Gary Krist

Case identification

Gary Krist

Background

Gary Steven Krist (born April 29, 1945) lived part of his childhood in Utah. His first recorded crime was a string of robberies at the age of 14.

Krist entered confinement on June 2, 1961, escaped, and was recaptured in Idaho on July 29, 1961.

At age eighteen, Krist was sentenced to the state vocational school at Tracy, California, on conviction for two auto thefts in the vicinity of Oakland. He was released on December 4, 1964.

Krist was next arrested on January 6, 1966, after stealing two cars from a sales lot in San Mateo, California. He was convicted of auto theft on May 20, 1966, and drew a term of six months to five years in state prison.

Krist escaped from custody on November 11, 1966, and was still at large two years later.

Krist received a pardon to allow him to become a doctor. He practiced medicine in rural Indiana before his license was revoked in 2003 as a result of lying about disciplinary action received during his residency.

In the fall of 2001, Krist and his wife’s stepson, Henry Jackson (Jackie) Greeson, incorporated Greeson & Krist Construction Inc. with the Georgia Secretary of State. The company claimed specialties in sheet metal fabrication and “bullet-proof rooms.” Krist also developed a secondary specialty.

The offence

On December 17, 1968, Mackle—then a 20-year-old Emory University student—was staying at the Rodeway Inn in Decatur, Georgia with her mother. Her mother had driven to the Atlanta area to take care of her daughter and then drive her daughter back to the family home in Coral Gables, Florida for the Christmas break.

A stranger, Gary Steven Krist, knocked on the door, claimed to be with the police, and told Mackle that Stewart Hunt Woodward had been in a traffic accident. Krist’s accomplice, Ruth Eisemann-Schier, who was disguised as a man, entered with Krist. Krist and Eisemann-Schier chloroformed, bound and gagged Mackle’s mother, then forced Barbara Jane Mackle at gunpoint into the back of their waiting car, informing her that she was being kidnapped.

Krist and Eisemann-Schier drove her to a remote pine forest off of South Berkeley Lake Road in Gwinnett County near Duluth, and buried Mackle in a fiberglass-reinforced box. The box was outfitted with an air pump, a battery-powered lamp, water laced with sedatives, and food. Two plastic pipes provided Mackle with outside air.

Krist and Eisemann-Schier demanded a $500,000 ransom from Mackle’s father, Robert Mackle, a wealthy Florida land developer, and received it. The first attempt at a ransom drop was disrupted when two policemen drove by; the kidnappers fled on foot and the FBI found their car, abandoned. Inside the car, authorities found documents giving Krist’s and Eisemann-Schier’s names and former addresses, and a photograph of Barbara Jane Mackle in the box holding a sign that read “Kidnapped.” The second ransom drop was successful.

On December 20, Krist called and gave an FBI switchboard operator vague directions to Mackle’s burial place. The FBI set up their base in Lawrenceville, Gwinnett’s county seat, and more than 100 agents spread out through the area in an attempt to find her, digging the ground with their hands and anything they could find to use. Mackle was rescued alive and unharmed, though she was dehydrated. She had spent over three days underground.

Mackle wrote survival instructions left in the capsule by Krist and Ruth Eisemann-Schier. The instructions said:

DO NOT BE ALARMED. YOU ARE SAFE. YOU ARE PRESENTLY INSIDE A FIBERGLASS REINFORCED PLYWOOD CAPSULE BURIED BENEATH THE GROUND NEAR THE HOUSE IN WHICH YOUR KIDNAPPERS ARE STAYING. YOUR STATUS WILL BE CHECKED APPROXIMATELY EVERY 2 HOURS. THE CAPSULE IS QUITE STRONG, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO BREAK IT OPEN. BE ADVISED, HOWEVER, THAT YOU ARE BENEATH THE WATER TABLE. IF YOU BREAK OPEN A SEAM YOU WOULD DROWN BEFORE WE COULD DIG YOU OUT. THE CAPSULE INSTRUMENTATION CONTAINS A WATER SENSITIVE SWITCH WHICH WILL WARN US IF THE WATER ENTERS THE CAPSULE TO A DANGEROUS DEGREE. YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON THE AIR DELIVERED TO YOUR CHAMBER VIA THE VENTILATION FAN. THIS FAN IS POWERED BY A LEAD-ACID STORAGE BATTERY CAPABLE OF SUPPLYING THE FAN MOTOR WITH POWER FOR 270 HOURS. HOWEVER, THE USE OF THE LIGHT AND OTHER SYSTEMS FOR ONLY A FEW HOURS COUPLED WITH THE HIGHER AMPERAGE DRAIN WILL REDUCE THIS FIGURE TO ONLY ONE WEEK OF SAFETY. SHOULD THE AIR SUPPLIED PROVE TO BE TOO MUCH YOU CAN PARTLY BLOCK THE AIR OUTLET WITH A PIECE OF PAPER. A MUFFLER HAS BEEN PLACED IN THE AIR PASSAGE TO PREVENT ANY NOISE YOU MAKE FROM REACHING THE SURFACE: IF WE DETECT ANY COMMOTION WHICH WE FEEL IS DANGEROUS, WE WILL INTRODUCE ETHER TO THE AIR INTAKE AND PUT YOU TO SLEEP. THE FAN OPERATES ON 6 VOLTS. IT HAS A SWITCH WITH TWO POSITIONS TO SWITCH BETWEEN THE TWO AVAILABLE CIRCUITS. SHOULD ONE CIRCUIT FAIL TURN TO THE OTHER. THE BOX HAS A PUMP WHICH WILL EVACUATE ANY ACCIDENTAL LEAKAGE FROM THE BOX WHEN YOU TURN THE PUMP SWITCH ON TO THE “ON” POSITION. THIS PUMP USES 15 TIMES AS MUCH POWER AS YOUR VENTILATION FAN (7.5 AMPS); YOUR LIFE SUPPORT BATTERY WILL NOT ALLOW USE OF THE PUMP EXCEPT FOR EMERGENCY WATER EVACUATION. THE LIGHT USES 2.5 TIMES THE AMPERAGE OF THE AIR CIRCULATION SYSTEM. USE OF THE LIGHT WHEN NOT NECESSARY WILL CUT YOUR BATTERY SAFETY MARGIN SUBSTANTIALLY. IF YOU USE THE LIGHT CONTINUOUSLY YOUR LIFE EXPECTANCY WILL BE CUT TO ONE THIRD OF THE WEEK WE HAVE ALLOTTED YOU BEFORE YOU ARE RELEASED. YOUR CAPSULE CONTAINS A WATER JUG WITH THREE GALLONS OF WATER AND A TUBE FROM WHICH TO DRINK IT. BE CAREFUL TO BLOW THE WATER FROM THE TUBE WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED DRINKING TO AVOID SIPHONING THE WATER ONTO THE FLOOR WHEN THE TUBE END DROPS BELOW THE WATER LEVEL. YOUR CAPSULE CONTAINS A BUCKET FOR REFUSE AND THE PRODUCTS OF YOUR BOWEL MOVEMENTS. THE BUCKET HAS AN ANTIBACTERIAL SOLUTION IN IT: DON’T TIP IT OVER. THE LID SEALS TIGHTLY TO PREVENT THE ESCAPE OF ODORS. A ROLL OF WAX PAPER IS PROVIDED - USE IT TO PREVENT SOLID WASTE FROM CONTAMINATING YOUR BED. KOTEX IS PROVIDED SHOULD YOU NEED IT. BLANKETS AND A MAT ARE PROVIDED. YOUR WARMTH DEPENDS ON BODY HEAT SO REGULATE THE AIR TO PREVENT LOSS OF HEAT FROM THE CAPSULE. A CASE OF CANDY IS PROVIDED TO FURNISH ENERGY TO YOUR BODY. TRANQUILIZERS ARE PROVIDED TO AID YOU IN SLEEPING - THE BEST WAY YOU HAVE TO PASS THE TIME. THE VENTILATION SYSTEM IS DOUBLY SCREENED TO PREVENT INSECTS OR ANIMALS FROM ENTERING THE CAPSULE AREA. YOU RISK BEING EATEN BY ANTS SHOULD YOU BREAK THESE PROTECTION SCREENS. THE ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS BEHIND THESE SCREENS ARE DELICATE AND THEY SUPPORT YOUR LIFE. DON’T ATTEMPT TO TOUCH THESE CIRCUITS. WE’RE SURE YOUR FATHER WILL PAY THE RANSOM WE HAVE ASKED IN LESS THAN ONE WEEK. WHEN YOUR FATHER PAYS THE RANSOM WE WILL TELL HIM WHERE YOU ARE AND HE’LL COME FOR YOU. SHOULD HE FAIL TO PAY WE WILL RELEASE YOU, SO BE CALM AND REST - YOU’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.

Mackle later wrote:

I started screaming and pounding to try to get out. With my fists I hit the walls as hard as I could. With all my strength I braced and pushed ... I was screaming, 'God, no, you can't leave me!'

Mackle told her rescuers:

You are the handsomest men I've ever seen.

Krist also left a note inside the capsule containing the statement:

DO NOT BE ALARMED. YOU ARE SAFE ... YOU'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.

Krist called and gave instructions to the Mackle home that morning. The instructions included placing a classified ad in the next day’s Miami Herald if Mackle agreed to pay.

A ransom instruction ad appeared in the paper:

LOVED ONE: Please come home. We will pay all expense and meet you anywhere at any time. Your Family.

Krist purchased a 16-foot motorboat using the name Arthur Horowitz. At D & D Marine Supply in West Palm Beach, owner Norman Oliphant called police just after “Horowitz” towed the boat off the lot. An FBI account included Krist’s call leaving directions to Barbara Mackle’s burial site.

Krist was arrested off the coast of Florida in a speedboat bought with part of the ransom money. Eisemann-Schier was arrested 79 days later and was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison, paroled after serving four years and deported to her native Honduras.

Investigation

Authorities verified a confession Krist gave while in custody, involving a death described as death by accident with the case identical to Krist’s description.

Krist claimed an Alaska killing involved a homosexual relationship at age fourteen and said he killed the man by tripping him while they were walking on a bridge across a deep ravine. Investigators verified a case identical to Krist’s description that had previously been described as death by accident.

Krist asserted he had killed a girl near San Diego by strangling and beating her to death and concealing her body under a pile of rocks. Local officers confirmed the discovery of Helen Crow’s body on October 3, 1964, with a coroner’s estimate of death occurring six to eight weeks earlier. Krist was under lock and key at Tracy, California at that time.

Krist reported a third homicide in 1961 shortly after his escape from confinement in Utah. Officers confirmed discovery of a skeleton near Wendover, Utah on July 27, 1967. The coroner’s vague estimate of death roughly corresponded with Krist’s period of freedom from custody.

Krist refrained from offering details about a fourth murder.

In March 2006, Krist was arrested (along with his stepson) on a sailboat off the coast of Alabama with over 38 pounds of cocaine, reportedly worth about $1 million, in his possession.

Authorities found an underground drug lab beneath a shed on Krist’s property. On March 10, drug investigators searched Krist’s home on Georgia Highway 324 just outside of Auburn, 35 miles east of Atlanta, and discovered a subterranean cocaine-processing workshop concealed by a trap door in the floor of a small garden shed, including a submarine-style workshop built inside a metal cylinder measuring 27 1/2 feet long and 8 feet in diameter. The lab was equipped with running water and electricity and was stocked with chemicals and containers used to convert cocaine from paste to powder, with authorities believing Krist and Greeson then sold the processed cocaine in Atlanta. Investigators also found an escape route—a tunnel nearly 20 yards long ending in a camouflaged 50-gallon barrel.

Arrest

In flight, Krist used some of the ransom money to purchase a boat planning to escape by water. A Coast Guard helicopter trailed him until Krist abandoned his craft on Hog Island, in Charleston Harbor. Captured by Sheriff Richard McLeod on December 22, Krist was held in lieu of $500,000 bail.

On January 3, Krist and his accomplice were indicted on state charges of kidnapping with ransom, a capital crime in Georgia.

On March 6, 2006, after Krist returned to Mobile Bay, local, state and federal lawmen seized four illegal aliens—two from Colombia and two from Ecuador—who had paid Krist $6,000 each, and seized four illegal aliens along with 38 pounds of cocaine in paste form.

On March 10, 2006, drug investigators executed a search warrant at Krist’s house at 134 Georgia Highway 324 northwest of Auburn.

Trial

Kidnapping case

Krist and his accomplice, Ruth Eisemann-Schier, faced kidnapping-related proceedings in Georgia.

Krist was convicted of kidnapping on May 26, 1969.

Murder-related convictions

Krist was never charged with murder.

Drug case

Krist and Greeson pleaded guilty on May 16, 2006, in U.S. District Court in Mobile to conspiracy to import cocaine and smuggling aliens.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Deborah Griffin postponed sentencing three times because Krist was trying to cooperate with federal authorities.

Krist and Greeson were expected to testify against Antonio Bryan Joseph, accused of conspiring with the men to distribute the cocaine.

Sentencing

Krist was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for kidnapping in Georgia in 1969.

Krist was paroled May 14, 1979, after serving ten years.

Krist’s drug case resulted in a guilty plea on May 16, 2006, and on January 19, 2007 he was sentenced to more than five years in prison and specifically “to five years” by drug smuggling.

Appeals

There were no appeal outcomes stated for the kidnapping case.

Outcome

Mackle was rescued alive and unharmed after being buried in the box for over three days.

Krist was granted a pardon so he could become a doctor. He practiced medicine in Indiana before his license was revoked in 2003.

Eisemann-Schier was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison, paroled after four years, and deported to Honduras.

Aftermath

Mackle went on to marry Woodward and have two children, and at last report she was living in Florida. She declined all requests for interviews.

Mackle coauthored a memoir about her ordeal, “83 Hours Till Dawn,” in 1971. ABC aired “The Longest Night” as part of its ABC Movie of the Week showcase in 1972, and the movie was later never aired again due to litigation about rights before a later court decision overturned the issue.

Mackle wrote:

I wanted to tell it once completely and as honestly as I could, so that it will be behind me. I want to end it. I want to put it behind me. Once and for all, I want it to be over. Forever and ever.

Mackle told:

I know that I did not want Krist to be executed. For one reason, it was he who called (the FBI to free her).

Mackle’s father, Robert Mackle, said:

Nobody will understand that it didn't affect her.

Krist wrote a book, “Life: The Man Who Kidnapped Barbara Jane Mackle,” published in 1972 (ISBN 0-7004-0100-8).

Krist’s 1971 letter included:

Of course my crime was evil, immoral, and cruel and I cannot excuse it. I don't deserve forgiveness but it would make me happy to receive it. The crime is past and I can learn from it but I cannot change it.

Krist also wrote “Life” in 1972 and included:

I'm reconciled to pay my social bill. And then maybe ... I can go out and live, if not in perfect amity, then perhaps within a square-shooting truce that will lead to my repudiation of the hostile spirit down to its last vestige.

When evaluated in 1969, Krist was described as “borderline schizophrenic.”

A quote attributed to an interviewer who wrote a 1969 classification and admission summary said:

He seems to have an obsession for others to think of him as a superior individual. He talked of his crime being part of a grand design which he had.

Krist told a court-appointed shrink:

I am a superior human being.

During a break one day, Krist told reporters:

the electric chair or whatever means these barbarian humans use these days, I suppose.

During his arrest, deputies reported that Krist’s first words were:

I have rights!

After his parole in 1979, Krist started taking college classes in Alaska with an eye toward becoming a doctor. He enrolled in Caribbean medical schools after receiving a pardon.

Krist was arrested in March 2006 in Alabama related to drug trafficking and smuggling and faced federal custody, with a pending trial date on the drug charge referenced in the material.