Lester Brockelhurst

Lester Jr. was born in Peoria, Illinois, the first son of Mormon couple Lester Warfel Brockelhurst Sr. and his wife Edyth (née DuPree).^[1][2] Another son, Karl, was born in 1930, and Lester also had a sister named Fern Irene. Six months after Lester's birth, his family moved to Galesburg, Illinois, where they stayed until moving to Dallas, Texas, in 1926. Lester's father started an interior decorating business while the family was in Dallas. Lester attended grade school in Dallas before moving back to Illinois with his parents and sister, this time settling in the village of Maquon, Illinois, which is located near Galesburg. He graduated from Maquon High School; after completing his schooling, he went to work at his father's painting and decorating business, which was relocated from Dallas.^[1]

For some time in Galesburg, Brockelhurst was the president of the Mormon church's Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association; he was also a Sunday school teacher. While in high school, Brockelhurst gained experience in drama and public speaking. He could not participate in athletics due to having received an injury while trying to pole vault.^[1]

Brockelhurst met Bernice Felton (then 16 years old) at a public speaking contest in Illinois. She was a fellow competitor in the contest. The two got to know each other over a period of time and fell in love, but their homes were 165 miles apart, so Brockelhurst could not visit her as frequently as he wished. He visited her every two weeks and wrote to her in between.^[1]

In January 1935, Brockelhurst and his father argued about money. The argument resulted in Brockelhurst leaving home and hitchhiking to Chicago, where he held up a candy shop. He was quickly arrested and convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to a two-year prison sentence at the Joliet State Penitentiary on February 11, 1935, although a few weeks into his sentence, he was transferred to the Illinois State Reformatory in Pontiac, Illinois.^[1][3] Bernice kept in touch with Brockelhurst through writing as he served his sentence. Her father advocated on his behalf, resulting in his parole on March 7, 1936, just over a year into his sentence. He was paroled into the custody of Felton's father and started working in a nearby department store and print shop. He expressed a desire to take her to Salt Lake City's Mormon Temple to marry Felton there, but he did not have the money to support Felton or make the trip. As a result, on March 31, 1937, the couple embarked on a 18-statewide crime spree, motivated by robbery.^[2][3]

On the same day as their sudden disappearance from the city, a 47-year-old local tailor named John Albin Theander disappeared along with his car. Some time later, his body was found on the outskirts of Rockford, with a single bullet hole in his head.^[2] After killing him, Brockelhurst and Felton travelled to Salt Lake City and then onto Dallas, before winding up in Fort Worth on April 28. There, they held up a tavern owned by a man named Jack Griffith, who attempted to defend his property from the two criminals. In response, Lester shot and killed him on the spot, and the couple fled the state.^[2] Their next destination was Little Rock, Arkansas, and on May 6, they ditched Theander's car and travelled to Memphis, Tennessee on foot. There, they were picked up by Victor A. Gates, a wealthy landowner who resided in Little Rock, who drove them there. When they reached Arkansas, Brockelhurst shot Gates in the head, robbed him of his money and valuables and then threw the body into a ditch.^[2]

From this point onward, the couple wandered around the country, committing about 40 robberies and hold-ups, but no other known murders were recorded.^[2] After robbing a bakery in Philadelphia, Brockelhurst and Felton arrived in Dutchess County, New York. On May 13, a state trooper named Joseph Hunt noted that their car was missing a license plate and stopped them. When he noticed that there was a loaded revolver in the car, he took the couple to Fishkill for further interrogation. Not long after his arrest, Brockelhurst admitted to being the outlaw who had been robbing various establishments in the past weeks, and additionally confessed to the three murders. The contemporary press likened the arrest to that of bank robber Merle Vandenbush, who had been arrested at nearby Katonah for a minor traffic violation.^[2]

Two days after his capture, a nervous Brockelhurst was detained in Poughkeepsie as officials from Illinois, Texas, Arkansas, New York and the Federal government were discussing on which jurisdiction would house and subsequently charge the accused with murder.^[4] Due to his frequent faintings, he had to be sedated by jail physician George E. Lane, who told the press that his behavior was caused by "overexcitement". While incarcerated at his jail cell, Sheriff Paul Johnson of the Rockford Police Department travelled to Poughkeepsie so he could interview Lester about his possible involvement in the murder of gas station operator Herman Luhrsen on February 12, in the small town of Rockton, which was located not far from Rockford. According to Johnson, Luhrsen had been murdered with the same type of gun used by Brockelhurst.^[4]

In the end, a decision by New York's then-governor, Herbert H. Lehman, concluded that Brockelhurst should be extradited to Arkansas and handed over to prosecutor George Hartje, reasoning that they had the strongest case against the killer. Brockelhurst had no objections over this, as he "wanted to get it over with" and was assured that in any case he would end up in the electric chair.^[5] Prosecutor Hartje publicly stated that he would demand death sentences for both Brockelhurst and Felton, which prompted Abraham Felton, Bernice's father, to tell the press that his daughter had allegedly been told a sob story from Lester about how his parole officers were "hounding him" until he got married, and so, to get rid of them, he took her so they could get married.^[5]