Monica Bagby was born on May 2nd, 1960, and arrived at Jonestown on July 13, 1978, when she was 18 years old. Her mother had sent her in order for Monica to overcome her drug addiction. She worked in the fields to harvest bananas and worked seven days a week from 7am to 6pm. Monica lived in dorm 4 throughout her time at Jonestown (Bagby 1979). Because she arrived later than others into Jonestown, Vernon Gosney said she lacked the indoctrination into the Temple mindset. She did not fear going up to him and saying “‘Let’s get the fuck out of here!”’ In Vernon’s words, she was essential to getting him out of Jonestown.
Now the cost of being caught was heavy. Keith Wade, a 17-year-old who had tried before and was caught, beaten, and physically thrown down, landing him on his head. But that did not deter Monica from trying to reach through Vernon’s tired confusion to save him and herself from the torture that was Jonestown. A plan was hatched to pass a note to a visitor to secure their ticket out. They originally wanted to pass the note to Richard Dwyer, a U.S consul who flew to Jonestown a few weeks before Congressman Ryan’s visit. Due to their lost nerves, they decided to head back to their lofts instead.
On November 17th, they would not repeat the mistake and Monica pushed Vernon to pass the famous note that asked for help to Don Harris, the NBC reporter. Congressman Ryan guaranteed them two seats on the returning plane. As the plane was beginning to pull away on November 18th, a tractor-trailer drove in its path, forcing the plane to stop. That is when Larry Layton pulled out a gun and shot Monica twice in the back and Vernon seated behind her.
Monica and Vernon were friends after Jonestown for a time. They partied together and tried to forget the tragedies of their past. However, they soon parted ways when Vernon gained sobriety, and Monica as it appears did not. The last time Vernon ever saw Monica was when he arrived back in San Fransisco to testify against Larry Layton. Monica was in an Oakland jail for attempting to sell cocaine to an undercover narcotics officer (Gosney 2013).
On June 14, 2009 Monica died in Los Angeles, at the age of 49. No photographs were found of her.
“Serial 1557-10.” Alternative Considerations of Jonestown Peoples Temple, 1979, https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=100829.
Gosney, Vernon. “Remembering Monica.” Alternative Considerations of Jonestown Peoples Temple, 13 Oct. 2013, https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=40193.
“Monica Bagby (1960-2009) – Find a Grave Memorial.” Find a Grave, https://de.findagrave.com/memorial/120938275/monica-bagby.