William Edward Hickman
The story began on December 14, 1927, when
nineteen-year-old William Edward Hickman went to a
public school in Los Angeles and told the teacher that
eleven-year-old Marian Parker's father had been injured in
an automobile accident and wanted his daughter to come
home. Marian left with Hickman and three days later, on
December 17, her father received notes from Hickman,
calling himself the "Fox", demanding a huge ransom fee of
$1500. Wishing to get his daughter back alive, Mr. Parker
took the fifteen $100 bills demanded and handed them
over to Hickman who had arranged they meet on the
outskirts of Los Angeles. The kidnapper had a blanket
wrapped bundle in his car which he said he would leave
further up the road. After receiving the ransom Hickman
drove away. As he went, he tossed the bundle from the car
as promised. When Mr. Parker went to his daughter he
found she was already dead. She had been strangled and
her limbs had been cut off. Immediately a manhunt began
for Hickman, but it was several days before he was found.
When he was caught, Hickman was tried and found guilty
of kidnapping and first-degree murder. He had tried an
insanity plea and made two suicide attempts to emphasise
this. He was convicted on February 9, 1928, and hanged at
San Quentin on October 19 of that year.
nineteen-year-old William Edward Hickman went to a
public school in Los Angeles and told the teacher that
eleven-year-old Marian Parker's father had been injured in
an automobile accident and wanted his daughter to come
home. Marian left with Hickman and three days later, on
December 17, her father received notes from Hickman,
calling himself the "Fox", demanding a huge ransom fee of
$1500. Wishing to get his daughter back alive, Mr. Parker
took the fifteen $100 bills demanded and handed them
over to Hickman who had arranged they meet on the
outskirts of Los Angeles. The kidnapper had a blanket
wrapped bundle in his car which he said he would leave
further up the road. After receiving the ransom Hickman
drove away. As he went, he tossed the bundle from the car
as promised. When Mr. Parker went to his daughter he
found she was already dead. She had been strangled and
her limbs had been cut off. Immediately a manhunt began
for Hickman, but it was several days before he was found.
When he was caught, Hickman was tried and found guilty
of kidnapping and first-degree murder. He had tried an
insanity plea and made two suicide attempts to emphasise
this. He was convicted on February 9, 1928, and hanged at
San Quentin on October 19 of that year.
