| Notes |
- Murder Victim. The daughter of prominent banker Perry Parker, loving father of twin daughters, his nightmare would begin on December 15, 1927, while he thought his twin girls were safely at school. Marion Parker was unwittingly handed over to her killer by the school registrar at Mt. Vernon Junior High School. Her abductor, William Edward Hickman, had come to the school that day and said that Perry Parker, the girl’s father, had been seriously injured in an automobile accident and was calling for his daughter. On the morning of December 17, 1927, Perry Parker received a telegram reiterating the earlier demand for $1500 in exchange for his daughter’s life. Perry agreed to do whatever he needed for the safe return of his daughter, he arrived at the drop alone with the ransom money. He handed over the money to a young man who was waiting for him in a parked car. When he gave the money to Hickman, he was able to see his daughter sitting in the passenger seat next to him. But, when Parker got to Marion and took her in his arms he saw that not only was she dead, but she had been savagely mutilated. LAPD, the LA County Sheriff, and the District Attorney’s office had put all available men into the search for Marion. At that time it was the largest single manhunt in the city’s history. Suspicion settled upon Hickman, a former employee of Parker. Several years before the abduction, Hickman had been arrested on a complaint made by Parker regarding stolen and forged checks. The towel that was on Marion's body was the break that sent the police in the direction of Hickman. A week after the murder, officers Tom Gurdane and Buck Lieuallen found Hickman in Echo, Oregon. On October 19, 1928, Hickman mounted the 13 steps to the top of the gallows. He never expressed any remorse for what he did. Artifacts from the Marion Parker case are on display at the L.A. Police Museum. [1]
- Kidnaped Girl Brought Back Slain
Body Is Laid on Sidewalk After Banker Father Pays $1500 Ransom to Man Who Flees In Automobile.
Parent, Alone Races to Spot Designated for Child to Be Delivered to Him: Victim is Badly Slashed.
By United Press
Leased Wired to Tribune
Los Angeles, Dec. 17. – The mutilated body of Marion Parker, 12-year-old school girl, who had been held by kidnapers since Thursday, was laid on a sidewalk here tonight as her father looked on after paying $1500 ransom, detectives announced.
Keeping an appointment with one of the kidnapers, who drove up to a designated street corner in an open automobile, the father handed the man $1500, and was told that the girl would be put out of the car half a block down the street.
The father did not know that she was dead.
As he stood watching, the automobile proceeded down the street. When it stopped, as promised, a man stepped out and laid the body on the sidewalk, detectives said. The man then re-entered the car and fled.
Father Find Child Slain.
The father then rushed to the spot, believing he had his little girl save again, but found her dead and her body badly cut. The manner in which she died was not known by the police. They said the identification by the father was positive.
The father, who was alone, is said to have seen part of the license on the roadster. Police asked that a lookout be kept for the light car, which bore a California license.
The father received a telephone message shortly after 7 o’clock, detectives said. He notified headquarters and went alone to the appointed street corner.
Arriving at the designated corner he waited but a few minutes when the kidnapers’ automobile drove up.
The father handed over 75 $20 United States gold certificates and the man in the car warned him to remain where he was while he drove down the street. The certificates bore the numbers K-68016-901 to K-68016-975.
Deat Indicated Before Meeting.
While there was some doubt at police headquarters as to whether the girl had been killed before or after the money was paid, every indication was that the girl was dead before the man met the father.
The body was rushed to the county morgue. Dr. A.F. Wagner, county autopsy sergeon, was performing an autopsy at 10:15 p.m. He estimated it would require an hour to complete his examination of the mangled and slashed body.
Until the completion of this examination coroner’s office attaches refused to disclose whether or not the girl had been attacked or the manner in which she was killed.
Girl Strangled By Wire About Neck
The body of the girl was tossed from the car between Fourth and Fifth streets on Manhattan Place, the appointed meeting place. Police said the father insisted on going to the spot alone. He feared that if officers accompanied him, the kidnapers of his daughter might carry out their threats to harm her.
Manhattan Place is the exclusive Wilshire residential district of Los Angeles.
Death was due to a bit of piano wire tightened about the girl’s neck, according to the early examination by police surgeon. Wire had been twisted so tightly about the girl’s legs that they had literally been cut from her body, the detective bureau added.
“She was mangled beyond words,” one of the detective sergeants commented.
Oakland Tribune, Oakland, California. Sunday, 18 December 1927.
[2]
- LKH note: The kidnapping and murder of Marion Parker was heavily covered in California newspapers and in newspapers across the whole the United States. Coverage began with news of her kidnapping with multiple news articles each day, and continued over a period of several days when her body was found and the search for her murderer began. Coverage continued after Hickman was found, was arrested and later confessed.
* * * *
Here is a summary of the case:
Body of Marion Parker, kidnaped 12-year-old Los Angeles school girl, surrendered to her father after he meets kidnaper in outlaying section of town and pays $1500. Body is found horribly mutilated, with arms and legs amputated and piano wire stuck into eyes to hold them open. Part of body are found neatly wrapped in packages in street.
Police find suspected house of death where Marion was put to death. In it they find blood-stained towels, fingerprints, razor blades, “The Murder in the Rue Morgue”, by Poe; picture of Judas Iscariot and other evidence.
Kidnaper’s car, which had been stolen in Kansas City, and carried license plates stolen in San Diego, found in parking place.
Two of many detained by police are quizzed. One is “casual friend” of Parker family, a youth who refuses to give detailed account of his activities last few days. Other is girl who was found in front of the house crying “I did not kill her.”
Fund of more than $100,000 raised as reward to stimulate search.
It was reported here this afternoon that the murderer of Marion Parker had been arrested at Los Angeles. It was said in the report that the fiend was a 17-year-old youth who was employed in a bank at the southern city. This could not be verified but at the sheriff’s office was declared likely to be untrue, since no official report had been received from the Los Angeles authorities.
The Colusa Herald, Colusa, California. Tuesday, 20 December 1927.
* * *
Fingerprint identification established beyond all shadow of a doubt this morning that William Edward Hickman, a former messenger employed at the bank where Marion Parker’s father is an official, was the sleek stranger who lured the little girl from school and finally delivered the child’s mangled body to her father last Saturday night.
The Van Nuys News, Van Nuys, California. Tuesday, 20 December 1927, page 1.
* * * *
San Quentin, Oct. 19 – The hanging of Hickman was the final chapter in one of the most sensation murder cases in the history of California.
[LKH note: there follows a detailed account of the kidnapping and a description with too much detail of Marion Parker’s murder and mutilation of her body.]
Positive identification of Hickman as the murderer was made on December 20 through a tip furnished by Welby Hunt, his former partner in a series of holdups.
By that time Hickman was fleeing north through California in a stolen automobile, making a mad dash for the Canadian border.
His trail was picked up in Seattle, Wash., when he spent one of the telltale $20 bills and he was cornered and captured at Pendleton, Oregon, on December 22.
Enterprise-Record,
Saturday, 20 Octo 1928.
[2, 3]
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1915 - 1927 (12 years)
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