Editor’s note: This story was originally published on Nov. 18, 202A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.

On Nov. 18, 1978, U.S. Rep. Leo J. Ryan of California and four others were killed on an airstrip in Jonestown, Guyana, by members of Peoples Temple; the killings were followed by a night of mass murder and suicide resulting in the deaths of more than 900 cult members.

Even now, 46 years later, the numbers seem overwhelming. Coverage of the murder-suicide deaths was spread over several days due to the remoteness of Guyana on the northeast coast of South America.

Per reports, Ryan had come to investigate the remote agricultural settlement built by a California-based church. But while he was there, more than a dozen people had stepped forward: We

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