ST. LOUIS – Last year marked the 60th anniversary of the murder of Bobby Greenlease, a six-year-old who was kidnapped, held for ransom, and then murdered over money. On September 28, 2023, Greenlease was abducted from his elementary school, the French Institute of Notre Dame de Sion in Kansas City, Missouri.
A woman named Bonnie Emily Heady told staff at the school that she was Greenlease’s aunt and that his mother had suffered a heart attack, necessitating the immediate removal of Greenlease. However, this was not true. Heady, along with her partner Carl Austin Hall, kidnapped the boy for ransom. Greenlease was the son of a wealthy Kansas City car dealer.
The plan was to ransom the boy for $600,000 in exchange for Greenlease’s return. However, Hall and Heady never intended to return the boy. After driving Greenlease away from the school, the trio went to a secluded farm in Kansas. It was there that Hall killed the 6-year-old.
But that didn’t stop Hall and Heady from still attempting to get the money. After a week of phone calls and threats, Hall finally promised to send instructions on where to pick up Greenlease, which were never delivered.
Hall told Bonnie Heady his idea two days after meeting her in a pub in May 1953 and moving in with the divorcée and prostitute. She was an eager partner, which led to the Greenlease story’s terrible ending.
Hall and Heady ended up picking up the ransom money on October 5 with no other plans on what to do next. Both were severe alcoholics. They used the money to rent an apartment in St. Louis, and when Heady passed out, Hall put $2,000 in her purse and left.
Hall splurged the money, paying for a cab, a prostitute, and large amounts of alcohol. The cab driver grew suspicious and reported Hall to the St. Louis Police Department. Hall was arrested on October 6 and was then tied to the kidnapping. Hall gave up Heady, who was arrested on the same night.
Robert Cosgrove Greenlease, Jr.’s body was recovered from a grave on Heady’s property in St. Joseph, Missouri. Hall and Heady were tried, convicted, and—after just over an hour of deliberation by the jury—sentenced to death for the crime.
On December 18, 1953—less than three months after Bobby’s kidnapping—Hall and Heady were executed together in Missouri’s gas chamber. The Greenlease family never got their son back.
