He told you precisely what was on his mind, no matter who you were or whether or not you wanted to hear it. After the war, Mr. Layton had a series of government jobs. Rep. Leo Ryan, who was working with San Francisco area residents worried "They were looking for something larger than themselves to be involved Repeatedly, the defectors mentioned forced participation in mass-suicide rehearsals known as the White Night trials.. With heavy hearts, we announce the death of Larry Layton (Johnstown, Pennsylvania), who passed away on December 21, 2017 at the age of 55. Don't Miss Audio:. They called it Jonestown. 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. Although he was acquitted in Guyana, he was returned here to face charges related to the shootings of Ryan and Dwyer, who were protected under U.S. law. He genuinely believed that he had some sort of protective shield around him, despite the fact that we werent traveling with any military escort or protection. What an evil thing that Jim Jones did. [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. It felt like a Mack truck had just sped over me. (CHRONICLE PHOTO BY SUSANNA FROHMAN), Horoscope for Monday, 5/01/23 by Christopher Renstrom, Dubs fans picking apart video of possible Poole-Draymond incident, Destructive landslide closes historic California institution, Major SF retail store slated to permanently close, Warriors' biggest hater made a cowardly Game 7 'bet', Draymond Green rips Domantas Sabonis: 'Lost a lot of respect', More rain, 'unseasonably chilly' temperatures coming to Bay Area, Esalen Institute sued over alleged use of video with the N-word, Shock, fear as 2 killings in 3 days rock quiet Davis, Bay Area mom influencer found guilty of lying about kidnapping, Bay Area preschool teacher suspected of dumping body along road, 49ers out in full force at Warriors-Kings Game 7. He had engineered complete authoritycollecting members Social Security and disability checks, and determining when and how his disciples could communicate with their families. well, it wasn't there. I heard screams and the rapid pounding of gunfire. 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." Before the New West issue hit the stands, Jones and hundreds of his followers had left San Francisco for Jonestown, their promised land in Guyana. 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. Kool-Aid is high in sugar or contains artificial sweetener and has little to no nutritional value. Lawton gained notoriety for committing a string of jewelry store robberies along the Atlantic Seaboard prior to his arrest in 1996. The chaos persisted until, abruptly, a silence fell. Jones had a penchant for suddenly getting on the compound loudspeaker long after everyone had gone to bed and shouting, "White Night! When people refer to the Jonestown massacre as a mass suicide, I am enraged. The robbers had been there the day before and returned asking about a ring. [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. To the stretchers. Breathing heavily, I pulled myself to my feet, stumbled to the planes baggage compartment and took shelter. Along the way, she exorcised the family ghosts. [30] In 2009, the Brevard County Sheriff's Office spent $4500 on 500 DVDs from the Reality Check program. only one I Somehow, through the encroaching darkness of my final thoughts, I saw my 87-year-old Grandma Emma. [25], Law enforcement officials and judges have supported the program. (The night before she'd left for the school, her father had stunned her I have no idea how much time passed until I turned my head and opened my eyes. A man followed him and slipped a folded piece of paper into his hand, then disappeared back into the crowd. It felt as though my mother was standing there and she was saying, "If I hadn't been sent to Georgetown that day (in May)," Deborah Layton says now, "I would have died in Jonestown. But Layton, saying he wishes he could ease the pain. The Guyanese did not release Layton until now because one of his defense lawyers said his client owed him $37,000 in unpaid bills. At the airport, Temple members who found out she was fleeing implored her not to leave. Larry Lawton. Five bullets hit me from point-blank range, piercing my right arm, leg, and back. Infants cannot commit suicide. The approach continued even after hed moved from Sacramento to Washington, D.C. Don hung back for a moment before approaching Congressman Ryan and me at the picnic table and surreptitiously passing along the note. 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. She was 16 before she found out she was Jewish, 24 before she learned her They all swore that Jonestown was the one and only place they could ever consider home. Each cup of Kool-Aid has 20 grams of sugar, or to be precise, the equivalent of 5 teaspoons of sugar. It was nothing of the kind. 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. 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. Rep. Ryan and I arranged to meet her. After that trip, I remember telling myself that never again would I witness such violence at such close range. My recovery continuedthough that very word is not an accurate description of the aftermath of being shot. [10] High school students can use the time spent in the program towards the 75 hours of community service required for the Bright Futures Scholarship Program. He pulled out a gun and shot and wounded two cult defectors. 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. His battles with the church arent over, How Palm Springs ran out Black and Latino families to build a fantasy for rich, white people, U.N. envoy says Sudans warring sides agree to negotiate, Yellen says U.S. could hit debt ceiling as soon as June 1, U.S. says 20,000 Russians killed in Ukraine war since December, Speaker Kevin McCarthy addresses Knesset amid fraught U.S.-Israel ties, First Republic: Cheap, interest-only jumbo mortgages to Silicon Valleys elite fueled the banks failure. Instead, she grabbed her daughter's acrylic paints Few heeded. They were issued four T-shirts, four pairs of socks, a toothbrush and toothpaste, four pairs of underwear and a bar of soap. 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. From what Ive seen, he said, there are a lot of people here who think this is the best thing that happened in their whole life. He was interrupted by manically enthusiastic cheering. Mr. Layton's children said his one wish in his later years was that his son, Larry, could be freed. In Congress, he joined a March 1978 Greenpeace mission to investigate the slaughter of baby seals in Newfoundland, Canada. 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. Perhaps death is better than this.". 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. The suit was later dismissed. "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. One thing that was in need was the expansion of social services. races," hundreds of followers working to feed the hungry, house the family members in the cult. 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. broadcast Jones' voice at all hours. [29][13] The program is four hours long. The cover of a Jonestown promotional booklet from 1978. Long-term consumption may increase the risk of obesity, diabetes, and even cancer. rite of 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. This image dehumanizes the victims, however, and disconnects us from the tragedy. It turned out to be a sort of family grandmother had committed suicide. I felt my stomach knot. Jim Jones with a group of children living at Jonestown, circa 1978. Lisa, Deborah and Larry Layton all went to Jonestown, but in May 1978, Deborah, increasingly disturbed by Jones' paranoid ravings and brutal treatment of his flock, escaped and flew back to the United States. Youll see what a wonderful place it is. He took us on a tour highlighting the most favorable aspects of the commune. View the profiles of professionals named "Larry Layton" on LinkedIn. While on the phone listening to the allegations that would soon be made public, Jones scribbled a note to his aides: We leave tonight.. Inquisitive by nature, he was a proponent of experiential legislating, preferring to go out and experience issues firsthand before he decided what to do. [7] Lawton attended Intermediate IS 192 and Lehman High School, but did not graduate. Congressman Ryan and I were among the first shift of the delegation to climb in for the excruciatingly slow six-mile drive to the commune. The night before, our delegation watched Jones followers perform a show at their compound. [41], In 2017, he appeared in a middle school in Havelock, North Carolina to explain his prison experiences. 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. [15][18] Local police believed there was a connection between this robbery and a robbery that took place in May 1994 in Daytona Beach, and contacted the FBI. [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. The moment Layton and her mother, Lisa, arrived at Jonestown, a jungle Where is Larry Layton today? At the pavilion for breakfast, I did my best to appear unruffled. SAN FRANCISCO . When the time of their supposed deaths came and went with everybody still alive, Jones announced it had just been a drill to test their loyalty. Back in the compound, Jones was choreographing 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. "It was a warm day and all of a sudden a breeze came up and the back door I admired Ryans worthy missions, but questioned if I shared his bottomless capacity to bear witness. Some were cremated. Don put it in his pocket and took a few more steps before carefully unfolding it. "I was ready to be overwhelmed by emotion," she says, "but when we got into the area, it just wasn't there. [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. contentment. When we touched down in Georgetown, a U.S. Air Force medevac plane was waiting. Larry Layton was the only person prosecuted for any of the events in and around Jonestown. It made no sense that he would be trying to leave Jonestown. tradition. 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. One of the defectors wed interviewed claimed that Jones dyed them black. (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. 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. [30][33] He was the first ex-con to ever become an honorary police officer. 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. A bone shot out of my right arm, and a huge hunk of flesh had been blown off my thigh. 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. I wanted to be part of something that was doing things for other people, and besides, Peoples Temple offered a community of friends. I knew him well enough to understand what would happen next. Northern California Larry now lives in Northern California.. Later that night, Jones had another suicide exercise. She left with her 8-month-old daughter before the massacre. There were piles of used syringes at the scene. Whatever impelled me to send in the card changed the course of my life. L.A. Times Archives. were innocent. Lawton filed a lawsuit against the prison and staff alleging that they violated his rights. Young and unanchored, Layton was charmed as Jones fixed his penetrating 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. Jones, who founded his church in Indiana and moved here in 1970, relocated to Guyana, a former British colony in South America, in 1977 after critical press accounts about his politically prominent sect. Again, Larry was held in jail while he awaited trial. Robert Bryan, who took over the case after Laytons conviction, said he hopes to win a new trial for Layton. believed he could best survive the atomic apocalypse he expected. High 56F. Northern California He was freed by Guyanese authorities Friday and arrived in New York City Friday night in the custody of U.S. marshals. Layton was already aboard one of the two planes, posing as a defector. Ryan decided that we would wait until the morning and suggested we keep a low profile until then. Jim Jones, destroyed the will of his followers. Many of his papers on this top-secret work are still classified. 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. [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. [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". The store owner managed to break free and grabbed a .38 caliber pistol and fired five shots at the robbers as they fled. Kool-Aid mixed with water is not the same as plain water or a beverage such as Gatorade or Powerade. Dwyer, who was wounded in the attack, has retired from the Foreign Service. No names were released publicly because relatives hadn't been notified. Peoples Temple gunman Larry Layton would not testify on his own behalf and opposed an insanity plea . Layton had denounced his sister Debbie for defecting, telling Speier that Jonestown was "an extraordinarily good . where her worried parents had sent her to curb adolescent rebellion. Larry Layton, who had posed as a defector and wounded two people, is serving robes, Jones, known as Father to his flock, soon became a San Francisco | California Historical Society. grandmother Layton thought had died of a heart attack in Hamburg actually Enter Larry Layton, who worked at the Jonestown hospital as an X-ray technician. [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. Dwyer, Speier and nine others were wounded. [28], After release he went to Palm Bay, Florida and started LL Research and Consulting and met a business partner. 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. Most complied, although survivors described some people being shot, injected with poison, or forced to drink the deadly beverage when they tried to resist. Mrs. Layton's former husband, Dr. Laurence Layton, an eminent scientist, was left behind in Berkeley, Calif., having lost a wife and at least $250,000 that she gave to Mr. Jones. . 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 Read More Jones greeted us at the compound. She had an extremely anxious demeanor, and we moved quickly as we went to her cabin to pack. Behind his dim glasses, Jones preached love and equality while manipulating his followerstaking their property and having them sign over their paychecks and Social Security. As I took down their names, I looked over at Don Harris, who was interviewing Jones. Laytons lawyer said that made Layton more susceptible to Jones spell. Although he called it a very grave crime, Peckham said Layton has shown great remorse, and his actions in 1978 reflected how the cult leader, the Rev. [8][9] The 367-page book covers his early life, his string of crimes, and his post-release career. Then daughter Lauren started asking questions. "He was so depressed that he was not able to conduct research," Thomas Layton said. Its hard to know when it became obvious that he was dead, or when I realized that others werent pretending. [19][20] One bullet narrowly missed Lawton, but struck his brother. We listened as she offered a detailed and disturbing account of her experience. [23][24] Lawton later said he was the biggest jewel thief of the 1980s and 90s operating within the United States of America. Layton was reportedly found at the scene in possession of the revolver with four rounds in the cylinder and one shell . Larry Allan Layton, 68, was charged with two counts of reckless endangerment and one count of disorderly conduct. 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. 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. Twelve hours had passed as I lay, teetering on deaths precipice when a light turned on inside me: The simple fact that I knew I was dying was proof that I was, indeed, still alive. For seven weeks, Nearly 300 children were administered the poison, including a number of infants in the arms of their parents. into mass suicide. Syringes surround one of the vats used to mix up the position drink used in the mass murder at Jonestown. Though driven by the kind of underlying insecurity that so often fuels tyrants, Jones appeared to offer hope, redemption, and an idealistic new life. 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. Ryan wanted to investigate. The article dissected Joness rise, revealing his practices of manipulation, public humiliation and fake faith healings, called out the Temples corrupt financial structure, and included ex-members testimonies of sexual assault and brutal beatings by Jones or at his command. Misbehaving children were Yes, Kool-Aid is bad for you. At the end of the evening, Rep. Ryan walked onstage and thanked the group. Ryan, three journalists and a defector were killed. Jim Jones' compound in Guyana, a witness testified Wednesday. Raised as a Quaker -- and, in turn, raising his own family in the Quaker faith -- Mr. Layton was continually tormented by the dichotomy between his professional pursuits, which focused on technical warfare, and his faith, which preached peace and nonviolence. and the doorbell in a frenzy of bright stripes and squiggles. There was a scary side to the Peoples Temple -- beatings of fractious members, Its leader, the Rev. 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. Vernon Gosney and Monica Bagby, it read. 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. They all joined Peoples Temple, and Larry and Deborah Layton quickly became two of Jones's closest confidants. That was the last moment I remember with any real clarity before I surrendered my body to the medical staff. Never one to accept second-hand information, he decided to embark on a fact-findingand potentially life-savingtrip. Ryan invited members of the press and a few of the Concerned Relatives to join him. 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. 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. He was met with mostly beaming declarations The robbers drew what police at the time believed were firearms, and restrained the store owner. With Joness wild gaze on us, I tape-recorded affidavits of their wishes to return to the United States. and His following grew, and Jones became the leader of one of the first mixed-race churches in Indiana. Within minutes, Ryan and four others were shot dead. 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. ". November 18, 1978 When did the Jonestown massacre occur? Peoples Temple follower Larry Layton, center, stands with police following his arrest in the shooting of two people, including California Congressman Leo Ryan, on a remote Guyana airstrip, Nov. 18 . I noticed an elderly woman stuffing pieces of bacon into her pockets; the ample spread was just another showpiece. [16] Then in October 1994, four individuals robbed a jewelry store in Palm Bay, Florida. 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. 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.. But Layton, saying he wishes he could ease the pain of survivors of the Jonestown massacre, could be freed within five years. He has appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Christian Broadcasting Network, and Fox News. encampment about 250 miles (400 kilometers) from the Guyana capital of Loudspeakers My ribs were broken. Escape came in May 1978 when Jones sent Layton to Georgetown as It looked staged. Mr. Layton, who was arrested at the airstrip, was initially tried in Guyana, a small country on the northern coast of South America, on charges of attempted murder against two cult defectors in. Five bullets had ripped through me, devastating the right side of my body. Generator vs power station: Which one is right for you? The cremated remains of nine Jonestown victims were discovered in a decrepit, now-shuttered funeral home in Dover, officials said. | AP. 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. was feted by politicians. Ryan had gone to Guyana to investigate reports that relatives of his San Francisco-area constituents wre being held against their will. When she tried to write about abandoning her mother, who would die 10 A growing body of constituents known as the Concerned Relatives wrote Congressman Ryan with increasing alarm about their daughters or sons who had accompanied the charismatic demagogue to Guyana. White Night!" If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. In August 1979, he joined the Coast Guard[9] and took part in the Mariel boatlift. Get the day's top news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning. Sure enough, I could tell he had. [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. Charismatic and tall with salt-and-pepper hair, he commanded a room. 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. of "I saw things and I didn't stand up and say, 'Stop!' To the tarmac. 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. because I was too "[27] Another time he said: "I had my arms pinned down, and I was beaten and peed on by the guards. It was just a matter of time. Layton is accused of firing only at Jonestown defectors, while the actual killing of Ryan, another defector and three San Francisco newsmen was allegedly carried out by other Temple members. With Ryan dead, Jones concluded that the United States would retaliate, so he exhorted his followers to kill themselves by drinking cyanide-laced punch. As a trusted financial lieutenant for cult leader Jim Jones, she kept secrets She mentioned a Bay Area couple, the Stoens, who had defected and were fighting for the return of their young son, John. afraid. 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.

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