BODY FOUND IN TRUNK

Taranaki Daily News, 25 February 1935, Page 5

BODY FOUND IN TRUNK

MURDERER’S CONFESSION. ESCAPE PLAN FRUSTRATED. San Francisco, Feb. 7 A murderer who had hoped to catch a steamer on the Pacific Coast and get to Sydney has been caught when his plans for an escape seemed likely to be successful. Robert Brown, aged 28, a wealthy contractor of Kalamazoo, Michigan, disappeared last week, and the police, suspecting that he might have been kidnapped, broadcast a warning to look out for his motor-car. Last night, 2500 miles away, in Sacramento, California, the police located Brown’s car on the road to Los Angeles, and arrested the driver, Clarence Frechette, on a charge of theft. On examining the car, the officers noted a peculiar odour arising from a trunk, and, on breaking it open, found Brown’s body. “Brown deserved to be killed. He was with my girl,” said Frechette, who confessed that he had murdered the contractor, stuffed the body in the trunk, and then started for the Pacific coast to take a steamer to Sydney.