[Editor’s note: This document was released both as a State Department cable as part of its 1981 FOIA release, and as Serial 481 of the FBI’s RYMUR release. The State Department release included several deletions in this cable that were later revealed in the RYMUR version of the document.]
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GEORGE 03946
O 261731Z NOV 78
FM AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN
INFO DIRECTOR FBI
TO USSS WASHDC/IZ-FIB IMMEDIATE
SECSTATE WASHDC 8216
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E.O. 11652: N/A
TAGS: CASC, OREP (RYAN LEO)
SUBJECT: ASSASSINATION THREAT AGAINST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
REF: YOUR MSG. CITE NO. [deleted under b-2]
1. Paragraph keyed to your queries. We will add USSS [US Secret Service] to list of addressees on future cables regarding return of surviving members of the People’s Temple.
2. We plan to notify concerned agencies of the names of passengers, ETA in Charleston, SC, onward destinations, forwarding addresses, etc. when available. At present, it appears that 25 members of the Temple who are free to roam freely, but not to leave the country, will be released first. Best estimate at this time is that the police will finish with them within 48 hours. The police have shown themselves to be a little undecided on their usefulness to the ongoing investigations however, and time frame may expand. The 46 currently under guard at the PT pos at Lamaha Gardens
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will apparently be held for a longer period, and again time frame is indefinite.
3. Don Sly is presumed dead. He was believed to be present at the mass suicide.
4. To date, Larry Layton has been charged with murder. He was born on [deleted date] in [deleted location]. He is about 5’7″ (unconfirmed), thin, fair complexion. Light brown hair and blue eyes. Charles Beikman has been charged with the murders of Sharon Amos and her children at Lamaha Gardens. He was born on [deleted date] in [deleted location]. His passport no. is [Deleted number] issued in San Francisco on February 12, 1974. He is very fair, has light hair, is about 5’10”, and weighs about 200 pounds.
BURKE [John Burke, U.S. Ambassador to Guyana]
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