image of Sharon Amos petting a bird at Jonestown in 1977.
Sharon Amos, originally Linda Silverstein, a former psychologist, and Social worker moved to Guyana on 9/13/1977. With partner; Sherwin Harris Amos had 3 children: Martin Laurence Amos; Christa Amos (aka Wayborn Christa Amos); Liane Harris (aka Liane Amos). Sharon was active in the temple and was part of the planning commission and other leading organizations. Amos ran the planning commission for Temple members in Georgetown. Amos was described as being fanatically loyal to Jim Jones and was mentioned as being Jones’s top aid
Sharon also led the Temple’s international communications and had met with the North Korean and Cuban Embassies. Amos met with Guyanese cabinet-level government officials, advocating for Joesntown’s wants and needs
Read more about international diplomacy at Jonestown here.
Sharon worked at the Temple’s headquarters in Georgetown, Guyana. On December 4th she finished what is thought to be the last radio conversation with Jonestown. A coded message had come from Jones stating that “There were defectors, the faithful must seek revenge on their enemies, and everyone in Georgetown and San Francisco–maybe 200 or more–should kill themselves.” After this call, Sharon took her children to a shower in the building and slit the throat of her 2 youngest children before the oldest child and Sharon simultaneously slit each other’s throats. Making Sharon Amos and her children the only Temple members to die in Georgetown. There were 46 other people at the Temple headquarters who were unaware of the Amos family deaths, and the mass suicides occurring simultaneously at Jonestown.
Read more about their deaths here.
Read a New York Times archived article about the Amos family murder-suicide here.
Sharon made a defamatory affidavit about Linda Dunn Swaney (a temple defector) stating that Linda was overly obsessed with her appearances, didn’t care for her children, was sexually promiscuous, and dismissed Linda’s claims of unwanted sexual advances by Jones.