A GRUESOME CRIME.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 20 December 1927, Page 5

A GRUESOME CRIME.

LITTLE CIRL MURDERED. A LOS ANGELES MAN-HUNT. Press Association- Electric Xetegraph-Cspyright NEW YORK, Monday. Messages from Los Angeles say that the greatest man-hunt in the history of California is now on. Search is being made for the murderer of 12-year-old Marion Parker, daughter of Perry Parker, a prominent banker. Marion Parker was kidnapped on December 15th, after which a ransom of £309 was demanded, which was quickly paid on Saturday night. Immediately afterwards the fiend presented Parker with the mutilated torso of his daughter. The remainder of the body was found later. It had hen carefully dissected and wrapped in five bundles, which were distributed in various parts of the public park in Los Angeles. As a result of the discovery of the severed parts, thousands of detectives, officers and investigators were ordered out by the city and country governments to watch for all possible traces of the criminal. The entire population of Los Angeles, aroused by the . gruesomeness of the crime, is co-operating with the authorities to run down the murderer, who is believed to be within the city. The police arrested a suspect, said to be a college man and son of a prominent -doctor, whose finger prints match those found on the bundles. After the radio station here had broadcasted an appeal for reward money, the public responded immediately and sent in 2>ledges necessitating a staff of ten men to count the money and six girls to handle the telephone calls. A reward of £IOOO was" raised on Sunday evening. Other radio stations are establishing similar funds, as horror and indignation sweep over the nation.

SISTER THREATENED. WITH A SIMILAR FATE. (Received Tuesday, 8.25 a.m.) NEW YORK, Monday. A sister of the murdered girl was threatened with a similar fate. At midnight last night a note left on the Holvwood fire box read: '‘Parker, for the trouble you have caused, Marjorie Parker will be the next victim. Nothing can stop 'The Fox.’ They who try will know the penalty. If you warn anyone of this second success it will mean your neck. Try and get me. I am ‘The Fox.’ You shall never know the real story of the first success. You will miss Marjorie at 12 o’clock. — (Signed) ‘The Fox’.” The police say the handwriting was the same as in the previous messages.