Mass Suicide at Jonestown: 30 Years Later

Murder at the Airport
During Ryan's visit, 15 Temple members asked to return to the United States with him and his group. Though they constituted a relatively small percentage of the 900 or so people living at Jonestown, the paranoid Jones was unable to stand the potential repercussions of the defections. Several of his loyalists trailed the delegation back to the Port Kaituma airstrip, where the Congressman's plane was waiting, and opened fire. Congressman Ryan and four other members of the group were killed. Eleven people were injured.

• Read an interview with author and Jonestown survivor, Tim Reiterman