Robert Burgunder

Name

Robert Burgunder

Background

Robert Marcus Burgunder Jr. was generally regarded by those who knew him as a model young man. He was smart and well-behaved. During school vacations he worked in the Wrest Coast harvest fields, drove a tractor on a cinema studio lot, and organized magazine sales crews.

Robert's father is a respected lawyer in Seattle, a onetime prosecuting attorney. Robert followed each one of his father's criminal cases with intense interest, spotting in each case the malefactor's errors which led to detection and capture. Mr. Burgunder was somewhat puzzled by this absorption, but not enough disquieted to put a stop to it.

In 1936 dark, handsome Robert, not yet 20, put on his Boy Scout uniform, went out and held up a drugstore, took $14. He was identified and caught, sentenced to a reformatory. Robert began to suspect that there was a kink in his son's mind. Eventually paroled, Robert entered a teachers' college at Tempe, Ariz.

His classmates found him hard to understand and envied his ability to wangle high marks with hardly any study. His teacher of public speaking was puzzled when Robert handed in an outline for a speech entitled "Murder," describing a "perfect crime."

Recently Robert's acquaintances noticed that he was acting even more queerly than usual. He moved out of his dormitory and took a room in a hotel.

The offence

In Phoenix last fortnight, two automobile salesmen were lounging in their showroom when a mannerly young man walked in, asked for a demonstration. All three went out in a car. They were not heard from again.

After the disappearance, Mr. Burgunder was told in last week in Seattle that two men had been found shot dead in the Arizona desert, their feet bound with their own belts.

Investigation

In Phoenix last fortnight, police guessed from descriptions that young Burgunder was one of the party after the three were not heard from again. Last week in Seattle, Mr. Burgunder learned that two men had been found shot dead in the Arizona desert, their feet bound with their own belts.

Arrest

In Johnson City, Tenn., a student at East Tennessee State Teachers College became suspicious last week when a strange, nervous boy turned up and said he was going to enroll. Police looked him over, found an automatic pistol in his car, and got him to admit he was Junior Burgunder.

He swore that all he knew of the Phoenix killings was what he had heard over the radio.

Trial

The case narrative included his earlier conviction: in 1936, he was identified and caught for holding up a drugstore, sentenced to a reformatory, and later paroled.

Sentencing

After being identified in 1936 for holding up a drugstore and taking $14, Robert was sentenced to a reformatory and later paroled.

He was executed by asphyxiation-gas in Arizona on August 9, 1940.

Outcome

Two men were found shot dead in the Arizona desert with their feet bound with their own belts. The bodies were those of the salesmen.

Aftermath

In last week in Seattle, Mr. Burgunder was told that the bodies were those of the salesmen. When he heard the information, he said: "I hope," and later: "that one of them is my son." After being told that the bodies were those of the salesmen, he said: "My God! I was afraid of that."