NY NY - Alice Parsons: Heiress, Long Island, 1937

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Pink Panther said:
Marylinpa - Have you been able to find any official records that show that William had served in WW I? On his passport application he mentions that he has travelled abroad with the navy but doesn't give dates. His father attaches a note to the application (to expediate the procedure) that states that "he served as an ensign on one of the destroyers of the late war", but doesn't give any specifics. I have not been able to find any records for William being drafted. I have found both Oliver and John (his brother's) draft cards but nothing at all for him.

ETA - On his 1940 census (when he was already in California listed as married to Anna with son Roy) he states that he never did the navy or military.

???
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The informant for the census information in 1940 was Anna, not William (they mark who provided the info.) It's possible she didn't know or just didn't think about her answer (or the census taker marked it wrong.) I've seen these discrepancies often when researching my own family.

Also, any one that had already joined won't have a draft card. So perhaps that's why we don't see a draft card for him. We declared war on April 6, 1917 and the first draft registration day was 2 months later. He may have joined right away and missed the draft. My great grandfather's brother has no draft card, but he was already serving when the draft started. I have a draft card for my great grandfather.... Jmo
 
SophieRose said:
Roy married Allyn in 1954. His address was Hollywood and he was already divorced. His first wife's name was Sylvia Henriette Vigeveno and they were married in Los Angeles in 1949 while Roy was a student at UCLA.
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I totally missed Sylvia and will have to go back and explore some more! Thanks for posting this.
 
Marilynilpa said:
Yes, some of Anna's records in the National Archive have been redacted. As time was limited on my last visit, I did not have time to review or photograph any of those documents. I was focusing on Alice, William and Alice's disappearance.

So it is possible that Anna was either cooperating with, or being closely monitored by, the U.S. Government.

In March I am making another trip to the Archives to finish going through the boxes of documents - I'll have unlimited time on this trip, so I'll be able to review everything.

FWIW, none of the documents I reviewed at the Suffolk County PD regarding Anna were redacted. But few of their documents pertained to her directly.
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Marilynilpa - Did you get a chance to go back in March? Anything interesting?
 
It's been awhile since any updates but maybe that's a good thing? I hope it means you're busy on the book, Marilynilpa :)
 
I thought someone from WS was writing a book about it? If I recall, not sure.
 
Having just finished reading through this thread, I felt I must say what an absolutely amazing job I think you've all done of piecing together this very old cold case! It really just goes to show that team work really is everything!

Gut instinct of a newbie to the case, I feel that Anna murdered Alice WITH William's prior knowledge. If William wasn't aware of what Anna had planned before she carried it out, I wouldn't expect him to get over the shock (and maybe grief) so quickly to be then asking Anna if she'd managed to dispose of the chloroform so soon after his wife's disappearance had been reported to LE. But that's JMO! Also, the fact he then went on to marry Anna, surely if he had no prior knowledge to the 'murder' of Alice, it may have made him question whether he really wanted to be with someone long term in the future upon finding out that they are a psycho murderer!!! He was the one (seemingly) with the money and the power and he could have walked away from Anna at any time right? Unless, maybe, she and/or her son had something on him as well (his possible involvement in poor Alice's supposed murder)?

I also think it is beyond obvious that Anna was the prime suspect with LE in this case, but for unknown reasons was never arrested, let alone charged in connection with Alice's disappearance. I do think though that the Russian links Anna seemed to have, at this particular time with what was going on in the world, would have been invaluable to the US government...which IMO could have played a part in why she was allowed to pretty much just disappear off the radar and skip off into the sunset with William Parsons.

I would be extremely excited to hear your theories that you've previously mentioned you have on how it all 'went down' Marilynilpa...do you have a release date for your book yet?

Thanks to all for keeping the memory of Alice alive, I truly hope one day her case can be solved once and for all :)
 
kimmy88 - I suspect much the same as you. In fact, they may have planned it together…Also, there is a remote possibility that Anna's son was actually William's. He travelled to England at about the right times for this to be a possibility.

I'm not sure that William had that much money…
 
I think that Marilynpa was the one who was looking into this with the idea of perhaps writing a book…I don't know where that's at but it would be great if she/he had something to share on this case! There are lots of family members out there who might be interested to find out more!

Bumping for Alice.
 
I spent a day reading this entire thread and had to join up to add some information I found that may or may not be of help.

I looked for a Hans Raj Soni and the only records I could find that would fit the time period are here:

http://hosted.law.wisc.edu/wordpress/sharafi/files/2010/07/Lincolns-Inn-6.0.pdf

This is a transcribed list of Indians admitted to Lincoln's Inn in London. It lists a Hans Raj Soni being admitted on the 4 Nov 1920. Here is some biographical information recorded on the list:

Hans Raj Soni M.A. of Edinburgh University and of London
Univeristy and of Wachhowala, Lahore, India (25) s. of Rai Sahib
Ramditta Soni of Lahore, afsd.
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So it gives his birthplace, age, and father's name.

Because Roy's father was supposedly an economist, I am assuming that this is a record of his doctoral thesis from the University of London, entitled "Indian industry and its problems", published 1932, because it is clearly a work on Indian economics:

http://www.worldcat.org/title/indian-industry-and-its-problems/oclc/502771433
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL7560423W/Indian_industry_and_its_problems_..

On Ancestry there is also a record of what I believe is him sailing to Sri Lanka from London - his occupation is listed as student. Stated future permanent country of residence is given as India:

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bi...&db=UKOutwardPassengerLists&indiv=1&ml_rpos=5

UK, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960 about Mr H R Soni
Name: Mr H R Soni
Gender: Male
Age: 32
Birth Date: abt 1896
Departure Date: 1 Sep 1928
Port of Departure: London, England
Destination Port: Colombo, Sri Lanka
Ship Name: Orvieto
Search Ship Database: Search the 'Orvieto' in the 'Passenger Ships and Images' database
Shipping line: Orient Line
Official Number: 129628
Master: Captain F R O Sullevan
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It would seem then, that he did not return to England.

Anyway, hope this helps and I do hope Marilynpa finishes her book soon...
 
Just stumbled on this thread today. WOW! Marilynilpa, how is the book coming?

I changed my mind so many times before finally getting to the end of the thread, but my current theory is this:

Anna masterminded Alice's murder. She saw Alice's money and William as her meal ticket. Either she set up the meeting in NYC as a way to get William out of the house or there was a legitimate meeting scheduled and she used it as her window of opportunity, knowing she would have time alone with Alice when Alice returned from dropping off William. (I believe Alice was alive that morning and drove William because of the gas station attendant who said he saw Alice.)

Anna lured Alice into the basement, possibly under the guise of needing help, and knocked her out with chloroform. Given that the house had an industrial-size furnace (as stated previously in the thread), Anna could have loaded Alice into the furnace.

Perhaps Roy heard screams coming from the basement that day. Perhaps Anna told him to stay upstairs no matter what and he heard Alice fighting for her life in the basement, and those sounds haunted him for the rest of his life because he knew Alice never came back upstairs.

What an odd place to put a ransom note -- in Alice's car after she allegedly drove off willingly with a couple in a different car? Doesn't sound very well thought through.

Given the era, perhaps William really was grieving Alice and decided to head west for a new beginning, away from memories. This wasn't how Anna planned it -- perhaps she imagined she and William living a life of luxury at the estate with Alice's money. But William left and Anna needed a Plan B, so she told William she and Roy were going to be deported. Worried for Roy, William brought them to California and, once there, Anna set about manipulating William until they were finally married. Once she had that ring, however, I bet William soon met the "real" Anna.

Just thinking out loud. I keep vacillating between William being involved and not being involved.

What a story. You all have done a great job with the research. I need to read this book!
 
Okay, another post... I confirmed that Hans Raj Soni graduated with both his Masters and Doctorate degree at the London School of Economics (part of the University of London).

MSc in Economics, 1925, dissertation title "Basic Indian industries".
DSc (Doctor of Science) in Economics, 1933, thesis title "Indian industry and its problems : factors in industrial development"

He's on the list of graduates for 1925 and 1933 respectively.

http://www.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/resources/graduates2ocr.pdf
http://www.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/resources/1932-3gradlist.pdf

Doesn't really have any bearing on the case itself, but I thought it might help to flesh out Roy's father a bit. :) It'd be interesting to know where and how he and Anna first met... They just seem such an unlikely couple. :p
 
chibiaeris said:
Okay, another post... I confirmed that Hans Raj Soni graduated with both his Masters and Doctorate degree at the London School of Economics (part of the University of London).

MSc in Economics, 1925, dissertation title "Basic Indian industries".
DSc (Doctor of Science) in Economics, 1933, thesis title "Indian industry and its problems : factors in industrial development"

He's on the list of graduates for 1925 and 1933 respectively.

http://www.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/resources/graduates2ocr.pdf
http://www.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/resources/1932-3gradlist.pdf

Doesn't really have any bearing on the case itself, but I thought it might help to flesh out Roy's father a bit. :) It'd be interesting to know where and how he and Anna first met... They just seem such an unlikely couple. :p
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I can't remember if it's been said, but was he born and raised in London? Could she have worked for his family? Anna seemed to have a knack for that.
 
Robin Hood said:
Just dropped in quickly, not got time to check it out but while doing something else I found a small piece about a skeleton found in Cherry valley, NY. Have a look, discard if not worth following or see if it matches another missing person. Thanks.
http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper ... Times 1949 Oct-Dec 1949 Grayscale - 0267.pdf
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Thanks Robin Hood! That was a good find. There is an article (posted below) which states that this skeleton was eventually identified as belonging to Alvin Brown of Canajoharie. His family helped to identify him with objects (a hunting knife, rifle and wristwatch) that were located with his skeleton. You have to scroll down a bit to find this info:

http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/22178773/

He disappeared July19, 1944 and was 49 at the time.
 
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