March 18, 2025 • 23 mins
In 1927, Los Angeles was gripped by terror as a young girl was kidnapped and then brutally murdered. The killer's motive was a twisted mystery, and his escape sparked a massive manhunt that captivated the nation. Though solved, this crime was considered the most horrifying case in Los Angeles’ history at the time, and it’s still haunting and strange.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Warning.
This episode contains detailsthat some listeners
may find disturbing.
December 15th, 1927Los Angeles, California
12 year old Marion Parker was kidnaped
from school by a man calling himself Mr.
Cooper.
Within a few days, the entire city
(00:23):
was on the hunt for this manbecause he committed the most brutal
and heinous murderin the history of the city.
This was not a kidnaping done
for ransom money,which is how the ordeal started.
This, Mr.
Cooper, was much more dangerous.
This is a study of strange.
(00:58):
Welcome back to the show.
Although today's episodeis what I like to call a mini sode,
because I don't have a guest.It is not a small story.
This is a very profound case.
This murder kidnaping was consideredthe worst crime in Los Angeles
history at the time.
It involved a manhuntthat went across borders.
There were thousands of volunteers
and investigatorsthat were huge monetary rewards to help.
(01:21):
But this case has since been overshadowedby the Black
Dahlia and some other Los Angeles crime.
But to me,this story is the most terrifying.
And it's an early example of someoneusing the guilty by insanity plea.
So listen to the rest of the episodeto hear how that actually plays out.
So let's divein to the murder of Mary Ann Parker.
(01:46):
Mary Ann
Parker was born on October 12th, 1915.
Her parents were Perryand Geraldine Parker.
Mary Ann had a twin.
Her sister Marjorie, and one oldersibling, a brother, Perry Jr.
Perry.
Her father worked at the National Trustand Savings Bank.
And stories and anecdotes
that came out about Maryand say that she was very fun loving.
(02:07):
She was very close with her parents.
She loved to go to work with her father.
And she was seen around the bankquite often because of that.
And she was also a bit of a tomboy.
She loved to play outside,throw balls, play sports.
Just a really fun loving kidthat had a lot of friends.
And then when Mary Ann was 12years old, she was kidnaped.
(02:30):
The day was December 15th, 1927.
Mary Annand her sister Margery went to school,
and the sisters would take the streetcarto and from their school,
Mount Vernon High School, which is todayJohnnie Cochran Middle School
near the LafayetteSquare neighborhood in Los Angeles.
They were in the sixth grade,and honestly, this morning
(02:50):
was just like any other normal day.
They arrived at school and went to class.
But then around noon, a dark Chryslercoupe pulled up out front of the school.
A man exited
the car, walked into Mount VernonJunior High, and introduced himself as Mr.
Cooper to the woman in the office,whose name was Mary Holt.
(03:11):
And Mr.
Cooper claimed that he worked with Mr.
Perry Parker
and Perry Parker had been involvedin a serious car accident,
and he was requestingto see his daughter by his bedside.
This is where things get a little awkward,because this man, Mr.
Cooper, did not know thatthere were two Parker daughters.
(03:33):
So Mrs.
Holt asked which daughter he meant to.
The man stumbled and said,the younger one.
Well, they're the same age.
And when he was told that,he was like, the smaller one.
Now, as awkward as this sounds and
as suss as my son would describe it as,
apparently this gentleman came offas very sincere and even charming,
(03:56):
and he even told Mary Holtthat she should call the bank to verify.
But she did not. Quick aside.
If you're a regular listener,you know that
I love to correct misconceptionsabout historical mysteries
or fix inaccuracies that come about
in the genre of sort of true crimeand scary things that I cover.
And in this case,you will hear some different versions
(04:19):
of small details of this case.
Some of these thingsI was unable to verify.
And in those instancesI'm going to call them out.
If you if you're a listenerand you know this case really well,
and you can help me confirmsome of these things.
Feel free to shoot me an email.
A study of strange at gmail.com.
(04:41):
Because I want to learnand I want to get things right.
So the first such detail
that happens in this caseis this man at the school, Mr.
Cooper.
Some accounts claim that he showed upand he asked for Mary Ann by name.
The sources I trust more so farsay otherwise.
And it played out the way I described ithere,
(05:03):
where he didn't know her nameand he didn't know she had a sister.
I also read a newspaper accountthat claimed that the man went up to Mary,
and that morning, beforeshe got on the streetcar to go to school
and tried to convince herto come with him.
And she didn't do it.
I don't believe that one,but I still wanted to share it
because I did come across a newspaper,article from the time that said that.
(05:26):
Regardless of
those things, Mary Ann Parker was called.
She went to the office of the school,and she left with a complete stranger.
After school,Mary and Sister Margery went home.
She informed
the family that Marian had leftwith a man, and Margery had seen this man.
I don't know how, but maybe it was througha window at the school or something.
(05:47):
But she described this Mr.
Cooper as a white man, probablylike 25 to 30 years old, five foot
eight ish, with a slender, skinnybuild, dark hair, wavy hair.
And soon, on the same day,
the Parkers received a telegram.
And it read 2 p.m.
(06:09):
Parker, 1621 South Fulton Place,la Mary and secure.
Use good judgment interferencewith my plans.
Dangerous.
And then it was signedboth Mary Ann Parker and George Fox.
The telegram was sent from Alhambra,which is just outside
of LA, sort of towardsthe northeast from the city.
(06:31):
The Kidnaper sent a variety of lettersand telegrams to the Parkers,
and all of them are terrifying, strange,
and one can only imagine what the familywas going through in this moment.
And one of the first letters,it was a registered letter.
The Kidnaper demanded $1,500for Marion's safe return to, quote,
(06:56):
secure $7,520 gold certificates, $1,500.
Keep them on your person.
Go about your daily business as usual.
Leave out the police and detectives.
Make no public notice.
Keep this affair private. Make no search.
Fulfilling these terms
with the transfer of the currencywill secure the return of the girl.
(07:18):
Failure to comply with these requests mean
no one will ever see the girl again,except the angels in heaven.
You will receive further notice.
End quote.
The top of the letter has debtswritten out
with the Greek alphabet,and then it's signed fate at the bottom.
(07:39):
And it's worth noting thatthe handwriting changes in this letter
from cursive to bold lettering.
And it also gave Perry Parkerthree days to secure the money.
Some of the correspondencethe Kidnaper would sign George Fox.
Soon this became just the Fox.
I'll also point out gold certificates.
(08:00):
I wasn't aware of this,but they look and acts
like normal currency,like normal dollar bills.
They were used until 1933.
They're backed by gold reserves.
And if you had a $20 gold certificatelike this guy is asking for,
it's like having a $20 bill,
you can take that into stores,you can buy things with it.
(08:20):
And they do have serial numbersworth noting.
And Perry Parker did gather
$1,500 worth of gold certificates. You.
And the
police told Parker, do not pay this man.
But on the 16th, just a dayafter Marion was kidnaped, Perry.
Parker was notified by the Fox to bringmoney and meet him, and Perry did so.
(08:45):
But the Kidnapernever showed up to the meeting place.
The next day a message arrivedand this letter stated
that the Kidnaper saw Perry being followedby the police, which he was.
That was very true and was tolddo not do that again.
An additional lettershowed up that day from Marion, her letter
I personally believe,and I think it's kind of obvious,
(09:08):
was drafted by the kidnaper likeshe was told what to write on the letter
and she says things like, father,this is your last chance, please do it.
This man tells you otherwise.
You know I may not returnor this could be the end.
And it's really, really heartbreaking.
and then at 7:35
(09:28):
p.m.,there's a phone call from the Kidnaper.
And Perry Parker was told to immediatelycome to the corner of fifth Street
and Manhattan Place alone.
The plan was this.
The Kidnaper would drive upbeside Parker's car,
show him that Marion was safe,take the ransom money,
(09:51):
and then drop Marion offabout a block away, and Perry follows
these instructions to the The left home alone.
No cops following him, this timewith $1,500 in $20 gold certificates,
and he shortly arrivedat the meeting spot, which is 428
Manhattan Place,then the dark Chrysler coupe pulled up
(10:11):
beside Parker's car, with Marionsitting motionless in the front seat.
The driver covers up his facewith a white handkerchief.
He's holding a sawed off shotgun,and he said,
your daughter is asleep and demandedthe money.
Parker handed over the money and then, perthe plan, he followed this coupe
about a block away to 432 Manhattan place,where the car door is opened,
(10:34):
and Marion was essentially just thrown outor pushed out of the car.
The Chrysler sped away.
Perry ran up to his daughter,picked her up,
and quickly realized she was dead.
Perry did try to read the licenseplate of the Chrysler,
but he only got a partial read beforeit was gone.
(10:55):
Now I give a warningat the top of the show,
but I'm going to make a second warninghere.
It's not easy to sharewhat happened to Marion Parker, so
if you're squeamish,you may want to skip the next minute
or two of the episode.
When Parker picked up Marion,
he quickly noticed she was deadbecause it wasn't her full body.
(11:18):
She was mutilated.
Marion's arms were cut off at the elbows.
Her legs were similarly cut offat the knees.
Her body was cut in half,and she was missing her internal organs
because she had been disemboweled,and they had been replaced with newspaper
and rags, and there was a wire tiedaround her forehead that held her head up,
(11:43):
and her eyelids had been sewn openso that she would look alive.
This kidnaping was now a murder.
Like other historical crimes I've covered.
The press was all over this.
Some sensationalism, as per usual.
But it does seem to methat this case, being a child victim,
fueled this desire from authoritiesand the public
(12:04):
to investigate this as hardand as fast as they could.
Thousands of police officers worked on itand after Marion was found killed,
they investigated every possible scenario,even considering the killer
could be trying to drive southacross the border into Mexico.
The verynext day, police found the Chrysler coupe,
and the car was determinedto have been stolen from Kansas City.
(12:27):
Also that day in Elysian Park,which is near Dodger Stadium today
in downtownLos Angeles, were found six separate
bundles of newspaper which containedmissing parts of Marion's body.
Her arms, legs and organs.
As I described at the top of the episode,this is a heinous,
heinous crimeand the whole region was scared.
They were on alert.
(12:47):
Schools went on lockdownlooking for strange man,
and the community started raising moneyfor a reward to help find this murderer.
And the award went up to I think it'sjust over $1 million in today's money.
Some suspects were arrested, butthey were quickly cleared of suspicion.
But there were some clues.
(13:08):
A towel in Marion's body had a label on it
that identified it as comingfrom the Bellevue Arms Apartments,
northwest of downtown in the AngelinoHeights neighborhood.
The manager of that apartmentbuilding claimed that the suspect
was likely a gentlemanwho went by the name Donald Evans
and had rented outroom 315 the month prior.
(13:30):
Donald Evans was not there anymore.
But this is a this is a big lead.
Investigators found out that Mr.
Cooper, aka Donald Evans, akathe Fox, was actually a man named
William Edward Hickman,
who had been arrested in June 1927
for attempting to cashforged checks worth around $400.
(13:52):
Here's where I've reada couple of different things
that I can't quiteput the exact pieces on.
So listeners, help me out if you can.
One story claims that Hickman workedwith Perry Parker at the bank,
and this does seem to be truethat Hickman worked at the bank.
But this first story here is that Hickmanlost his job when he was caught
(14:13):
forging a check.
He returned to the bank laterafter serving probation
and asked for his job back.
But it was Perry Parkerwho said no, we're not going to hire
you, and did not denied him the job.
The other story isthat Hickman was arrested
when Perry alerted authoritiesabout fraud and forgeries,
(14:34):
so that Perry Parker had been
the one that actually caused Hickmanto get arrested in the first place.
There's a few other minor variationsof this account that I've come across.
In either scenario,it doesn't seem to affect the outcome
of this case, but again,I'm trying to get things as red as I can.
So if you know which scenario is true,please let me know.
(14:57):
Long story short, this Hickman guyhad it out for Perry Parker,
and the kidnaping may have been partiallymotivated by revenge.
After Hickman had been arrested
for these forged checks,he moved back home to Kansas City.
And this is where he stolethe dark Chrysler.
(15:17):
And he drove it all the wayacross the country again, back to LA
finger prints in the apartment,in the car on the letter.
They all matched.
They all matched.
Hickmanand his fingerprints had been on file.
Because of that initial arrestwith the forgery.
But it soon found out that MaryAnn Parker was not Hickman's first victim.
Hickman was only 19 years old at the time.
(15:39):
He had been raised in Arkansasand Kansas City, and his family
was very strict, religious,
and in 1926, Hickman had moved to the LosAngeles area and lived
with a 16 year old named well B Huntand Well B Hunt's grandparents.
Hunt's grandfathersoon died under mysterious circumstances.
(16:01):
After Hickman moved in.
And Hunt and Hickman, in their spare time,decided to get into small time robbery,
and it was during this time,during a robbery, that they shot
and killed a druggist named ClarenceIvey Thomas.
Not even a full year later, Marion Parker
would be mutilated and murdered.
So now that authorities know who WilliamHickman is, they have his fingerprints.
(16:25):
They know his name.They know what he looks like.
They send out the word because they needto catch William Edward Hickman.
And luckily,everybody was on the lookout for this guy.
It was a huge story.
The press is reporting all about it.
His name and information on the case,all of it is shared.
They even had the foresightto have the serial numbers
(16:45):
from all the moneythat William Hickman had.
Hickmanhad also stolen a green Hudson sedan.
And on
Wednesday, December 21st, in Seattle,Washington, a man went into a store.
He purchased a hat, gloves, underwear,
and he paid for themwith a $20 gold certificate.
The clerk recognized the serial numberon the bill as one from the murder case.
(17:08):
Because these things had beenbeing published in the newspapers.
And so he calls the police.
And then another of the mark$20 gold certificates was used
to pay for gasoline at a garage in Kent,Washington.
So the search is narrowing in.
Hickman was finally arrested on Thursday,December 22nd near echo, Oregon,
near the Washington border,after a two mile car chase inside his car.
(17:33):
the stolen green Hudsonsedan was a sawed off shotgun,
a 45 caliber handgun, as well as $1,400remaining from the ransom money.
When the police finally stopped himand he pulled over,
Hickman surrendered quietly,saying, well, I guess it's all over.
This was such
(17:53):
big news that a billboard was builtand put onto this spot
where Hickman was arrested.
And here's where thingstake a strange turn.
William Hickman did not denythat he had taken part
in the kidnaping of Mary Ann Parker,but he did blame two brothers,
Oliver and Frank Kramer,for actually killing the girl.
(18:16):
A reporter from the EastOregonian was given a detailed account
of the kidnaping and murder from Hickman.
Hickman said thathe was being nice to the girl.
He took Mary into a movieand the Kramers are the ones you want.
They they're the ones that took ittoo far.
The Kramers,
it turns out they're not justsome concoction that Hickman is,
is creating in his own mind. They're real.
(18:37):
However,they were incarcerated at the time
of all of this,so Hickman story quickly falls apart.
Hickman ends up writing a 19 pageconfession admitting to the murder of Mary
Ann Parker, and he claims that he didall of this to get money to go to college
to become a minister,and Marion was killed only after
she recognized him because they had metor seen each other around the bank.
(19:03):
William Edward
Hickman went on trial in 1928,and he was one of the early users
of the new not guiltyby reason of insanity plea,
but Hickman was knownto start acting more strange
while he was in prison,and some stories told by guards during
the trial say that Hickman was asking themhow can he behave more insane?
(19:27):
But in court, through his attorney.
Hickman said that he was guidedby a supernatural entity,
a supernatural, godlike powercalled Providence.
However, the district attorney was having
none of this, and a psychiatrist argued
that Hickman was sane and in controlof his thoughts and actions.
(19:50):
The trialended on the 9th of February, 1928,
and the jury only needed half an hourto find Hickman guilty.
He was hanged at Saint Quentin Prisonin October of that year.
It took him almost two minutes to die,as it was, later found that his neck
didn't break during the hangingand he asphyxiated to death.
This case of Marion Parker's has inspiredsongs, and Rand was actually using
(20:16):
this story as inspiration for a book,which I don't think she finished.
Apparently,she was turning Hickman into a bit
of a misunderstood hero, at leastas far as what I've read about this.
I haven't actually read what she wrote.
And William Hickman,he was a petrifying Lee bad person.
He showed no empathy,no remorse for anything he had ever done.
(20:38):
And he showed signs that he really
liked the attentionthat he was getting after the murder.
And he apparently even mentionedthat he looked up to Leopold and Loeb.
That story and the amount of attentionthat those two received.
And it's my own personal opinion, but.
So he asked for moneyand received a ransom.
I'm not sure.
Money was his primary motivation.
(21:01):
When you read the lettersand the telegrams,
the way his his sentencestructure changes the handwriting.
Yes. He is trying to hide his identity.
But part of me thinks thathe enjoyed this process
and how he he ended up mutilating Marion,which he allegedly did in his bathroom.
There is there's more evil to this guythan just wanting money
(21:25):
or just getting revenge on Perry Parker.
This, you know, thisthinking of mine may be kind of obvious.
I don't think I'm alone in thinking this.
But I definitely just wanted toto share my own perspective on it.
We also have to remember the familiesassociated with true crime cases.
And the Parker familyhad to live with this somehow.
(21:46):
I really hopethey were able to find some peace
as time went on,and hopefully the quick arrest
and the conviction of Hickmanhelped in that, though
I'm not sure it did.
And I don't think they really talkedpublicly about this in the years
following.
As I stated earlier, this was a huge case.
It shocked the whole country,especially the West coast,
(22:08):
and I don't normally share talesthat have been solved on this show.
You know, I like to dive into theunsolved, the strange and the mysterious,
but I also like to bring attentionto cases that I think get lost.
A lot of shows have covered the MarionParker murder.
You do come across it, so it's not likeit's completely forgotten,
but it was overshadowedby other huge stories like the Lindbergh
(22:32):
baby kidnaping and then eventually WorldWar two and the Black Dahlia.
But that'll do itfor the murder of Marion Parker.
Thankyou for listening to a study of strange.
If you're new to the show,
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(22:52):
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A study of strange.com.
Thank you and good night.
Warning.
This episode contains detailsthat some listeners
may find disturbing.
December 15th, 1927Los Angeles, California
12 year old Marion Parker was kidnaped
from school by a man calling himself Mr.
Cooper.
Within a few days, the entire city
(00:23):
was on the hunt for this manbecause he committed the most brutal
and heinous murderin the history of the city.
This was not a kidnaping done
for ransom money,which is how the ordeal started.
This, Mr.
Cooper, was much more dangerous.
This is a study of strange.
(00:58):
Welcome back to the show.
Although today's episodeis what I like to call a mini sode,
because I don't have a guest.It is not a small story.
This is a very profound case.
This murder kidnaping was consideredthe worst crime in Los Angeles
history at the time.
It involved a manhuntthat went across borders.
There were thousands of volunteers
and investigatorsthat were huge monetary rewards to help.
(01:21):
But this case has since been overshadowedby the Black
Dahlia and some other Los Angeles crime.
But to me,this story is the most terrifying.
And it's an early example of someoneusing the guilty by insanity plea.
So listen to the rest of the episodeto hear how that actually plays out.
So let's divein to the murder of Mary Ann Parker.
(01:46):
Mary Ann
Parker was born on October 12th, 1915.
Her parents were Perryand Geraldine Parker.
Mary Ann had a twin.
Her sister Marjorie, and one oldersibling, a brother, Perry Jr.
Perry.
Her father worked at the National Trustand Savings Bank.
And stories and anecdotes
that came out about Maryand say that she was very fun loving.
(02:07):
She was very close with her parents.
She loved to go to work with her father.
And she was seen around the bankquite often because of that.
And she was also a bit of a tomboy.
She loved to play outside,throw balls, play sports.
Just a really fun loving kidthat had a lot of friends.
And then when Mary Ann was 12years old, she was kidnaped.
(02:30):
The day was December 15th, 1927.
Mary Annand her sister Margery went to school,
and the sisters would take the streetcarto and from their school,
Mount Vernon High School, which is todayJohnnie Cochran Middle School
near the LafayetteSquare neighborhood in Los Angeles.
They were in the sixth grade,and honestly, this morning
(02:50):
was just like any other normal day.
They arrived at school and went to class.
But then around noon, a dark Chryslercoupe pulled up out front of the school.
A man exited
the car, walked into Mount VernonJunior High, and introduced himself as Mr.
Cooper to the woman in the office,whose name was Mary Holt.
(03:11):
And Mr.
Cooper claimed that he worked with Mr.
Perry Parker
and Perry Parker had been involvedin a serious car accident,
and he was requestingto see his daughter by his bedside.
This is where things get a little awkward,because this man, Mr.
Cooper, did not know thatthere were two Parker daughters.
(03:33):
So Mrs.
Holt asked which daughter he meant to.
The man stumbled and said,the younger one.
Well, they're the same age.
And when he was told that,he was like, the smaller one.
Now, as awkward as this sounds and
as suss as my son would describe it as,
apparently this gentleman came offas very sincere and even charming,
(03:56):
and he even told Mary Holtthat she should call the bank to verify.
But she did not. Quick aside.
If you're a regular listener,you know that
I love to correct misconceptionsabout historical mysteries
or fix inaccuracies that come about
in the genre of sort of true crimeand scary things that I cover.
And in this case,you will hear some different versions
(04:19):
of small details of this case.
Some of these thingsI was unable to verify.
And in those instancesI'm going to call them out.
If you if you're a listenerand you know this case really well,
and you can help me confirmsome of these things.
Feel free to shoot me an email.
A study of strange at gmail.com.
(04:41):
Because I want to learnand I want to get things right.
So the first such detail
that happens in this caseis this man at the school, Mr.
Cooper.
Some accounts claim that he showed upand he asked for Mary Ann by name.
The sources I trust more so farsay otherwise.
And it played out the way I described ithere,
(05:03):
where he didn't know her nameand he didn't know she had a sister.
I also read a newspaper accountthat claimed that the man went up to Mary,
and that morning, beforeshe got on the streetcar to go to school
and tried to convince herto come with him.
And she didn't do it.
I don't believe that one,but I still wanted to share it
because I did come across a newspaper,article from the time that said that.
(05:26):
Regardless of
those things, Mary Ann Parker was called.
She went to the office of the school,and she left with a complete stranger.
After school,Mary and Sister Margery went home.
She informed
the family that Marian had leftwith a man, and Margery had seen this man.
I don't know how, but maybe it was througha window at the school or something.
(05:47):
But she described this Mr.
Cooper as a white man, probablylike 25 to 30 years old, five foot
eight ish, with a slender, skinnybuild, dark hair, wavy hair.
And soon, on the same day,
the Parkers received a telegram.
And it read 2 p.m.
(06:09):
Parker, 1621 South Fulton Place,la Mary and secure.
Use good judgment interferencewith my plans.
Dangerous.
And then it was signedboth Mary Ann Parker and George Fox.
The telegram was sent from Alhambra,which is just outside
of LA, sort of towardsthe northeast from the city.
(06:31):
The Kidnaper sent a variety of lettersand telegrams to the Parkers,
and all of them are terrifying, strange,
and one can only imagine what the familywas going through in this moment.
And one of the first letters,it was a registered letter.
The Kidnaper demanded $1,500for Marion's safe return to, quote,
(06:56):
secure $7,520 gold certificates, $1,500.
Keep them on your person.
Go about your daily business as usual.
Leave out the police and detectives.
Make no public notice.
Keep this affair private. Make no search.
Fulfilling these terms
with the transfer of the currencywill secure the return of the girl.
(07:18):
Failure to comply with these requests mean
no one will ever see the girl again,except the angels in heaven.
You will receive further notice.
End quote.
The top of the letter has debtswritten out
with the Greek alphabet,and then it's signed fate at the bottom.
(07:39):
And it's worth noting thatthe handwriting changes in this letter
from cursive to bold lettering.
And it also gave Perry Parkerthree days to secure the money.
Some of the correspondencethe Kidnaper would sign George Fox.
Soon this became just the Fox.
I'll also point out gold certificates.
(08:00):
I wasn't aware of this,but they look and acts
like normal currency,like normal dollar bills.
They were used until 1933.
They're backed by gold reserves.
And if you had a $20 gold certificatelike this guy is asking for,
it's like having a $20 bill,
you can take that into stores,you can buy things with it.
(08:20):
And they do have serial numbersworth noting.
And Perry Parker did gather
$1,500 worth of gold certificates. You.
And the
police told Parker, do not pay this man.
But on the 16th, just a dayafter Marion was kidnaped, Perry.
Parker was notified by the Fox to bringmoney and meet him, and Perry did so.
(08:45):
But the Kidnapernever showed up to the meeting place.
The next day a message arrivedand this letter stated
that the Kidnaper saw Perry being followedby the police, which he was.
That was very true and was tolddo not do that again.
An additional lettershowed up that day from Marion, her letter
I personally believe,and I think it's kind of obvious,
(09:08):
was drafted by the kidnaper likeshe was told what to write on the letter
and she says things like, father,this is your last chance, please do it.
This man tells you otherwise.
You know I may not returnor this could be the end.
And it's really, really heartbreaking.
and then at 7:35
(09:28):
p.m.,there's a phone call from the Kidnaper.
And Perry Parker was told to immediatelycome to the corner of fifth Street
and Manhattan Place alone.
The plan was this.
The Kidnaper would drive upbeside Parker's car,
show him that Marion was safe,take the ransom money,
(09:51):
and then drop Marion offabout a block away, and Perry follows
these instructions to the The left home alone.
No cops following him, this timewith $1,500 in $20 gold certificates,
and he shortly arrivedat the meeting spot, which is 428
Manhattan Place,then the dark Chrysler coupe pulled up
(10:11):
beside Parker's car, with Marionsitting motionless in the front seat.
The driver covers up his facewith a white handkerchief.
He's holding a sawed off shotgun,and he said,
your daughter is asleep and demandedthe money.
Parker handed over the money and then, perthe plan, he followed this coupe
about a block away to 432 Manhattan place,where the car door is opened,
(10:34):
and Marion was essentially just thrown outor pushed out of the car.
The Chrysler sped away.
Perry ran up to his daughter,picked her up,
and quickly realized she was dead.
Perry did try to read the licenseplate of the Chrysler,
but he only got a partial read beforeit was gone.
(10:55):
Now I give a warningat the top of the show,
but I'm going to make a second warninghere.
It's not easy to sharewhat happened to Marion Parker, so
if you're squeamish,you may want to skip the next minute
or two of the episode.
When Parker picked up Marion,
he quickly noticed she was deadbecause it wasn't her full body.
(11:18):
She was mutilated.
Marion's arms were cut off at the elbows.
Her legs were similarly cut offat the knees.
Her body was cut in half,and she was missing her internal organs
because she had been disemboweled,and they had been replaced with newspaper
and rags, and there was a wire tiedaround her forehead that held her head up,
(11:43):
and her eyelids had been sewn openso that she would look alive.
This kidnaping was now a murder.
Like other historical crimes I've covered.
The press was all over this.
Some sensationalism, as per usual.
But it does seem to methat this case, being a child victim,
fueled this desire from authoritiesand the public
(12:04):
to investigate this as hardand as fast as they could.
Thousands of police officers worked on itand after Marion was found killed,
they investigated every possible scenario,even considering the killer
could be trying to drive southacross the border into Mexico.
The verynext day, police found the Chrysler coupe,
and the car was determinedto have been stolen from Kansas City.
(12:27):
Also that day in Elysian Park,which is near Dodger Stadium today
in downtownLos Angeles, were found six separate
bundles of newspaper which containedmissing parts of Marion's body.
Her arms, legs and organs.
As I described at the top of the episode,this is a heinous,
heinous crimeand the whole region was scared.
They were on alert.
(12:47):
Schools went on lockdownlooking for strange man,
and the community started raising moneyfor a reward to help find this murderer.
And the award went up to I think it'sjust over $1 million in today's money.
Some suspects were arrested, butthey were quickly cleared of suspicion.
But there were some clues.
(13:08):
A towel in Marion's body had a label on it
that identified it as comingfrom the Bellevue Arms Apartments,
northwest of downtown in the AngelinoHeights neighborhood.
The manager of that apartmentbuilding claimed that the suspect
was likely a gentlemanwho went by the name Donald Evans
and had rented outroom 315 the month prior.
(13:30):
Donald Evans was not there anymore.
But this is a this is a big lead.
Investigators found out that Mr.
Cooper, aka Donald Evans, akathe Fox, was actually a man named
William Edward Hickman,
who had been arrested in June 1927
for attempting to cashforged checks worth around $400.
(13:52):
Here's where I've reada couple of different things
that I can't quiteput the exact pieces on.
So listeners, help me out if you can.
One story claims that Hickman workedwith Perry Parker at the bank,
and this does seem to be truethat Hickman worked at the bank.
But this first story here is that Hickmanlost his job when he was caught
(14:13):
forging a check.
He returned to the bank laterafter serving probation
and asked for his job back.
But it was Perry Parkerwho said no, we're not going to hire
you, and did not denied him the job.
The other story isthat Hickman was arrested
when Perry alerted authoritiesabout fraud and forgeries,
(14:34):
so that Perry Parker had been
the one that actually caused Hickmanto get arrested in the first place.
There's a few other minor variationsof this account that I've come across.
In either scenario,it doesn't seem to affect the outcome
of this case, but again,I'm trying to get things as red as I can.
So if you know which scenario is true,please let me know.
(14:57):
Long story short, this Hickman guyhad it out for Perry Parker,
and the kidnaping may have been partiallymotivated by revenge.
After Hickman had been arrested
for these forged checks,he moved back home to Kansas City.
And this is where he stolethe dark Chrysler.
(15:17):
And he drove it all the wayacross the country again, back to LA
finger prints in the apartment,in the car on the letter.
They all matched.
They all matched.
Hickmanand his fingerprints had been on file.
Because of that initial arrestwith the forgery.
But it soon found out that MaryAnn Parker was not Hickman's first victim.
Hickman was only 19 years old at the time.
(15:39):
He had been raised in Arkansasand Kansas City, and his family
was very strict, religious,
and in 1926, Hickman had moved to the LosAngeles area and lived
with a 16 year old named well B Huntand Well B Hunt's grandparents.
Hunt's grandfathersoon died under mysterious circumstances.
(16:01):
After Hickman moved in.
And Hunt and Hickman, in their spare time,decided to get into small time robbery,
and it was during this time,during a robbery, that they shot
and killed a druggist named ClarenceIvey Thomas.
Not even a full year later, Marion Parker
would be mutilated and murdered.
So now that authorities know who WilliamHickman is, they have his fingerprints.
(16:25):
They know his name.They know what he looks like.
They send out the word because they needto catch William Edward Hickman.
And luckily,everybody was on the lookout for this guy.
It was a huge story.
The press is reporting all about it.
His name and information on the case,all of it is shared.
They even had the foresightto have the serial numbers
(16:45):
from all the moneythat William Hickman had.
Hickmanhad also stolen a green Hudson sedan.
And on
Wednesday, December 21st, in Seattle,Washington, a man went into a store.
He purchased a hat, gloves, underwear,
and he paid for themwith a $20 gold certificate.
The clerk recognized the serial numberon the bill as one from the murder case.
(17:08):
Because these things had beenbeing published in the newspapers.
And so he calls the police.
And then another of the mark$20 gold certificates was used
to pay for gasoline at a garage in Kent,Washington.
So the search is narrowing in.
Hickman was finally arrested on Thursday,December 22nd near echo, Oregon,
near the Washington border,after a two mile car chase inside his car.
(17:33):
the stolen green Hudsonsedan was a sawed off shotgun,
a 45 caliber handgun, as well as $1,400remaining from the ransom money.
When the police finally stopped himand he pulled over,
Hickman surrendered quietly,saying, well, I guess it's all over.
This was such
(17:53):
big news that a billboard was builtand put onto this spot
where Hickman was arrested.
And here's where thingstake a strange turn.
William Hickman did not denythat he had taken part
in the kidnaping of Mary Ann Parker,but he did blame two brothers,
Oliver and Frank Kramer,for actually killing the girl.
(18:16):
A reporter from the EastOregonian was given a detailed account
of the kidnaping and murder from Hickman.
Hickman said thathe was being nice to the girl.
He took Mary into a movieand the Kramers are the ones you want.
They they're the ones that took ittoo far.
The Kramers,
it turns out they're not justsome concoction that Hickman is,
is creating in his own mind. They're real.
(18:37):
However,they were incarcerated at the time
of all of this,so Hickman story quickly falls apart.
Hickman ends up writing a 19 pageconfession admitting to the murder of Mary
Ann Parker, and he claims that he didall of this to get money to go to college
to become a minister,and Marion was killed only after
she recognized him because they had metor seen each other around the bank.
(19:03):
William Edward
Hickman went on trial in 1928,and he was one of the early users
of the new not guiltyby reason of insanity plea,
but Hickman was knownto start acting more strange
while he was in prison,and some stories told by guards during
the trial say that Hickman was asking themhow can he behave more insane?
(19:27):
But in court, through his attorney.
Hickman said that he was guidedby a supernatural entity,
a supernatural, godlike powercalled Providence.
However, the district attorney was having
none of this, and a psychiatrist argued
that Hickman was sane and in controlof his thoughts and actions.
(19:50):
The trialended on the 9th of February, 1928,
and the jury only needed half an hourto find Hickman guilty.
He was hanged at Saint Quentin Prisonin October of that year.
It took him almost two minutes to die,as it was, later found that his neck
didn't break during the hangingand he asphyxiated to death.
This case of Marion Parker's has inspiredsongs, and Rand was actually using
(20:16):
this story as inspiration for a book,which I don't think she finished.
Apparently,she was turning Hickman into a bit
of a misunderstood hero, at leastas far as what I've read about this.
I haven't actually read what she wrote.
And William Hickman,he was a petrifying Lee bad person.
He showed no empathy,no remorse for anything he had ever done.
(20:38):
And he showed signs that he really
liked the attentionthat he was getting after the murder.
And he apparently even mentionedthat he looked up to Leopold and Loeb.
That story and the amount of attentionthat those two received.
And it's my own personal opinion, but.
So he asked for moneyand received a ransom.
I'm not sure.
Money was his primary motivation.
(21:01):
When you read the lettersand the telegrams,
the way his his sentencestructure changes the handwriting.
Yes. He is trying to hide his identity.
But part of me thinks thathe enjoyed this process
and how he he ended up mutilating Marion,which he allegedly did in his bathroom.
There is there's more evil to this guythan just wanting money
(21:25):
or just getting revenge on Perry Parker.
This, you know, thisthinking of mine may be kind of obvious.
I don't think I'm alone in thinking this.
But I definitely just wanted toto share my own perspective on it.
We also have to remember the familiesassociated with true crime cases.
And the Parker familyhad to live with this somehow.
(21:46):
I really hopethey were able to find some peace
as time went on,and hopefully the quick arrest
and the conviction of Hickmanhelped in that, though
I'm not sure it did.
And I don't think they really talkedpublicly about this in the years
following.
As I stated earlier, this was a huge case.
It shocked the whole country,especially the West coast,
(22:08):
and I don't normally share talesthat have been solved on this show.
You know, I like to dive into theunsolved, the strange and the mysterious,
but I also like to bring attentionto cases that I think get lost.
A lot of shows have covered the MarionParker murder.
You do come across it, so it's not likeit's completely forgotten,
but it was overshadowedby other huge stories like the Lindbergh
(22:32):
baby kidnaping and then eventually WorldWar two and the Black Dahlia.
But that'll do itfor the murder of Marion Parker.
Thankyou for listening to a study of strange.
If you're new to the show,
take a quick second to hit that subscribeor follow button.
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(22:52):
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Thank you and good night.
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