[Editor’s note: This document was released both as a State Department cable as part of its 1981 FOIA release, and as Serial 6 of the FBI’s RYMUR release.
[The text for this document was released in 2014 by the now-defunct Wikileaks website at https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1978GEORGE03789_d.html. This URL may be available through the Wayback Machine.]
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GEORGE 03789 192104Z
ACTION ARA-15
INFO OCT-01 ISO-00 H-01 SS-15 NSCE-00 SSO-00 CIAE-00
INR-10 NSAE-00 DODE-00 PA-01 FBIE-00 TRSE-00
SCS-06 CA-01 MCT-02 INRE-00 SY-05 USSS-00 AID-05
SYE-00 CCO-00 SVC-00 /062 W
——————093639 192109Z /64
O 192110Z NOV 78
FM AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC NIACT IMMEDIATE 8076
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E.O. 11652: NA
TAGS: CDES GY (AMOS, LINDA SHARON), (HARRIS, LIANE)
SUBJ: MURDER/SUICIDE AT PEOPLES TEMPLE GEORGETOWN RESIDENCE.
REF: GEORGETOWN 3776
1. The Guyana police have reported to the embassy that a member of the Peoples Temple residing at their Georgetown office residence killed her three children and then committed suicide during the early evening hours November 18. (reftel)
2. The woman, Sharon Amos, had three children. The eldest, Liane Harris, was about twenty years old. The other two, estimated to be around 7 and 5 years old, were from a second marriage and their names are as yet unknown. Sherwin Harris, Liane’s father, is in Georgetown, having traveled with the group of concerned relatives that arrived with Codel Ryan.
2. Sharon Amos was one of the leaders of the People’s Temple group and was active in the Georgetown operation. The police have indicated that the bodies of all four deceased will be held for a few days pending investigation.
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GEORGE 03789 192104Z
Burke [John Burke, U.S. Ambassador to Guyana]
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