On September 28, 1953, Bonnie Heady and Carl Hall kidnapped Robert “Bobby” Greenlease, Jr., the six-year old son of millionaire Kansas City car dealer Robert Greenlease. The kidnapping occurred when Heady, posing as Bobby’s aunt, picked him up from school.
They demanded and received a ransom of $600,000, a record amount at that date. By that time, however, young Bobby had already been killed on a farm just across the state line in Kansas.
With no clues as to their identities or whereabouts, Heady and Hall moved to St. Louis. However, their lavish spending drew attention and they were soon linked to the kidnapping. They were arrested in St. Louis on October 6. Bobby’s body was recovered the next day.
Heady and Hall were tried in federal court in Kansas City and were convicted and sentenced to death on November 19, 1953. They were executed in the gas chamber at Missouri State Prison in Jefferson City a month later, on December 18, 1953.
Eighty-one days had passed since the kidnapping.
The Federal Death Penalty Project 
My father was an automobile dealer and knew Mr. Greenlease. I was only 3 yrs old when this evil event happened. A note my Mother tucked into my baby book is very telling. She wrote: ‘ I put the baby to bed tonight and from the hallway I could hear her singing to her dolls and teddy bear. The lyrics broke my heart. I suddenly realized we are talking about the Greenlease Kidnappaing too, too much. The sleepy child was singing “Poor little Bobby, poor little boy. I would share with you, if they would just bring you here”.’ This tragedy touched millions of people across the nation.
When I was old enough to walk home from grade school, my parents had a hundred safety rules for me to follow because of the cruel death of this little child. this lil’ lad, Bobby Greenlease was lovingly spoken about for years, as though he was part of our family. My Dad even went to Jefferson City to see the gas chamber, just so he could better understand what was going to happen to the kidnappers.
This was a nightmare for all of Missouri as well as parents everywhere and School Boards making rules about how to allow children to leave schools. Suddenly, they needed written proof who the people were, who were picking up school children.
The world changed in several ways with this killing. Safety changed, schools, along with parents, paid more attention to details about their children; and decades later, we are still talking of this innocent child. The nation grew to love him and prayed for his return to his family.
When I was 20 (17 years after this horrible killing), several friends and I went to KC. It was a hot summer day. We had sandwiches so we looked for a park where we could be in the cooling shade of trees and eat our lunch. We pulled into a tree-filled graveyard on TROOST St. We decided the coolest place would be to stroll in a big marble mauseoleum. I wandered to part of the interior that seemed to be the apex of the bldg. I walked into a special chamber/room, glanced to the left and nearly fainted. There were 3 carvings of the name ‘Greenlease’ — the Father / Mother and little Bobby. On a ledge was a small bronze wreath with leaves, berrys and ribbon twined around. It was a gift from an Italian orphanage where the Greenleases had donated Bobby’s memorial funds.
When I got to a phone to call home and tell my Dad I had discovered this special family grave plot, he started to weep. The only words he could say(between sobs) were: “While you were there, did you say a prayer?”
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Thank you for sharing this poignant, lovely story. I’m sorry.
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