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

[Ausgirl]

J Edgar himself did interview Anna, as far as I can tell (unless it was sensationalist reporting..) - and they had several G-men stationed at the property.

But yeah, I'm really curious as to why Anna wasn't charged. Possibly not enough evidence - it's pretty plain that LE thought she did it, and kept her and William on their radar for years afterward.

 

[zwiebel]

I agree it just seems to be lack of hard evidence that prevented an arrest. If the axe had been found to have a trace of human blood, I am sure Anna would have gone to jail.

Thinking about how the actual deed could have been done - it's fairly unusual for women to kill another adult violently, without a weapon. Do we know the approx sizes of Alice and Anna? I'm just thinking you would need to be a good deal stronger than your victim to be able to hold a chloroform rag over their face, long enough to knock them out. And then, how was Alice actually killed when she was unconscious?

 

[zwiebel]

Thought this looked interesting and there might be something there. I couldn't see anything immediately but I found the lists a little disorganized - maybe someone else could spot something?

http://ladailymirror.com/2011/07/06/the-fbi-thins-its-files/

ETA Howard McDonnell, brother to Alice, lived in LA so I thought there might be coverage there.

 

[glamourkitty1922]

:twocents:
I was just looking at this case from a modern point of view. Perhaps the three adults were in a relationship together? Since both Ana and her son changed their names to Parsons, there seems to be a symbolic family relationship between them all. Perhaps Alice was kidnapped, it was the era of kidnapping. Kidnappers have killed their victims accidently (or purposely). That makes the Ana/William marriage understandable. They were already married. Bigamy and Lesbians makes a lot of sense.
kay:

 

[zwiebel]

The kidnap theory was the theme of this newspaper article....

'Two miles away in Stony Brook, village federal officers awaited word from J. Edgar Hoover.....a man, reported to resemble Hoover, came ashore.'

http://tinyurl.com/bnp6gzw

 

[Marilynilpa]

:twocents:
I was just looking at this case from a modern point of view. Perhaps the three adults were in a relationship together? Since both Ana and her son changed their names to Parsons, there seems to be a symbolic family relationship between them all. Perhaps Alice was kidnapped, it was the era of kidnapping. Kidnappers have killed their victims accidently (or purposely). That makes the Ana/William marriage understandable. They were already married. Bigamy and Lesbians makes a lot of sense.
kay:

I've wondered about the lesbian angle, too. I've spoken to Alice's nieces and nephew, who don't remember her but do remember hearing a lot about her from their parents. None of them were of the opinion that Alice was a lesbian, but I doubt this is something their parents would have discussed in their presence.

 

[zwiebel]

It sounds like a very extensive search was carried out and no resources were stinted, especially as Hoover seemed to take a personal interest. First pic I have seen of Anna. Looks as though she may have been pretty stout.

'A force of 100 searchers mobilised.....'

http://tinyurl.com/dysqhb3

 

[alliemay]

He said he was in a jam, maybe the jam was that he knew that Anna did it but wasn't involved in it....I'm not an author and have never written a book but when you are finished writing this story do you need to have permission from Roy's wife to publish it, just wondering, I would love to read the book.

 

[zwiebel]

'Wanted, man and a woman in black sedan, for the kidnapping of Mrs Alice Parsons...'

http://tinyurl.com/c9875bf

Details of estate administrators.
'Mrs Parsons is legally missing'

http://tinyurl.com/d53pnzc

Alice was just about to inherit $104,000 from her uncle, 'the late Colonel Timothy Shaler Williams.....who died in 1930'

Mr Z tells me that's worth about $15m today! Has another motive for murder just surfaced? Who inherited that money instead?

http://tinyurl.com/d5cafcx


'Mrs Parsons dead, surrogate rules' This article states FBI have concluded it was murder, not kidnapping, and closed the case 9 years after her disappearance.

http://tinyurl.com/d2c88f9


Friday, December 3, 1937

'Parsons' home for Sale'

http://tinyurl.com/dyobmtv

 

[fred&edna]

'Wanted, man and a woman in black sedan, for the kidnapping of Mrs Alice Parsons...'

http://tinyurl.com/c9875bf

Details of estate administrators.
'Mrs Parsons is legally missing'

http://tinyurl.com/d53pnzc

Alice was just about to inherit $104,000 from her uncle, 'the late Colonel Timothy Shaler Williams.....who died in 1930'

Mr Z tells me that's worth about $15m today! Has another motive for murder just surfaced? Who inherited that money instead?

http://tinyurl.com/d5cafcx


'Mrs Parsons dead, surrogate rules' This article states FBI have concluded it was murder, not kidnapping, and closed the case 9 years after her disappearance.

http://tinyurl.com/d2c88f9


Friday, December 3, 1937

'Parsons' home for Sale'

http://tinyurl.com/dyobmtv

Oh my Mrs. Z you have been a busy bee on this. Thank you for the info and links.

I suppose Mrs. Williams inherited her husbands' (Col. Williams) money. Mrs. Williams died in 1942, here's a news article re: execution of her will ($ bequeathed to AP/heirs)

http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper4...y News 1942 Jul-May 1944 Grayscale - 0035.pdf


*Off topic question
I noticed an ad in the above linked newspaper... Within the advertisement there is something called "KLEK"... what is/was this? I've never heard of it before. I can't imagine anyone saying, "Honey, I believe we are out of Klek!"

 

[zwiebel]

Thanks for the link. Are you any good with databases, fred&edna? At this site here it looks like a biography or photo or file is coming up when I put the name kupryanova into the search function, but I can't figure out how to get the details.

http://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/nyjadc/browse.cfm?letter=K

No idead what kleks are, by the way, but I'll have to find out now!

 

[zwiebel]

BBM

Oh my Mrs. Z you have been a busy bee on this. Thank you for the info and links.

I suppose Mrs. Williams inherited her husbands' (Col. Williams) money. Mrs. Williams died in 1942, here's a news article re: execution of her will ($ bequeathed to AP/heirs)

http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper4...y News 1942 Jul-May 1944 Grayscale - 0035.pdf


*Off topic question
I noticed an ad in the above linked newspaper... Within the advertisement there is something called "KLEK"... what is/was this? I've never heard of it before. I can't imagine anyone saying, "Honey, I believe we are out of Klek!"

'It's the only soap in America made specially for washing dishes!'

http://tinyurl.com/cdwnye4

 

[fred&edna]

BBM



'It's the only soap in America made specially for washing dishes!'

http://tinyurl.com/cdwnye4

Thank you for answering "What the heck is Klek?" :rocker:


I'm checking your link in the previous post for info as requested.

 

[zwiebel]

So I'm going to take a wild guess and say Col T S Williams didn't leave his widow penniless when he left a small fortune to Alice, and she had no reason to wish Alice gone.

It does look like the widow, Bess Williams, did inherit all the fortune, but it looks like when she died, as well as Alice's brothers, William Parsons received a share of that fortune too. Now, I wonder if he could have known that would eventually happen?

Still seems strange to me that money may have been a motive in this case, but Alice was disappeared just a month before a will that had taken 7 years to be dispersed, was ready to be given out! All $104,000's worth!

 

[fred&edna]

Thanks for the link. Are you any good with databases, fred&edna? At this site here it looks like a biography or photo or file is coming up when I put the name kupryanova into the search function, but I can't figure out how to get the details.

http://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/nyjadc/browse.cfm?letter=K

No idead what kleks are, by the way, but I'll have to find out now!

It appears you must registered onsite and set up an account. I've never used this site before. I will continue reading for additional info.

 

[fred&edna]

So I'm going to take a wild guess and say Col T S Williams didn't leave his widow penniless when he left a small fortune to Alice, and she had no reason to wish Alice gone.

It does look like the widow, Bess Williams, did inherit all the fortune, but it looks like when she died, as well as Alice's brothers, William Parsons received a share of that fortune too. Now, I wonder if he could have known that would eventually happen?

Still seems strange to me that money may have been a motive in this case, but Alice was disappeared just a month before a will that had taken 7 years to be dispersed, was ready to be given out! All $104,000's worth!

Very strange, I agree! Is it possible something was lost in translation... maybe Anna told Alex that Alice would be receiving an inheritance but they (Anna, Alex or both) thought it would be immediate?

 

[fred&edna]

Maybe this was posted previously.

http://www.ellisisland.org/search/F...046&BN=P50206-6&sship=America&lineshipid=1027

Alexandre Kuprianoff
age: 29
arrived in the US Sept 1 1923
Port of departure: Bremen
Place of residence:
Malapieratvirtsa, Jogoslavia

 

[zwiebel]

Good find! It hasn't been posted. Bremen's my end, so I'll see what I can find here but I am not too hopeful as Bremen was such a big departure point. And so many records were lost in the war. As well, Alex may have travelled staight through Germany on the way to the US without stopping at all.

I am also trying to work out now if he was Yugoslavian or had fled Russia and just settled there for a while.......sigh.

 

[fred&edna]

I'm trying to figure out where "Malapieratvirtsa" might have been. Brushing up on my history... wait, there's no "brushing up"... I'm really gonna have to do some reading. Not sure what types of Yugoslavian maps are available for early 1910-1920s?


**Initially this appears Lithuanian

 

[zwiebel]

Very strange, I agree! Is it possible something was lost in translation... maybe Anna told Alex that Alice would be receiving an inheritance but they (Anna, Alex or both) thought it would be immediate?

Or, If Anna was declared dead, it would go straight to William?