Greenlease, Bobby (1947-1953)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1953 Oct 15 p. 3

Birth date: 1947

text of obituary:

. . .

ASK FBI AUTHORITY OVER KIDNAPPINGS

The shocking kidnapping and murder of six-year-old Bobby Greenlease at Kansas City has brought a congressional request for strengthening of the Lindbergh kidnap law, which would put such crimes under complete jurisdiction of the FBI.

Bobby, son of one of the 10 wealthiest men in Kansas City, was taken from a Catholic school by a woman on pretense that the boy's mother had become suddenly ill and he was being taken to see her. Days later, after payment of $600,000 ransom by the father, the woman and her male companion who had planned and carried out the kidnapping were arrested in St. Louis. The boy's body was found in a shallow grave behind a house in St. Joseph, Mo. Funeral services were held in the St. Agnes Catholic Church in Mission, Kans., a silver-lined casket being used for the interment.

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover has warned that the nation ls now engulfed in one of the most serious crime waves in history.