Jonestown Massacre Delaware remains were found along with a stash of 38 containers of ashes during an excavation at the old Minus Funeral Home in Dover, Del., on Wednesday. According to state officials, the cremated Jonestown Massacre Delaware remains of the nine victims were found inside a now-closed Delaware funeral home.
According to a spokeswoman for the Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security, the Jonestown Massacre Delaware remains were inside containers, along with other 38 containers left behind at the closed funeral home.
The Los Angeles Times reports that the excavation was ordered by members of the Delaware Division of Forensic Science and the Dover Police Department after they were told by a bank employee of the 38 containers, revealed a news release issued on Thursday by police.
It appears that all but five of the 38 remains have been cremated between 1970 and the 1990s. According to police, they were also clearly marked.
Because of the markings, they found that nine of the containers are linked to a 1978 mass suicide which left more than 900 people dead of cyanide poisoning.
Reports say that the Division of Forensic Science took hold of all remains on the site, including the Jonestown Massacre Delaware remains. The release said authorities are still working to identify those remaining.
According to Cpl. Mark Hoffman, public information officer for the Dover Police Department as he told the Los Angeles Times, the Minus Funeral Home closed down shop in 2012. The land where the funeral home stood was then purchased by a bank.
After the property foreclosed, the New York Daily News reports that on Jul. 30, a bank employee discovered 38 sets of urns. Hoffman told the Daily News that the employee's discovery thus sparked the ongoing investigation with the remains.
According to Hoffman, many victims of the massacre were flown back into the U.S. by way of Dover Air Force Base, including the Jonestown Massacre Delaware remains found in the funeral home. However, it remains unclear how the nine Jonestown Massacre Delaware remains ended up in the funeral home.
Hoffman said, the assumption is that they were probably contracted out as unclaimed remains, but there's no information to validate that yet.'
The nine Jonestown Massacre Delaware remains were clearly marked; therefore the LA Times said police were easily able to link the urns to the names of victims. Hoffman said there were no signs of corpse abuse or improper storage with the Jonestown Massacre Delaware remains. However, he did not identify the victims and directed further questions to DFS officials.
Spokeswoman Kimberly Chandler of the state division of forensic science said investigators found death certificates together with the urns. Because of the certificates, they were able to cross-reference the names with a list of victims from Jonestown. She also declined to release the names of the victims.
Chandler said, 'For us it's simply a case of unclaimed remains, and our primary focus right now is to identify family members.'
The massacre on Nov. 18, 1978 was planned by Rev. Jim Jones, a cult leader who ordered members of his People's Temple cult to consume a cyanide-laced drink.
Reports say that members of Jones' cult were not the only ones who died or were affected by their group. His other followers also shoot and killed five people, including California Democrat Leo Ryan, who had traveled to Guyana in order to investigate alleged human rights abuses done by the cult.
It still remains unclear how the Jonestown Massacre Delaware remains found their way to the funeral home, where they stayed for more than 30 years.
According to KPLCTV, some of the victims were transported to Dover Air Force Base, containing the nation's largest military mortuary.
The nine Jonestown Massacre Delaware remains in the funeral home were thought to have never shipped to their next of kin for burial.
In the meantime, 10 funeral homes in Dover handled the cremation of some bodies after families requested them to do so.
Jonestown Massacre Delaware remains along with the several remains from the 38 urns found, have been collected by the Delaware forensic team. They will be seeking out the next of kin for burial arrangements.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
