Mary McElroy, The Wealthy Kidnapping Victim Who Later Became Friends With Her Kidnappers
The young victim of a crime later befriended those who did harm to her, and ended up struggling for the rest of her short life
Being the victim of kidnapping is no joke. People who are forcibly taken and held for ransom face uncertainty about whether they will ever see freedom again; or possibly if they will even live through the ordeal. That’s what makes the case of Mary McElroy all the more fascinating. In 1933, the young adult daughter of a wealthy Kansas City family was snatched from her home from men desperate to be paid to return her. Although she was eventually safely released, she ended up shocking many by later becoming friends with her captors and even advocating on their behalf for leniency before she took her own life a few years later.
Mary McElroy was born on November 25, 1907 in Kansas City. Her father, Judge Henry F. McElroy, served as the City Manager there, accumulating wealth and reputation.
On the evening of May 27, 1933, 25-year-old Mary was enjoying a bubble bath at her father’s home, when four men (brothers George and Walter McGee, Clarence Click, and Clarence Stevens) disguised as delivery drivers, broke into the house wearing masks and…
