Read Online The Devil's Dozen by Katherine Ramsland - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Katherine Ramsland
Ads: Link
pet canary. She calls the canary Bill. I am a keen student of human nature. That was why I was attracted to Grace. She seemed like a girl who would appreciate nice surroundings and a real nice home.” He added that he had driven with Grace past the Budds’ home, but had seen too many people there, so he had declined to stop. Nevertheless, he stated that he would see to it that “some arrangements are made so Grace will be able to visit you for a short time.” Detectives believed the letter was genuine and tried but failed to obtain fingerprints from it.
When police checked the area, someone affirmed that a child matching Grace’s description had been seen, so all parties were buoyed with hope that she might actually be alive. They searched the neighborhood, knocking on doors to ask residents if they had seen either Grace or Howard. They heard from several people that such a child had been in the area. Delia, however, continued to believe that her daughter was dead. She knew Grace would never just go and live happily with a stranger. To her mind, the kidnapper might have written this letter but it was not a factual description.
But then, on June 18, Delia claimed she’d had a premonition that Grace would be returned to her within a few days. Now she was certain the girl was alive and well. She believed that the man who had taken her had been afraid to return her because of all the excitement. “I don’t think any harm has come to her,” she stated.
On July 7, the Times reported that detectives now had a picture of Frank Howard in their possession, identified by Grace Budd’s parents. A boarder at the Budd home, John McLaughlin, confirmed the identification, as did young Edward. The picture had been obtained from a Florida prison. By early August, the district attorney’s office had presented evidence to a grand jury and Assistant D.A. Harold Hastings claimed to have solved the case of who had taken the missing child. The Times learned he was an ex-convict already known to the police, Dr. Albert E. Corthell. An indictment was filed August 3 and a bench warrant issued for his arrest. However, at this time, they failed to locate him, as he had gone off somewhere in the Midwest. Investigators were on his trail.
In November, a fifty-year-old man and a ten-year-old girl were detained in Elmira, New York. The man had been charged with vagrancy and he fit the description the Budds had given of Grace’s abductor. The girl insisted that the man was her father, and he gave his name as Thomas Davis. He admitted he had lived recently in the Bronx, but denied any involvement in the Budd kidnapping.
William F. King, a detective lieutenant at the Missing Persons Bureau, had taken over the Budd investigation, and like Detective Frank Geyer, he was the type of man who would chase down every clue, no matter how seemingly insignificant, and who would proactively devise ways to flush out more. He had worked as a fireman on locomotives, fought in World War I, and been a police officer for over a decade. While he preferred action, he had learned that patience and persistence were the most valuable traits in investigations as baffling as this one. To his mind, no unresolved case was ever closed. His job, which he took seriously, was to look into every possibility for making an arrest and to track down every lead.
King learned that the child in the company of this new person of interest did not look like Grace Budd, so he dropped any further investigation of it. Despite his unwavering efforts, there were no further leads that year or the next—just more crank letters and empty tips. King stayed busy, but he was mostly just spinning his wheels.
Grasping at Straws
The next paper chase began in late March 1930 when Mrs. Budd said she had spotted her daughter’s handwriting. An envelope used to enclose a copy of the Christian Science Monitor was posted from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on March 25. The envelope was addressed to Francis
When police checked the area, someone affirmed that a child matching Grace’s description had been seen, so all parties were buoyed with hope that she might actually be alive. They searched the neighborhood, knocking on doors to ask residents if they had seen either Grace or Howard. They heard from several people that such a child had been in the area. Delia, however, continued to believe that her daughter was dead. She knew Grace would never just go and live happily with a stranger. To her mind, the kidnapper might have written this letter but it was not a factual description.
But then, on June 18, Delia claimed she’d had a premonition that Grace would be returned to her within a few days. Now she was certain the girl was alive and well. She believed that the man who had taken her had been afraid to return her because of all the excitement. “I don’t think any harm has come to her,” she stated.
On July 7, the Times reported that detectives now had a picture of Frank Howard in their possession, identified by Grace Budd’s parents. A boarder at the Budd home, John McLaughlin, confirmed the identification, as did young Edward. The picture had been obtained from a Florida prison. By early August, the district attorney’s office had presented evidence to a grand jury and Assistant D.A. Harold Hastings claimed to have solved the case of who had taken the missing child. The Times learned he was an ex-convict already known to the police, Dr. Albert E. Corthell. An indictment was filed August 3 and a bench warrant issued for his arrest. However, at this time, they failed to locate him, as he had gone off somewhere in the Midwest. Investigators were on his trail.
In November, a fifty-year-old man and a ten-year-old girl were detained in Elmira, New York. The man had been charged with vagrancy and he fit the description the Budds had given of Grace’s abductor. The girl insisted that the man was her father, and he gave his name as Thomas Davis. He admitted he had lived recently in the Bronx, but denied any involvement in the Budd kidnapping.
William F. King, a detective lieutenant at the Missing Persons Bureau, had taken over the Budd investigation, and like Detective Frank Geyer, he was the type of man who would chase down every clue, no matter how seemingly insignificant, and who would proactively devise ways to flush out more. He had worked as a fireman on locomotives, fought in World War I, and been a police officer for over a decade. While he preferred action, he had learned that patience and persistence were the most valuable traits in investigations as baffling as this one. To his mind, no unresolved case was ever closed. His job, which he took seriously, was to look into every possibility for making an arrest and to track down every lead.
King learned that the child in the company of this new person of interest did not look like Grace Budd, so he dropped any further investigation of it. Despite his unwavering efforts, there were no further leads that year or the next—just more crank letters and empty tips. King stayed busy, but he was mostly just spinning his wheels.
Grasping at Straws
The next paper chase began in late March 1930 when Mrs. Budd said she had spotted her daughter’s handwriting. An envelope used to enclose a copy of the Christian Science Monitor was posted from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on March 25. The envelope was addressed to Francis
Similar Books
