Warning. This episode contains details that some listeners may find disturbing. She was young, beautiful and murdered on Easter. When police arrived at a New York City apartment on Easter Sunday 1937. They found a macabre scene that would change the way New York dealt with the criminally insane. A sultry and scandalous model named Veronica Getty and her mother Mary, and their boarder, Frank Burns, were all dead. The press and public victim blamed Veronica. But the killer was on the run.
This is a study of strange. Welcome back to the show. I'm Michael May. Truth be told, I was going to take this week off of a study of strange. But as I'm asked to do, I don't know if that's a phrase off to do, but as I'm off to do. I was reading about strange stories and myths and crimes around Easter because yesterday, as I'm recording, this was the Easter holiday and I came across this tale which had a huge emotional impact on the public and also an impact on the lives of New York.
And this is all to say that I'm making a quick episode of True Mini Sode. I'm even going to have minimal, if any, sound design to this episode, and shared this terrifying case from the Easter holiday. Let's start in New York City at 316 East 50th Street, March 28th, 1937 Easter Sunday. This is just another brownstone in the neighborhood, and inside lived some of the Gedeon family. Veronica, just 20 years old. Her mother, Mary. And they also have a boarder, Frank Byrnes, who was a deaf bartender.
Veronica is the most well known from this case because she was a model. She didn't pose for anything too risque by today's standards, but to depression era America and in the aftermath of this crime, all of her images and work was considered provocative.
Her photos ran in pulp magazines, detective magazines, advertisements, and in some cases she was scantily clad or had sensual photos, and in the crime magazines she would pose in these victim situations, sort of tied up or reacting to a killer coming towards her. And on this day, Veronica, Mary and Frank were found killed.
It was Veronica's father, Joseph Gedeon, and her older sister, Ethel, who discovered the bodies Joseph and Mary and Gideon were separated but not divorced, and he had been invited over with the family for an Easter holiday, and he showed up with Ethel. They found the door partially open, and they entered the apartment and found it completely silent, except for Veronica's pet Pekinese dog. They found a devastating scene. Veronica Gedeon was found naked and strangled to death on her bed.
Her mother, Mary had also been strangled, but was found under Veronica's bed as if hidden. Mary was also partially naked, and it was later determined that she put up a fight because a bruising found on her body. Frank Burns was then found in his room, stabbed at least 11 times. There was no sign of forced entry. police were baffled because nothing had been stolen. No valuables were missing. The only object that was intriguing that was found was a small sculpture carved from a piece of soap.
Newspapers had a field day because of Veronica's modeling. They would share her photos in all the press. The Daily News, the New York Post, the Journal American. Her image being a beautiful woman, sometimes in provocative poses, was used to sell newspapers, and it also created a lot of fictitious versions of what was going on in the case, as you can imagine. But who would kill these three and why?
In an all too familiar case of victim blaming, the press and public had their eyes on Veronica claiming that she had been out with too many men and that caused one of these men to commit the murder. So how dare she? But behind the scenes at the NYPD, they had a few initial persons of interest, including Joseph Gedeon, the father being a separated husband. But suspicion began to shift to another man. And Veronica was not the focus of this man's deadly intent.
The suspect was Robert George Irwin, a 29 year old sculptor who had been a previous boarder in the Getty and apartment. Irwin had a long history of mental instability. He was a recurring mental hospital patient who had spent years in institutions like Bellevue and Rockland State Hospital. He was the son of an evangelical preacher, and he had a really rough childhood, and he began his experiences in mental institutions as a child.
During Robert Irwin stay in the Getty and apartment, he became obsessed with Ethel Getty and Veronica's older sister, and there were some reports that this obsession is the reason he moved out of the home. He was kicked out because of his behavior and actions towards Ethel. The ensuing manhunt for Robert Irwin was massive.
It was apparently the biggest in the state since the kidnaping of the Lindbergh baby, and Irwin had fled New York City, and the manhunt expand it across the country to find him. For about three months, he lived as a fugitive under assumed names, and then he was found under the alias Bob Murray, working as a bellhop at the Statler Hotel in Cleveland, Ohio. In June of 1937. He pretty quickly pled guilty to second degree murder.
And in his published confession, Irwin shared the events of that night. He said Ethel was his intended victim because she was the dearest object in the world to him. Some accounts claim that he wanted to make a death mask of her. He claimed the other deaths were accidental, and described arriving at the Getty and home, being told to leave by Mary, and then he lost control. He admitted to strangling Mary after this argument and then he lied in wait in the apartment.
Veronica came home late, changed for bed, and then saw Irwin and he strangled Veronica after she screamed his name. Finally, he moved on to Frank Byrne's room and stabbed Frank to death. One detective noted that Irwin recounted the murders calmly, as if he was just going about his usual daily activities. And again, this case was a media frenzy. Headlines ran on front pages about the arrest of Irwin, and newspapers continued to talk about Veronica and share her modeling images.
Irwin had been given the moniker of the mad sculptor. Irwin struck a plea deal and never had to face a jury, and he was given 139 years to life in prison for his sentence. But the question of his sanity loomed large immediately after his sentencing. State psychiatrists and a lunacy commission. I didn't know that was a thing, but the Lunacy Commission concluded that Irwin was definitely insane.
As a result, Irwin was not sent to prison, but rather to a state hospital for the criminally insane, and this had blowback. The public was enraged because they considered this sentence to be too light, since Irwin is avoiding capital punishment in their minds, especially for someone who killed so violently and showed little remorse. And that's where this case has a lasting impact, a legal impact, I should say, on how New York and other jurisdictions viewed the insanity defense.
Irwin pleaded guilty. Not not guilty by reason of insanity. It's hard to say not not guilty by reason of insanity. This meant that there was no formal insanity trial. The public and lawmakers questioned whether the law should be modified to handle certain situations like this differently. Although Irwin would die while incarcerated, New York did implement changes in its mental health laws in the aftermath of this case.
One major outcome was a push for tighter controls and the release of the criminally insane, and in the years following, New York created the Dangerous Offender Law and improved the oversight of psychiatric discharges. This also sparked discussion on whether the insanity plea could be abused. Today, 316 East 50th Street is gone, but the legacy of this case continues.
Obviously, in courtrooms, Some of those laws are probably already changed because we do have better understanding of psychiatric today, and I'm sure they'll continue to evolve But this is also a tragic cautionary tale, and it's also an example of how press has an influence on criminal cases, which has not has not changed. And I don't think it will. Thank you for listening to this quick mini sode of A study of strange.
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