Jeannie Mills Family

Case background and investigation

Jeannie and Al Mills, born Deanna and Elmer Mertle, were among the best-known defectors from Peoples Temple, the group led by Jim Jones. According to an Associated Press report carried by the Press Democrat, the couple joined the Temple in 1969 and left in 1975 after their daughter was beaten with a paddle. They changed their names after leaving. According to Wikipedia, they helped found the Concerned Relatives organization in 1977 and ran the Human Freedom Center in Berkeley, and Jeannie Mills published a memoir, Six Years with God.

On February 26, 1980, a little more than a year after the deaths at Jonestown in November 1978, Al Mills, 51, Jeannie Mills, 40, and their daughter Daphene, 15, were found shot in the head at the family's home on Woolsey Street in Berkeley, California. The ages and date are given in the Associated Press report and in a San Francisco Chronicle article archived by San Diego State University's Jonestown project.

Because of the family's history, the killings prompted speculation about retaliation by surviving Temple loyalists. The Chronicle noted that the couple had asked for police protection after leaving the Temple. Wikipedia states that the theories about Temple "hit squads" were never substantiated. No arrests were made at the time, and the investigation eventually went cold.

The couple's son, Edward Mills, then 17, was in the house at the time. According to the Associated Press and the Chronicle, he told police he had been unaware of the shootings and denied any involvement. Police reported finding gunshot residue on his hands, but he was not arrested in 1980.

Berkeley police reopened the case in about 2003 as part of a cold case review. In early December 2005, Edward Mills, then 43 and living in Japan, was arrested on a Berkeley police warrant when he arrived at San Francisco International Airport. Within days, the Alameda County District Attorney's Office declined to file charges. The Associated Press quoted prosecutor Chris Carpenter as saying the evidence was not sufficient to meet the required standard. Mills was released and, according to the Jonestown project, returned to Japan. He has not been charged with any crime in connection with the deaths, and the Jonestown project states that family members maintain he is innocent.

At the time of the 2005 arrest, a Berkeley police spokesperson said investigators had looked at Peoples Temple but that it did not appear to have been a motive. No one has been charged in the deaths of Al, Jeannie and Daphene Mills, and the case remains unsolved.