In November of 1978 more than 900 people died in a South American jungle. Most of the victims drank Kool-Aid laced with poison. They were members of The People's Temple-- a cult led by Jim Jones who had convinced his followers to take their own lives. Those who refused were shot to death.
Before migrating to the Jonestown compound The People's Temple church was located in San Francisco. More than a year before the Jonestown massacre a San Francisco detective named David Reuben tried to warn top city officials that Jim Jones was not the benevolent spiritual leader he was portrayed to be in public. Reuben had a laundry list of serious allegations from former members of The People's Church. Those allegations against Jones included theft, sexual misconduct, and even murder. Reuben's effort to alert police came more than a year before the massacre, but it was were ignored.
This is the story of how Reuben uncovered the disturbing allegations and why he wonders to this day if the Jonestown massacre could have been avoided.
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