Zero at the Bone : The Playboy, the Prostitute, and the Murder of Bobby Greenlease

In 1953, six-year-old Bobby Greenlease, the son of a wealthy Kansas City automobile dealer and his wife, was kidnapped from his Roman Catholic elementary school by a woman named Bonnie Heady, a well-scrubbed prostitute who was posing as one of his distant aunts. Her accomplice, Carl Austin Hall, a former playboy who had run through his inheritance and was just out of the Missouri State Penitentiary, was waiting in the getaway car with a gun, a length of rope and a plastic tarp. The two grifters thought they had a plan that would put them on the road to Easy Street; but, actually, they were on a fast-track to the gas chamber. Shortly after they snatched the little boy, the two demanded a ransom of $600,000.00 from the Greenlease family and it was paid; but, Bobby was already dead, shot in the head by Hall and buried in a flower garden behind the couple’s house, exactly where his body was found by police shortly thereafter. The Greenlease ransom was the highest ransom ever paid in the US to that date and the case held the US transfixed in the same way the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby had done decades earlier. In a bone-chilling account of kidnapping, murder and the dogged pursuit of a child’s killers, John Heidenry crafts a haunting narrative that involves mob boss Joe Costello, a cast of unsavory grifters, hardboiled detectives and a room at the legendary, but now razed, Coral Court Motel on Route 66. Heady and Hall were apprehended quickly, convicted and executed in a rare double execution in the State of Missouri’s gas chamber on a cold December night not long before Christmas. By that time, little Bobby Greenlease was stone cold in his grave and a fickle America had turned back to its Post-War boom. However, one question has never been solved: as Hall was being pursued around Kansas City and St. Louis, half of the ransom was lost and never recovered. Did it end up with the mob via Joe Costello? To this day, no one knows and dead mob bosses tell no tales. In a book that brings to mind films like “Chinatown” and “Double Indemnity”, John Heidenry has written a compelling work that blends true crime and American history to take a close look at one of the United States’ most notorious murders. The New York Times - Janet Maslin As a boy in St. Louis, Mr. Heidenry came into close enough proximity to the kidnapping of 6-year-old Bobby Greenlease in 1953 to have developed an enduring fascination with it. That fascination has yielded a tough, gripping chiller of a book, written straightforwardly yet cloaked with the trappings of pulp fiction…bears a resemblance to [ In Cold Blood ]. It too is clean, cool, hard-hitting and even clinical in its efforts to fathom a tale of unconscionable destruction. In 1953, six-year-old Bobby Greenlease, the son of a wealthy Kansas City automobile dealer, was kidnapped from his Roman Catholic elementary school by a woman named Bonnie Heady, a well-scrubbed prostitute who was posing as one of his distant aunts. Her accomplice, Carl Austin Hall, a former playboy who had run through his inheritance and was just out of the Missouri State Penitentiary, was waiting in the getaway car with a gun, a length of rope, and a plastic tarp. The two grifters thought they had a plan that would put them on the road to Easy Street, but actually they were on a fast track to the gas chamber. Shortly after they snatched the little boy, the two demanded a ransom of $600,000 from the Greenlease family. It was paid, but Bobby was already dead, shot in the head by Hall and buried in a flower garden behind the couple's house, where his body was found by police shortly thereafter. The Greenlease ransom was the highest ever paid in the United States to that date, and the case held the country transfixed in the same way the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby had decades earlier. In a bone-chilling account of kidnapping, murder, and the dogged pursuit of a child's killers, John Heidenry crafts a haunting narrative that involves mob boss Joe Costello, a cast of unsavory grifters, hard-boiled detectives, and a room at the legendary, but now razed, Coral Court Motel on Route 66. Heady and Hall were apprehended quickly, convicted, and sentenced to death. They died in a rare double execution in the State of Missouri's gas chamber on a cold December night not long before Christmas, just 81 days after the murder. By that time, little Bobby Greenlease was stone cold in his grave and a fickle America had turned back to its postwar boom. However, one question has never been solved: As Hall was being pursued around Kansas City and St. Louis, half of the ransom was lost and never recovered. Did it end up with the mob via Joe Costello? To this day, no one knows and dead mob bosses tell no tales. In a book that brings to mind such films as Chinatown and Double Indemnity, John Heidenry has written a compelling work that blends true crime and American history to take a close look at one of the most notorious murders of the 20th century. - Jacket flap. In 1953 six-year-old Bobby Greenlease, son of a wealthy Kansas City automobile dealer, was kidnapped from school for ransom of $600,000, the highest ever paid to that date. In a bone-chilling account of kidnapping, murder, and the dogged pursuit of a child's killers, the narrative involves mob boss Joe Costello, grifters, hard-boiled detectives, a quick apprehension, swift double execution, and the mystery of the missing ransom money Prologue: A trusting child Kansas City noir The vigil The shady motel The third man The shadow Burial Confessions and denials Death row Goodbye and thanks The Greenlease curse