upper waypoint

Looking for Family 40 Years After Jonestown, Pt. 2

13:52
Save ArticleSave Article
Failed to save article

Please try again

The unclaimed victims of Jonestown are buried in a mass grave in Oakland's Evergreen Cemetary. (J.P. Dorbin/KQED)

40 years today, more than 900 people—mostly from the Bay Area—died in Jonestown, a remote settlement in the South American country of Guyana. They were members of the People’s Temple, led by Jim Jones, a charismatic white man who preached racial equality, through a kind of socialism. But Jones became increasingly paranoid and unhinged, eventually orchestrating what he called an act of revolutionary suicide, telling his followers to drink cyanide-laced punch.

In part two of this two-part story, KQED reporter Tara Siler finishes the story of Robert Spencer, a Bay Area man determined to trace his own family connection back to Jonestown, even when others ask him: "Do you really want to know?"

Sponsored

lower waypoint
next waypoint
Alameda County District Attorney Challenges Recall Signature CountCalifornia Homeowners Say Oakland Lender Scammed Them Out of $3M in Home ImprovementsSFSU Pro-Palestinian Encampment Established as Students Rally for DivestmentFAFSA 2024: The May 2 Deadline for California Students is Almost HereThousands of San Francisco Residents Saved From Eviction by 2018 Legal Aid MeasureBillionaire-Backed Bid for New Solano County City Is Closer to November BallotWhat’s Next for Pro-Palestinian Campus ProtestsCalifornia’s 2023 Snow Deluge Was a Freak Event, Study SaysInside Mexico's Clandestine Drug Treatment CentersThe Politics and Policy Around Newsom’s Vatican Climate Summit Trip