The State - News from Sept. 29, 1987

An Orange County woman who claims that her son died of hypothermia after leaving the Rajneeshees’ “share-a-home” program for the homeless at its central Oregon commune in 1984 has filed a wrongful death suit in Portland Federal Court. Evelyn Allen of Stanton seeks damages from Anand Puja, also known as Diane Ivone Onang, former administrator of the Rajneesh Medical Corp. She is now an inmate in a federal prison at Pleasanton. The suit charges that Puja failed to diagnose Allen’s mental illness during his brief stay at Rajneeshpuram commune. The suit seeks unspecified damages, to be determined at trial. Allen, who died on Mt. Hood, was one of about 4,000 transients who were bused to the commune. He left after three days and was found dead behind a tavern in Government Camp. An autopsy showed that Allen had the mind-altering drug Elavil in his bloodstream.