by Savage Grace- The True Story of Fatal Relations in a Rich
John Rakis
It was a plastic bag with one of those drawstrings, and the drawstring was pulled tight.
J. Victor Benson
I heard it was tied.
John Rakis
It was not tied. Just pulled tight.
From a Draft Document, Board of Correction, City of New York
C.O. Raftery went to remove the plastic bag from Baekeland’s head and Nurse Link called to the “A” Officer, C.O. George Forbes #1235, to send a manual resuscitator (ambubag). Nurse Link said at this point Baekeland had no pulse or respiration. C.O. Paul Jefferson #3076, the “B” Post Officer, responded with an ambubag which Nurse Link began to use immediately. C.O. Forbes notified the 4 Lower clinic of the emergency and the need for a doctor. Nurse Practitioner Gloria Howard-Mello responded immediately and instructed Officers Raftery and Jefferson to move the inmate from his bed to the floor of the 3 Lower corridor to provide more room to perform first aid. Nurse Link continued to use the ambubag and Nurse Howard-Mello applied external heart massage. Doctors Doyle and Jhaveri responded at approximately 4:43 p.m. and found the inmate without pulse or respiration and with fixed and dilated pupils. Baekeland was pronounced dead at 4:45 p.m. by Dr. Doyle, who then left the area. At approximately 4:52 p.m. Montefiore Hospital personnel (Dr. Nickerson, Registered Physician’s Assistant Ulrich, Nurse Johnson, and Nurse Minort) arrived in 3 Lower; they were not informed that Dr. Doyle had pronounced Baekeland dead, and recommenced cardiopulmonary resuscitation. During this procedure blood was observed spurting from the inmate’s nose and mouth. After Montefiore personnel had ceased their attempt to revive Baekeland, he was placed back in his bed.
Correction Officer John Hernandez
At the time of Baekeland’s suicide I was on the staff of the deputy warden, who investigates all matters pertaining to security. Right after it was discovered, the inmates on the quad were locked in. I then entered the cell to take pictures of Baekeland and the contents of the cell. I remember that there were some letters, some writing pads, a box of Ritz crackers, and not that much else. We preserved the cell for evidence, to rule out foul play, which was ruled out, almost immediately.
Record of Inmate Transfer, Department of Correction, City of New York
Name: Baekeland, Antony #349-80-4228
Date: 3/20/81
Transferred to: City Morgue D.O.A.
John Rakis
After the suicide, I talked to the staff and to other inmates. There was a mixed reaction among the inmates. Some acted as if nothing had happened and some acted concerned—“Yes. Too bad. He expected to be bailed out.” No one cried, no one was emotionally distraught. The general attitude was, another guy gone.
Tony didn’t leave a note behind. Only a small percentage of our suicides do leave notes—perhaps one out of ten. Sometimes they’ll underline a part of the Bible and the underlining is like a note.
From the Autopsy Report on Antony Baekeland
Case No.BX 81-1146
External Description
The body is received clad in the following items of clothing: two sweater shirts, the outer of which is green with a zippered neck and reveals vomitus and a small amount of blood on its anterior surface. The inner is gray short-sleeved (the green is long-sleeved) with black, white, red, and gray piping. A pair of gray pants. A pair of jockey-type shorts. Also submitted with the deceased is what appears to be a piece of sheeting from an institutional-type bed on which are small quantities of blood. The plastic bag has not been received with the body.
Juan Martinez
Somebody in his family made the plastic that the bag was made out of—that’s why I think he did it like that.
From “Science and Industry,” a Lecture delivered by Leo Hendrik Baekeland, June 21, 1938
There is hardly any field, any branch of industry where plastics are not serving successfully in one form or another…. The whole fabric of modern civilization becomes every day more interwoven with the endless ramifications of applied chemistry. Ignorant people misjudge the value of chemical science and denounce its applications for war and other evils. Let us remind them that one of the most useful instruments ever invented, the knife, may, in the wrong hands, be used for evil, as well as for the best purposes.
Edward Hershey
The unusual thing about this was, of course, the method. We’ve never had anybody else suffocate himself with a plastic bag before.
Brooks Baekeland
I do not believe that Tony, who was the prince of hope, bravura, and challenge, as well as of self-expiation and despair, took his own life. We were to the very end in constant epistolary contact. Everyone who really knew him agrees that he would never have gone without a big announcement—not that hyperarticulate, dramatizing gent. And he died without a word to me or anyone.
I think he was murdered by his jailers. So easy to do. He had admitted his sexual relations with one of the guards in a letter to me. Maybe he threatened exposure, or retracted a promise of money? In both hands he held death: Who lives by the sword…But let it lie. Suicide or murder: Does it matter? Yes. But why and how much? Both he and his mother lived by violence and so they were bound to die by the same. I always knew it, and that was one of the reasons I had to get away from them.
Edward Hershey
It is almost routine in every suicide for people to start saying, you know, that it really wasn’t a suicide. For the family members in most instances, it’s so much more acceptable to have somebody be murdered than have them commit suicide. What a great guilt deflection that is.
J. Victor Benson
I was shocked to hear about Tony because I couldn’t believe that he had that kind of violence in him—toward himself, that is. He had never expressed suicidal thoughts. And also, it was not an impulsive act—it was very carefully done.
John Murray
I don’t think it’s possible that someone did Tony in. He told me he was going to kill himself because I didn’t love him. That’s what he told me. Unless he just said it to make me feel guilty. I believe sometimes someone kills themself because someone doesn’t love them, so I kind of think in a way he did kill himself for me a little bit. He was a very sentimental guy. It stands to reason—anyone gives out that much money is sentimental. I miss him tremendously. I miss him very much.
Ronald Arrick
I heard it on the news and I spent about four or five hours on the phone with Rikers trying to confirm it—you get a goddam runaround over there—and trying to get details, until I found the guard, who told me himself.
What I’m most interested in with Tony is what the hell happened at Rikers that he committed suicide—if he committed suicide. It’s my impression that he didn’t. It just doesn’t make sense, to commit suicide by suffocating yourself with a plastic bag. Swallowing pills or slashing your wrists or shooting yourself of course is fairly easy, you know—assuming you want to do it—and depending on how far you go with it, it’s irreversible. But something like this you can stop at any given time, and your normal impulse—I mean it would be involuntary even—would be to stop it.
Elizabeth Archer Baekeland
When I heard that Tony had committed suicide by putting a plastic bag over his head, I told a doctor friend that I thought it was extraordinary that he had the courage—I mean, it’s the most noble thing that Tony did in his life—and the doctor said it’s not difficult to do. He said you just breathe in your carbon monoxide and become euphoric. So later I thought, I’ll test that out. I took a plastic bag, and I couldn’t find any string so I took some telephone wire and wrapped it around, and I couldn’t believe it, within a matter of…you cannot measure time under those circumstances but very soon I was really feeling high, and good, and so I thought, Oh-oh, I’d better take it off—and I couldn’t find the end of the wire! Well, I finally found it and ripped it off—I mean, obviously.
Ronald Arrick
Go back another step. He was on a suicide watch at the time, so how come he had a plast
ic bag? Where did he get a plastic bag?
I’d seen him before court session, I’d seen him during court session, and I went back in after court session and we discussed how we were going to proceed and he seemed in a very good mood. I mean, look, maybe he knew he was going to commit suicide and that’s one of the reasons he was in the good mood. We’ll never know.
From a Draft Document, Board of Correction, City of New York
There is no evidence to suggest that Baekeland’s death was not suicide, as he was locked in his cell immediately after he returned from court. All other inmates in the area were also locked in from the time of the count (4:00 p.m.) through the discovery of the emergency, with the exception of inmate John Lewis, the suicide aide.
From the Financial Records of Antony Baekeland
To John Lewis—$2,000.00
John Rakis
It seems unlikely that if Tony was giving John Lewis money, John Lewis would do any harm to him or want him to die. Besides, there’s nothing a suicide prevention aide could do to another inmate that any other inmate couldn’t do, too.
Also, inmates don’t have any control over the keys. One of Correction’s biggest concerns is key control—they probably spend more time at the Academy teaching key control than suicide prevention. Keys are very carefully accounted for. The loss of a key would be tantamount to the loss of an inmate. It’s against procedures to even allow inmates to touch keys.
That door was locked. Officer Raftery had to open it with a key. And there were several witnesses to that.
Every time we see a suicide, the thought of homicide is always foremost in our minds, and the investigation is conducted with that in mind. And there was no indication whatsoever that there was any foul play in Tony Baekeland’s death.
Juan Martinez
It didn’t come as no surprise. Not really. Because he told me he was gonna kill himself. And I saw it. I saw everything. Everything. And I didn’t help. Forget it. Just forget it. I’m the only one to know the real truth. And the C.O.s know that I’m the only one that knows the real truth, too. It’s too many things. It’s too many things, man. It’s dangerous, you know? You see what I’m saying? You understand what I’m telling you? I was there. I know what happened. Somebody said, “Do it, Tony, or else!”
Howard Nabor
It was suicide, there’s no question about it. One of my officers took it very bad. You know, it was unusual that he got so upset about it. He felt, you know, that Tony was a very sensitive boy, and just to see somebody die like that really upset him. I think he even resigned from the job after that—if I remember right.
The type of suicide was unusual. I felt that somebody that did it that way really wanted to go. Some of the others, if they try to hang themselves, sometimes they’re doing it for show and then they accidentally kill themselves. But definitely—no question about it—Tony Baekeland wanted to go.
Edward Hershey
I remember it was a Friday evening when word came. We try to make sure the next of kin is notified before we inform the press. And in this instance, it became apparent that the next of kin was the very selfsame grandmother. I had a sense that the tragedy would be compounded if our minister and the correction officer assigned walked in on her and said, “Your grandson has just killed himself,” her having seen him in court that day. So I reached out for the assistant D.A., and I found her—I don’t know how I did it but I found her. It was a Friday night, she was visiting people in Jersey, and I said, “What do we do?” She knew the grandmother and she was concerned, and we were able to locate a tenant in the grandmother’s building so that she wasn’t alone when she was told the news.
Lena Richards
I came to Nini’s on Saturday morning and the weekday nurse said, “Have you heard?” I said, “What?” She said, “He killed himself.” I was shocked. I went in to Nini, and she said, “Oh, Lena, oh, Tony’s killed himself.” She didn’t cry. She said, “Such guilt I put on the family, and I might as well confide and tell you everything.” She said Frank, her husband, was cleaning his car in the garage with Frank Jr., and Frank Jr. left to do something and when he came back the garage door was closed and the motor was on. I’m afraid she’ll never get over Tony.
Nina Daly
It’s a sad story. It was the biggest heartbreak. It was terrible. But you see, I don’t dwell on it. I can’t. I think about how much I loved him and how much he meant to me. I still wish he was here.
Brooks Baekeland
It was a beautiful ending—in plastic, too!
The terrible thing was that in his secret heart he always thought that in the end I could save him. Like his mother, he was without fear—and Daddy would come, somehow, out of somewhere, like Superman. They both believed that. You know, there is no such thing, when there is a child, as a divorce. It’s a contradiction in terms. Until their very last moments—for both of them—I was supposed to burst through a door and save them. But the odds they played against were so enormous that even Superman could not have arrived in time.
Courage they both had, but to the point of folly. They were great romantics. I cannot laugh at them. Who can laugh, for instance, at Zelda Fitzgerald? I mourn because I failed them. I failed their unrealistic marvelous dreams. But the word “unrealistic” is a weasel word to the true romantic, who accords the greatest value to that which really is truly and absolutely impossible. Barbara’s mad audacities always made me feel ashamed of myself—as Zelda’s did Scott Fitzgerald. No wonder in his madness that her son thought her a goddess. He gave himself, too, a minor god’s rank, but that was a faerie geste, on dope. And I have no doubt that—his ear against that cold prison floor as though listening to hoofbeats pursuing him to another world—part of him really did believe that she was waiting for him up, up there, where only Mozart and Bach and champagne and “the beautiful people” would flow in the chiaroscuro of Gustave Doré’s enormous canvases, in eternal round, waiting now for him, too, for this world below had become far too vulgar. Henry Aldrich in that corny radio and television series used to always get a laugh saying, “Coming, Mother!”
If I have shocked you, let me remind you that only laughter clears the vision. Without laughter, there can be no seeing of the truth. Tragedy does not allow laughter. It is pity that does. And I have never seen tragedy in all my short, wasted, eager life—only pity. And I see that everywhere around me, and in the markings of my own hand. That is all I see.
7
THE FINAL REPORT
Headline, the New York Times, March 21, 1981
INMATE KILLS HIMSELF IN A CELL AT RIKERS
Headline, New York Daily News, March 21, 1981
PLASTICS HEIR WHO KILLED MOM AN APPARENT
SUICIDE IN JAIL CELL
Headline, Daily Telegraph, London, March 23, 1981
PLASTICS HEIR DEAD IN JAIL
Francine du Plessix Gray
When Tony died with this thing of putting a plastic bag over his head, Ethel de Croisset called me—she was in New York at the time—and she said, “Don’t you see the relationship to his stealing the baby food that summer in Italy?” I said no. She said, “Well, he chose a baby’s way of dying, didn’t he? Smothering.”
Ethel Woodward de Croisset
He just went to sleep in his little plastic bag, and I saw this as being perhaps his desire to return to the womb.
Eleanor Ward
When I heard he had killed himself, I thought, What a relief for him, what a blessing—out of the agony at last.
James Reeve
So many of one’s friends seem to have died under peculiar circumstances, one way or another, recently. Mine, anyway. A great friend of mine—and kindred spirits are few and far between—I mean, somebody I could tell anything to, and she me—anyway, she had a house in Greece and she was motoring back to France and all of a sudden she got a heart attack for no reason and died. That was that. Very shocking. In a curious way—it’s sort of animal defense or something—I refused to face it. I just
put it out of my mind. I didn’t really sit down and think about her being dead. I just think of her as gone away. One should sit down and look it in the eye and face up to the fact.
When I heard Tony had died, I was horrified. But then I put it out of my mind, too. I haven’t really thought about it since.
Gloria Jones
I guess it was John Sargent who told me how Tony had committed suicide, and I thought it was the end of the whole horrible story. But you would never write it that way—it’s too corny. How did he get the plastic bag, I wonder.
Rose Styron
It was the perfect ironic end.
Samuel Parkman Shaw
It seemed to me that it was a perfectly normal end to his career. It was a good solution, and a not unclever way of doing it. It took some determination—how to get into the bag and stay there until he suffocated. That’s not a bad trick.
John Rakis
As a result of Tony Baekeland’s suicide, inmates are not allowed to have plastic bags in their possession. Also, the correction officers are now told that when they see an inmate lying fairly still and the blanket is over his head, they really ought to check for signs of breathing. Now, many inmates do this to keep out noise or keep the lights from getting in their eyes; Tony of course put the blanket over his head to cover up his intentions.
From the Final Report of the New York State Commission of Correction Medical Review Board in the Matter of the Death of Antony Baekeland at the Anna M. Kross Center, Rikers Island, December 22, 1981
The Medical Review Board recommends that the NYC Department of Health, Prison Health Services, advise mental health treatment staff at the Anna M. Kross Center that special attention should be given to inmates under psychiatric treatment as significant life events or status changes approach. Mental health treatment staff are often aware of these events.
The Medical Review Board recommends that the NYC Department of Health, Prison Health Services, develop policies and procedures whereby previous psychiatric hospital records are obtained when an inmate is in detention and under psychiatric treatment for extended periods.
