Netta Heiland & Bridgett Reilly, New York City Badger Game Girls - 1892

FULL TEXT:  New York is just now enjoying the details of a rare case of blackmail in which one of her most respected citizens appears to be the victim.

The history of the time is dotted with strange instances of blackmail being levied upon men whose wealth or position makes them shining marks tor designing and clever rogues, but this case seem to have some features out of the ordinary.

Nearly every one of the California millionaires have in turn been subjected to blackmailing schemes by designing women. Living in an atmosphere of license, they were assailed at the weakest point, and it would be strange indeed if some of them were not occasionally trapped. The man who is at all times proof against every passion of his nature has not yet been born.

Even the late merchant prince, Alexander T. Stewart, cold and correct as he was, became the target for the shaft of the female blackmailing archer.

Of all the influences that sway mankind none is so strong as the influence of sex. It dominates all others. It is knowledge of this influence of the actions – God given and proper when under control – that makes the professional blackmailer fish for men’s fortunes and their souls, and the bait is always a woman.

Charles Broadway Rouss is a unique figure in New York commercial life. Making no claim to the advantages of birth or education, he is a natural man, with the faults and foibles of a natural man.

But he has also the virtues of a strong and manly character. He has never been accused of being a hypocrite and he is not afraid of hard work. It is by the hardest of hard work and the greatest application that he has accumulated the fortune, a large slice of which Bridget Reilly’s advisors are now anxious to transfer to their own coffers.

Bridget came over from Ireland a year or so ago. She was pretty, with dark eyes and raven tresses, and was soon employed by Netta Heiland, Mr. Rouss’ pretty housekeeper. Now Bridget wants the modest sum of $50,000 in payment for the injury done her name by Rouss. The New York police say that it is impossible that this bold scheme could have originated in the simple brain of the raw emigrant girl, to whom a few hundred dollars a few weeks ago would have seemed a competency. But there are designing men and women in New York, both in and out of the legal profession, and the slightest slip is seized on as a peg to hang a suit upon, if the proposed victim is but big enough game. And so Bridget is advised her friends that the merchant can be squeezed to the tune of $50,000. How much of this large sum the girl would receive, supposing the lego-squeezing process to be successful, is a problem that would require a very astute philosopher to solve.

Mr. Rouss’ case is simply this: His housekeeper employed a comely and lively emigrant girl as domestic in the household. The girl from time to time put herself in the merchant’s way, and he was in the habit of giving her small presents of money he was overcome by the blandishments of the too willing daughter of Eve, who omitted the time honored formula of “swearing she would ne’er consent.” He is not hypocrite enough to claim that he acted the part of Joseph, but he was liberal to the girl in the matter of money.

She presented herself at his store last December, scarcely half clad, and invoked his assistance. She stated that Mr. Rouss’ housekeeper had quarreled with her and turned her out after locking up her clothes. In sympathy for tier condition he save her more money and she found lodgment where, at her request, he visited her.

The girl afterwards became a confidant of the housekeeper, whose part in the whole scheme will probably be exploited at the trial. It might seem like a mixing of metaphor to refer to a woman as the Ethiopian in the wood pile, yet the facts in the case point to a conclusion, and the trial may uncover the greatest nest of organized blackmailers in this or any other country with Netta Heiland as a leading figure among them.

[Leon Deveraux, “Ways Of The Wicked - Female Blackmailers Operating In New York. - The Sensational Case Of Millionaire Rouss. - Bridget Reilly a Pretty Dark Eyed Daughter of Erin Becomes Americanized Rather Suddenly - Said to Be the Tool of Female Blackmailers.” The Burlington Hawk-Eye (Io.), Apr. 27, 1892, p. 6]

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Link to more Badger Game cases

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May Richards Barr, Badger Game Con Artist – Seattle, Washington, 1911

FULL TEXT Article 1 of 3): Mrs. May Richards Barr, the alleged ‘badger’ girl, broke down and wept bitter tears upon the witness stand late yesterday afternoon, and wept again this morning when Deputy Prosecutor Rundin arraigned the characters of the trio on trial. The same little woman who stood jail life for five months while awaiting her trial, and smiled through it all, could not stand the torment of having her honor and reputation scarred, analyzed and reviewed in public, and broke down so completely that she had to be taken out of the court room.

Her husband started to go with her, but was detained by the bailiff. The breakdown came during the cross examination, when she was put on the rack and questioned about her relations with John C. Robey, the man alleged to be the victim of the ‘badger game,’ and who is said to have given up a 1258 check to the alleged conspirators. Mrs. Barr denied that anything improper occurred between her and Robey.

~ Married Childhood Playmate.

After telling that she ran away with her husband, who was a childhood playmate of hers at Riverside, Cal. She said that they did not get married until 7 o’clock of the same evening, as the alleged ‘badger game’ was played because they never had money enough before to do so. She ran away about a year and a half ago, and was working as a manicurist in the Victoria hotels. She got acquainted with Robey at the Martinique hotel, where she and Mr. Barr were living as Mr. and Mrs. Emmett, when he opened the hall door for her on several occasions.

“He told me he had a daughter reminded him of she said on this particular night she said. Robey had gone out for some whiskey, and was in her room with it and some sandwiches.”

“He drew up two chairs,” she said, and asked me to sit down, and the next act was to try to get me to sit in his lap, and I got up. and he followed, and after I finally got away from him I walked across the room and he came toward me, and he grabbed hold of me, and took me on the bed and sat me down there, and then followed a general wrestling, and I fought with him until I unfastened his collar, and I think left marks on his neck, I had black and blue marks on my arm.

Then I got up and walked across the floor, and told him I was tired, and would like to retire if he would adjourn to his room, and he said he didn't think it was necessary; that he would be all right.”

[“Alleged Badger Girl Breaks Down In Court,”  The Seattle Star (Wa.), Jun. 23, 1911, p. 1]

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FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 3): Badly beaten about the face and body, and held a prisoner in his room at the Martinique hotel, Eighth av. and Union st., while two men and a woman attempted to cash a check of $250, which they forced from him, was the experience of John H. Robey, president and manager of the Golden West Baking Company.

Suffering terribly from his beating, Robey was unable to attempt to escape until this morning, when he scribbled a note and dropped it from his window. A passerby picked it up and read: “Notify the First National bank to stop payment on $250 check. Tell the police I am a prisoner in room 431, Martinique hotel.”

The man who found the note hurried down the street and gave it to Sergt. Pence and Patrolman Humphrey. They hurried to the Martinique and alter releasing Robey went to the apartments of a beautiful young woman giving the name if Mrs. Harold Barr, and a young man who claimed to be her husband.

~ All Are Arrested.

The second man who give the name of H. H. Carroll. In the meantime appeared at the bank, but Robey’s check wan refused. Carroll returned to the Martinique only to be placed under arrest. The three are held at the city jail without a charge.

Robey, who la about to sever his connection with the baking company, says the alleged “badger” game was probably inspired by this fact.

“This young woman, whom I knew a Miss May Richards, resided at the Martinique hotel for about a month,” said Mr. Robey this afternoon. “Her apartments were right across the hall from mine. At times she left her key with me.”

“Last night about 9:30 I was suffering from a severe cold and went down the street for a flask of whisky and quinine. When I returned the young woman was standing in her doorway. She asked me what I had and I told her.”

“Come in and give me a drink,” she said I entered her room and she shut the door. No sooner had the drink been drained than the door burst open and in rushed these men, Barr and Carroll, whom I had never seen before.

~ The Beating Follows.

“’What do you mean by assaulting my wife”? demanded Barr. I turned to astonishment to find the woman on the bed with her head buried in the covers, as though weeping Then Carroll took a hand. “I'm her brother, you ———,” he said.

“Then both of them removed their coats, rolled up their sleeves and started to give me an awful licking finally they tired of this and Carroll said, ‘Now, you're a business man and you can’t afford to have this become public. If you will come through with $1,000 we’ll call matters square. I protested that I only had $14 in the bank to my personal account. Carroll said:

“’Well, you sign a check as president of the Golden West Raking, Co.’ I refused to do so until they threatened to throw me out of the fourth story window. Then I compromised and signed a check for $250, which they accepted reluctantly.

“After taking my check they dragged me across the hall and locked me in my room. I was so weak and dazed that I hardly got my senses until this morning, when I wrote the note and dropped it from the window.’

At the police station this afternoon Robey confronted his alleged assailants, but they refused to talk. The check for $250 signed by Robey was taken from Carroll and is held by Prosecutor Murphy as evidence.

Robey is 45 and single. The woman is a brunette, slight, and not more than 22 years old. A marriage certificate was taken from her, indicating that she and Barr were married yesterday.

[“Woman Is Held In Alleged Blackmail Plot – Accused with Two Men of Bold Crime - John T. Robey, Seattle Business Man, Tells of Strange ‘Badger Game’— Says He Was Attacked by Men Posing as Young Woman's Relatives, Then Compelled to Give Up $250.,” The Seattle Star (Wa.), Jan. 28, 1911, p. 1]

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FULL TEXT (Article 3 of 3): Guilty of extortion.

That was the verdict against each of the three defendants in the ‘badger game’ conspiracy against John C. Robey, manager of the Golden West Baking company. The verdicts were returned separately against each, though the jury deliberated on them all together.

Mrs. Amy Barr, the young bride whom the jury branded as a ‘badger girl.'' received the verdict calmly, and betrayed no emotion as she was led out of the court room by a deputy sheriff. followed by her husband, Harold Barr, also in the custody of a deputy. The third member of the ‘badger’ conspiracy. Marry M. Carroll, who had been out on bail during the pendency of the trial was remanded to the sheriff's custody. Carroll, who, according to Deputy Prosecutor Lundin was the ‘master mind’ of the conspiracy seemed to be exceedingly peeved when Judge Main ordered him taken to the county jail because his bail of $1,200 was too small after conviction.

It took the jury five hours to arrive at the three verdicts. It is believed that the delay was caused over Mrs. Barr’s verdict alone. She had testified that she took no part in the whispered conversations when Robey was held prisoner in the apartment of the Barrs at the Martinique hotel.

Extortion is punishable by a [missing text, error in original].

The jurors were polled immediately after reading the verdict. Attorney Holzheimer made an oral motion for a new trial

[“Guilty Of ‘Badger Game’ – Girl and Men Companions Convicted on Extortion Charge – All in Jail Awaiting Sentence.” The Seattle Star (Wa.), Jun. 24, 1911, p. 1]

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FULL TEXT: May Richards Barr, the pretty bride of one day when she arrested last January, is on trial today on the charge of conspiracy to play a "badger game" on John C. Robey, manager of the Golden West Baking Co. She is la being jointly tried with her husband. Harold Barr, and the third member of the alleged conspiracy, H. M. Carroll.

Mrs. Barr, who has been smiling throughout her five months' confinement in the county jail, was paler this morning than at any time since her arrest. She is a dimpled little woman, about 22, and has a round, pleasant face.

~ How Game Was Worked. ~

Mrs. Barr, notwithstanding her confinement in jail for more than five months, smiles as though she were an unconcerned party to the trial. She is a dimpled little woman, with around, pleasant face.

The alleged "badger game" was worked at the Martinique hotel, Eighth av. and Union st., according to the information, where the Barrs and Robey lived. Robey's story is that she had been asked into Mrs. Barr’s room to give her a drink. The door suddenly opened on them, he says, and Mr. Barr and Carroll charged upon him. Barr told him he was the woman's husband, and had married her that day. Robey had known her as a single woman up to that time, by the name of Miss Richards. Carroll is alleged to have taken a hand in beating up Robey on the ground that he was a brother of Mr. Barr.

The story told to the police la that after they got through pummeling him. Robey was asked for $1,000 to hush the matter up. They finally got him to sign a check for$260 as manager of the Golden West Raking Co., Robey alleges. They then bundled him into his own room and locked the door, he alleged. In this condition he remained all night. He was too dazed to move, he says.

“They kept him in their room all night," said Deputy Prosecutor Lundin in his opening statement to the jury a little before noon today. "In the morning they took him to his own room and locked him up, presumably so that he should remain safe until they had cashed the check."

~ Tossed Note Out of Window. ~

In the morning he scribbled the following note: "Notify the First National Bank to stop payment on$250 check. Tell the police I am a prisoner in room 431, Martinique hotel.” He dropped this out of the window.  A passerby picked it up and turned it over to Sergt. Pearce and Patrolman Humphrey. They released Robey from his own room, and arrested Mr. and Mrs. Barr, who were in their apartments then. Carroll tried to cash the check at the bank, was refused, and was arrested when he got back to the hotel.

~ The Badger Game. ~

The so-called “badger game" is usually operated by a man and a woman. The woman lures a victim, a man who had money, to a room. Here the woman attempts to compromise the victim. At a crucial moment she signals to her male accomplice, who is stationed outside the room. The latter rushes in, plays the part of an outraged husband or brother, and threatens to kill the victim, or else turn him over to the police. A compromise is suggested; the victim is usually only too glad to pay a few hundred or even a few thousand dollars to escape.

The most notorious case of this kind was that worked by Fay Moore and her husband Martin Malon, a rich New York hotel owner, was the victim. He paid $7,500 in cash to escape from Fay Moore's room. Later he complained to the police and Moore was sentenced to a long term in Sing Sing although his wife escaped punishment.

The crime is called the 'badger game" because in England it is the custom to hunt the badger, an animal, with trained dogs, thus giving the badger no chance to escape with its life.

[“Alleged Badger Girl,” The Seattle Star (Wa.), Jun. 21, 1911, p. 1]

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Link to more Badger Game cases

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Mary Carleton, AKA Mary Moder, “The German Princess": Con Artist Vamp - 1673

Wikipedia: Mary Carleton (11 January 1642 – 22 January 1673) was an Englishwoman who used false identities, such as a German princess, to marry and defraud a number of men. Carleton was born Mary Moders in Canterbury. According to later accounts she married a journeyman shoemaker named Thomas Stedman and gave birth to two children who died in infancy. She later left her husband to move to Dover where she married a surgeon, prompting her arrest and trial in Maidstone for bigamy.

After the trial she visited Cologne where she had a brief affair with a local nobleman. He gave her valuable presents, pressed her for marriage and began the preparations for a wedding. She, however, slipped out of Germany with all the presents and most of her landlady's money, returning to England through the Netherlands.

~ Life of crime

She returned to London in 1663 and took on the persona of an orphaned Princess van Wolway from Cologne. She claimed that she was born in Cologne and that her father was Henry van Wolway, Lord of Holmstein and that she had fled a possessive lover. She used this guise to marry John Carleton, brother-in-law of the landlord of the Exchange tavern which she frequented. After the wedding, however, an anonymous letter exposed her.

Her trial in 1663 was the first recorded appearance of Mary Carleton. She was charged for masquerading as a German princess and marrying John Carleton in London under that name. She claimed that John Carleton himself had claimed to be a lord and was trying to extract himself from marriage as he had discovered there was no money in it. Divorce would have been an unheard of scandal in those times. Both sides of the conflict published pamphlets to support their own story. Mary Carleton was eventually acquitted.

Afterwards Mary Carleton wrote her own account, The Case of Madam Mary Carleton, possibly through a ghostwriter. She also acted in a play about her life and gained a number of admirers who gave her more valuable gifts. She eventually married one of her admirers. Predictably she left him too, taking with her his money, valuables and keys while he was drunk.

Carleton next pretended to be a rich virgin heiress fleeing an undesirable suitor whom her father had arranged for her. She even arranged that someone would send her letters that supposedly contained updates of family news. When her new landlady found and read them, she was convinced and became a matchmaker between Carleton and her nephew.

Carleton arranged a new letter that claimed that her brother was dead and he had left her all he had, including her father's forthcoming inheritance. However, her father was even more determined to marry her to a suitor she detested. Her lover invited her to live with him but Carleton and an accomplice, disguised as a maid, stole his money.

Over the following ten years Carleton used similar methods to defraud various other men and landlords, often with the aid of her maid. Some of the men were too embarrassed to reveal they had been duped. She was many times accused of theft but was jailed only briefly.

~ Incarceration and execution

She was once arrested after stealing a silver tankard, and was sentenced to penal transportation and sent to Jamaica. However, after two years she returned to London, again pretending to be a rich heiress and married an apothecary at Westminster. Naturally, she stole his money and left him.

In December 1672 Carleton was captured when a man who was searching for stolen loot recognized her. On 16 January 1673 she was tried in the Old Bailey. Because she had returned from penal transportation without permission, she received a sentence of death. She was executed by hanging on 22 January.

In 1673 Francis Kirkman wrote, and issued under his own name, The Counterfeit Lady Unveiled, a fictional autobiography.

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Leaving the stage, Moders concentrated on crime, creating one man after another, sometimes employing a swindle that would later be termed “the badger game.” She would entice a wealthy man to her apartment, then have an accomplice pretending to be her husband barge into the room, raging that he would kill them both. Invariably, the compromised suitor paid handsomely to be spared his life. [Jay Robert Nash, The Great Pictorial History of World Crime, Volume 2, Scarecrow Press, 2004, p. 363]

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For more cases like this one, see: Vamps – Femmes Fatales – Predatory Women

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Link to more Badger Game cases

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Sheila LaBarre, Sadistic Black Widow Serial Killer – 2006, New Hampshire

Sheila LaBarre (born Sheila Kay Baley on July 4, 1958 in Fort Payne, Alabama) is an American convicted murderer. She was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences, with no prospect of parole after being convicted of killing two men, Kenneth Countie and Michael DeLoge, in Epping, New Hampshire. At the time of the crimes, LaBarre lived in Epping, New Hampshire (Rockingham County) on a farm. She regularly enticed younger men to her farm, where she would torture and control them. At her trial she claimed she was an angel, sent by God to punish pedophiles. She accused the two men she killed of being pedophiles.

• Biography

LaBarre was born Sheila Kaye Bailey in Alabama in 1958. She has a sister, Lynn Noojin. She graduated from Fort Payne High School in 1976. After marrying Ronnie Jennings, she was known as Sheila Bailey Jennings. She wanted to divorce Ronnie but he refused to divorce her for some time. In the early 1980s, LaBarre was held in a psychiatric facility after attempting suicide where she was sexually assaulted by an orderly. She married John Baxter in January 1981.

LaBarre moved from Fort Payne to Epping, New Hampshire in 1987 after answering a personal ad placed by Dr. Wilfred “Bill” LaBarre, a chiropractor. She never legally married Bill LaBarre, but took his last name (“Sheila LaBarre”) and they lived together from 1987 until his death at age 74 in 2000. Bill LaBarre had been married twice before. However, LaBarre married a Jamaican citizen named Wayne Ennis in Yor, Maine, on August 22, 1995. LaBarre divorced Ennis in 1996. In April 1997, Sheila LaBarre got a restraining order against Ennis after he had repeatedly assaulted her.

After Bill’s death, Sheila LaBarre inherited his farm. She said she was his common-law wife. His children from a previous relationship attempted to contest the will to get money and property, but were informed they had a 50/50 chance of success and would have to pay $50,000 upfront.

Crimes

• Kenny Countie

Kenny Countie met LaBarre via a personal ad in 2006 when he was 24. He moved in with her shortly after meeting her. Countie was described as having a low IQ and “child like” trust. LaBarre made a recording of him vomiting whilst she accused him of being a paedophile. She stabbed him to death and then burnt his body. The police were able to identify his DNA from his army records.

Countie’s mother subsequently accused the Epping Police Department of negligence. Prior to his death, he had been seen in a Walmart store, bruised and burned, in a wheelchair. Her lawsuit against the two police officers who had seen him in the store was rejected in 2010.

• Michael Deloge

Deloge was LaBarre’s boyfriend, who lived with her at her farm. He was last seen alive in 2005. A bone of his and his birth certificate were found at the farm in 2008. It is unknown how he died. His mother informed the police that she was worried LaBarre was trying to kill him.

• Arrest

An arrest warrant was issued on April 1, 2006 for Shelia LaBarre, for charges of first degree murder. She was arrested on April 2, and the police conducted a three-week search of her farm.

• Trial

The jury visited LaBarre’s farm and the Walmart where she was seen with Countie. LaBarre attended too, wearing a stun belt. LaBarre pleaded not guilty to murdering Countie and Deloge on the grounds of insanity. Her defense attorney described her as a “deeply, deeply sick individual.” At trial in May 2008, psychiatrists testified that LaBarre was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and delusional disorder. James Brackett testified in court that he was in abusive relationship with LaBarre for six years. LaBarre’s ex-husband Wayne Ennis claimed that she had asked him to kill Wilfred. Wilfred LaBarre’s daughter Laura Melisi claimed that LaBarre had threatened to shoot people. She stated she always disliked Sheila LaBarre, and had warned her father against pursuing a relationship.

Her plea of not guilty by reason of insanity was rejected by the jury. They found her guilty and LaBarre was sentenced to life in prison without parole in June 2008. Her appeal in 2010, was rejected. LaBarre is currently serving her sentence in Lowell Annex near Ocala, Florida.

• Suspicions on death of Dr. Wilfred LaBarre [not in Wikipedia]

“Since LaBarre’s March 21 arrest, Wilfred LaBarre’s children have successfully petitioned a Rockingham County Superior Court judge to freeze her assets, including the Epping farm. They allege she wrongfully inherited the 115-acre estate using a 1988 will, in spite of one written 12 years later, providing for Wilfred LaBarre’s children.” [Elizabeth Dinan, “Murder probe: Autopsy revisited,” Hampton Union (N. H.), May 9, 2006]

• Unnamed victim [not in Wikipedia]

A woman who is in prison for torturing and killing two boyfriends may have a new body to account for as police have found three toes near her farm that do not belong to the two men she is known to have murdered. Sheila LaBarre, now 54, was arrested in 2006 after an anonymous tip led police to find remains of Kenneth Countie and Michael Deloge near her Epping, New Hampshire home. With the latest discovery, police are asking for the public's help in trying to piece together who the toes may belong to. 'They were not the remains of Kenneth Countie or Michael Deloge,' Assistant Attorney General Jane Young told The Manchester Union Leader. “There was no way to determine who it was.” [Meghan Keneally, “How many did she kill? Police believe woman who murdered two of her boyfriends may have another victim after finding toes at farmhouse,” Mail Online, Jul. 5, 2012]

[The above text is taken from the Wikipedia article on this case and augmented from other sources.]

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2005 – Michael Deloge, 38 – last seen in 2005

Mar. 17, 2006 – Kenneth Countie, 24, last seen.

Mar. 25, 2006 – Lt. Michael Wallace of Epping and other officers searched LaBarre’s farm. Search lasted 17 days.

Apr. 2, 2006 – SL arrested.

May 2008 – trial.

Jun. 2008 – sentenced to life in prison without parole.

2010 – appeal rejected.

2012 – “three unidentified toes that belonged to neither of the men were found on her property.”

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Michael Deloge, 38 – last seen in 2005

Kenneth Countie, 24, last seen Mar. 17, 2006

Unnamed victim – “three unidentified toes that belonged to neither of the men were found on her property.” 2012

Dr. Wilfred LaBarre – husband, death investigated for signs of foul play. “Since LaBarre’s March 21 arrest, Wilfred LaBarre’s children have successfully petitioned a Rockingham County Superior Court judge to freeze her assets, including the Epping farm. They allege she wrongfully inherited the 115-acre estate using a 1988 will, in spite of one written 12 years later, providing for Wilfred LaBarre’s children.”

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[Elizabeth Dinan, “Murder probe: Autopsy revisited,” Hampton Union (N. H.), May 9, 2006]

[Meghan Keneally, “How many did she kill? Police believe woman who murdered two of her boyfriends may have ANOTHER victim after finding TOES at farmhouse,” Mail Online, Jul. 5, 2012]

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For links to other cases of woman who murdered 2 or more husbands (or paramours), see Black Widow Serial Killers.

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Sadism & Female Serial Killers

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“Indianapolis Babysitter” - Suspected Serial Killer – 1961

Three cases of midwestern babysitters suspected of murdering multiple children were reported in 1961. Two resulted in convictions (Mary Madigan, Des Moines, series of three killings; Lucille Adams, Milwaukee, double murder), the Indianapolis case did not, apparently, result in a prosecution due to the difficulty in proving cause of death, yet indications were that the unnamed woman had killed three children, perhaps more and had attempted to kill another on three separate occasions. Lucille Adams stated she was inspired to murder the two boys in her charge after hearing about the Mary Madigan case on the radio. Each of the three babysitters was identified as mentally retarded.

The Indianapolis case prompted the publication of an article giving advice on how to protect one’s children from female serial killer babysitters.

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FULL TEXT (Article 1 of 5): Indianapolis – Marion County Prosecutor Philip L. Bayt said today that he will present several witnesses to the grand jury Tuesday in connection with the mysterious deaths of three babies, all of whom were cared for by the same sitter. Bayt said the babysitter identified by the parents of the three babies is a 23-year-old woman. "I just learned of these findings late yesterday," Bayt said. "We plan to talk to the woman today. But I understand that she has denied to the police that she was responsible for the deaths although she did say she put her land over one baby's mouth to keep it from crying."

Leighton George, chief investigator for the Marion County coroner, Dr. Dennis Nicholas, reprted that 3-months-old Patricia Vincent, son of an Indianapolis policeman and his wife, “probably” died of suffocation.

The baby was found dead in his crib Monday morning when Patrolman Walter Vincent, Indianapolis awakened. Vincent said he questioned the sitter at length, then called the coroner’s office.

Nicholas said the investigation so far has shown that two other babies left in the woman’s care died under similar circumstances. They were John Arthur Lowe, Jr., 3 months, the son of Mr. and Mrs. John Lowe, and David Terhune, 9 months, son of Mr. and Mrs. George L. Terhune, both of Indianapolis.

The Lowe infant died in April, and the Terhune baby in June.

[“Woman Is Quizzed in 3 Deaths,” The Linton Daily Citizen (In.), Sep. 15, 1961, p. 1]

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FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 5): The father of a 23-year-old baby sitter was ordered yesterday to stop placing “harassing” telephone calls to families employed his daughter, as a full-scale to families who employed his daughter, as a full-scale investigation started into the deaths of three infant boys who died while left in her care.

Meanwhile, the Marion County Coroner’s office attempted to piece together an accounting of three “missing” months in her baby sitting employment.

CHIEF CORONER’S investigator Leighton George mad a public appeal for help in a search to locate families who might have been hired the women during the latter part of June and in July and August.

In addition to this order to the sitter’s father, Prosecutor Phillip L. Bayt, dispatched subpenas is parents of the three babies for testimony before a County Grand Jury probe which begins Tuesday.

He also called in the father and daughter for an interrogation Monday at the prosecutor’s office.

THE FATHER appeared in the prosecutor’s office yesterday afternoon in an attempt to clear his daughter of any suspicion in the deaths of the infants who died in April, June and last Monday morning.

He arrived in Bayt was trying to locate him for an explanation of telephone harassment complaints from parents of two of the dead children and a third family whose child narrowly escaped death last spring.

According to Bayt, the father readily admitted making calls to all three homes yesterday but vigorously denied being unpleasant with any of the parties.

The father declared he felt entirely within his rights to make the calls because he was naturally concerned about his daughter and wanted to know why those families had any reason to be suspicious of her.

Investigator George notified the prosecutor’s office of complaints to the coroner’s office from the family of Patrolman and Mrs. Walter Vincent, 4901 West 37^th Street, who awoke early Monday to find their son, Patrick Vincent, dead.

A MEMBER of the family told George – the sitter’s father had called twice yesterday.

Mrs. George L. Terhune, 850 Bethel Avenue, notified George that she also had been called by the father.

Her baby, 9-month-old David Terhune, died June 6, according to George, when the sitter was watching the Terhune children while Terhune was at work and his wife was away from the home.

According to George, Mrs. Terhune reported that the father telephoned her, too, but that she hung up when he said:

“YOU HAVEN’T got a thing on my girl.”

The mother related that he called back and added that:

“I’m not through with you yet.”

Mrs. Terhune said she called up the coroner’s office immediately after she hung up the phone the second time.

The coroner’s office said that a similar complaint about another phone call came from the home of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph E. Kelly, 2902 South Oakland Avenue.

The couple’s son, Robert Michael Kelly, 11 months old, narrowly escaped death three times while left in the sitter’s care and each time the woman attributed the child’s unconscious state to a gas leak, according to investigators.

In each instance Citizen’s Gas and Coke Utility crewmen could find no leak.

BAYT SAID that the father had agreed not to place any more calls to any of these persons or others who have been ordered to testify before the grand jury. The prosecutor warned that persons who attempt to impede witnesses are liable for criminal prosecution.

The father told Bayt his daughter should be praised instead of criticized for promptness in summoning aid to the babies before their deaths. He said that he believed that it was merely circumstantial circumstances which has made her suspect in connection with their deaths.

HOWEVER, Dr. Dennis Nicholas, Marion County coroner, vigorously maintained that there was “too much incidence” in the infant deaths, the first of which occurred last April.

The child was John Arthur Lowe Jr., 3 months old, son of Mr. and Mrs. John A. Lowe, formerly of 1540 Lee Street.

Although the deaths of the Lowe child and that of the Terhune baby showed no positive evidence for foul play, an investigation became a certainty after pathological studies of the Vincent child revealed he probably died of suffocation.

In her statement to the coroner’s office, the unmarried sitter denied any connection with the deaths but did admit she had placed her hand over the Vincent baby’s mouth to muffle its screams during the night of oits death.

SHE APPARENTLY has been widely recommended as a baby sitter throughout her near South Side neighborhood and by officials of a church she attended, according to investigators.

The plump 23-year-old brunette has been regularly employed as a sitter since her late teens, they reported in her statement she advised that:

“I took up baby sitting because I love children, I like to play with them.”

The coroner described the sitter as somewhat “feebleminded,” with an intelligence quotient (IQ) of only 52. She complied with Nicholas’ request that she takes a psychiatric tests at Marion County Hospital last Thursday, but the results will not be known until Monday.

INVESTIGATORS believe that information about the possible death of a fourth child may have been started by the girl herself as a ruse to gain confidence and sympathy from the dead infants’ parents.

The rumored fourth child might have been a figment of her imagination, according to George, who said he told the Terhune family that a child of hers died in a similar manner to the Terhune baby. She urged the Terhunes not to tell anybody about her being with the child because it might get her in trouble.

Investigators said they were thrown off the track by not knowing until recently that the Terhunes had employed any baby sitter to watch the child, they said.

No charges have been filed against the woman pending the grand jusy investigation.

[“Bayt Tells Sitter’s Dad: Stop Harassing Parents,” The Indianapolis Star (In.), Sep. 16, 1961, pp. 1, 14]

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FULL TEXT (Article 3 of 5):

~ MENTAL HEALTH CHIEF GIVES TIPS FOR PARENTS

~ Check Sitter’s Training, Stability, Attitude

FULL TEXT: How can you be sure your children are safe with a baby sitter?

The question has burned in the minds of Indianapolis parents since the mysterious deaths of three male infants while they were in the care of a 23-year-old woman described by the coroner’s office as “mentally retarded.”

FOR AVERAGE parents, who hire a babysitter when they have an infrequent “night out,” a basic set of rules was set down yesterday by two of the state’s top mental health officials.

For families which aren’t of baby sitting “co-ops” or don’t subscribe to agencies, the following suggestions were presented by Dr. Stewart T. Ginsberg, state commissioner of mental health, and Dr. Gordon Barrows, consultant psychologist on Dr. Ginsberg’s staff:

1 – Before entrusting your child to the care of make sure the person is emotionally stable.

2 – Know the educational background of the sitter, including courses taken in child care, first aid and others covering possible emergencies.

3 – Check the sitter’s reputation. From other parents who have hired her, asked about her promptness, alertness, “stick-to-it-iveness,” presence of mind and other traits indicating how she might act if an emergency arose.

4 – Talk to the sitter personally and observe her attitudes and responses. These may give you a clearer idea than most other sources of her capabilities.

No baby-sitter should be hired, Dr. Ginsberg emphasized, if there is any question of mental retardation.

THE MENTAL health chief said that in several cities baby-sitting courses are offered by the Young Women’s Christian Association and that some schools, including Indiana Central College here, have lists of students available for duty.

“Sitter problems” are being solved by some church and school organizations which provide “tot-tending services” free or at a nominal charge.

[“Mental Health Chief Gives Tips For Parents – Check Sitter’s Training, Stability, Attitude,” The Indianapolis Star (In.), Sep. 17, 1961,  Sec. 2, p. 1]

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FULL TEXT (Article 4 of 5):

~ Other Sitter Deaths Feared

The possibility that more than three infants may have died while being cared for by a 23-year-old Indianapolis woman baby sitter is being investigated by the Marion County coroner’s office, Chief Investigator Leighton George said last night.

George said the young woman told the family of Patrolman Walter Vincent, whose 3-month-old son was found dead in his crib last Monday morning, that she had just returned from Chicago before she was employed by the Vincents.

Prosecutor Phillip L. Bayt said his investigation of the three Indianapolis infant deaths is also is continuing and that the woman and her father are coming to his office tomorrow morning.

THE FATHER was admonished by Bayt Friday for harassing telephone calls he made to families who employed his daughter.

“There could be more than three,” Investigator George said. “They may not all be in Indianapolis. From what she has told me, she may have done some baby-sitting while she was in Chicago.

Bayt said the grand jury will hear “quite a few witnesses” in the case including doctors, parents of the dead children and investigators.

Disclosure of the death of Patrick Vincent, along with John Arthur Lowe Jr. and David Terhune while they were in the care of the woman was the third similar case in the Midwest this summer.

A BABY SITTER at Milwaukee [Lucille Adams] recently admitted suffocating two of her charges and a sitter in Dubuque, Ia. [Mary Madigan], was accused of causing the deaths of three children in her care.

The Indianapolis woman, a plump brunette described by the coroner’s office as “somewhat feebleminded,” has been employed regularly as a baby since her late teens, George reported.

The investigator said disinterment of the infants who died earlier would be useless as symptoms of suffocation and pneumonia are so similar.

No charges have been filed against the woman pending a county grand jury investigation.

[“Other Sitter Deaths Feared,” The Indianapolis Star (In.), Sep. 17, 1961,  Sec. 2, p. 1]

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FULL TEXT (Article 5 of 5): Indianapolis – Marion County Prosecutor Phillip Bayt said Tuesday he was able to present only two of a probable 15 witnesses to a grand jury probing the deaths of three infants cared for by the same babysitter.

Bayt said that because of an already crowded schedule for the Marion County grand jury, which regularly sits on Tuesday and Thursdays, he was able only to present the coroner, Dr. Dennis Nicholas, and a police detective who questioned the 23-year-old babysitter.

Bayt said that the parents of the three infants have been subpeaed to appear Sept. 25 before the grand jury. They include patrolman and Mrs. Walter Vincent, Mr. and Mrs. John A. Lowe, and Mr. and Mrs. George L. Terhune, all of Indianapolis.

Their infant sons, ranging in age from three to nine months, died while in the care of the young woman. The babysitter has not been arrested and has denied any responsibility for the deaths, claiming the babies were already ill when she was called.

However a grand jury probe was sought by Dr. Nicholas who said “three is too much coincidence.”

Suffocation was given as cause of death for the Vincent baby, and pneumonia had been listed for the other two.

[“Grand Jury Hears Two Witnesses in Baby Deaths,” The Anderson Herald (In.), Sep. 20, 1961, p. 10]

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For similar cases see: Baby-Sitter Serial Killers

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[1375-1/4/21]

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