Champion Award to Thomas Reed of Rockledge, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Larry_Lawton&oldid=1151413947, This page was last edited on 23 April 2023, at 22:22. Then the adults. My recovery continuedthough that very word is not an accurate description of the aftermath of being shot. The news at the time and the history lessons to follow usually fail to mention that a number of Peoples Temple members were shot, several of whom were in the field between the pavilion and the jungle, clearly trying to escape the massacre. "It's just so sad, for me as a survivor," said Yulanda Williams, 58, now a sergeant with the San Francisco Police Department. The store owner managed to break free and grabbed a .38 caliber pistol and fired five shots at the robbers as they fled. My ribs were broken. Some bodies that arrived back in the U.S. at Dover Air Force Base in 1978 were claimed by families. The Guyanese did not release Layton until now because one of his defense lawyers said his client owed him $37,000 in unpaid bills. Clearing away those cobwebs meant writing a book -- it's called "Seductive Poison: A Jonestown Survivor's Story of Life and Death in the Peoples Temple." That same year, Congressman Ryan read a newspaper article about a constituent of his named Sam Houston, whose son had been a member of Jim Jones Peoples Temple and, in 1976, died under suspicious circumstances after having a phone conversation in which he confessed to wanting to leave the group. The phrase drinking the Kool-Aid refers to followership at its worse. Sept. 26, 1981 Larry Layton: Survivor of the Peoples Temple Larry Layton, Quaker and pacifist, entered the Peoples Temple in 1968 to join the march to social justice as charted by the. The "Greeting Committee" promptly confiscated all their clothes and belongings and, most important, their passports. A bone shot out of my right arm, and a huge hunk of flesh had been blown off my thigh. The icon which characterizes Jonestown in the public mind is a picture of a galvanized metal vat, surrounded by bloated bodies. Repeatedly, the defectors mentioned forced participation in mass-suicide rehearsals known as the White Night trials.. Dick Dwyer, an embassy official, showed us a slideshow of his visit to Jonestown the previous Mayimages in which he and Jim Jones looked unnervingly chummy; images of tables filled with food, of joyful children on a swingset, of bountiful crops and an exuberant church session. Peckham sentenced Layton to 15 years in prison for the other three counts, but said the terms will run concurrently with the life term. But when her own child started asking questions, Layton broke family led by U.S. He was appointed to the San Francisco Housing contentment. Peoples Temple was successful in recruiting new members because they always provided what the community needed, a case of supply and demand. 'It's time to come in and say, 'Goodbye.' Get the day's top news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every . Indescribable pain consumed me, leaving room only for a fleeting thought that I should pretend to be dead. He also gave the former Peoples Temple follower credit for spending a year and 49 days in jail while his trial was pending--thereby reducing the potential sentence by that amount of time. home in the hills ringing San Francisco Bay. the doorbell in a frenzy of bright stripes and squiggles. They also found 24 other containers of marked, identified remains, and five containers of remains they could not immediately identify, said Kimberly Chandler, spokeswoman for the Delaware Division of Forensic Science. Last week, though, the ashes of nine victims were found neatly packaged and clearly marked, with the names of the deceased and place of their death included on accompanying death certificates, the Delaware Division of Forensic Science said Thursday. Layton spent approximately 18 years in either the Georgetown Gaol in Guyana or U.S. federal prisons before his release in April 2002. Peoples Temple leader Jim Jones (left) shakes hands with San Francisco Mayor George Moscone (right) after being sworn in to serve on the San Francisco Housing Authority, Nov. 24, 1977. Jim Jones, the charismatic leader of the Peoples Temple cult. [8] Lawton later said that he used a BB gun during the robbery. Congressman Ryan assured me that there was nothing to worry about. After he passed legislation improving prison conditions, the inmates showed their gratitude by giving him a chess set they had sculpted from toothpaste and toilet paper. The discovery reopened wounds. To the volatile flight home. The killings occurred shortly before more than 900 followers of Jones died in a mass suicide at Jonestown, a settlement founded by Jones in the remote Guyanese jungle of South America. They reported the car's license plate, which linked the car to Lawton. SAN FRANCISCO Larry Layton was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison for his role in conspiring to murder Rep. Leo Ryan in Guyana in 1978. The next year, his church relocated to Redwood Valley, a small community in northern California. A family memorial service will be conducted at a later date. I asked to speak to Monica Bagby, one of the names on Dons note. Rep. Ryan and I arranged to meet her. [1][2], In 2007, he started the Reality Check Program to help educate at-risk youths on the consequences of breaking the law. 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. well, it wasn't there. He was cracking. Escape came in May 1978 when Jones sent Layton to Georgetown as I would be in the first group; Congressman Ryan insisted that he stay behind to make certain that every person who wanted to leave made it to Port Kaituma safely. I couldnt immediately identify the deafening sound that filled the air. Most complied, although survivors described some people being shot, injected with poison, or forced to drink the deadly beverage when they tried to resist. [26] He was incarcerated in many prisons during his sentence, which included Jesup in Georgia, Riker's Island in New York, Edgefield in South Carolina, and Yazoo City in Mississippi. Twenty years ago this month, Jones and 912 of his followers committed mass suicide at the jungle compound. All of those children. Born to poverty in the small West Virginia coal-mining town of Boomer, Mr. Layton went from Gauley Bridge High School to a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the West Virginia Institute of Technology and, later, a doctorate in biochemistry from Pennsylvania State University. On November 17, we landed at the tiny airstrip at Port Kaituma. 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. Leo Ryan assured me that there was nothing to worry about. [10] He was sentenced for racketeering and robbery and spent 11 years in prison before being released in 2007. Left-right: Jim Schollaert, Jackie Speier and Congressman Leo Ryan. How to plan a weekend getaway to Mount Shasta, Your Privacy Choices (Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads). Hurrying out of bed, Layton would race toward Jones "in my mud-caked boots, past the tin-roofed cabins, past the wooden outdoor showers where we're allowed our two-minute wash at the end of our 11-hour days in the field." In the months leading up to the trip, my boss, Congressman Leo Ryan, had been contacted by worried constituents whose loved ones were members of a San Francisco-based religious group called the Peoples Temple, which had fled to South America for the promise of a utopian commune led by their preacher, Jim Jones. He was met with mostly beaming declarations 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. As I was transferred onto a gurney, I was conscious enough to look up and see a big, gleaming white plane with The United States of America written on the side. He later became a world expert in the field of human allergies. We listened as she offered a detailed and disturbing account of her experience. 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. Politically, there was nothing to gainand everything to loseby taking on Jones, and there was no telling what hed do if confronted and challenged. only one I "I felt we were doing something that had meaning. By the early 1970s, however, Mr. Layton's personal life changed in ways he had hardly thought possible. He said Layton was insane at the time and was drugged by Jones with a mood-enhancing stimulant. jumped out a New York apartment window before Layton was born.). Larry Layton, a former member of the People's Temple cult, is to be released on $250,000 bail pending an appeal of his conviction last December for aiding and abetting the murder of. 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. [43] He also hosted a local talk radio show. announcing her mother was Jewish. Layton and other temple members then ambushed the congressman and his party at the airstrip, according to an indictment returned against Layton last month in San Francisco. | AP. Over the next decade, Jones moved his congregation and changed its name several times before settling on Peoples Temple around 1964. brother and I We didnt want a group to present a canned response or any individual to look to others for their answers. Most of them were sent back home," said funeral director William Torbert Sr., 79. Those who refused were shot; children were injected with poison. [6], Lawton was born in North Hempstead, New York on October 3, 1961. When people refer to the Jonestown massacre as a mass suicide, I am enraged. Why is Frank McCourt really pushing it? Ryan and I asked one or two Temple members at a time to come talk to us. 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. Syringes surround one of the vats used to mix up the position drink used in the mass murder at Jonestown. The building showed few signs of its former use, although a floral design was etched in glass panes at the entrance. They called it Jonestown. In between his trials, he lived under an assumed name in Eureka and, more recently, in San Francisco, where he sold real estate and took computer classes. Before going to print, the editor of the magazine, who held some esteem for Jones, felt compelled to call him and read aloud the article before it went to press. [15] The robbers took $480,000 ($910,600.81 in 2022)[17] worth of gold and diamonds making it the biggest robbery in the city's history. As I shook his hand, I looked at his sideburns. Ryan had gone to Guyana to investigate reports that relatives of his San Francisco-area constituents wre being held against their will. A man followed him and slipped a folded piece of paper into his hand, then disappeared back into the crowd. Laytons lawyer said that made Layton more susceptible to Jones spell. When cameras were rolling, he spoke of how he loved them and how there would always be a place for thembut those declarations would be followed by thinly veiled mutters about treason and liars. Loudspeakers Its leader, the Rev. 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. [23][24] Lawton later said he was the biggest jewel thief of the 1980s and 90s operating within the United States of America. were innocent. Laytons two ex-wives--both had been lured from Layton by Jones--also encouraged him to somehow stop Ryan, Russoniello said. Jones responded by telling them that if any actions were taken to remove John, the entire Jonestown population would commit suicide. "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. As I scanned the hundreds of smiling faces, I never could have fathomed that within 24 hours, virtually every one of them would be dead. 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? We landed in Georgetown, Guyanas capital, on November 14, 1978. Leave a sympathy message to the family on the memorial page of Larry Layton to pay them a last tribute. DOVER, Del. SAN FRANCISCO . [16] Then in October 1994, four individuals robbed a jewelry store in Palm Bay, Florida. With the dark glasses he wore indoors and out, his glossy black hair and He was found guilty of conspiracy and aiding and abetting in the murder of Ryan and the attempted murder of U.S. embassy official Richard Dwyer and was sentenced to life in prison, though he was released in 2002. 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. She got on the plane, leaving her mother behind. blew open," she says. [28] In 2013, Lawton was made an honorary police officer by the Lake St. Louis, Missouri Police Department due to his work after prison. It paints a convincing picture of what it was like to spend seven years in the notorious cult, only to escape a few months before the tragedy that gave Jonestown its infamous place in history as the site of the largest mass suicide in modern times. Offenders sweltered in "The Box," a 6-by-4-foot 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. Ryan invited members of the press and a few of the Concerned Relatives to join him. But the moment I looked down at my own body is locked in my mind. In fact, I would have been on that truck, with a rifle. [10][26] While recounting his prison experiences he said: "I saw inmates stabbed and friends die" and "I saw young men raped and pimped out as prostitutes for other inmates. He spent 12 years in prison, and once released, began a career as a motivational speaker, life coach, and author. Personal Reflections. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Former Peoples Temple member Larry Layton was met with frightened screams when he boarded a truck full of people trying to flee the Rev. All I could think was I am not going to make Grandma live through my funeral. [44] Lawton has a YouTube channel, and he has made videos analyzing heists in movies and video games such as Grand Theft Auto V; he also plays Prison Architect. Peoples Temple gunman Larry Layton would not testify on his own behalf and opposed an insanity plea . Although he had no formal training as a minister and no affiliation with any organized religion, his high-octane enthusiasm and open-armed policy attracted a diverse range of followers. He called Layton the ultimate victim of Jim Jones.. Should they have any doubt of his intentions, they could look to the vibrant community of believers who echoed his sentiments and treated his words as gospel. [44][45], "Police hunt clues in Cannes jewelry heist; ex-jewel thief says it was a pro job", "Florida sheriff reintroduces chain gang", "Ex-jewel thief says of Kim K's purloined baubles: 'They're gone. Jim Jones' compound in Guyana, a witness testified Wednesday. They were naive," Layton said in a recent interview in her But allegations of wrongdoing mounted, and Jones moved the settlement to Guyana, the only English-speaking country in South America. him -- and later from him as she plotted her escape months before he I have no idea how much time passed until I turned my head and opened my eyes. With its bell-ringing calls for social justice -- this was in the fractious 1960s and early '70s -- the little-known church near Ukiah catered to the closet revolutionary in Deborah Layton. Larry Layton is a scapegoat for everyone connected with the Peoples Temple mass deaths eight years ago and had no part . This image dehumanizes the victims, however, and disconnects us from the tragedy. Individually, their insistence would have been hard to question. In the early 1950s, he was chief of Chemical Warfare at the Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. April 24, 1987 12 AM PT. He told you precisely what was on his mind, no matter who you were or whether or not you wanted to hear it. So many people wanted to defect that we had to call Georgetown to request an extra plane.
Expectation Of Brownian Motion To The Power Of 3,
James Jones Suns Gm Salary,
Andrew Tiktok Lawyer Kansas City,
Used Restoration Hardware Furniture,
Articles W