After Jonestown, Layton retreated to secrets again -- "I was so ashamed. Wed have to make multiple trips in the truck. "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. Kool-Aid is high in sugar or contains artificial sweetener and has little to no nutritional value. I felt my stomach knot. 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 . Laytons mother, also a Peoples Temple member, died of cancer in Jonestown two weeks before the massacre. A former Quaker and a conscientious objector during the Vietnam war, Layton also faces three other counts in the indictment: conspiracy to kill Ryan, conspiracy to kill Richard Dwyer, deputy chief of the United States mission in Guyana, and the attempted murder of Dwyer. 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. We split up, as Jones had arranged. 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. [8] In 1983, having earned his GED, he left the Coast Guard and began engaging in criminal activity, mostly loan sharking and bookmaking. 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. His appearance was part of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program. Many hours before the plane came, somehow, word filtered in that after Jones had released his death squad to the airstrip, he had led more than 900 of his flock into his White Night of death. The morning after our arrival, Congressman Ryan, Jim Schollaert and I attended a closed-door briefing by Ambassador John Burke and his staff at the U.S. Embassy. I just needed to hang on. [16] Then in October 1994, four individuals robbed a jewelry store in Palm Bay, Florida. 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. Whatever impelled me to send in the card changed the course of my life. It was coined after a delusional, pseudo-guru named Jim Jones led his cult, the Peoples Temple, to mass suicide. It was a mass murder. 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." Once, Debbie continued, Jones woke up the camp in the early hours of the morning. 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. she couldn't write. 'It's time to come in and say, 'Goodbye.' Her mother and brother stayed behind. Larry Layton, a passenger posing as a defector, started shooting. [35][36] It also hosts an annual bowling tournament. He 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. 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. He spent 12 years in prison, and once released, began a career as a motivational speaker, life coach, and author. After the churchs initial development, it began to be based more and more on social and humanitarian efforts. Within a year, a few Jonestown defectors had managed to return to the Bay Areamost notably, Debbie Layton Blakey, whod been Jones trusted aide and worked as the Temples financial secretary. 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. [15] The robbers had dropped off jewelry for repairs, and later returned to rob the store. for After being airlifted to a U.S. military base in Puerto Rico, he was sent onward on to a hospital in Santa Rosa, California, where his father and brothersall of them armedprotected him from the "angels" he believed the late Jones would send to finally finish him. Layton spent approximately 18 years in either the Georgetown Gaol in Guyana or U.S. federal prisons before his release in April 2002. | Amazon. seemed to have them for us.". I was beaten once a month. We heard that the church had weapons, and that Jones was paranoid and possibly on drugs. On Nov. 18, 1978, on a remote jungle airstrip, gunmen from the group ambushed and killed U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan of California, three newsmen and a defector from the group. 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. tradition. He is. ", 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.". View the profiles of professionals named "Larry Layton" on LinkedIn. [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. Jones greeted us at the compound. The base has handled mass casualties of both military personnel and civilians from wars, the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon and the NASA Challenger and Columbia space shuttle missions. can really trust," or by the knowledge that failure meant punishment, physical He was born June 30, 1940 in Long Branch NJ to William and Edna (Keller) Layton. "Whatever journey the ashes took in the U.S. is secondary. The tumult of the late 60s and early 70s had left masses of people searching for a greater sense of security and purpose. Sam was far from the only person concerned about Jones malicious influence over a loved one. 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. Dwyer, Speier and nine others were wounded. and Mr. Layton retired in 1978, at the height of the Jonestown tragedy, and never worked again. Ryan invited members of the press and a few of the Concerned Relatives to join him. They called it Jonestown. Generator vs power station: Which one is right for you? Inquisitive by nature, he was a proponent of experiential legislating, preferring to go out and experience issues firsthand before he decided what to do. 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. [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. 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. Ryan wanted to investigate. SAN FRANCISCO . When did the Jonestown massacre occur? Deborah Layton is now 45, lives in an elegant house in Piedmont and takes her 12-year-old daughter to play in soccer games. Five bullets had ripped through me, devastating the right side of my body. The building showed few signs of its former use, although a floral design was etched in glass panes at the entrance. Larry Layton later became the only person ever charged in connection with a massacre at the nearby Port Kaituma airstrip. He had on a big yellow poncho, and his eyes were set in a sullen glare. By that time, darker elements had seeped into Jones sermons. 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. Research has shown that the artificial dyes in Kool-Aid may cause hyperactivity in your child. We landed in Georgetown, Guyanas capital, on November 14, 1978. Sam was certain Jones had something to do with his sons death. about Ryan did not look or behave like your typical politician. In the summer of 1977, after an expose of Peoples Temple in New West magazine, Jones and his followers fled to Guyana. She had an extremely anxious demeanor, and we moved quickly as we went to her cabin to pack. By the time I returned, more than 900 people died. Ten days later, on November 18, Jones and 912 of his followers committed mass suicide. 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. Politically, there was nothing to gainand everything to loseby taking on Jones, and there was no telling what hed do if confronted and challenged. My recovery continuedthough that very word is not an accurate description of the aftermath of being shot. I had read the articles and listened to hours of testimony. It made no sense that he would be trying to leave Jonestown. jungle. 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. On November 17, we landed at the tiny airstrip at Port Kaituma. robes, Jones, known as Father to his flock, soon became a San Francisco Lawton gained notoriety for committing a string of jewelry store robberies along the Atlantic Seaboard prior to his arrest in 1996. Jones had become increasingly paranoid, convinced that the CIA, the FBI and the media were out to destroy him. [19][20] One bullet narrowly missed Lawton, but struck his brother. [38][5][9] In 2013, the Brevard County Jail re-introduced chain gangs as a pilot project with the goal of deterring crime. Layton and her mother arrived in Jonestown in December 1977. The cremated remains of nine Jonestown victims were discovered in a decrepit, now-shuttered funeral home in Dover, officials said. It felt as though my mother was standing there and she was saying, There were piles of used syringes at the scene. Most were poisoned, some forcibly. Jones was found shot through the head. They were issued four T-shirts, four pairs of socks, a toothbrush and toothpaste, four pairs of underwear and a bar of soap. [29][13] The program is four hours long. 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. 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. I wanted to leave my daughter a legacy that wasn't that simple.". 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. Debbie stood in line to drink the red liquid that she was told would kill her in a matter of minutes. In 1977, after a magazine expose, Jones and his followers fled to Jonestown, a compound carved out of the remote jungles of Guyana. The government theory during the first U.S. trial in the U.S. was that Larry knew of the plot to kill Ryan and that he was involved in it. spiritual. PIEDMONT, California (AP) -- The fact is, those who died in Jonestown were real people, with families, friends, and loved ones. I couldnt immediately identify the deafening sound that filled the air. Layton became a senior insider in Jones' entourage. Mr.. April 24, 1987 12 AM PT. A bone shot out of my right arm, and a huge hunk of flesh had been blown off my thigh. Breathing heavily, I pulled myself to my feet, stumbled to the planes baggage compartment and took shelter. Layton was reportedly found at the scene in possession of the revolver with four rounds in the cylinder and one shell . They reported the car's license plate, which linked the car to Lawton. believed he could best survive the atomic apocalypse he expected. at the airstrip. . There she contacted her sister and U.S. On Thursday, officials revealed that not all had been brought to a final resting place. "We would do what they wanted, either cremation or send the bodies back home. Children had their own special punishment, Layton writes. Others were buried in a mass grave in California. Jim Jones, with his omnipresent dark glasses and his sweeping red robe, was the anchor of her newfound life and, like many Temple members, she was mesmerized by him. -- the signal that meant an attack was imminent, an excuse for conducting a suicide drill. The Guyanese did not release Layton until now because one of his defense lawyers said his client owed him $37,000 in unpaid bills. 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. 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. To the stretchers. In all, 913 died. ", Looking back on it 20 years later, she says, "I put everything in denial and locked it down. Then, she wrote "Seductive Poison," her account of events leading up to But I refused to spend the rest of my life as a victim of Guyanathere were too many of them. If convicted, Layton could receive a mandatory life sentence for Ryan's killing, up to 20 years for the attempted killing of Dwyer, and up to life on each of the two conspiracy counts. Jones died of a gunshot wound to the head. [6][11] In 2010, Lawton filmed the pilot and sizzle reel for Lawton's Law, a reality show based on his work with at-risk youth. Debbie said the couple had gone to court to try to compel the Guyanese government to intervene; Rev. I was even unaffected by the rice weevils and other strange bugs we ingested daily.". [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. Jackie Speier manages a smile as she is wheeled on a stretcher at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, Nov. 20, 1978. afraid. 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. And then I realized that confirming one tiny detail could mean that the worst of the testimonies were true. [23][24] Lawton later said he was the biggest jewel thief of the 1980s and 90s operating within the United States of America. But when her own child started asking questions, Layton broke family Notifications can be turned off anytime in the browser settings. Ryan decided that we would wait until the morning and suggested we keep a low profile until then. (It was the 60s.) 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. ", "Every week we're promised death, a relief from this miserable life. 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. [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. He was freed by Guyanese authorities Friday and arrived in New York City Friday night in the custody of U.S. marshals. [10] He also founded the Reality Check program which aims to show teens the consequences of a criminal life. Their accounts led to an expos in New West Magazine planned for publication in summer 1977. because I was too He spent 12 years in prison, and once released, began a career as a . [40] Lawton has also shown concern over the prevalence of fentanyl-laced heroin, noting that in the past dealers had tried to sell pure heroin without any additives.