Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 2, Number 43, DeMotte, Jasper County, 9 March 1933 — TWELVE HELD IN KIDNAPPING [ARTICLE]

TWELVE HELD IN KIDNAPPING

Child Reported Safe in Florida and Solution Believed Near. With a 63-year-old great-grand-mother and 11 other persons in custody, Lake County authorities today believed they were nearing a solution to the mysterious kidnapping of Patricia Pearl Tripp, 4-year-old orphan. Prosecutor Robt. G. Estill filed affidavits against the twelve in the Lake County Criminal Court today, but what knowledge the investigators have gained from questioning the prisoners was with held. The affidavits charge kidnaping. Those held in jail are: Mrs. Bessie Tripp, of Gary, paternal grandmother. Mr. and Mrs. August Johnson, of Hebron, grand-uncle and grandaunt. Roy Smith, a Gary relief investigator and his wife, Italy. Rudolph Lalien, and his wife,. Myra, of Gary. Mrs. Alice Dodd, mother of Mrs. Bessie Tripp. Mrs. Mayme Arnold, of East Gary, who is said to have kept the child for several days. Gladys Perkins, of Rensselaer, is in custody of Jasper County Sheriff Tone Kanne.

Patricia was kidnaped from the arms of her grandmother Smith on Nov. 28, when a strange man stopped at the Smith farmhouse near Rensselaer to buy some eggs. When. Mrs. Smith brought the eggs to the car, she had Patricia with her. The man snatched the child from, her grandmother and drove away at top speed. Mrs. Smith was to be taken to Crown Point Thursday to identify the man who took the child. It was reliably reported that the missing child, seized from a Rensselaer farm home more than 3 months ago by a gunman, has been traced to Miami, Fla., and is expected to be returned soon to her foster parents, Mr. and Mrs. Hamlin H. Smith. Prosecutor Estill is holding “important” papers which were found in the home of Mrs. Tripp. Prosecutor Chas. Halleck of Jasper county is expected to join Estill in seeking to unravel the mystery.