Dorothy Arnold: Frantic Search for Beautiful Heiress

Our case last week was that of mail bomber Walter “Roy” Moody. This week’s case takes us to New York City in 1910, where heiress and socialite Dorothy Arnold mysteriously disappeared.

Dorothy Arnold

Dorothy Arnold was the daughter of Francis and Martha Parks Arnold. Her father, Francis, imported “fancy goods” and was a descendant of English passengers on the Mayflower. Her mother, Martha, had a Canadian heritage. The family was both wealthy and socially prominent.

Dorothy Harriet Camille Arnold (Library of Congress)
Dorothy Harriet Camille Arnold (Library of Congress)

Dorothy attended a private girls’ school in New York and Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. After graduating from college in 1905, she moved back to New York and lived with her parents while trying to establish herself as a writer. She submitted at least two short stories to McClure’s magazine, but McClure’s rejected both. In October 1910, she asked her father if she could move to an apartment in Greenwich Village to write. Her father flatly refused; unmarried young women of prominent families did not live on their own in 1910.

 Dorothy Arnold lived in a fancy part of New York's Upper East Side much like this one, shown in 1910
Dorothy Arnold lived in a fancy part of New York’s Upper East Side much like this one, shown in 1910

Dorothy Arnold Disappears

About 11:00 on December 12, 1910, Dorothy left the family residence on 79th Street in the tony Upper East Side. She told her mother she was going to shop for a dress for her sister Marjorie’s upcoming debutante ball. At the Park & Tilford store, Dorothy charged a half-pound box of chocolates. Then she walked downtown to Brentano’s bookstore, where she bought a book of humorous essays. Leaving the bookstore, she ran into a friend, Gladys King. The two women talked for a moment, with Gladys later reporting that Dorothy seemed in good spirits.

Dorothy Arnold was last seen leaving this Manhattan bookstore
Dorothy Arnold was last seen leaving this Manhattan bookstore (Alan Aaronson/New York Daily News)

When Dorothy failed to return home for dinner, her parents began to worry. Dorothy never missed a meal without telling her family. However, fearing publicity that would be embarrassing socially, the family did not contact police. Although it’s strange to put social status above locating a missing daughter, there may have been a reason for it. A year earlier, 13-year-old Adele Boas went missing from Central Park. It turned out she had run away to Boston and her prominent Upper East Side family was scandalized and shamed in the press.

Regardless of the reason, instead of the police, the Arnold family contacted John S. Keith. Keith was a lawyer and family friend. Over the next few weeks, he searched hospitals, jails, and morgues in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. He found no trace of Dorothy. Yet, instead of contacting the police, Keith recommended that the family hire the Pinkerton Detective Agency to investigate.

A Fruitless Investigation

Pinkerton detectives also searched hospitals and places Dorothy was known to frequent. But again, there was no trace of the missing woman. Theorizing she may have eloped, detectives searched marriage records but again found nothing.

An artist for the New York American scketched Dorothy as whe was dressed on the day she disappeared
An artist for the New York American scketched Dorothy as whe was dressed on the day she disappeared

Finally, over a month after Dorothy disappeared, her family filed a missing persons report with police. The police advised Mr. Arnold to hold a press conference, which he did, albeit reluctantly.

George "Junor" Gascom, Jr.
George “Junor” Gascom, Jr.

As the investigation progressed, reporters uncovered a romantic relationship between Dorothy Arnold and one George Griscom, Jr. Griscom was a 42-year-old engineer from a wealthy family who lived with his parents in the Kenmawr Hotel in Pittsburgh. They further discovered that in September, Dorothy had spent a week in a hotel with Griscom. She had pawned $500 worth of jewelry to pay for the week. The discovery was scandalous, but it didn’t lead to finding the missing woman. But there was no hard evidence linking Griscom to Dorothy’s disappearance.

Epilogue

Despite many reported sightings and letters purporting to be from her, no one ever saw Dorothy again. Francis Arnold, who died in 1922, spent nearly $200,000 trying to find his missing daughter. He believed she had been kidnapped the day she disappeared and murdered shortly thereafter. Dorothy’s mother, Martha, believed Dorothy was still alive. Martha died in 1928.

You can read more about the case in The Disappearance of Dorothy Arnold.

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Walter Moody: Startling Mail Bomb Murder for Revenge

Our case last week was that of Thomas Piper, the infamous 1875 Boston Belfry Murderer. This week takes us to Birmingham, Alabama where in 1989, Walter Moody killed two people with mail bombs.

Walter Moody

Walter Leroy “Roy” Moody, Jr. was born and raised in Georgia, where he showed a measure of mechanical ability. After graduating from Peach County High School, he served in the military until 1961.

Walter Leroy Moody
Walter Leroy “Roy” Moody

When his military career ended, Moody considered becoming a neurosurgeon. He took classes at a small college but didn’t make grades good enough to get into medical school. Later, he took some law school classes.

Walter Moody’s First Bombing Conviction

On May 7, 1972, Walter Moody’s wife, Hazel, opened a package she discovered in her kitchen. The package contained a pipe bomb that exploded when she opened it. She survived but required six surgeries to repair the damage caused by the bomb.

Moody apparently made the bomb intending to send it to a car dealer who had repossessed his car. In a somewhat odd compromise verdict, a jury convicted him of possessing the bomb but acquitted him of making it. He received a sentence of five years in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary (Moody served four years). Not surprising, Moody and Hazel divorced shortly after his conviction.

Moody’s Mail Bomb Murders

It was almost Christmas, Saturday, December 16, 1989. Federal appeals court judge Robert S. Vance was at his home in Mountain Brook, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. When he opened a package that had come in the mail, the bomb inside exploded. The blast killed Vance instantly and severely injured his wife, Helen.

Federal appeals court judge Robert S. Vance was Moody's intended target
Federal appeals court judge Robert S. Vance was Moody’s intended target

Two days later, another mailed bomb exploded in the Savannah, Georgia office of civil rights attorney Robert Robinson. Robinson, too, died when he opened the package.

Civil rights attorney Robert Robinson, the second victim
Civil rights attorney Robert Robinson, the second victim

Authorities intercepted two more bombs before they reached their destinations. One was addressed to the Eleventh Circuit Court in Atlanta. The second targeted the NAACP office in Jacksonville, Florida. Neither of these bombs injured anyone.

Walter Moody Arrestws and Convicted

The FBI attempted to build a DNA profile from the bomb packaging, including the stamps. But their break came from an ATF explosives expert. He recognized the 1989 bombs as similar in design to the 1972 bomb that injured Moody’s first wife, Hazel. With this lead, a thorough investigation was able to link all four of the 1989 bombs to each other—and to Walter Moody.

Moody in shackles on his way to Federal Court
Moody in shackles on his way to Federal Court

Police arrested Moody and his second wife, Susan McBride, on July 13, 1990. McBride agreed to testify against her husband in exchange for immunity. Prosecutor (and future FBI director) Louis Freeh presented the government’s case. A federal court jury convicted Moody on all counts, and he received a sentence of seven life terms without the possibility of parole.

The federal trial was for charges related to making and sending the bombs. After the federal court convictions, the State of Alabama tried Walter Moody for the murder of Judge Vance. He was convicted in that case, too, and sentenced to death.

Walter Moody shortly before his execution (Alabama Department of Corrections)
Walter Moody shortly before his execution (Alabama Department of Corrections)

Epilogue

On April 19, 2018, Walter Leroy Moody died by lethal injection at the Holman Correctional Facility near Atmore, Alabama. At 83, he was the oldest inmate executed since executions in the United States resumed in 1976.

Moody never officially explained his motive in murdering Judge Vance. Prosecutor Louis Freeh believes the Vance murder and the Eleventh Circuit bombs were twisted revenge for the Court’s refusal to expunge Moody’s 1972 conviction. Ironically—and tragically—Vance was not on the panel that reviewed Moody’s case, nor was he involved in the decision. The murder of Robinson and the attempt to bomb the NAACP office were red herrings to make investigators think the bombings had a racial motivation.

Ray Jenkins published a book about the case in 1997, Blind Vengeance: The Roy Moody Mail Bomb Murders. An earlier book, Priority Mail, by Mark Winne appeared in 1995.

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Thomas Piper: Sensational Boston Belfry Killer Found

Last week, we met Rodney Alcala, the so-called Dating Game Killer. This week’s case takes us back to 1870s Boston, Massachusetts. It was there that Thomas Piper committed the crimes that caused the press to label him The Boston Belfry Murderer.

Thomas Piper

Thomas W. Piper was a Canadian born in Nova Scotia in 1849. Young Thomas did carpentry work on the family farm until he moved with his parents to Boston in 1866. There he held several jobs as a clerk. He was also an avid Baptist, which led the Warren Avenue Baptist Church to hire him as a sexton.

An undated photo of Thomas Piper
An undated photo of Thomas Piper

Piper had s kidney disorder that he self-medicated with laudanum. A popular “remedy” at the time, laudanum is a solution of opium in alcohol. Not surprisingly, the opium and alcohol “cure” gave him hallucinations. And unknown to his employers at the church, Piper had a brief career as an arsonist before graduating to murder.

Piper Commits Murder

It was December 5, 1873. Thomas Piper was walking to the church with two of his brothers when he complained of not feeling well. But instead of going home, he bought some opium, mixed it with alcohol, and drank it. Only then did he return home.

Some time later, a fire alarm rang. When the commotion died down, Piper was standing with a brother when they saw a servant girl, Bridget Landregan walking home. They went inside their house and Thomas said he was going to bed. However, he grabbed a shaft he’d sawed off a larger piece earlier and started to follow Landregan. He stalked her until she noticed him, at which point he hit her with the shaft and knocked her down. Then he hit her again, fracturing her skull.

A sensationalized contemporary drawing of Piper committimg murder. Mabel Young, the only victim killed in the church belfry, was a child, not the adult woman this drawing depicts.
A sensationalized contemporary drawing of Piper committimg murder. Mabel Young, the only victim killed in the church belfry, was a child, not the adult woman this drawing depicts.

At that point, Piper saw a man walking down the street. He bolted, climbing over a fence that ran parallel to a railroad line and escaped. Police arrested several men, including, Piper, but there was no evidence against any of them.

Thomas Piper Continues His Assaults

A year later, Piper met Mary Tyner, a prostitute. The two went to a saloon and had some drinks before going back to her place. They both fell asleep. Tyner was still asleep when Piper woke up. He took a hammer or similar object and hit her several times in the head with it. Tyner survived for a year after the attack but couldn’t identify her attacker. She spent the rest of her life in a lunatic asylum. Police extradited a former lover, Thomas Cahill, from Ireland but had to release him for lack of evidence. Ironically, Cahill himself was murdered after he returned to Ireland.

The Warren Avenue Baptist Church around the time of Young's murder
The Warren Avenue Baptist Church around the time of Young’s murder

The crime that was Piper’s undoing was the murder of five-year-old Mabel Young. It was May 23, 1875. After Mabel attended services at the church where Piper was a sexton, he lured her up into the church’s belfry. He promised to show her the pigeons. Instead, he hit her in the head several times with a cricket bat. He intended to rape her but, realizing she was still alive, moved her to another part of the belfry. Witnesses saw Piper leaping from the belfry and soon after found Mabel. She was still alive, but died from her injuries at 8:00 p.m. the following day.

Trial and Conviction

Piper’s first trial, which began on December 11, 1875, ended in a hung jury. Nine jurors voted to convict and three to acquit. He went on trial a second time on January 31, 1876. This time the jury was unanimous: guilty of murder.

The stress of the ordeal took its toll on Piper. He confessed to the murders of Young, Landregan, and another woman named Minnie Sullivan, and to the assault on Tyner. Moreover, he confessed to the arsons as well.

Piper appealed his death sentence but without success. At least 300 people attended his hanging on May 26, 1876, at the Suffolk County jail.

Epilogue

Piper is known to have committed the three murders, but he may have been responsible for other deaths not linked to him.

In 1920, the congregation of the Warren Avenue Baptist Church merged with the First Baptist Church on Commonwealth Avenue. They sold the building on the corner of Warren Avenue and Canton Street. In 1969, the city razed the building, eventually replacing it with a small park, Hayes Park.

Hayes Park. The scupture is called West Canton Street Child by Kahil Gibran
Hayes Park. The scupture is called West Canton Street Child by Kahil Gibran

The Boston Belfry Murder is one of the crimes featured in Murder & Mayhem in Boston by Christopher Daley.

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Rodney Alcala: Attractive Serial Killer Seen on TV

Our case last week dealt with vigilante justice in 1933 California. You may recall that mob dragged the confessed kidnappers and killers of Brooke Hart from jail and lynched them in a public park. Our case this week is also from California, that of serial Rodney Alcala. In the day, Alcala was good-looking enough to earn a slot on television’s The Dating Game. But no one at the time knew he was an active serial killer.

Rodney Alcala

Rodney Alcala was born Rodrigo Jacques Alcala Buquor in San Antonio, Texas in 1943. In 1951, his father moved the family to Mexico but abandoned them three years later. His mother later moved Rodney and his two sisters to the Los Angeles suburbs.

Rodney Alcala
Rodney Alcala

Alcala joined the U.S. Army in 1961 when he was 17. He served as a clerk for about three years before he had a nervous breakdown and went AWOL. The Army gave him a medical discharge.

Rodney Alcala, Criminal

On September 25, 1969, a witness called Los Angeles police after seeing Alcala lure an eight-year-old girl into his apartment. Tali Shapiro was alive when police arrived. But Alcala had beaten her with a steel bar and raped her before fleeing before fleeing.

To avoid arrest, Alcala moved to New York and enrolled in the NYU film school. In 1971, he managed to get a job as a counselor at an arts camp for children in New Hampshire. In June of that year, two children from the camp recognized his picture on a wanted poster. Extradited back to California, he received a three-year sentence for child molestation.

Paroled after 17 months, Alcala was rearrested when he assaulted a 13-year-old girl to whom he offered a ride. He went back to prison but was out in two years.

During this period, Alcala convinced numerous young men and women that he was a professional photographer. Many posed for him. However, most of the models were nude and the photos were usually suggestive. Police feel that many of Alcala’s photography subjects may be cold case victims.

Alcala Appears on The Dating Game

In 1978, Rodney Alcala appeared on the TV game show The Dating Game as Bachelor Number One. Host Jim Lange introduced him as a successful photographer who was into skydiving and motorcycling. On air, he was witty and charming, and the female contestant, Cheryl Bradshaw, picked him.

Cheryl Bradshaw and Rodney Alcala during Alcala’s Dating Game appearance

Backstage, however, Alcala was anything but charming. Bradshaw called the show’s office the next day and refused to go on the date. She said she felt “weird vibes” coming from him. Fellow contestant Jed Mills, who sat next to Alcala as Bachelor Number Two, described him as a “very strange guy” with “bizarre opinions.”

Alcala Arrested, Tried, and Convicted

On June 20, 1979, 12-year-old Robin Samsoe disappeared on her way from the beach to ballet class. Her body was found 12 days later. Robin’s friends said a man approached them on the beach and asked to take their pictures. Police circulated a sketch of the photographer, and his parole office recognized it as a sketch of Rodney Alcala.

1997 prison mugshot (California Department of Corrections)
1997 prison mugshot (California Department of Corrections)

Police arrested Alcala in July 1979 and held him without bail. At his trial in 1980, the jury convicted him of the Samsoe murder, and he received a death sentence. The California Supreme Court overturned that conviction because jurors heard improper testimony concerning Alcala’s prior convictions for sex offenses. The second trial in 1986 was essentially a repeat of the 1980 trial and ended with the same result.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the 1986 conviction as well. The State of California tried Alcala for the third time in 2010. This time, there were five counts of murder. In the years since his second trial, investigators had traced the murders of four additional women to him. These women were: Jill Barcomb, 18; Georgia Wixted, 27; Charlotte Lamb, 31; and Jill Parenteau, 21.

The California victims. Clockwize from top left: Jill Parenteau, Charlotte Lamb, Jill Barcomb, Robin Samsoe, and Georgia Wixted.
The California victims. Clockwize from top left: Jill Parenteau, Charlotte Lamb, Jill Barcomb, Robin Samsoe, and Georgia Wixted.

At his third trial, Rodney Alcala acted as his own attorney. This rarely goes well, and it didn’t go well for Alcala this time. He ended up convicted on five counts of murder and with another death sentence.

Alcala at his third trial
Alcala at his third trial

Epilogue

In 2013, Rodney Alcala pled guilty to two homicide charges in New York. Police identified him as a suspect or person of interest in murders in Washington State, San Francisco, and Wyoming as well. The total number his victims is likely far greater than the seven women he was convicted of killing.

New York victims Cornelia Crilley (L) and Ellen Hover (R)
New York victims Cornelia Crilley (L) and Ellen Hover (R)

Rodney Alcala died of unspecified natural causes on July 24, 2021. He was 77 years old and still awaiting execution.

You can read more about the case in Victoria Best’s More Than Just a Pretty Face and Rodney James Alcala: Occupation: Serial Killer a.k.a. The Dating Game Killer by J.R. Knowles.

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