FF-12-A-49
[This statement also appears on this page.]
Jonestown, Port Kaituma
Northwest District
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
I, Fanny Jordan, being duly sworn declare:
I am a senior citizen 63 years old and I am a member of Peoples Temple. Pastor Jim Jones is my pastor. I have been a member for over 8 years. I have never I mean never known him to hurt anyone. I know because he has taken me in. He has helped my daughter with 9 children who lives in Louisiana when the Welfare cut her off. He helped her with her children. He has helped people all over the nation, given thousands of dollars to keep people out of jail, who were strangers to him. He took in orphaned children, sent them to school, took them off the street. When the other people wouldn’t take them in, when they were ashamed of them, he took them in. He took in senior citizens when their children were tired of them, and had sent them to homes and forgot them, he had so much love and concern and compassion for the others. What made me so angry when I saw Birdie Marable lie, and the others, that you all take for granted that she was telling the truth, and I wanted to tell you what I know about Birdie Marable. I live with her long enough to know what she is. I can’t see why you all can’t see what she is doing. She’s taking money from seniors. She keeps drinking and she won’t half feed them. She starved Truth Heart, the old lady, to death. She died because one sister wouldn’t take her to the doctor. She had a sore on her leg, she did not take time to take her to the doctor, or see that she took medicine. She bought the food as a front, so that they would say that she did feed them. Then she would give a piece of watermelon and a sandwich, even when they said they didn’t want that. She’d cuss them out then, and tell them that they wouldn’t get anything. They were afraid of her. I have found pints of gin. She would be drunk and they would tell me about how she would do when I was gone. The name of the one dead from starving was Truth Heart, the other was Ella Mae Hoskins. She had to have her leg taken off. Ella Mae told Robert Johnson [balance of line crossed out: “to tell Pastor Jim Jones to send and get her”]. She was being mistreated by Birdie. Birdie didn’t want the seniors, she wanted the money. It wasn’t my business, but she was licensed and I had to tell what I know. Janie Brown’s bladder was weak, and she would wet on herself. Birdie wouldn’t clean her room, and it was stinking so badly you couldn’t go in the room. Harvey Lawson was a senior who Birdie let wander around the street. His mind was bad and people had to bring him home, he’d go downtown and get lost. Someone would have to bring him home, she didn’t miss him.
Subscribed to and sworn to me,
a commissioner of oaths for the
Republic of Guyana.
Dated August 5, 1977
Witnessed:
—–
FF-12-A-71
Jonestown, Port Kaituma
North West Region
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/ Joyce Beam Parks
I, Joyce Beam Parks, being duly sworn, declare:
From 1966-1970, Jim Cobb was my boyfriend. He was the only boyfriend I had during that period of time. At various times in our relationship, he would frequently punch me in the breasts and stomach. He held me down as he did this. He would taunt me about being white. He said that I was his white bitch and he would teach “Whitey” how to treat women. He frequently alluded to an assumption he made that since I was white, I was personally responsible for all the horrible acts and unfortunate events that happened in his life. Whenever he got into trouble – whether it was related to race or not – he blamed me and never forgot to mention that it was because I was white.
He was engaged in emotionally tormenting me. He sometimes took out his hunting knife and held it to my throat saying this is what he was going to do to the fascists. Later, after the threats, he would bite me on my neck and breasts causing great pain.
In the late 1960s, I had to have an operation on my abdomen. While I was in the hospital, he took my car without permission (as he frequently did) and left town for several days. He also stole money out of my purse. Although we have been going together for several years, he never came to see me while I was hospitalized. After the operation I told him it would be unlikely that I could ever have children. When he heard this, he was enraged. He called me a woman eunuch and similar names indicating how terrible it was that I couldn’t have children. This upset me so badly that I became physically ill for several days thereafter. He often walked around the house with his shorts off, sexually excited. He would sometimes run after me. On several occasions he tried to rape me. One time in particular I remember well. During our entire relationship I was a virgin. One evening I had come home and gone to bed early. He came into my room in the middle of the night. He stripped off his clothes and jumped on top of me in the bed. I knocked him off onto the floor and told him to get out. He hit me a number of times in rapid succession. I screamed. He feared that my parents would hear me and finally he left. At the time, he said he had never met such a weirdo like me.
Occasionally he asked me to accompany him on hikes. On one occasion he forced me to climb down a steep hill. When I got down the hill, refused to give me a rope to get back up with. He seemed to take pleasure in seeing me helpless at the bottom of the hill. Sometimes he made me go for hours without any water during these hikes.
He pictured himself as a revolutionary. He threatened to blow up the White House. He also mentioned several bridges in the Mendocino County area as well as a number of people’s houses that were targeted for demolition by him.
During the time I was going with Jim Cobb, I was 20-24 years old. By the end of the relationship, my concept of myself was so completely devastated that I withdrew almost totally into myself and ignored family, friends, and society at large.
Subscribed to and sworn by me,
as Commissioner of Oath for the
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
/s/ Joyce A. Parks
Dated July 30, 1978
Witnessed:
/s/ Michael J. Prokes
/s/ Marion L. Ingram
—–
FF-12-A-72
Jonestown, Port Kaituma
North West Region
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/ Clara L. Johnson
I, Clara L. Johnson, being duly sworn, declare:
In 1976, Mabel Medlock and Wade Medlock, my aunt and uncle, were involved in an automobile accident. Shortly after the accident, both my aunt and uncle said that upon examination by Ira Davis, MD, they had been told to wear neck braces. I noticed that Mabel and Wade Medlock wore their neck braces only under certain circumstances. They wore the braces whenever they were in public but removed them as soon as they return home. They also did not wear the braces in the presence of family members. When asked about that, they told me that neither of them had received an injury to the neck but that they were going to get all they could get and the insurance company wouldn’t miss it.
In 1977, Mabel Medlock informed me that she and her husband had received a settlement of approximately $3000. I do not know the sum that was originally settled on before medical and legal fees were subtracted. To my knowledge neither Mabel or Wade Medlock claimed any injuries other than neck injuries.
I can only conclude that since they were the braces only when they expected to be seen in public places, and, given the questionable circumstances of such usage, the injury may have been claimed nefariously.
Subscribed to and sworn by me,
as Commissioner of Oath for the
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
/s/ Clara L. Johnson
Dated July 29, 1978
Witnessed:
/s/ Michael J. Prokes
/s/ Marion L. Ingram
—–
FF-12-A-73
Jonestown, Port Kaituma
North West Region
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/ Sharon S. Cobb
I, Sharon S. Cobb, being duly sworn, declare:
In 1971, I married Jim Cobb. The marriage lasted approximately one year. During that time he displayed sexual patterns that were very disturbing to me. On one occasion that I remember caused me great anguish. He forced himself into the bathroom and insisted on changing my Tampax. First he made me lie down. Then he threatened me with violence if I didn’t cooperate. He pulled the Tampax out, put another one in and then proceeded to wipe the vaginal area.
On another occasion he wanted to have sex. At the time I was not interested. Nevertheless, he held me down and raped me. I told him repeatedly no – I didn’t want it – but he continued.
He was also interested in methods of torture which included torture to bring on sexual pleasure for him. On one occasion, in order to get me to do what he wanted, he left the room for several minutes. When he came back, he had three knives with him. He held one in his hand and placed the other two within arm’s reach by the bed. I was terrified. He then strapped me to the bed and threatened to cut off both my nipples if I didn’t let him perform as he wanted.
His strange sexual desires got worse as time went on. When I refused to have anything to do with him anymore, he left me after about one year of marriage.
Subscribed to and sworn by me,
as Commissioner of Oath for the
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
/s/ Sharon R. Cobb
Dated July 30, 1978
Witnessed:
/s/ Michael J. Prokes
/s/ Marion L. Ingram
—–
FF-12-A-77
[Handwritten affidavit]
Port Kaituma, North West District
Republic of Guyana
South America
I, Carolyn Looman, duly sworn, declare:
I am in the North West District of Guyana by my own free will and have communicated with my mother by international phone network on or about August 24 or 25, 1977; she said she was not ill. This call can be verified by my mother’s phone bill. She accepted a collect call from somewhere in Ohio, from a radio (ham) operator. It is ridiculous how it is being said that something is wrong with me. Someone had called, posing as my brother, to say my mother was ill and could be dying. I picked up an airplane ticket sent for me, thinking I might need to go to see her. However, the international phone patch assured me she was not ill. The State Department sent its representative to our settlement, Jonestown, and took up our time, causing me embarrassment for my colleagues. The representative took me aside and asked if I was being held here against my will. He asked to see my passport, and when we were finished he said he understood my situation, that it was common for parents to use the State Department this way.
In addition, Mrs. Joyce Parks called my brother in California on August 22 or 23 to tell him I was coming to the interior and that I would contact my mother by radio.
—–
FF-12-A-79 [Misnumbered; the page is A-78]
[This affidavit also appears here at FF-1-21.]
Georgetown
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit of
[blank signature line]
I, Carol Kerns, being duly sworn, declare:
I used to visit next door to Birdie Marable’s licensed care home on Snuffin St. where the front door faced Oak St. Birdie used to show me her freezer’s full of meat and food bragging to me that they were never empty. She was always cooking plenty of food. She was obviously lying when she said Peoples Temple took her money and wouldn’t take her home enough to eat. I have seen her drunk on one or two occasions that I remember specifically. Her husband was staying with her in the little house off of the big house. Birdie used to stay out there with him away from the patients who had no means of communicating with her if anything went wrong. She was drunk at one time and screaming and shouting real loud outside of her back door at her husband. She used to drive to the store leaving the patients on their own. She yelled at them and insulted them frequently.
Carol Kerns
Dated July 29, 1977
Witnessed:
[illegible signature]
—–
FF-12-A-79
[This affidavit also appears here at FF-9-B-25.]
Georgetown
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/
[blank signature line]
I, Anita Kelley, being sworn, declare:
Beatrice Lawson – Atty at Law – Los Angeles – Beatrice is a cousin of mine who works for a law firm in Los Angeles, California. I was visiting in her room one night in the Spring of 1977 when I saw the remains of a half smoked marijuana cigarette lying on her end table in the living room. This was also witnessed by Lee Ingram and Gene Chaikin.
Elsie Victoria Moore – LVN – is my natural sister. She used to have a “massage parlor” in Indianapolis, Indiana, which was raided by the police and she was arrested because she and her employees were giving sexual favors to the customers.
Faith Kice, LVN – I was acquainted with Faith during the time I was dating my former husband. Faith is to offer us condoms and encourage us to have sex. This was early in our relationship.
Jim Cobb – He organized groups of young people between the years 1968-1971 and taught classes and tactics in guerrilla warfare and violent revolution. He constantly promoted the idea of a violent overthrow of the government. One day, Jim had spent the night as a houseguest in our home, and he got into my bed uninvited and tried to have sex with me although he did not succeed.
/s/ Anita C. Kelley
Dated July 29, 1977
Witnessed:
[illegible signature]
—–
FF-12-A-80 – A-81
[This affidavit in statement form appears here at FF-3-214, A-B.]
Georgetown
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/
Anita Kelley
I, Anita Kelley, being sworn, declare:
- Deanna Mertle stated that she was sexually attracted to Sandy Rozynko, a minor.
- One night Deanna Mertle called Peoples Temple in San Francisco and stated that there were certain children in her home that she no longer wanted there, and she brought them to the Temple – clothes and all – and left without speaking to anyone about the care or welfare of these children. Among the children she dropped off were three of her own – Linda Faye Mertle, Steve Mertle, and Eddie Mertle. Deanna kept 3 children at home. Sandy Rozynko, Diana Mertle and Lillie Victor, a Black teenager who Deanna kept out of school at the 11th grade level and made her stay home and do the housework and watch the youngest child Daphene Mertle. Lillie expressed resentment later to me about this because the white children in the home were allowed to go to school while she was deprived of her education and made to serve the others. Lillie later left the Mertle household on her own after she became 18 years old.
- Linda Mertle reported to me that she observed her dad Elmer Mertle having a sexual affair with Sandy Rozynko who was a minor.
- Mike Kelley constantly used drugs – anything he could get hold of – marijuana, etc. He used to tell doctors that he couldn’t sleep and persuade the doctor to give him narcotics for fictitious chronic headaches and barbiturates for sleep. Mike then shared these drugs with others that he had persuaded to take them with him. Mike also told me that he sexually molested a 15-year-old girl in Los Angeles. He was 28 at the time.
- Jim Cobb, Terri Cobb and Wayne Pietila imposed strict rules and heavy mental stress on the other students in the dorms, yet they took special exceptions for themselves, excusing it because they were “leadership,” in the Temple. Not only did they berate the light-skinned people to degrade themselves, but they also harassed the Black people to get them to express racism.
/s/ Anita C. Kelley
Dated July 29, 1977
Witnessed:
[illegible signature]
—–
FF-12-A-82
[This affidavit also appears here at FF-9-B-62.]
Georgetown
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/
[blank signature line]
I, Anita Kelley, being duly sworn, declare:
Elsie Victoria Moore – Tommy Ijames her son was living with me during the summer of 1976. Tommy went home to spend some time with Vicky. When he came back, Thomas told me that he walked into a room and witnessed his mother sexually molesting his younger brother.
Anita C. Kelley
Dated July 29, 1977
Witnessed:
[illegible signature]
—–
FF-12-A-83
[This affidavit also appears here at FF-9-B-63]
Georgetown
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/
[blank signature line]
I, Anita Kelley, being duly sworn, declare:
Mike Kelley – I was married to him from June 1970 to Oct. 1974. June 1975, our divorce was finalized. During that time, Mike stole items such as office supplies, a micrometer, a warning horn and electrical supplies from the Masonite Corporation where he worked. Mike left home one day and did not return for two weeks. When he did return, he could talk of nothing else but the homosexual relationships and experiences he had while he was gone. During the time that we were married, Mike had a relationship (sexual) with another man, he told me about it and at the same time encouraged me to have another sexual relationship with a coworker at Georgia-Pacific, where he was then working, although he denied it. In the summer of 1974, Mike began sleeping with a woman who was almost twice my age. Consequently I left him and he moved in with Rose Gieg.
During the time that I was married to Mike, he told me that I was warped emotionally because I did not like certain sexual positions with him, and because I disliked oral sex.
During the last month that I was with Mike, I did not have a job, and was totally dependent on him, yet he refused to give me any money for groceries, gas, or laundry.
Anita C. Kelley
Dated July 29, 1977
Witnessed:
[illegible signature]
—–
FF-12-A-84
[This affidavit also appears here at FF-9-B-60]
Georgetown
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/
I, Robert Johnson, being duly sworn, declare:
I previously worked for Birdie Marable in 1974 and 1975 helping with the patients in the care home and with chores around the home. I know how she refused to give allowance to one of her patients Ella Mae Hoskins. Birdie would keep Ella Mae’s money on herself. I know Birdie had money in the bank and different times I was with Birdie when she would buy clothes, food and whatever she wanted. Birdie drank constantly when I would go by in the morning Birdie would be drinking and at night when it was time for the patients to go to bed Birdie would be drunk.
Another lady Annie Washington was a patient of Birdie’s. Annie did not receive proper medical care. Birdie Marable did not take her to the doctor when she needed to go. One fact is that she did not take care of any of the patients like they needed to be. She did not change bedding on time. Birdie talked rough to her patients, especially when she was drunk.
When Birdie’s husband came to visit, she put him in a small cabin at the back of the house. She would whip him with her fists and one time she hurt him bad enough to send him to the hospital.
Birdie told me that she had $300.00 from Mrs. LeTourneau, another patient, which she borrowed to get an abortion. I’m fairly certain she never paid Mrs. LeTourneau back.
A man lived at the care home who was Birdie’s boyfriend. She said she wanted to marry him except she was already married. He used to beat her up when other patients were present.
Another lady, Velma Darnes, had an aunt who was a bed patient at Birdie Marable’s. Birdie let this patient stay wet and dirty. Birdie took money from her. This lady wanted to leave Birdie but Birdie refused to let the woman leave.
/s/ Robert Johnson
Dated July 29, 1977
Witnessed:
[illegible signature]
—–
FF-12-A-85
[This affidavit also appears here at FF-9-B-46]
[This affidavit also appears here at FF-12-A-85]
Georgetown
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit of
[blank signature line]
I, Carol Kerns, being duly sworn, declare:
I was a house guest at the Mertles for a few weeks during the summer vacation of school. I was about fourteen years old. I knocked on the door and was told to come in. Elmer Mertle was standing there completely nude. I was embarrassed and started to walk out of the room. I was told not to go, that it never bothered any of the other girls, meaning his own two daughters. I still walked out since I was not raised this way. I was really young and it made me feel real bad.
/s/ Carol Kerns
Dated July 29, 1977
Witnessed:
[illegible signature]
—–
FF-12-A-86
[This affidavit also appears here at FF-9-B-28]
Georgetown
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/
[blank signature line]
I, Carol Kerns, being duly sworn, declare:
Jeanette Kerns is my natural sister. When she was in college in Santa Rosa she asked Deborah Evans one of the church’s other students if it would be all right if she had sex with her husband. She told Debbie she should be willing to share him. Jeanette used to always tell me how awful men were and that I should hate them. When I was 5 years old and my natural brother Philip Kerns was 11 or 12 years old he raped me. He did this on several occasions. He told me never to tell anyone. He tried to get me to have sex with our dog when we lived in Sanger, California. Philip used to get cats and throw them into big bonfires. He used to tie cans to their tails and light them on fire and enjoy watching them run and scream. Philip used to have a paper route and whenever he wanted money he would go collect from the customers and spend it. He used to take me with him. He taught me how to hot-wire my Grandpa’s truck which he used to take several times. He told me when we lived in Sanger he wanted to kill me for telling on him. The only reason he joined the Army was so that he could clear his record. He had spent several years in boys homes and Sacramento Youth Authority. He was supposed to have gone to San Quentin but he escaped from the Youth Authority. He went AWOL from the Army while he was stationed in Germany. As far as I know he is still AWOL.
/s/ Carol Kerns
Dated July 29, 1977
Witnessed:
[illegible signature]
—–
FF-12-A-87
[This affidavit also appears here at FF-9-B-29]
Georgetown
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/
[blank signature line]
I, Maria Katsaris, being duly sworn, declare:
Jeanette and I were both living in the church-sponsored dorms in Santa Rosa. This was in 1975. Jeanette was always talking about her lesbian experiences and fantasies and how much she hated men. One day she told us (myself and some of the other students at the dorms) that she would often masturbate with cucumbers and carrots wrapped in saran wrap. She got them out of the refrigerator and returned them to the refrigerator. She found it very funny that we would then eat the vegetables without knowing it.
/s/ Maria Katsaris
Dated July 29, 1977
Witnessed:
[illegible signature]
—–
FF-12-A-88
[This affidavit also appears here at FF-9-B-68]
Georgetown
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/
[blank signature line]
I, Rita J. Tupper, being duly sworn, declare:
I used to know David and Donna Conn, and I was formerly married to Lawrence Tupper. David Conn used to live with Elmer and Zoe Mertle and their family’s. They pooled all of their monies and lived communally, in El Solrante [Sobrante], Ca. with several others. David Conn used to see Donna Black (Conn) while he was still married to his wife, Iris. David Conn and Zoe Mertle had a sexual relationship while they were both still married. Donna Black (Conn) had sex with Elmer Mertle, while he was still married to Zoe. Donna Conn had sex with Lawrence Tupper while he was still married. This took place in Donna’s home on several occasions. The Conn’s used to go to all-night meetings with the Mertles. where a lot of drinking took place. Pairing off occurred after the meetings. Stripping took place on occasion. Donna Conn used to call Mr. Lawrence Tupper up a lot at his home and oftentimes late at night.
/s/ Rita J. Tupper
Dated July 29, 1977
Witnessed:
[illegible signature]
—–
FF-12-A-89
[This affidavit also appears here at FF-9-B-21]
Georgetown
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/
[blank]
I, Sandra Jones, being duly sworn, declare:
Jim Cobb, Terri Cobb, Wayne Pietla [Pietila] and the others who left the church because we didn’t believe in violence said that someday a situation would come up because of them that would force us into violence. Jim Cobb and Terri Cobb are my natural brother and sister.
/s/ Sandra Jones
Dated July 29, 1977
Witnessed: [illegible signature]
—–
FF-12-A-90
[This affidavit also appears here at FF-9-B-26]
Georgetown
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/
Evelyn M. Eichler
I, Evelyn M. Eichler, being duly sworn, declare:
Ruth Kerns used to stay in my home for a year. At first she seemed to be a very nice person. Later I found that she was a person engrossed with sexual deviation and her temper became violent when she was mad about something. She used to tell me how she would have oral sex with her boyfriends and how she would cheat on each one. She tried to encourage me to do these types of things with her, but I was totally shocked with her behavior and refused to participate. We started to get into many arguments. She got mad at my sister Erin Eichler, who was only 11 years old, and pulled a sharp knife on her, threatening to cut her and said that she would kill her. Those of us at the house stepped in and she backed off from the argument. That night she packed her things and left in her car. I had a bicycle at home which she used to ride a lot. Ruth and her brother Philip came back to our house several days later in the evening pounding on our door demanding the bicycle, which was mine, and shouting all kinds of obscenities at me when I wouldn’t give it to her. My mother, Tish Leroy, was very ill in bed at the time, and Ruth’s brother Philip pushed his way through the door demanding to talk with her. I told him she was sick, but he went into her room and accused her of stealing Ruth’s check from her job at Hacienda Convalescent Hospital. She told him that we had nothing of Ruth’s and had to argue with him until he finally left after making all kinds of threatening remarks, like she would “get it” soon, he would “get us” for taking this check. Later we ask the hospital and found that Ruth had personally picked up all of her checks, that none had been sent in the mail, so we couldn’t possibly have taken a check which she received after leaving the house. Ruth is a sadistic person who doesn’t know how to stop lying.
/s/ Evelyn M. Eichler
Dated July 29, 1977
Witnessed:
[illegible signature]
——
FF-12-A-91
[This affidavit also appears here at FF-9-B-65]
Georgetown
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/
[blank signature line]
I, Laura Johnston, being duly sworn, declare:
Liz Forman told me numerous times about how she used to be so sick, she couldn’t hold a job down. She relied on her relatives for money to live on, and slept 12-16 hours a day just to escape. She often said that she felt healthy physically and mentally since coming to Peoples Temple. With her personality – deviations and idiosyncrasies – only a tolerant group would have been able to work with her. When she first came, her life was palm reading and stargazing. She couldn’t deal with reality, and just about went into hysterics over the thought of poisoning, or anything not immaculate. Her sexual hangups carried once throughout her personality and her hypochondria.
Laura Johnston
Dated July 29, 1977
Witnessed:
[illegible signature]
—–
FF-12-A-92
[This affidavit also appears here at FF-9-B-47]
Georgetown
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/
[blank signature line]
I, Laura Johnston, being duly sworn, declare:
Mertles – I remember hearing Deanna Mertle state that she got sexual pleasure when she heard children screaming from pain.
I remember seeing Elmer Mertle lying under the bus while on one of the Peoples Temple summer trips with his two teen-age daughters Linda and Diane. When someone else got under the bus to sleep he physically threw them out of the compartment (I think Joe Wilson).
Rick Cordell – When I was new to Peoples Temple and suicidal often messing myself up physically and mentally on drugs, Rick purposely tried to set up a sexual relationship, even though he was married and had many children.
Jack Arnold Beam – During my first 6 months living in Redwood Valley, I was very confused from my preceding experiences with drugs. After specifically being exhorted by Rev. Jim Jones not to pursue me because of my emotional state – Jack Arnold Beam was involved with me and as result I had oral sex with him in a truck in front of his house. He was 7 or 8 years my senior but took advantage of me when I was near suicide, and very unstable emotionally. Jack Arnold has initiated a sexual relationship with 2 minor girls at least – Mable Cordell and his wife Cindi Ponts (Beam) though he was at least 10 years their senior. He often talked about how he was very grateful that Pastor Jones had helped get him off of drugs and into a productive life. Then, again, when he was leaving the Peoples Temple Community his ethics again washed out and he beat his foster child cruelly.
/s/ Laura Johnston
Dated July 29, 1977
Witnessed:
[illegible signature]
—–
FF-12-A-93
[This affidavit in statement form appears here at FF-3-174, A-B.]
Jonestown, Port Kaituma
North West Region
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/
Ellen Dupont
I, Ellen Dupont, being duly sworn, declare:
Deanna Mertle told me that before she came to Peoples Temple, she went to the Seventh-day Adventist Church and she “had intercourse with all the married men at the church.” She thought this was very funny. Also, when she worked for this manufacturer in Redwood Valley that Kathy Tropp also worked for, she went through his things continually and read his diary. In his diary he talked about his weird sexual practices – such as liking to fuck women in the bellybutton. She also told Kathy Tropp that she was sure he was fucking his goat and told of how he would go out to see the goat & would come back with goat hair “all over his pants.” Kathy said Deanna had this man blackmailed.
/s/ Ellen Dupont
Dated August 5, 1977
Witnessed:
[blank line]
Subscribed to and sworn by me,
A commissioner of Oathes for the
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
/s/ Ulric Fingall
—–
FF-12-A-94
[This affidavit in modified form as a statement at here at FF-3-204, A-E.]
Georgetown
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/
[blank signature line]
I, Carol Kerns, being duly sworn, declare:
My natural sister Ruth Kerns has always been very mean to me, all through our childhood together. She used to tie me up and hit me with switches that would leave welts all over my legs and arms. Her and my brother Phillip would gang up on me, holding me down to spit in my face. My mom would go out and leave Ruth home to baby-sit with me. Ruth would leave me alone in the house to go off with her, I was just ten years old. When I was in fifth grade Ruth taught me how to kiss. I told her I didn’t want to but she told me I had to, or else boys wouldn’t like me. Then she would kiss me on my mouth for a long time and feel on me. When her boyfriends came over, who were much older than she was, she would have me watch while they “practiced” love making. Ruth used to always brag about smoking and her first cigarettes that she had smoked in Sacramento. One time she put me in a room alone with this boy and encouraged us to have sex together. We just talked, but she wanted to know everything we did. She used to stand in front of a mirror and jump up and down, telling me how beautiful her breasts were and how ugly mine were. She messed around with many guys but she got pregnant from Danny Pietila and got an abortion. She was supposed to be best friends with Robin Wages, at the time this happened. Robin and Danny were going together. She used to go into stores and steal clothes, cameras, bathing suits, food, and a coat. When I was in tenth grade Ruth accused me of having an affair with Rev. Jim Jones. and had never even been alone with Rev. Jones. I have never even been alone in the same room with him. He is the most principled person I have ever met, and it really burned me up when she said this. Ruth has always been a very violent person. She used to say that the only way we can get rid of our enemies would be to kill them. She thought of herself as a violent revolutionary out to change the world. Ruth was a very hardcore person who couldn’t care less about older people. When she worked at Hacienda Convalescent Hospital, she left an old crippled man in the bath alone and said she didn’t care if he drowned.
/s/ Carol Kerns
Dated July 29, 1977
Witnessed:
[illegible signature]
—–
FF-12-A-95
[This affidavit in statement form appears here at FF-3-184, A-B.]
Georgetown
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/
[blank signature line]
I, Shanda Oliver, being duly sworn, declare:
Micki Touchette stated that she worked in the offering room, which was true. I, Shanda Oliver, also worked in the offering room at that time. She said we would write the count of the offering on a piece of paper and send it up to the Pastor. That statement is not true. We never, ever wrote the count down. We’d send one person, usually the same person, to tell the count. I can’t ever recall Micki taking the count to him. Then again Pastor Jones doesn’t say how much the count is, just makes an appeal when necessary.
My sister, Silvia Upshaw, called me Monday evening July 25th, she told me that she had been harassed on her job and wanted to know how the Mertles knew where she worked. She said Diana Mertle, Mert [Elmer] Mertle, Linda Mertle and Ruth Kerns came to talk to her trying to make her come to their side, since she was a former member and left the church. They said they were trying to recruit everyone possible. They told her about beatings, faith healings and all sorts of things she stated. She said they offered her protection, if she [would] say Jim Jones had personally beat and tortured people. They warned her that the Temple would have violence there. She said she didn’t know if they meant a bomb or shooting? They also stated that they were getting larger in size and knew so much about the temple than she can imagine. Silvia no longer wanted her son there at the Temple, not because of Jim Jones but because they said “violence will be done to the temple” (those are her words). She told him she didn’t want to speak for them, because she didn’t want to get involved. She also said “she didn’t leave the temple for reasons they were telling her. She left only for personal reasons.
Shanda Oliver
Dated July 29, 1977
Witnessed:
[illegible signature]
—–
FF-12-A-96
[This affidavit in statement form appears here at FF-3-183, A-B.]
Georgetown
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/
Sandi Cobb Jones
I, Sandi Cobb Jones, being duly sworn, declare:
Jim Cobb: (my brother) used to beat on his sisters who are all younger than he when we were growing up. He talked a lot about revolution, and being a revolutionary. His hatred for capitalism and that he was a communist. He used to say how much he hated white people but he was always with a white girl. He and Terry uses to fight all the time when they were young. She would chase him with knives, and he would constantly fight with her. It puzzles me how they are so allied now. Jim Cobb used to have guns with him. He would always turn to teach me to aim and shoot. The guns were not registered., as far as I know.
Terry Cobb (my sister) used to molest me when she was 11 years old and I was only 7 years old. She always warned me not to tell my mother. She used to kill baby chickens, saying that they were after her. She would use her bare hands. She also killed a baby kitten for the same reason. Terry used to pinch Wayne Pietla on his penis in front of myself and our younger brothers and sister.
Wayne Pietila: told me that Jim Cobb should be killed for leaving the group. He said that in one of their meetings that Jim Cobb conducted, Jim Cobb told them that if anybody was to leave the group, that they were traitors. Wayne said that some day he might have to kill Jim Cobb for leaving. This was their own teaching, and no one introduced this to them. Wayne said that he and Jim Cobb would make up their own “security force.”
Sandi Cobb Jones
Dated July 29, 1977
Witnessed:
[illegible signature]
—–
FF-12-A-97
[This affidavit also appears here at FF-3-53]
Georgetown
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/
[blank signature line]
I, Michelle Touchette, being duly sworn, declare:
Mickey Touchette is my natural sister. When I was between the age eight and eleven, I was laying on my bed and Mickey came in and violently threw herself and a pillow over my face. I gasped to get my breath, fighting trying to get away. When she lifted the pillow from my face she was laughing hysterically. My face had turned blue from lack of oxygen, I was shaking trying to get my breath. Mickey Touchette stole $100.00 from our parents in September of 1974.
/s/ Michelle Touchette
Dated July 29, 1977
Witnessed:
[illegible signature]
—–
FF-12-A-98 – A-99
[This affidavit also appears here at FF-9-B, 51-52]
Georgetown
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/
Paula Adams
I, Paula Adams, being duly sworn, declare:
From the time I entered into the Santa Rosa Junior College (Peoples Temple sponsored) dormitories, I came under the viciousness of the so-called leadership of the dormitories: Jim Cobb, Terri Cobb, Wayne Pietla [Pietila], and Terri Cobb’s protégé Mickey Touchette. Myself, along with several others, were new in Peoples Temple. We were kept up night after night by these people for counseling. We were screaming at and called “honkies” or “uncle toms” or “aunt janes” all night because we were not revolutionary. Terri Cobb got one of the girls so incited in revolutionary fervor that she play-acted out a scene where she was demonstrating what she would do to me if I betrayed and pretended to hold a gun to my head and pulled the trigger. If we defended ourselves when being “confronted”, as they called it, we would have to stand up in the middle of the room for hours usually until daybreak four until we confessed to being a honkie or uncle tom or aunt jane. When different ones of us started reacting to this terrorism and fascist dictatorship, we were told that Jim Jones knew everything that went on, which was absolutely untrue we found out later. They threw Jim Jones’ name around whenever they wanted to throw in some inhumane rule. We were told that we would get into a lot of trouble if we went to Jim Jones about this because it showed that we didn’t trust him (Jim Jones). I would have left if I hadn’t gone to church services during the weekends and midweek because I would see that Jim Jones was a sensitive compassionate man who preached about egalitarian living, and that concern for others was the essence of living. This was not the same Jim Jones that Jim Cobb, Terri Cobb, and Wayne Pietla showed me, and I would return to the dormitories confused and yet terrified at what new mental torture we would be put through an our all night meetings.
The all-night meetings usually centered around someone being confronted about something as insidious as one of the more studious persons not helping out one of the leadership on a test by cheating for them. They told us to steal also, because to steal from the system wasn’t bad.
Mickey Touchette was a popularity climber. She always like to be noticed, but she was a nothing at the dorms until she started an active lesbian course by having an affair with Terri Cobb. Terri Cobb, who was married to Wayne Pitla, always like to break in new females at the dorms. Terri Cobb and Mickey Touchette had their affair for months and even continued it after Mickey Touchette started an affair with Jim Cobb who was by this time married to Sharon. Jim Cobb had no more than gotten married then he started screwing Mickey Touchette and tried to get me to screw him too.
Jim Cobb took me to a park on our way home from school just to look at the ducks. This occurred after Sharon and he had gotten married. He pulled me over and started kissing me and trying to feel my breasts. I protested that this wasn’t what I wanted, but he insisted that this was how “comrades” got to know each other. Jim Cobb always picked females with blonde hair and blue eyes and called everyone a racist if they didn’t bend to his will.
Guerrilla training became a major emphasis on the college students. We were being trained for the revolution that we were going to start. Wayne Pietla would dress up like Che Guevara and shout revolutionary slogans such as, “Traitors never live”, “we’ll kill anyone who betrays the revolution”, “the ends justify the means”, and he was always saying, “I am a communist.” We didn’t even know what they were talking about, but if we didn’t want an all-night session in the middle of the floor
[page 2 of document]
Affidavit s/
Paula Adams
being screamed at, we had to go along with it. We were drilled in leadership skills in guerrilla warfare; night runs and marches were taken in empty fields to test our ability and doing invasion maneuvers. On one hike that we took, we were being trained in guerrilla fighting and also in abilities to take on leadership responsibilities. Jim Cobb was in charge and beat a girl with a stick because she became too exhausted to keep up with the whole group.
Our meetings in the dorms were not without violence being inflicted on someone who disagreed with the way the fascist regime was ruling there in the dorms. A girl was slapped up against the wall by someone who was caught up in the emotion of proving that she was not a coward, and that she supported the dormitory leaders.
Racial animosity was encouraged as a way of controlling the people at the dorms. The dark complected people were called Uncle Toms or Aunt Janes if they did not call light complected people “honkies” and keep animosity stirred up. The light complected people were never allowed to sit in the front seat of a car unless there was no choice.
The reason this continued for so many months was because of the long distance between the church and our school dormitories.
Paula Adams
Dated: July 29, 1977
Wintessed [Witnessed]:
[illegible signature]
—–
FF-12-A-100
[This affidavit also appears here at FF-9-B-22]
Georgetown
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/
[blank signature line]
I, Joyce Parks, being duly sworn, declare:
Jim Cobb stole athletic equipment from the Ukiah High School Department. Included were basketballs, footballs, ankle weights and different assorted clothing items.
Jim Cobb would have what he called “Revolutionary” meetings and drilled on people in guerrilla warfare. He would insist that they call out obscenities about the government and that all “white” people were the cause of black repression. He made multiple references that he would kill the President and all government officials by bombing, murder or any other thing that would destroy the “system.” He would laugh and say it would be so good to kill “Washington, D.C.” and turn the world around. Also, he has been emotionally and physically extremely cruel to several different women. He would have sexual experiences with one woman and say that others came onto him and that he had no choice but to “service” them. He would not work but instead lived off these different people. On many different occasions he stole money out of my purse and would take my car for hours without asking to use it. If you questioned his whereabouts he would threaten to “kick ass” that no one questions him and that he does as he pleases. He would have young women have oral sexual experience with him i.e., Jan Wilsey, Mary Ruth, Sharon Cobb and myself. He, in my case, would make me rub his genitalia and after climax he would insist I spread it over his body with my hands and mouth. He would insist on having intercourse into my rectum and forcefully hold me down to the point of bruising my arms and tell me that I was perverted for not doing these weird sexual practices. I was to the point of losing my mind. He would threaten to beat me and on occasion did if I told anyone what he did. He also would stand over me while I was sleeping like a madman and would laugh hysterically about frightening you. Jim Cobb decided he wanted to go into dentistry. He said he would use his race to get into school. He didn’t have to go through channels but that he would use anyone or anybody to graduate so he could make money off of people.
Joyce A. Parks
Dated July 29, 1977
Witnessed:
[illegible signature]
—–
FF-12-A-101
[This affidavit also appears here at FF-9-B-24]
Georgetown
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/
[blank signature line]
I, Paula Adams, being sworn, declare:
I heard the group of persons who left because of their belief that violence was the only cure for the ills of the United States and that if Jim Jones and Peoples Temple didn’t start a violent course for social change that they would force us into violence. This group of terrorists included Mickey Touchette, Jim Cobb, Terri Cobb Pietla [Pietila], Wayne Pietla, and a few others.
/s/ Paula Adams
Dated July 29, 1977
Witnessed:
[illegible signature]
——-
FF-12-A-102
[This affidavit also appears here at FF-9-B-23]
Georgetown
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/
[blank signature line]
I, Larry Schacht, being duly sworn, declare:
Wayne Pietla [Pietila] advocated the violent overthrow of the government of the USA. He taught classes in guerrilla warfare. He idolized Che Guevara and was always quick to say he would perform violent acts for his beliefs. He idolized Che Guevara and was always quick to say he would perform violent acts for his beliefs. He threatened to slap the shit out of Denise Buckmaster and called her a liberal bitch.
Jim Cobb had no regard for others. Set off a firecracker in the dining room without warning while I was sitting there. I was making A’s until Jim Cobb forced me and others to stay up all night and we couldn’t study for tests. He destroyed the morale in the dorms with these encounter sessions. Jim always lied to us and said that the college students were the vanguard of the revolution that he proposed to lead. He organized and led militaristic maneuvers in the hills around Ukiah. He organized a lot of divisions from school work when I lived in Oakland. Jim had weekend parties and was very aloof from the rest of the group. At a dormitory meeting in 1972, Jim Cobb pulled down his fly and flopped out his penis and said to all of the boys in the meeting, “see I have a little dick.” One of the other students said “Jim why do you always expose yourself like that.” His patterns were very sloppy. He slept in the living room, left his dishes on the floor and books scattered about. Once when walking to the bus stop we were behind Mickey Touchette. Jim Cobb turned to me and said indicating to Micki’s rear end, “something is wrong with her pussy.” He made sexual overtures to almost every female student in the dorms.
Mickey Touchette was very irresponsible. She wrecked several cars including Wayne’s. She would aspirate air into her vagina and expelled. She demonstrated this for groups of other students.
Jim Cobb stole library books from Sonoma State College and bragged to us about his technique of deception. He told several of us new church members that he was really turned on by a female student before he came to the church who stuck her boobs into his back while he was at his locker. This kind of talk was not a good example for us.
/s/ Laurence E. Schacht
Dated July 29, 1977
Witnessed:
[illegible signature]
—–
FF-12-A-103
[This affidavit in statement form appears here at FF-3-208A]
Jonestown, Port Kaituma
Northwest District
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/
Annie McGowan
I, Annie McGowan, being duly sworn, declare:
I worked for Birdie Marable in her rest home on and off for a year. She called me to sit only when she wanted to go to a Party and get drunk. Many times I would have to stay over and take care of Birdie and her patients. Birdie was very cruel to her Patients. I talked to hser about treating them cruel. Cussing at them and snatching them around. She wouldn’t comply. So I’d try to help them a lot. She was always borrowing money from them between paydays. If they wouldn’t give it to her she’d cuss at them. I can’t ever recall seeing her pay the money back.
One day her husband was on leave from the hospital. He had a liver ailment. That day they both had been drinking. All of a sudden Birdie ran in the house and told me to come with her because she thought she had killed that son of a bitch (speaking of her husband). When I walked into the back house, her husband was on his knees with his head in a puddle of blood. I asked him what was wrong he was unable to tell me. I washed him up and asked her to get a doctor for him. She wouldn’t call a doctor. She said, “if the doctor came he would report it.[“] I cleaned him and bandaged him up to the best of my knowledge. Two days later she submitted him back to the hospital.
If Patients would urinate on themselves she would just let them soak in their urine. If they had special diets, she’d feed them anything. Such as chitterlings and porkchops, mostly what she liked. These are some of the worst things she’s done to her patients. I can go on and on about the cruelty of her in her rest home in Ukiah.
/s/ Annie McGowan
Dated August 5, 1977
Witnessed:
[blank]
Subscribed to and sworn by me,
A commissioner of Oaths for the
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
/s/ Ulric Fingall
—–
FF-12-A-105
Jonestown, Port Kaituma
Northwest District
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Affidavit s/
Deborah Touchette
I, Deborah Touchette, being duly sworn, declare:
My husband told me that when he was living in the dorms at Santa Rosa, Jim Cobb took his pants down at the dormitory and verbally demanded along with using physical force that all the guys in his room look at his penis.
Terri and Wayne Pietela, who were married, were known among those who lived with them to enjoy husband and wife swapping with other couples. I would know because I, and my husband, lived with them. My husband and I became too disgusted with their sexual deviations when we were staying in the same house trailer and moved out as soon as we could find another place to stay.
Terri Cobb Pietela is a child molester who attacked children in the night when they were sleeping. Patricia Cartmell, when she was a child was molested by Terri Pietela.
Wayne Pietela, Terri’s husband, was also a child molester. Long after their marriage had begun, Wayne would date twelve and thirteen-year-old girls. He was once caught in a car having sexual intercourse with a thirteen-year-old girl. Wayne admitted other perversions in a fit of confessions. He mentioned spending some time on a farm and sexually abusing a female sheep. He described vividly his feelings of enjoyment and expressed the desire to do it again. Wayne and Terri Pietela used to take children to bed with them at night, posing as a mother and father figure. It was found later that they were molesting the children and telling them never to say anything about it.
Wayne Pietela was always bringing home radio or amplifying equipment. On numerous occasions he brag on the amount of albums, amplifiers, he had taken. He said he thought capitalism was terrible and that he wanted to destroy the system. He always practiced with guns in the evenings and set up dummy people who he said would someday be destroyed. As a group they were often planning the assassination of the President of the United States (the group included Wayne and Terri Pietela, Jim Cobb, and Mickey Touchette). They would go over the whole plan as though it were to take place tomorrow. Wayne Pietela used to brag about the number of government leaders he would kill because of his ability to be on target.
Jim Cobb used to collect Army material such as knives, boots, canteens, fatigues, etc. He also had a collection of guns that he was continuously adding to. They always tried to lead young people to believe that one day they were going to start a revolution. Jim Cobb tried to be extremely domineering and forceful with people that he felt hHelloe could control. Wayne Pietela and Jim Cobb used to lead us on hikes while teaching woods survival, as an exercise in guerrilla training. They would often say, while putting people’s heads at the point of a gun barrel, “be prepared for every surprise.”
—–
FF-12-A-106
Affidavit
Deborah Touchette
When Jim Cobb, Mickey Touchette, Wayne Pietela, Terri Pietela, and the others left, they took Army equipment they had stored, including guns. The telephone wires had been cut and many personal belongings of my own had been taken, as well as those of Wayne’s dad, Tom Kice Sr.
Mickey Touchette had approached us the day before about our involvement in Peoples Temple and whether we thought it was a waste doing humanitarian work with Jim Jones instead of fighting a revolution. Mickey Touchette had approached my husband, Mike Touchette, and myself. When we disagreed with her and would not respond to her probing, she finally walked away. It was not until she had left that I realized the intent of her approach. She had hoped to persuade us to leave and join their revolution.
/s/ Deborah Touchette
Dated August 2, 1977
Witnessed:
[blank]
Subscribed to and sworn by me,
A commissioner of Oaths for the
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
/s/ Ulric Fingall
—–
FF-12-A-110
Port Kaituma
North West Region
Republic of Guyana
South America
Affidavit s/
Darrell Devers
I, Darrell Devers, being duly sworn, hereby declare:
I was a member of Peoples Temple in Los Angeles. Paul Flowers had been an associate minister of that church but resigned his position and left the church membership after he was confronted about his irresponsibility and violent, threatening behavior to other members. After this time, he went to the homes of several senior citizens and falsely represented himself as an associate minister. He further falsely represented that Rev. Jim Jones had sent him there and asked that they give him money. He stole somewhere in the area of $1000.00 this way, and used it for his own
Dated: August _____ 1977
Witnessed:
Subscribed to and sworn by me,
A commissioner of Oaths for the
Cooperative Republic of Guyana