Not Just Evil: Murder, Hollywood, and California's First Insanity Plea

by David Wilson

  “I am the Fox; have you the money?”

  Mr. Parker said yes before the kidnapper cut him off.

  “I am some distance away. I will phone you again in a few minutes and give you your instructions.”

  Thirty minutes later Mr. Parker heard the same voice on the phone. “I am the Fox. Give me your word as a Christian gentleman you will not try to trap me.”

  There was a pause, but no real response as the kidnapper gave a series of instructions. Mr. Parker was to leave his home and travel several miles until he reached Tenth Street and Gramercy. “And come alone,” the voice demanded with authority. “Dim your lights and don’t bring any police if you want to see your child alive.”

  For the first time since Thursday afternoon Mr. Parker felt a degree of hope. On the darkened street, he turned off the engine of his car and waited for the kidnapper to appear. Hours passed without contact. Close to midnight, Mr. Parker gave up any hope of getting his daughter back that night. Completely frustrated and confused about what had just happened, he drove straight home.

  The next day, Detectives Lucas and Raymond found the story of Marion’s kidnapping on the front page of the Los Angeles Times morning edition. By simple process of elimination it was clear someone inside the police department had leaked the details of the case and pictures Mr. Parker had provided to the department as part of the investigation. They knew from past experience that greed could motivate their fellow officers to put the safety of a child aside for financial gain. The two detectives authorized an internal affairs investigation of everyone involved in the case. Mr. Parker remained their only suspect.

  At three in the afternoon on December 21, another special delivery letter was brought to the Parker’s home. Every attempt by LAPD to catch the person sending the special delivery letters to the house failed. Mr. Parker opened the letter and read the kidnapper’s note:

  DEATH Approaching nearer each and every hour P. M. Parker.

  When I asked you over the phone to give me your word of honor as a Christian and honest businessman not to try a trap or tip the police you didn’t answer. Why? Because those two closed cars carefully followed your car north on Wilton to 10th and stopped shortly off Wilton on 10th and then proceeded to circle the block on Gramercy, San Marino, Wilton and 10th I knew and you knew what for? One was a late model Buick and the other had disc wheels. Then later, only a few minutes I saw a yellow Buick police car speeding towards your neighborhood. Of course you don’t know anything about these facts and that is sarcasm!

  Mr. Parker, I’m ashamed of you! I’m vexed and disgusted with you! With the whole damn vicinity throbbing with my terrible crime you try to save the day by your simple police tactics.

  Yes, you lied, and schemed to come my way, only far enough to grab me and the girl too. You’ll never know how you disappointed your daughter. She was so eager to know that it would only be a short while and then she would be free from my terrible torture and then you mess the whole damn affair.

  Your daughter saw you, watched you work, and then drove away severely broken hearted because you couldn’t have her in spite of my willingness merely because you, her father, wouldn’t deal straight for her life.

  You’re insane to betray your love for your daughter, to ignore my terms, to tamper with death. You remain reckless, with death fast on its way.

  How can the newspaper get all these family and private pictures unless you give them to them? Why all the quotations of your own self, Marion’s twin sister, her aunt and school chums? All this continues long after you received my strict warnings.

  TODAY IS THE LAST DAY, I mean Saturday, December 17 Year 1927.

  I HAVE CUT THE TIME TO TWO DAYS and only one more time will I phone you. I will be two billion more times as cautious, as clever, and 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 daughter is a second Judas Iscariot many times more wicked than the worst modern criminal.

  If by 8 P.M. today, you have not received my call then hold a quiet funeral service at your cemetery without the body on Sunday, the 18th only God knows where the body of Marion Parker would rest in this event. Not much effort is needed to take her life.

  She may pass out before 8 P.M. So I could not afford to call you and ask for your $1500 for a lifeless mass of flesh.

  I am base and low but won’t stoop to the depth, especially to an ungrateful person.

  When I call, if I call, I’ll tell you where to go and how to go. So if you go don’t have your friends following. Pray to God for forgiveness for your mistake last night. Become honest with yourself and your blood. If you don’t come in this good, clean, honest way and be square with me that’s all.

  FATE FOX

  IF YOU WANT AID AGAINST ME ASK GOD NOT MAN.

  Again the kidnapper had decided a short note from Marion Parker in her own hand would verify the authenticity of the letter. That part of the note read:

  Dear Daddy & Mother:

  Daddy, please don’t bring anyone with you today. I’m sorry for what happened last night. We drove wright by the house and I cryed all the time last night. If you don’t meet us this morning you’ll never see me again.

  Love to all,

  Marion Parker

  P.S. Please Daddy: I want to come home this morning. This is your last chance. Be sure and come by yourself or you won’t see me again. Marion.

  Detective Lucas and Raymond argued that no further effort should be made to pay the ransom. They knew Mr. Parker was unaware that he had been followed by the LAPD when he tried to pay off the kidnapper. Inspector Taylor made the decision to tell Parker he had been followed on his first attempt to make payment. In a heated conversation, Parker begged the LAPD to give him one last opportunity to meet the kidnapper alone. Eventually Inspector Taylor gave Mr. Parker his word the police would not follow him on his next attempt to deliver the money. Mr. Parker waited for the phone call to set up the exchange. A second special delivery letter was delivered to the Parker home with two separate notes, both sounding irrational.

  SIGNED: MARION PARKER DEATH

  P. M. Parker

  Please recover your senses. I want your money rather than kill your child. But so far you give me no other alternative.

  Of course you want your child but you’ll never get her by notifying the police and causing all this publicity. I feel however that you started the search before you received my warning, so I am not blaming you for the bad beginning.

  Remember the 3 day limit and make up for the lost time. Dismiss all authorities before it is too late. I’ll give you one more chance. Get that money the way I told you and be ready to settle.

  I’ll give you a chance to come across and you or Marion dies.

  Be sensible and use good judgment. You can’t deal with a master mind like a common crook or kidnaper.

  Fox Fate

  If you want aid against me ask God, not man.

  Detective Lucas and Raymond examined and recorded the second note within the same letter. It read:

  P. M. Parker:

  Fox is my name. Very sly you know. Set no traps. I’ll watch for them.

  All thy and able to handle inside guys, even your neighbor Isadore B., you know that when you play with fire there is cause for burns. Now W. J. Burns and his shadows either remember that.

  Get this straight! Remember that life hangs by a thread and I have a Gillette ready and able to handle the situation.

  Do you want the girl or the 75 $20 gold certificates U.S. Currency? You can’t have both and there’s no other way out. Believe this, and act accordingly. Before the day’s over I’ll find out where you stand. I am doing a solo, so figure on meeting the terms of Mr. Fox or else.

  Fate

  If you want aid against me ask God, not man.

  At the bottom of the second note the kidnapper had written:

  Final Chance.

  DEATH

  DEATH FINAL CHANCE TERMS

&nb
sp; 1. Have $1500-75-20 Dollar Gold Certificates-U.S. Currency.

  Come alone and have no other one following or knowing the place of meeting.

  3. Bring no weapons of any kind.

  4. Come in the Essex Coach license Number-594-995 Stay in the car.

  If I call, your girl will still be living. When you go to the place of meeting you will have a chance to see her—then without a second’s hesitation you must hand over the money. (The slightest pause or misbehavior on your part at this moment will be tragic.)

  Seeing your daughter will take a moment. My car will then move slowly away from yours for about a block. You wait and when I stop I will let the girl out. Then come and get her while I drive away—and I won’t go slow this time—Dont attempt to follow when you get the girl.

  Be sure and wait till my car pulls up ahead and stops and you see me put the girl out before you start up. Don’t act excited or think I will run away with Marion.

  I will do as I say—

  And I hope to God you will have sense enough to do exactly as I have said.

  Well, it’s not to worry me if you blunder again. I have certainly done my part to warn and advise you.

  FATE-FOX

  To better understand the kidnapper and his modus operandi, Detectives Lucas and Raymond interviewed several police officers who had been present at the Parker’s home when the last special delivery letter arrived. They learned Mr. Parker had received his third phone call from the kidnapper soon after the letters were delivered. Mr. Parker was told by the voice at the other end of the line, in no uncertain terms, that this would be his last chance to save his daughter. Without explanation, the kidnapper hung up the phone, only to call back an hour later. Mr. Parker once again received explicit directions. The new information did not persuade the district attorney detectives one way or another concerning the father’s involvement in the crime.

  This time Mr. Parker left nothing to chance; he used the rearview mirror in his car from the beginning of his drive to the end to ensure he wasn’t followed. Reaching Manhattan Place, he turned his car engine off and waited for the kidnapper to arrive on the deserted street. Thirty minutes later he saw a car pull up alongside him.

  Mr. Parker was so traumatized by the events that followed that he could not speak with the police. But Detectives Lucas and Raymond did interview Detective George Contreras, the first officer from the LAPD to arrive at the crime scene.

  His statement read, in part:

  I walked up to him [Mr. Parker], and asked him where the little girl was and he said, There she is, sitting in the car. Go and look at her. God bless her little heart. And he could talk no more and this friend of his had to take him away. So I immediately went over to the car, and the little girl was sitting up with her little head leaned over to the right, and the first thing that attracted my attention was the thread that was fastened over each eyelid and across the forehead and right back over the head and down the neck, and sewed onto a white piece of linen that went around the neck. I lowered the little cloth, and there was a cut there, so I did not touch it any more, on account of getting finger marks on it. She had as I say, this linen around her neck and a sweater on, buttoned up, and sat in that position. I made an examination and lifted the body up, and told Inspector Taylor that all of the body wasn’t there. He came over and made an examination, and talked to Parker and searched the automobile, and searched the block. And when the coroner came, I carried the body out of the automobile and put it in the wagon, and we came on down to the morgue with it.

  The only way for the LAPD to save face amid charges of incompetence was to catch Marion’s murderer as soon as possible and bring him to justice. Detective Lucas and Raymond recorded every roadblock set up around Los Angeles. They also noted that the border between California and Mexico was closed and that, with the help of the state police, highways, train, and bus stations were checked around the clock. The problem was they had no suspect and only a vague description.

  On the streets of Los Angeles, all available policemen were instructed to stop and question suspicious-looking young men based on information provided by Mr. Parker. The Los Angeles Times reported that hundreds of men were questioned, but that less than four dozen were brought in for further interrogation. Among the men who were questioned at length, four suspects were held overnight to verify the facts provided in their interviews.

  The normal procedure of holding suspects until their alibis could be verified was too much for one of the detainees, who suffered from mental disorders. He hung himself hours before being cleared of any wrongdoing. The other possible suspects were all released.

  Authorities held a press conference. They admitted to the media that they had no specific suspect. Lucas and Raymond reported Mr. Parker’s inability to describe the events on the night of the discovery of his daughter’s body to District Attorney Keyes.

  Chapter 2

  “Those wonderful people out there in the dark…”

  Gloria Swanson—Sunset Boulevard (1950)

  On December 17, 1927, twelve months after the formation of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences at the Ambassador Hotel, William Edward Hickman stood in a long line, waiting to buy a ticket to see a feature-length film shown at a theater located a few miles south of Hollywood. Going to the movies was not unusual for the young man. It was a part of his daily routine. What was unusual on that particular day was that several hours earlier he had murdered Marion Parker and then mutilated her body.

  As he passed the time, he did his best to appear inconspicuous by making eye contact with everyone who passed the theater. He would explain to the court-appointed psychiatrist that his behavior had been motivated by the fear someone might recognize him as the killer of Marion Parker. The fact that no one other than himself knew Marion Parker was dead did not diminish his paranoia.

  After purchasing his ticket and taking his seat towards the back of the theater, Mr. Hickman momentarily relaxed his guard as his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room. There was after all nothing unusual about his appearance. At five foot five inches tall and 145 pounds, he was very average, not unlike many of the other young men in the packed theater. His complexion was pale, and his black hair was neatly combed to the side. Normally his hair was very curly, especially in the front, but for his night out on the town he had combed it over and over until it became almost straight in an effort to alter his appearance. He concentrated his attention on the wide screen. It was the reason he had paid twenty-five cents to get into the theater; he wanted the anonymity he felt while watching a motion picture. Months later, while speaking to a court appointed psychiatrist about this particular moment, he said his hope of becoming lost in the moment was not fulfilled. The act of killing Marion Parker was only temporarily erased from his mind.

  His statement was recorded for the record and later admitted into evidence in his insanity trial: “The first time I felt sad or had remorse, [for the killing of Marion Parker] was when I was in the Loews State Theater. I broke down and cried while I watched the picture Forbidden Women.”

  The motion picture Mr. Hickman paid to see on the day of the murder was a silent film produced by William C. DeMille, brother of the more famous Cecil B. DeMille. The black-and-white film lasted just over seventy minutes and dealt with issues of betrayal, romance, and a marriage of convenience. Mr. Hickman, who loved all genres of motion pictures and faithfully followed the lives of movie stars, was surprisingly unable to recall the actors or the plot of the film just weeks later during his interview with detectives.

  When Mr. Hickman left the theater, he went back to his apartment to complete the final stages of his plan to ransom Marion Parker for $1,500. The fact that she was already dead meant he needed to prepare the body for the exchange. Mr. Hickman believed he could position Marion’s body in his car so she appeared to be alive. He also believed Marion’s death was Mr. Parker’s fault. His actions were justified in his mind by the fact that her father had betrayed him by in
volving the police in the first attempt to make an exchange.

  Hickman made the exchange and returned to his apartment with $1,500 in gold certificates. He was elated; the plan had worked. He cashed in one of the certificates to make sure he had enough money to continue his routine of nightly visits to the cinema. As he went about his daily routine, it became increasingly apparent that he was the subject of a massive manhunt. The original plan had been to stay in Hollywood with enough money to indulge his passion without the nuisance of committing daily petty crimes. But Hickman unexpectedly found himself contemplating leaving the city.

  The day after Marion’s body was examined in the city morgue, the LAPD sent out an additional 250 policemen to search every street, house, bar, restaurant, park, bus station, and business within ten miles of Manhattan Place. After four exhausting days and nights without any success, Inspector Taylor and his men started retracing their steps. In the late afternoon they surrounded and searched the Bellevue Arms Apartments one more time. They interviewed all the tenants of the building again, including Mr. Hickman, while looking for any possible clues they might have overlooked. During the interview Hickman did not arouse suspicion. This visit from detectives confirmed his lingering belief that he needed to leave town.

  As soon as authorities left the building, Mr. Hickman took most of his clothes, all of the ransom money, and three of his four guns and placed them in an inexpensive suitcase. He locked the case in a storage facility near his apartment. After he secured his belongings he walked a couple of blocks and bought a ticket to see a movie at a nearby theater. Inside the theater, he was again unable to relax, but he forced himself to watch the full-length movie. During the film, Mr. Hickman made up his mind to leave the state of California that night.

  Within one block of the theater he robbed a man of fifteen dollars, and held the man hostage inside his car for almost half an hour as he drove around town without any clear sense of purpose. Eventually he pulled the car to the curb on Melrose Avenue and released the man before returning to the storage facility to pick up his suitcase. Hickman drove all night, arriving in San Francisco at sunrise.