Vanished Nephew Started Ryan on His Fatal Crusade

By Michael J. Hoy National Enquirer Dec. l978

Rep. Leo Ryan the California congressman murdered in Guyana, relectlessly fought fanatic religious cults because the tragedy they brought to his own family-his youngest nephew vanished 2 1/2 years ago after becoming involved with teh Church of Scientology.

The ENQUIRER has learned that the strange disappearance of Ryan's nephew, Ramsay Devereaux, in may l976 was a motivating force behind his one man crusade to investigate the People's Temple cult in Guyana.

Driven by his anguish he still felt over the loss of his nephew, the California congressman began to dig into charges that the bizarre sect was torturing members and holding many of them against their will.

Ryan felt, deep s ympathy with teh familes of cult members wh wanted their loved ones returned.

With the memory of his own nephew still aching inside, Ryan decided he had o help , and the decision cost him his life.

Ryan was interested in religious cults because of wha had happend to Ramsay , according to his sister and Ramsay's mother, Sheila Ryan, who is divrced and has assumed her maiden name.

In a taped interview two years ago, Mrs. Ryan said her son changed dramatically once he joined the Scientology cult--from a popular teenager with many friends and interests to a secretive, withdrawn youth with only one goal: to become a Scientology minister[sic].

"I found out after he left home --which he did very soon after his l8th birthday at the suggestion of the Scientology church--that he owed more than $13,000 to two loan companies that were owned by the Church of Scientology, " Mrs. Ryan said.

Ramsay's truck was later discovered abandoned in a desert near Bakersfield, Calif. but no trace of the youth was ever found.

The late Rep. ryan wo was also interviewed two years ago, said then that many of the so-called "churches" are nothing more than organizations that exploit young people, "take their money away from them," and evade paying taxes under the guise of being religious organizations.

Meanwhile , said Rep. Ryan, the leaders of these groups "become millionaires, even multi millionaires, and live in princely fashion.

"I was terribly distressed that it could happen in my own family," he said then. But he added that because the law protects churches, little could be done.

"Rather than try to limit those churches we believe have some legitimate claim to being social institutions , we allow these others to operate as jackals on the edge of (society ), eating from the emotional flesh of young kids.

"I haven't used my nephew as an example becuase I don't care to bring personal pain i the familly into it but the more parents know about it, the more kids will know about it, and the less chance there is of it succeeding."

Dan Cook, who was the dead Congressman's aide in Washington said: " It is my understanding that a lot of Rep. Ryan's interest in quasi-religious sects was generated byRamsay's disappearance.

Obviously, his interest was piqued by his personal experience with the Scientology organization and led to this (his probe of Peopel's Temple sect in Guyana and his death )."

Ryan, Leo Joseph (1925-1978) -- also known as Leo J. Ryan -- Born in Lincoln, Lancaster County, Neb., May 5, 1925. Democrat. Served in the U.S. Navy during World War II; mayor of South San Francisco, Calif., 1962; member of California state assembly, 1963-73; U.S. Representative from California 11th District, 1973-78; died in office 1978. Killed by followers of Jim Jones' People's Temple cult,in an ambush at the dirt airstrip of Port Kaituma, Guyana,

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