One day before Grace and Tim Stoen appeared in California Superior Court for a hearing on the custody of John Victor Stoen – a hearing which resulted in a court order for Jim Jones to turn over the child to Grace – Tim wrote a letter to Jones, asking him to recognize Grace’s deep love for John Victor, pleading for the child’s safe and immediate return, promising to raise him “in an interracial and sharing environment consistent with the highest teachings.”
The letter asks Jones to take specific actions within the next week – contacting Jeffrey Haas, Grace’s lawyer, with a pledge of cooperation by November 22, 1977; delivering John Victor by November 25 – but does not make reference to the hearing the following day.
The letter also asks Jones to “reverse the hate campaign” which has been waged against Grace, but makes no reference to his participation in it before he left Peoples Temple the previous April.
Tim Stoen Letter to Jim Jones, RYMUR 89-4286-BB-31-a-44 – BB-31-a-45 (also at BB-31-b-257 – b-258)
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