On December 15, 1927, 19-year-old William Edward Hickman went to Mount Vernon Jr. High School in the Lafayette Square section of Los Angeles, California. He went to the office and told the registrar, Mary Holt, that Perry Parker the father of 12-year-old twins, Marion and Majorie.
He asked for Perry Parker's daughter. This confused The registrar as Perry had two daughters. He stated that the smaller one was who Perry wanted to see. It turned out that William didn't know that Perry had twin daughters or even their names. Regardless they trusted the man and handed over Marion to him believing his story was suspicious but true.
His story was all a lie and Perry was perfectly fine. It wasn't noticed that the girl was kidnapped until she was supposed to arrive home. She was reported missing and ransom notes came to the family. In the ransom letters, He asked for 75 $20 gold certificates which would equal $1,500 (this was equal with $21,887 today). The ransom letters were signed with "Fate", " Fox" and "Death"
The original meet was supposed to happen on December 16th and they were given instructions on how it was supposed to go. William had seen a policeman in the area and fled. A third letter was sent stating.
“I will be two billion times as cautious and clever, as deadly from now on. You have brought this on yourself and you deserve it and worse. A man who betrays his love for his own daughter is a second Judas Iscariot – many times more wicked than the worst modern criminal."
At 7:30 p.m. on December 17th Perry arrived at West 5th St. and South Manhattan Place in Los Angeles alone. He had the ransom money and hoped for the safe return of his daughter. He went over to a parked dark Ford roadster with a young man (William) sitting inside. William pointed a gun at Perry and when Perry asked to see Marion William pointed to the passenger seat.
Marion was sitting and unmoving and wrapped up to her neck. William told Perry that Marion was sleeping. Perry assumed that it meant she was chloroformed. Perry gave the stranger the ransom money. William accelerated his car about 200 feet and kicked Marion out.
It had turned out that she was dead. Perry quickly held his daughter in his arms. She had been horribly mutilated. Her legs and arms had been cut off and she had been disemboweled and stuffed with rags. He had sewed his eyes open with wires. Her back had shown evidence that she had been whipped.
He had strangled the girl and slit her throat before dismembering her. He later stated that he believed that Marion was still alive when he dismembered her though. He then wrapped the arms and legs up in newspaper and left them in Elysian Park where they were found on the 18th.
Police had no idea who had kidnapped the girl at first. All they knew it was a young man around 25 years old, about 5'8" and weighing 150 lbs. He had a shaved face and thin features with dark wavy hair. He was driving a dark Ford Roadster.
A break came in the case when a laundry mark that was on a towel used to stuff Marion had on it. It traced back to an apartment complex in Los Angeles. More than 100 police officers came to search room to room for the suspect. This was when they found Donal Evans (William Hickman) who was staying in one of the rooms.
They interviewed him and he stated that he hoped they find the fiend who killed the girl. They had no evidence against him and left him. This was when the man they knew as Donald Evans fled. Police found the roadster and inspected it. It had been stolen from Kansas City weeks before. Fingerprints in the vehicle belonged to a man named William Edward Hickman. He was a career criminal.
The motive of the kidnapping was found. He was an employee of Perry Parker and was an assistant cashier. He had been fired for forging checks at the bank and Perry testified and opposed probation against him. This caused him to serve a brief time in jail.
Now knowing who the kidnapper was William's mugshot was plastered in many newspapers. After seeing the mugshot in the newspaper the landlady confirmed that Donald Evans was, in fact, William Hickman. Others in the apartment said they witnessed him carrying newspapers out the night of the Ransom pickup. Blood was found in the apartment.
William had stolen cars on the way heading north. One of the marked bills was found in Seattle and the man who did it matched the his description. Another showed up in Portland Oregon and on December 22 he was caught by police in Pendleton, Oregon.
William denied being the man at the apartment. He claimed he had an accomplice, but the man he claimed that was with him was in jail at the time. He had claimed that this accomplice was the one who killed Marion to shut her up. Police did not find such an accomplice, and it was believed that he did this on his own. He stated that the kidnapping was so he could get money for college, but the police didn't believe him and thought it was actually revenge. At one point he asked if he would be as famous as "Leopold and Loeb."
At trial, he claimed not guilty due to an insanity plea. It was up the defense to prove that he was insane at least at the time of the crime. They put his mother on the stand and she claimed that insanity ran in the family. Several alienists (psychologists) came to see him, but the majority believed that he was sane.
The original judge was known to not have people hang. William made a comment along the lines that even if they don't find him insane the judge wouldn't hang him. The judge hearing about this comment disqualified himself from this trial.
After a 10 day trial, a verdict was made on the case. The jury did not believe he was insane at the time and that he was guilty. He was smiling when he heard the verdict. He was asked how he felt about it and his response was "The state won by a neck".
He was then sentenced to hang. On October 19, 1928, William walked 13 steps up to the gallows. A priest was standing up there and said: "Lord, have mercy on us." William responded, "Christ have mercy on us." A black hood was placed over his head On the way down he hit his head on the gallow and violently shook as he hanged. After a few minutes, he was pronounced dead.
SOURCES:
Find A Grave
The Malefactors Register
LA Times
Wikipedia
Rare Newspapers
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