Bonnie Emily Brown was born on July 15, 1912, in Missouri. She spent much of her life in the St. Joseph area and grew up in modest circumstances. In adulthood, Bonnie struggled with heavy drinking and eventually became addicted to alcohol.

By the early 1950s, Bonnie was living with Carl Austin Hall, a man who shared her addiction and her desperation for money. The two were often described as a pair of small-time drifters and petty criminals. Together, they developed a toxic partnership defined by substance abuse and an increasing willingness to commit crimes to support their habits.

Bonnie became involved romantically with Hall, and as he plotted the kidnapping of Bobby Greenlease—a wealthy child he’d targeted due to his family’s fortune—she became an integral part of the plan. Although some later speculated she was manipulated by Hall, Bonnie’s role was not passive. She agreed to impersonate a relative, lure Bobby from school, and help dispose of his body.

On September 28, 1953, Bonnie Heady carried out the first stage of the kidnapping. She went to Notre Dame de Sion, a Catholic preschool in Kansas City, Missouri, posing as Bobby’s aunt. Telling Sister Morand that Bobby’s mother had suffered a heart attack, Bonnie convinced the nun to release the trusting six-year-old boy to her care. Bobby walked out of the building holding her hand.

Bonnie and Carl Hall took Bobby across state lines to Johnson County, Kansas. There, Hall shot the boy in the head with a .38 revolver. Bonnie and Hall then drove the body back to St. Joseph, where they buried him in Bonnie’s backyard.

After the murder, Bonnie assisted Hall in mailing ransom letters and making calls demanding $600,000—the largest ransom payment in U.S. history at the time. They planned to use the money to start a new life together, drinking and gambling without consequence.

When Bobby’s father agreed to pay the ransom in hopes that his son was still alive, Bonnie and Hall retrieved the cash and fled to St. Louis. Once there, Hall abandoned Bonnie in a rented room while he tried to recruit criminal associates to help him hide the money.

It didn’t take long for authorities to close in. After Hall was arrested, he confessed and directed investigators to Bonnie’s location. She was arrested without incident at an apartment on Arsenal Street. Bobby’s body was found buried in the backyard of her house.

Because the crime involved crossing state lines, it was prosecuted as a federal case under the Federal Kidnapping Act. Bonnie and Hall both pleaded guilty. The trial moved swiftly, with the jury deliberating just over an hour before recommending the death penalty.

On December 18, 1953—only 81 days after Bobby’s death—Bonnie Heady and Carl Hall were executed side by side in the Missouri State Penitentiary gas chamber. Bonnie was 41 years old. She became the third woman ever executed by the U.S. federal government and remains the only woman executed federally by gassing. Bonnie was buried in Clearmont, Nodaway County, Missouri, where she had spent her early years.