JUST IN: The Third Woman Ever Executed by US Federal Authorities — She Asked to Die Beside Her Lover 

A gas chamber, two chairs. She made a bold request that most people who walk into a gas chamber do not get to make, and the prison granted it. She did not ask for more time. She did not ask for mercy. She asked for a second chair so she would not have to die alone. Stop and think about that for a moment.

 Of every request she could have made in the final hours of her life, that was the one she chose. Why? What kind of bond forms between two people who do what these two did? What kind of loyalty survives a crime that shocked an entire nation? What does a woman hold on to so tightly that even death cannot loosen her grip on it? By the time this video ends, you will have your answer and it will not be the answer you are expecting.

 Welcome back to Red Mark Files. If this is your first time here, hit subscribe right now and drop a comment telling us where in the world you are watching from tonight. By the end of this video, you will understand exactly how a boy’s trust became the weapon used against him. His full name was Robert Cosgrove Green Leaf Jr. Everyone called him Bobby.

 He was born on February 3rd, 1947 in Kansas City, Missouri. He was a child when his world was taken from him. His father, Robert Greenley, Senior, was one of the wealthiest men in Kansas City. He built his fortune by introducing General Motors vehicles across the Great Plains from Texas all the way up to South Dakota.

 By the time Bobby was born, his father was 65 years old. His mother, Virginia Greenly, whose maiden name was Pollock, was Robert Senior’s second wife. They had married in 1939. Bobby had one sibling, an older adopted brother named Paul Robert Greenly. Paul was already a grown man by the time Bobby came into the world. That detail will matter very soon.

 The family lived in Mission Hills, one of the most affluent neighborhoods near Kansas City. Big home, private cars, private schooling. But people who knew the green leases said Robert and Virginia were not simply wealthy parents. They were devoted parents. Bobby was not just given things. He was loved. Bobby attended Notradam Deion, a Catholic preschool in Kansas City.

 He had only just enrolled. He was gentle. He was curious. And by every account from court records and those who knew him, he was deeply trusting. He followed adult instructions without question. He had never been given a reason to be afraid of the world around him. His family’s name appeared regularly in the Kansas City Press.

 Philanthropic work, business ventures, public recognition. That visibility painted a target on their door. Bobby’s only mistake was trusting an adult he had never met. And someone had been counting on exactly that. Two people planned this crime. One had everything and threw it away. The other had nothing left to lose. Carl Austin Hall was born in Pleasanton, Kansas.

 His father was a lawyer. He did not grow up poor. When both of his parents died, Carl inherited a large sum of money and roughly 1,100 acres of land. He sold the land. Then he spent everything. Alcohol consumed him. So did morphine. His marriage collapsed in divorce. With no money and no direction, Carl turned to crime.

 Court records confirm he was convicted of robbing a taxi cab driver of $38. He was sentenced to Missouri State Penitentiary, but here is the detail that changes everything. Back in the early 1930s, Carl had attended Keer Military School in Booneville, Missouri. One of his classmates was Paul Robert Green, Bobby’s older adopted brother.

Carl never forgot that name. From his prison cell, he read newspaper clippings reporting on Robert Greenley Senior’s wealth and public generosity. He studied the family from behind bars. He built a plan around them. Carl was parrolled in April 1953. He moved to St. Joseph, Missouri. That is where he found Bonnie.

Bonnie Brown Hedi was born in 1912 in Missouri. She grew up in a farming family. Nothing about her early life pointed toward where she would end up, but her adult years told a different story entirely. She had been married twice before Carl arrived. Her first husband was a bank robber. He was shot and killed by police after escaping from prison.

 Her second marriage lasted briefly and ended just one year before she met Carl. By 41, Bonnie was living alone in St. Joseph on money inherited from her father. Her home was known for heavy drinking and a revolving door of questionable company. Court records show she had no children and no stable family ties.

 When Carl walked through her door and laid out his plan, Bonnie did not push back. She did not ask questions. She was in completely and without hesitation. This crime did not begin on September 28th, 1953. It began years earlier inside a prison cell. While Carl Austin Hall sat locked up in Missouri State Penitentiary, he was not thinking about changing his life.

 He was thinking about the Green Lee name. He read newspaper clippings about Robert Greenley Senior’s wealth from behind bars. He studied the family. He built a plan around them. By the time he walked out on parole in April 1953, the idea was already fully formed in his mind. His first move after release was a phone call to the Green Le’s home.

 A maid answered, “She was cooperative and unsuspecting.” Without knowing what she was doing, she told Carl the names of both children in the household and the schools they attended. Two children, Virginia Sue and Bobby, both were children, barely teenagers. Virginia Sue was their first choice. But Carl and Bonnie quickly ruled her out.

 An 11-year-old could scream. She could run. She could fight back. Bobby was smaller. Bobby was younger. And Bobby, as they had observed, trusted adults completely. Through the summer of 1953, Carl and Bonnie made multiple trips to the Mission Hills neighborhood. They followed Virginia Green Lease as she dropped Bobby off at Notre Dame to Seion each morning.

 They tracked arrival times. They noted pickup patterns. Bonnie was not simply present during this phase. She was actively watching, actively recording, actively agreeing to every step. Before Bobby was ever taken, a ransom letter had already been written. Before he ever left that school, a grave had already been dug. Court records confirmed the lime and plastic sheeting were purchased in advance. They were not improvising.

Every detail was settled before Bobby ever walked out that school door, including where they would bury him. Once the target was chosen, Carl and Bonnie moved to the logistics. Every item on their list had one purpose. Carl purchased a 38 caliber snub-nosed revolver, bullets, a shovel, plastic sheeting, and a bag of lime.

 When investigators later asked Carl why he bought lime, his answer was recorded in court documents. He said, “I had read sometime in the past that hot lime would quickly eradicate human flesh and bone. He was not buying lime for a garden. He bought it for a grave. That grave was dug by Carl himself in the backyard of Bonnie’s home at 1201 South 38th Street in St.

 Joseph, Missouri, days before Bobby was ever taken from his school. The ransom letter was also written in advance. It demanded $600,000 in 10 and $20 bills. It instructed Robert Greenley, Senior, to place a classified advertisement in the Kansas City Star that read, “M, we’ll meet you in Chicago next Sunday, Mr. G.” The letter existed before the crime.

 The demand was ready before the child was taken. Roles were divided clearly. Bonnie would enter Notraam Deion alone, posing as Bobby’s aunt. She would tell school staff that Bobby’s mother had suffered a heart attack and that she was there to take him home. Carl would wait nearby in Bonnie’s station wagon. One person was brought into this without ever knowing it.

 His name was John Oliver Hager, a taxi cab driver working for the Ace cab company in Kansas City. Hager received a call to pick up a woman and a young boy and drive them to a meeting point. He did exactly that. He had no knowledge of what he was part of. He later testified in court. Carl also made one decision that would prove costly to him later.

 He chose to drive Bobby across the state line from Missouri into Johnson County, Kansas. That single choice handed federal jurisdiction to investigators under the Federal Kidnapping Act and brought the FBI directly into the case. No other accompllices were involved. No larger network existed, just two people, a pre-dug hole, and months of quiet planning.

 If you are watching this for the first time, hit that subscribe button right now. Drop a comment and let us know where in the world you are watching from. Now, back to September 28th, 1953. September 28th, 1953, Kansas City, Missouri. Carl and Bonnie left St. Joseph early that morning, driving to Kansas City and Bonnie’s station wagon.

They parked near Notre Dame to see on and waited. Just before 11:00 in the morning, Robert Greenly senior pulled up and dropped Bobby off at school. Carl and Bonnie watched. Then they drove to the nearby cat’s drugstore. Bonnie went inside and called for a taxi. Carl stayed in the station wagon and waited. The taxi arrived.

 Bonnie rode it back to the school, calm, composed. Nothing about her appearance raised alarm. Inside the school, she found a nun named Sister Mirand. Bonnie told her she was Bobby’s aunt. She said Bobby’s mother, Virginia, had suffered a heart attack and was being treated at St. Mary’s Hospital. She said she was there to take Bobby home immediately.

 Sister Miranda had no reason to question her. Bobby was pulled from class and brought to the school’s chapel. Bonnie told Bobby she was taking him to see his daddy. He did not question her. He did not cry. He did not pull back. Court records confirm he simply took her hand and walked out the door.

 Inside the taxi driven by John Oliver Hager, Bobby talked. He told Bonnie about his two dogs and his parrot. Bonnie told him they would stop for ice cream on the way. He believed her. The taxi reached the drop point. Carl was waiting in the station wagon. Hager drove away, completely unaware of what he had just been part of. Carl took the wheel.

 He drove south, crossing the state line from Missouri into Johnson County, Kansas. He eventually turned off the highway and pulled into a field near Overland Park, approximately 10 mi from Kansas City. Bonnie later told investigators she did not want to see what was about to happen. She told Bobby she was going to pick him a hedge apple from the field. She stepped away.

 Carl pulled a short length of rope from the car. He tried to strangle the boy. The rope was too short. Bobby struggled. Carl threw the rope to the ground. He reached for his 38 caliber revolver. He shot Bobby in the head at close range. Court records confirm Bobby Green lease, a child, died in that field.

 They drove the body back across the state line to St. Joseph at 1201 South 38th Street. They placed Bobby in the pre-dug grave in Bonnie’s backyard, wrapped in plastic, covered in lime, then buried under top soil and flowers. From the outside, it looked like an ordinary garden. That same evening, Carl sat down and began writing the first ransom letter.

 He demanded $600,000 for a child already buried beneath his feet. Back at Notraam Deion, something was not sitting right with the school staff. After Bonnie walked out with Bobby, they decided to check on Virginia Greenley. They picked up the phone and called her directly. She answered she had not suffered a heart attack.

 She had not sent anyone to collect her son. In that moment, the school and the Greenly family understood the same terrible truth at the same time. Bobby was gone. Robert Greenley Senior received the first ransom letter shortly after. $600,000, the largest ransom demand in American history at that time.

 He had no reason to believe his son was not still alive. He followed every instruction. Over the following days, six ransom letters arrived and approximately 15 phone calls were made to the family. Carl kept the lie going. At one point, he told Robert Senior that Bobby had said his parrot could whistle.

 A detail Bobby had shared with Bonnie during the taxi ride. It was a calculated cruelty. Carl was using a dead child’s own words to keep his father paying. Robert Senior held law enforcement back exactly as the kidnappers demanded. He reached out to Arthur Eisenhower, a banker and the brother of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, to help arrange the payment.

Eisenhower made sure every single bill was documented. Serial numbers were recorded on every 10 and $20 note before the money left their hands. On October 5th, 1953, Robert Senior left the $600,000 duffel bag at a bridge near Highway 40, east of Kansas City. Carl collected it that night. Then he and Bonnie drove nearly 400 m to St. Louis.

And Carl immediately began spending the money in the open without caution, without care. The moment Bobby was carried across the state line from Missouri into Kansas, the Federal Bureau of Investigation had full jurisdiction. Under the Federal Kidnapping Act, federal agents moved in and embedded themselves alongside local investigators.

 The Green Lee family cooperated with everything asked of them. Every ransom letter was preserved. Every phone call was traced where possible. And the decision Arthur Eisenhower had made earlier to record the serial number of every single 10 and $20 bill was about to prove more important than anyone realized. Robert Greenley Senior dropped the $600,000 duffel bag at a bridge near Highway 40 on October 5th, 1953.

 The FBI had eyes on the drop. Carl collected the bag that night and drove nearly 400 m to St. Louis with Bonnie. He did not slow down. He did not hide. He rented rooms at the Townhouse Hotel and hired a taxi cab driver to work as his personal chauffeur. He flashed large amounts of cash in public places. He spent openly, recklessly, and without the slightest attempt to conceal where the money was coming from.

 That behavior did not go unnoticed. Word of a man throwing around enormous amounts of cash reached Joe Costello, the owner of the cab company Carl was using. Costello had connections inside the St. Louis Police Department. He passed the information up the chain. It landed with Lieutenant Lewis Shoulders and patrolman Elmer Dolan. Meanwhile, Bonnie had been left in a rented apartment on Arsenal Street in St. Louis.

 Out of $600,000, Carl had given her approximately $2,000. She had no car. She had no way to leave. She was waiting. Carl’s own carelessness was doing the investigators work for them. The FBI continued cross-referencing tip reports with the logged bill serial numbers. They were closing in and Carl had no idea. October 6th, 1953.

 Lieutenant Shoulders and patrolman Dolan walked into the Townhouse Hotel in St. Louis. They arrested Carl Austin Hall on the spot. A large amount of cash was found in his possession, but investigators would soon discover that the number did not add up. Carl did not confess immediately. He tried to redirect attention by inventing a fictional accomplice named Tom Marsh, claiming this invented person was the real killer. The name meant nothing.

 It pointed to no one. Within hours, the story fell apart under questioning. Carl then gave up Bonnie’s location. That same night, police went to the apartment on Arsenal Street in St. Louis and arrested Bonnie Brown Heiti without resistance. Investigators moved immediately to Bonnie’s home at 1201 South 38th Street in St.

 Joseph, Missouri. In the backyard, beneath a flower bed, they found Bobby’s body in a shallow grave exactly where Carl and Bonnie had placed him the afternoon they took him from school. Blood stains and spent shell casings from a 38 caliber weapon were also recovered inside the house. Then came the question of the money.

 Of the $600,000 paid by Robert Greenley Senior, only approximately $288,000 was officially recovered and logged by police. The remaining $312,000 was never fully accounted for. A federal grand jury investigated. Court records reveal that Lieutenant Shoulders and Patrolman Dolan had given false testimony about how much cash was found on Carl at the time of his arrest.

 Both officers were convicted of perjury. Dolan was sentenced to two years in prison. He was later pardoned by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965. Shoulders was sentenced to three years. He died on May 12th, 1962 before many questions surrounding the missing money were ever fully answered. On October 12th, 1953, both Carl and Bonnie formally confessed.

 Bonnie acknowledged her role in planning and carrying out the abduction. She maintained she did not pull the trigger herself. Because Bobby Greenley had been taken across state lines, the federal government held full authority over this case. Carl and Bonnie were prosecuted under the Federal Kidnapping Act, a charge that carried the death penalty.

 On October 30th, 1953, Carl Austin Hall and Bonnie Brown Hedi appeared in federal court in Kansas City. Both entered guilty p to kidnapping. Neither one challenged the evidence. Neither one mounted a defense. There was nothing left to argue. The only matter placed before the jury was a single question. What punishment did they deserve? The jury took 1 hour and 8 minutes to reach their answer.

 On November 19th, 1953, the jury recommended the death penalty for both Carl and Bonnie. The presiding judge accepted the recommendation and formally signed off on the sentence. Neither Carl nor Bonnie filed an appeal. Court records confirm that both declined every legal avenue available to challenge their sentences. They did not fight it.

They accepted it and waited. The speed of this case was noted across the entire country. Bobby was taken on September 28th. A death sentence was handed down by November 19th. Barely 7 weeks had passed from the day a boy walked out of his school for the last time to the day a court decided his killers would die.

That speed was made possible by one decision Carl and Bonnie made without thinking through its consequences, crossing the state line into Kansas. That single geographic choice handed the federal government jurisdiction over the entire case and accelerated every step that followed. For Bonnie, the sentence carried a weight beyond punishment.

 She was among the very few women in American history to be sentenced to death under federal authority. What that meant in full would be made clear on December 18th, 1953. From the morning Bobby Greenley was taken, September 28th, 1953, to the night his killers were executed, December 18th, 1953, only 81 days passed.

 81 days from the crime to the chamber. It remains one of the fastest progressions from capital crime to execution in American legal history. Carl and Bonnie spent those weeks at the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City. No appeals were filed. No legal motions were submitted. No lastminute attempts were made to delay what was coming. The date stood firm.

 Before the execution, Bonnie made three requests. She asked to wear her green dress on the day she died. The prison said yes. She asked to marry Carl Hall before the execution took place. The prison said no. She asked for a second chair to be placed inside the gas chamber so she and Carl would not die separately but side by side.

 The warden granted that request. On the night of December 18th, 1953, Carl and Bonnie were led into the gas chamber together. Witnesses stood present to observe the sentence being carried out. As the gas began to fill the chamber, those watching saw Bonnie puff her cheeks outward. She was holding her breath, trying to delay what she could not stop.

 Witnesses later described a brief uncomfortable feeling of pity as they watched her. That feeling, they said, did not last long. It was difficult to hold on to pity when the mind returned to a six-year-old boy wrapped in plastic and buried under a flower bed in St. Joseph, Missouri. Both were pronounced dead shortly after the process began.

 Carl Austin Hall was 34 years old. Bonnie Brown Hedi was 41. Bonnie became the third woman ever executed by United States federal authorities and the only woman in American history to be executed by federal gassing. She is buried in Claremont, Nawway County, Missouri, the same place where she grew up. Because the federal government did not operate its own execution facility at that time, Missouri’s state gas chamber was used.

This was standard practice for all federal executions carried out during the 20th century. When it was all over, investigators counted every dollar they could find. Of the $600,000 paid by Robert Greenley Senior, only approximately $288,000 was officially recovered. The remaining $312,000 was never found.

 It did not simply disappear into thin air. Two police officers were convicted and sent to federal prison over the missing money, but the full truth of where that money went has never been established. To this day, $312,000 from the largest ransom payment in American history remains unaccounted for.

 Bobby Green Lee was laid to rest in the Green Leaf family mausoleum at Forest Hill Calvary Cemetery in Kansas City. He was 6 years old. He had done nothing wrong. He had not fought back. He had not caused any trouble. His only act on the morning of September 28th, 1953 was to trust an adult who lied to him. That trust cost him everything. Robert and Virginia Green Lee paid every price that was asked of them.

 They followed instructions. They gathered the money. They recorded every serial number. They did everything right. Their sons still never came home. Two people planned this crime together. They dug the grave together. They bought the lime together. They asked to die together. In the end, they got exactly what they chose.

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