Jeannie Mills

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Jeannie Mills (birth name Deanna Mertle) was an early defector from the Peoples Temple cult, author of the book Six Years with God, and co-founder of the Concerned Relatives of Peoples Temple Members organization and the Human Freedom Center. She and her family joined the Peoples Temple in 1969 but they left the group in 1975 when her daughter was beaten at least 70 times with a paddle.

[edit] Murder

Jeannie Mills was murdered in 1980, along with her husband and daughter. Despite their fear of retaliation after the mass murder and suicide of the Peoples Temple cult in 1978 (they at one point had sought police protection), police don't believe the murders were related to the Peoples Temple cult. In 2005, Edward Mills, the surviving son of the family, was arrested for the murders of his family, but he was not charged and released from custody the same week.