NY NY - Alice Parsons: Heiress, Long Island, 1937

I would like to know how old Roy was. See, something was bothering me about Anna dragging a body all alone all the way down to the furnace. IF, (and it is a big IF), but IF William didn't have anything to do with this, was Roy old enough to help his mother, if she forced him to help? And if she did force him to help with the disposal of Alice, (whether she died of illness or poison or whatever), that would CERTAINLY be enough to make him remember years and years and years later, and never want to go down into that basement again. Just a few thoughts. Thank you for clearing up the fact that William himself didn't hold down jobs, and that the son was born in Russia. But it makes me wonder if poor Roy was forced to help whether his mother threatened, begged, or whatever to get him to help her. Poor kid would have held the guilt all these yrs and couldn't face that basement easily....

I have a thought... If Anna and William killed Alice together, and made up the story of Alice driving him to the train station, I bet Anna drove him and maybe wore a scarf on her head, sunglasses, etc, something that Alice wore often perhaps... Make people think that Alice was driving her husband to the train station. See the unfortunate thing is no one remembered seeing the car or Alice driving it. Had someone come up to the car window the speak to the supposed "Alice" and she responded and they knew it wasn't her voice, or had she acted strangely like she didn't know the person or something, we would have something more to go on. Now, of course, if Alice was killed after driving her husband to the train station, that doesn't help us out at all.

I am not going to speculate on anything too much. Marilyn, when your book is ready, let me know.

My one point: what is known about William's personal finances? His family was wealthy and he was wealthy, but I am interested in if his wealth took a hit post-1929, enough of a hit to drive him to murder. In an era of stockbrokers jumping out of windows in New York City, it isn't hard to believe that a gentleman might keep his financial misfortunes from society and his own family and friends while he lived in the country and tried to make ends meet with squab farming and then chose the easy way out.

Marilynilpa said:

From what I can tell about Bill's reactions when Alice was first missing, it seems like he was genuinely concerned, but was it for Alice or for himself and/or Anna? He told the press at one point that he "was in a jam," which is an usual way for a husband to express his concern over his missing wife.

I think Anna killed Alice without William's knowledge, told him about it either when he got home or shortly thereafter, and the rest of the time the two of them worked together regarding the ransom notes, etc. Only Anna and William identified a piece of jewelry included with a ransom note as being Alice's - Alice's family says they'd never seen that piece before.

As for Anna's son, Roy - his widow told me that Roy never liked going down to the basement of Alice's house, but would never say why. I think it may be because he suspected (or may have known) what happened there.

Just some food for thought . . . any comments?

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You're probably right, maybe William didn't know about it if Anna killed Alice. But just the fact that they ended up marrying each other makes me think that on some level he knew something. I know that in itself doesn't point to his guilt; he could have been truly innocent and married Anna out of grief. I could be totally wrong, but I've always just had this feeling that he knew something or was somehow involved, either directly or indirectly.

Wow, I am thrilled with the questions from you guys. I'll try to answer as many as I can now, and will get back to you on the others.

Regarding the wealth of Alice and William Parsons - Alice was by far wealthier than William, having inherited from more than one wealthy relative. The squab farming was fairly lucrative, but I've always thought it was just something for them to do, i.e., William Parsons wanted to be a "gentleman farmer." I do not think the squab paste recipe played any factor in Alice's murder except for the fact that William was in NY the day Alice "disappeared" in order to meet some Russians who had a squab paste recipe. William's family wealth remained fairly substantial in spite of the financial problems of the day.

Regarding the ages of the parties, I don't have my notes but I'm pretty sure Alice was 37, William was 39 and Anna was in her early to mid 30's.

Regarding Roy and whether or not he might have been a party to Alice's disappearance, that is a question that has bothered me a great deal. He was 11 when she disappeared, and photos of him show a tallish, thin, serious looking young man. I've spoken to his widow who vehemently denies Roy (or Anna) had anything to do with this matter. But then, what else could she say?

The FBI made Roy write his name over and over, literally thousands of times. He also had to provide other writing samples. I think this is because they suspected he may have written the ransom note. I am hoping to get this clarified when I finally look at the case file in Suffolk County, NY later this year. I don't know what role Roy played in this mystery, but I don't think he was involved from the beginning. His involvement was probably more like not giving any incriminating information to the police, etc. I don't see him involved in the removal of Alice's body. Anna was a strong woman who was no stranger to manual labor, and to me it is possible she dealt with Alice by herself.

Regarding the trip to the train station - At first I was very fond of the idea that William and Anna had killed Alice the night before, and Anna masqueraded as Alice the next morning. But it turns out Alice purchased gasoline after dropping William off at the train station . The attendant knew her well and identified her beyond any doubt as being Alice.

About the ransom note - I'll have to look up the exact wording. I know it was fairly short, indicated the amount of money wanted and where to meet. The note was handwritten on inexpensive lined paper. The first note was addressed to William Parsons - calling him "Bill". Later notes were mailed to the house to Anna's attention, which is one of the stranger parts of this odd mystery.

Someone asked about how William Parsons returned home from the train station that night - he took a cab after waiting a while for Alice to appear.

Regarding William's move to California, there was no business reason for him to do so. He just wanted to get out of the limelight.

The Parsons home burned down quite some time ago. I do not know how thoroughly the basement was searched, which is another reason why I am anxious to review the police files.

Finally, I have never been able to get a firm handle on William Parsons. He was well-educated and from a very influential family, but he did not appear to have done much with his life. I suspect he may not have been the smartest fellow ever to have graduated from Yale. He worked for a short while for the family paper business, then after marrying Alice (when she was 25 years old), he "retired" to be a poultry farmer.

After moving to California, William got involved in lettuce farming, but I've been able to learn very little about his life after he and Anna married.

Well, guys, I hope this answers a lot of your questions. As soon as I can, I'll post the contents of the first ransom note.

I can't believe it has been so long since I've posted anything about this case.

After much seaching, I've found that the National Archives has over eight boxes of documents, mainly the FBI files, on Alice's kidnapping. I've been given permission to view them, which I hope to do before the end of August.

Once that has been done, I can get this book finalized.

It's interesting that the records were not filed under Alice Parsons - they were located under Anna Kuprianova! When I was told by the FBI that they had no records on Alice Parsons, I was shocked. But when I asked them to search for Anna, I hit the jackpot.

Hopefully there are still some of you who are interested in Alice's story.

Thanks!

I cannot wait for you to find out what's in those files! I wish I could come look at them too.

reportertype said:

I cannot wait for you to find out what's in those files! I wish I could come look at them too.

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Thanks! I am so excited about this. I've been chasing down these documents for quite some time. I submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the FBI for any records they had pertaining to Alice Parsons. After about three weeks, I was notified that they had nothing, and that the files may have been destroyed after J. Edgar Hoover left the FBI.:banghead:

I almost gave up at that point, but decided to see if there was anything on either William Parsons or Anna Kuprianova. I struck out on both of them, but a very nice researcher with the FBI called me and told me to contact the National Archives and ask for records on Anna Kuprianova. And that's when I hit the jackpot.:dance::dance::dance:

I guess this is a good example of not giving up!

The researcher at the National Archives wasn't able to give me details other than there are some "very juicy" documents in the files.

I'm hoping to go there in mid-July, because I doubt I can wait much longer!

I'm originally from that area, where was Long MeadowFarm? What became of the property after the house burned?

Marilynilpa said:

Thanks! I am so excited about this. I've been chasing down these documents for quite some time. I submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the FBI for any records they had pertaining to Alice Parsons. After about three weeks, I was notified that they had nothing, and that the files may have been destroyed after J. Edgar Hoover left the FBI.:banghead:

I almost gave up at that point, but decided to see if there was anything on either William Parsons or Anna Kuprianova. I struck out on both of them, but a very nice researcher with the FBI called me and told me to contact the National Archives and ask for records on Anna Kuprianova. And that's when I hit the jackpot.:dance::dance::dance:

I guess this is a good example of not giving up!

The researcher at the National Archives wasn't able to give me details other than there are some "very juicy" documents in the files.

I'm hoping to go there in mid-July, because I doubt I can wait much longer!

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I'd be on my way there right now to find out what the "very juicy" documents are!!!

Baily said:

I'm originally from that area, where was Long MeadowFarm? What became of the property after the house burned?

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It is in Stony Brook, LI. I've been told there is a laundromat there now, along with other commercial properties.

Lyn1001 said:

I'd be on my way there right now to find out what the "very juicy" documents are!!!

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If I could go sooner, I'd do it!

In addition to reading all the "juicy" stuff, I'm hoping to learn whether it's true that J. Edgar Hoover himself handled this investigation.

I'll be there on July 15th and 16th!:woohoo:

I just spoke to a friend from that area, she said that the property is at the end of University Heights Dr and is now part of Stony Brook University. She believes that it is a day care center and a parking lot (P lot).

She also said there was more than one fire on the property, one not too long ago (maybe 10 yrs or so) and there was digging there maybe 5-10 years ago looking for the remains.

Baily said:

I just spoke to a friend from that area, she said that the property is at the end of University Heights Dr and is now part of Stony Brook University. She believes that it is a day care center and a parking lot (P lot).

She also said there was more than one fire on the property, one not too long ago (maybe 10 yrs or so) and there was digging there maybe 5-10 years ago looking for the remains.

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Thanks so much for that info. I'd been told by someone who once lived in the area that the property had been commercialized. I'm glad to know it's part of Stony Brook University.

I am not surprised that 5-10 years ago someone was digging looking for Alice's remains - the Suffolk County Police Department still considers this an open investigation and retain all of the police records from this event. I think that is very admirable on their part, because I've researched much more recent cases (including one from 1975) where the records have already been destroyed.

Have you contacted the Three Village Historical Society and the Stony Brook Museum? They might be able to help with your research.

Baily said:

Have you contacted the Three Village Historical Society and the Stony Brook Museum? They might be able to help with your research.

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Yes, thanks, I have checked with them.

Another helpful research tool for me was this website:

http://www.suffolkhistoricnewspapers.org/

This is a project of the Suffolk County libraries, and it is fantastic. I was able to locate articles here about Alice Parsons that weren't in the major papers. Anyone doing historic research in this area should check out this site.

I'm always the lurker and never a poster. I've been following this case here on Websleuths for such a long time. I can't get enough of these really old cold cases.

I can't wait to hear all of the "juicy details" and read your book!

Marilyn - I CAN't wait to read your book!!!! Have fun researching! Keep dropping us tidbits.

WholeLottaRosie said:

Marilyn - I CAN't wait to read your book!!!! Have fun researching! Keep dropping us tidbits.

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Thanks for your kind words . . . I'll make sure to keep everyone up-to-date.

Unfortunately, I've already had to change my plans for visiting the National Archives - instead of next month, I'll be going August 12-13. I realized I had too many other commitments in July, one of them being a wedding which the bride-to-be selfishly refused to reschedule just because of me!!!

momtolil said:

I'm always the lurker and never a poster. I've been following this case here on Websleuths for such a long time. I can't get enough of these really old cold cases.

I can't wait to hear all of the "juicy details" and read your book!

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Thanks, Momtolil, I'm glad you've been following this case. I can't believe I first posted this in 2007!

It's funny reading back over my first posts. I relied solely upon newspaper articles for my info at that time, and it is amazing how much of it was incorrect.

I enjoy reading about these old cases, just like you. A couple of my other favorites are Lola Celli, a schoolteacher who vanished from Ohio while on her way downtown to purchase stockings, and Ruth Baumgardner, a college student who disappeared late one evening from her sorority house. It never ceases to amaze me how people can simply vanish, yet it happens all the time.:waitasec: