Jeannie Mills

Jeannie Mills
Born
Deanna Mertle

July 2, 1939
DiedFebruary 27, 1980
Berkeley, California
Cause of deathGunshot wounds
NationalityAmerican
Known forVictim of unsolved murder
Peoples Temple defector

Jeannie Mills (née Gustafson; July 2, 1939 – February 27, 1980),[1] formerly Deanna Mertle, was an early defector from the Peoples Temple organization headed by Jim Jones. With her husband and Elmer Mertle, she co-founded the Concerned Relatives of Peoples Temple Members organization[2] in 1977. Mills was murdered in 1980 along with her husband and one of her daughters, in a killing which remains unsolved.

Background

Jeannie Mills, her husband Al, and her children joined the Peoples Temple in 1969. As Deanna and Elmer Mertle, Jeannie served as head of the Temple's publications office while Al was the official photographer.[3] The couple left the Temple with their five children in 1974 after Jones beat their daughter Linda seventy times with a paddle for a minor infraction. The family legally changed their names to void the power of attorney they had earlier given Jones.[4]

After her defection, Mills published a memoir, Six Years with God: Life inside Rev. Jim Jones's Peoples Temple, and established the Berkeley Human Freedom Center with her husband. She later co-founded the Concerned Relatives of Peoples Temple Members, a support group for Temple defectors and their families. The Concerned Relatives eventually persuaded U.S. Representative Leo Ryan to undertake a fact-finding mission to the Temple's Jonestown settlement in Guyana, which ultimately led to Ryan's murder and the mass murder-suicide at Jonestown on November 18, 1978. After the killings, the Mills family initially holed up with other defectors in the protective custody of a police SWAT team, but eventually decided to resume normal life.

Murder

Mills, along with her husband Al and their 15-year-old daughter Daphene, were murdered execution-style inside their home in Berkeley, California, on February 26, 1980,[5][6] just over a year after the Jonestown massacre.[1][7] Their 17-year-old son Eddie was home at the time, but was left unharmed.[8] There was no forced entry, and burglary was quickly ruled out as a motive.[4] Eddie claimed he was unaware that the killings had taken place, even though police found gunshot residue on his hands.[9]

The Mills murders raised the fear that Temple "hit squads" – former members out to "avenge" the Jonestown deaths – were involved. The theory was never substantiated. With no leads, the investigation was eventually shelved and the case went cold. In 2005, police re-interviewed several surviving members of the Mills family. On December 3, 2005, 43-year-old Eddie Mills was arrested at San Francisco International Airport after returning to the U.S. for the first time in several years. However, the Alameda County District Attorney's Office declined to file charges, citing a lack of evidence.[10] Eddie Mills returned to Japan, where he lives with his wife and two children.[8] The Mills murders remain unsolved.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Coleman, Loren (2004). The Copycat Effect: How the Media and Popular Culture Trigger the Mayhem in Tomorrow's Headlines. Paraview Pocket Books. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-7434-8223-3.
  2. ^ "A Story of Deprogramming – Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple".
  3. ^ Eric W. Hickey, Encyclopedia of murder and violent crime. SAGE, 2003, p. 109.
  4. ^ a b The Mills Family Murders: Could It Be Jim Jones' Last Revenge?, People Magazine, Clare Crawford-Mason and Nancy Faber, March 17, 1980
  5. ^ "Hit Squad? Temple Defectors Slain". The Press Democrat. February 27, 1980. p. 1. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
  6. ^ "Hit Squad? Temple Defectors Slain". The Press Democrat. February 27, 1980. p. 12. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
  7. ^ Locke, Michelle (December 9, 2005). "No charges filed against son in 1980 murders". Associated Press.
  8. ^ a b "Who murdered Al and Jeannie Mills?". Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple. August 2, 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2019 – via San Diego State University.
  9. ^ Ex-Berkeley man held in family slayings, SFgate.com, Henry K. Lee, December 7, 2005
  10. ^ Retired officer works old cases – to no avail, San Francisco Chronicle, Henry K. Lee, December 10, 2005