Remains of 9 Jonestown massacre victims found

DOVER, Del. (KABC) -- The cremated remains of nine victims of the Jonestown massacre, a suicide-murder of more than 900 people, were found in a former funeral home in Delaware, officials announced Thursday.

On July 30, the new property owners found 38 containers at the former Minus Funeral Home in Dover and contacted authorities. The remains dated from about 1970 to the 1990s appeared to have been properly kept, but were not taken when the funeral home went out of business.

Of the containers, 33 were marked and included paperwork. Nine of those were identified as Jonestown victims.

The Division of Forensic Science took the remains and were looking to identify the unmarked remains and notify family members.

Authorities also excavated the property in search of additional remains. They found an arrowhead, two animal bones, oyster shells and charcoals. Bronze gravesite markers for veterans who served in World War I through the Vietnam War were also found on the property.

In the 1950s, Jim Jones founded the Peoples Temple, a religious movement that amassed hundreds of followers. In the 1970s, he moved his settlement to Guyana, the only English-speaking country in South America.

When a group visiting Jonestown sent to investigate reports of abuses of members was killed in 1978, Jones ordered a mass murder and suicide. Many were told to drink cyanide-laced grape punch.

The 911 bodies who died in the massacre were taken to Dover Air Force Base. Several cemeteries refused to take the bodies until Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland accepted 409 bodies.

The remaining victims were cremated or buried in family cemeteries.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.