0 012041Z DEC 78
FM PHOENIX (89 271) (P)
TO DIRECTOR (89 4286) (ROUTINE)
SAN FRANCISCO (89 215) (ROUTINE)
BT
UNCLAS E F T O
RYMUR.
Re Bureau teletype to all field offices, November 29, 1978.
On November 30, 1978, [name deleted] and [name deleted], Martinsville, Indiana, were interviewed in Chandler, Arizona, where they are visiting. They may be reached there at telephone number [deleted]. They advised that Charles Edward [Biekman] Beikman, who is being held for murder in Guyana, [information deleted] they stated that Biekman married [name deleted] 23 years ago in Indiana. [information deleted] is Rebecca May Biekman, who they described as a
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white female, DOB [date of birth] November 29, 1940, at Indianapolis, Indiana, in the Coleman Hospital, 5’0”, weight unknown, brown hair, blue eyes. They advised that Charles and Rebecca were living in Guyana with their two children, Thomas Charles Biekman, age 21, description unknown, and Ronald Lamont Biekman, age 12, description unknown. The only other members of the Peoples Temple (PT) that could have possibly been in Guyana that they knew of were Harold Cordell, a white male, about 38 years, and his mother, Edith, a white female, in her 70’s.
[information deleted] related that Jim Jones and his PT group took [information deleted], Rebecca, away about 15 years ago, along with her husband, who was against it at the time and their son, who was six years old. They advised that they had not seen Rebecca or Charles since then and only saw [name deleted] on one occasion when he returned to Indianapolis to sing in the chorus for the PT. They advised this was several years ago. They have never seen [name deleted]. They advised they got one call from Rebecca about ten years ago and a letter about twelve years ago and the last they heard from her was perhaps two years ago, when she wrote from South America saying that she was a
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missionary and was happy. She mentioned that the two boys were in school but she did not state whether they were in school and South America or in the States. She did not mention her husband nor anyone else. The Cramers believed that the letter was censured and their [there] was no return address on it.
They advised that one of the member of the PT that was up very high in its hierarchy, was a Negro male by the name of Archie Ijmes [Ijames], whom they became acquainted with about 1961, when he attempted to adopt their daughter. He took over as the pastor of the PT in Indianapolis when Jones was not there and they believe that he is now in San Francisco.
They advised that they knew their son-in-law very well prior to his leaving 15 years ago and that at that time he was a clean upstanding young man with no criminal history. They did not believe he owned any guns, nor was he a violent person. They stated that his parents are deceased, but that he has several brothers and sisters, one brother named Dale, living in Beech Grove, Indiana.
They advised that the first saw Jim Jones about 1954, in Indianapolis, when he was a young minister. They stated that he
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was a good minister at that time and was very big on the interracial cause. Things started going bad as far as they were concerned about a year or two later and they advised they had a message from the Lord telling them to leave the Jones church, which they did. However, [name deleted] stayed and when Jones left with about 120 people for Ukiah, California, [name deleted] and her family went. They advised that [name and address deleted], Springville, Indiana, telephone [number deleted], had talked to Tommy Biekman on the telephone on November 24, 1978, after the mass suicide. Tommy advised that he had been in Georgetown, getting a broken leg fixed at the time of the suicide and advised he did not know where his mother or young brother were but that his father was in jail. He was staying, at that time, at the Lamaha Gardens Peoples Temple, Georgetown, Guyana. [name deleted] advised that two individuals in Indianapolis, who are very close friends of theirs, had a daughter that went to Ukiah and lives with the PT cult for several years until she finally escaped. This daughter has remarried and apparently lets no one know her last name as she is still afraid that the cult may track her down.
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[name deleted] advised that if these individuals were contacted that they might be able to relate some background on the PT and some of its members but they requested that they not be advised who gave them their name or address. These individuals are [name deleted] and [name deleted], Indianapolis, Indiana. [name deleted] was the individual who went with Jones and eventually escaped. Once again do not divulge the source of this information.
[name deleted] advised they were planning on leaving the Phoenix area on December 4, or 5, 1978, and are traveling to Fort Hood, Texas, to stay with [name deleted] at [address deleted], Fort Hood, Texas, telephone [deleted]. They expect to return to Martinsville, Indiana, about March 1, 1979. Any lead to contact the [name deleted] is the left to the discretion of San Francisco and the Bureau.
Armed and dangerous. Suicidal tendencies.
BT