Cremated Remains of 9 Jonestown Victims Found in Delaware

Photo | Jonestown Institute

Delaware homeland security officials and Dover police announced Thursday they’d found remains from nine victims of the Jonestown massacre in a former funeral home.

Officials say 38 small containers with cremated remains were found inside the former Minus Funeral Home in Dover. Of these, 33 were identified — including nine cremains IDed as victims of the massacre. More than 900 people died, mostly of cyanide poisoning, in the 1978 mass murder/suicide in Guyana.

Delaware’s Division of Forensic Science took possession of the 38 remains. DFS — formerly known as the chief medical examiner’s office — searched behind the old funeral home to see if there were other remains earlier this week.

According to the state, DFS found “an arrowhead, two animal bones, oyster shells and charcoals” while searching. It also found several bronze gravesite markers for World War I veterans. The markers will be given to family members if they can be located, or returned to the Veterans Administration.

The funeral home has been closed for years. “It’s out of the ordinary for here,” a neighbor told WBOC-TV. “This has never happened before. The fact that it’s behind a funeral home makes it even more suspicious.”

[Dover PD]