October 10, 1953

Worked all day. Got my history. It took almost all morning. Ruby came out this aft. & I went to Doris’ & then to Grandma’s with her to get eggs. A few days ago a little boy (Bobby Greenlease) was kidnapped & killed.

The kidnapping of Bobby Greenlease is one of the most famous kidnappings in history. At the time, it led to the largest ransom payout in history — $600,000 — over half of which was never recovered.

Taken from his school on the morning of September 28, Bobby had been murdered by his kidnappers, Carl Austin Hall and Bonnie Brown Heady, almost immediately. He was 6 years old.

For a riveting and extremely detailed account of the entire ordeal, I highly recommend the book “Zero at the Bone: The Playboy, the Prostitute, and the Murder of Bobby Greenlease”, by John Heidenry.