Carl Austin Hall was born on July 1, 1919, in the United States. He grew up in Missouri and in his youth attended Kemper Military School in Boonville. While there, he crossed paths with Paul Robert Greenlease, the adopted older brother of Bobby Greenlease, who would one day become his victim’s family.

Despite having some privileges early in life, Hall’s adulthood was marked by crime, addiction, and instability. Over the years, he drifted between petty thefts, drug abuse, and alcohol dependency. By the early 1950s, he was a small-time criminal desperate for money, and he began to envision a plan to exploit his connection to the Greenlease family.

Hall plotted the kidnapping for years, believing that the Greenleases’ immense wealth would make them perfect targets. By 1953, he was living with Bonnie Heady, a woman seven years older who shared his addiction to alcohol.

On September 28, 1953, Hall and Heady put their plan into motion. Heady visited Notre Dame de Sion, a Catholic preschool in Kansas City, Missouri. Posing as Bobby Greenlease’s aunt, she convinced Sister Morand that Bobby’s mother was critically ill in the hospital and that she was there to collect the boy. Trusting and unsuspecting, Bobby took her hand and left the school without protest.

Hall was waiting in a cab outside. They drove Bobby across the state line to Johnson County, Kansas. Within hours—before even demanding ransom—Hall shot Bobby in the head with a snubnosed .38 revolver. The couple then drove back to Heady’s home in St. Joseph, Missouri, where they buried the child’s body in a shallow grave in the backyard.

After the murder, Hall and Heady sent ransom letters and made phone calls to Bobby’s father, Robert Greenlease Sr., demanding $600,000. Out of desperation to save his son, Greenlease agreed to pay. It was the largest ransom in American history at the time.

After collecting the money, Hall panicked that police would track them to St. Joseph. He decided to flee to St. Louis. There, he abandoned Heady in a rented room and tried to recruit criminal acquaintances to help divert police attention. One associate, Sandra O’Day, saw the stacks of cash and tipped off authorities.

Hall was arrested while openly spending large amounts of money. Under questioning, he quickly confessed and led police to Bonnie Heady. She was found in St. Louis, and Bobby’s body was recovered from her backyard.

The pair were charged under the Federal Kidnapping Act. With no real defense, they pleaded guilty. The jury deliberated for just over an hour before recommending the death penalty.

On December 18, 1953, Carl Hall and Bonnie Heady were executed side by side in Missouri’s gas chamber, only 81 days after the crime. Neither of them attempted an appeal. Hall was 34 years old.

Despite the swift justice, the aftermath was tainted by corruption. Of the $600,000 ransom, only $288,000 was ever recovered. Two St. Louis police officers were later convicted of perjury after lying about the seized money, and speculation persists that they stole the remainder.