Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to Beneath the Evergreens, where murder, mysteries, and mayhem lurk in the shadows of the Pacific Northwest. I'm Jess. And I'm Anna. From haunted forests and unsolved disappearances.
Speaker: To true crime cases buried deep in the moss and the mist. We're digging into the dark secrets hiding under the evergreens. Each episode will explore real cases, eerie encounters, and the legends that keep the Pacific Northwest up at night.
Speaker: So grab your flashlight, lock your doors and join us beneath the evergreen.
Speaker: Welcome back to beneath the evergreens. It's a wild day today. How's everyone? Oh, i don't know about everyone, but it's been a week for me. Oh, my goodness. Yes, yes, yes, yes. It has been an interesting week. the It is starting to feel like fall again.
Speaker: Yes, thank God. a little bit. It's about damn time. The fair is in full swing. Woo-hoo! and I was thinking about your episode last week. That's all I've been thinking about. Honestly, I did have such a big craver ring for big craving for fair scones after lot of that last episode.
Speaker: yeah um yeah it's been it's been rough have not had one yet have been dreaming about them i'll freeze them if you don't if you don't get it out there so that you can have one before we get started actually can i do a quick shout out we have a new listener that i want to thank her name is patricia um she is fantastic she just started listening to us and patricia love patricia She actually has a really fun story that I want to share really quickly. um Okay. So we were chatting about the podcast about some true crime.
Speaker: And she said, Oh, you know, I'm pretty sure that I had an encounter with a Green River killer. And I said, Oh, really? And I thought, you know, we talked about like the episode we did, right? a lot of people have connections with them.
Speaker: No, Patricia's story was one of the craziest act I've ever heard. So she was in college, I believe, and she was taking the bus, got off on the wrong stop, ended up on like International Boulevard in Tukwila. Some guy comes up in a car, tries to to like tries to get her into the car with him.
Speaker: And she goes, o she said that she looked in his eyes and she just had this panic and she was like, I can't, I'm not doing this. So she just like takes off. She gets as far away from this guy as she can.
Speaker: And then when it comes out that that Gary Ridgeway was the Green River Killer, she yeah looked at him. She's like, oh my God, that was totally the guy. Like the the beady eyes, the like malice in his eyes.
Speaker: yeah That's so scary. I know, right? That's terrifying. Yeah. I'm glad she's still here. Oh my God, me too. So Patricia's amazing. And that's just, oh my gosh, so scary. And because you always hear that it was like people that were like hanging out on an international boulevard for extended periods of time, right? I think she just waiting for the bus. Like she hadn't been there for that long.
Speaker: And he just happened to be there at the same time. wrong that's like um this is completely unrelated but i heard yesterday on the nisqually bridge which is kind of on your way to lacy a trailer a part of a trailer fell off and threw flew through somebody's window and killed someone oh my god and some of it it truly is like you just are in the wrong place at the wrong time and yeah and it's like some final destination stuff you never know when it's your time which is kind of crazy and thank goodness for patricia it wasn't her time but that sounds so scary
Speaker: right like like just happenstance that you're there um i feel like just shows you like listen to your gut like if you're something's telling you this is a bad situation get the fuck out of there as fast as you can yeah run run run as fast as you can oh because i'm that's my little tidbit leading into today patricia thank you for listening and thank you for not getting kidnapped by the green over killer love to chat with you love having you in my life yes And if you have stories like this, so Patricia, you should actually write up your story in detail and email it to us so that we can do like a listener's episode of craziness in the Pacific Northwest.
Speaker: Yes, because like I feel like every time I mention someone that I'm on a podcast, everyone says, oh, i have this cool encounter. Like I have this crazy encounter. It's like, does everyone in this state have some connection to true crime?
Speaker: Yes, especially if you live in Bellingham, for sure. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Get into the archives there. Well, speaking of a Pacific Northwest kind of lore, do you know the Weyerhaeuser family?
Speaker: i am aware of Weyerhaeuser as a company, yes. Okay. So it started as a family business, but yes, we're going to be talking about them today. Oh, interesting. Whenever I think of Weyerhaeuser, I think that building in federal way, you know, like the abandoned office building with all the yes ivy. Yes.
Speaker: It's very pretty. It's so cool. I walked around it. They should turn that in yeah they should turn it into something fantastic. Oh, yeah. cause it's gorgeous. It's super easy to be sitting there. Well, it's so eerie to walk around it because it looks like like almost apocalyptic. like There's still like desks and stuff inside. looks like you just like picked it up and moved one day.
Speaker: Yeah. I love that stuff, though. It's very creepy and cool. Well, today we're going to actually fast forward instead of, you know, 2026. We're going to rewind all the way to Friday, May 24th, 1935. Ooh, okay. Blast the past.
Speaker: Yes. And it's lunchtime and a cool kid, a nine-year-old named George Hunt Walker Weyerhaeuser. That's a name. That's a good name. That is, it's a strong name.
Speaker: Like no one's messing around with you. No, he was meant for greatness. Yeah. He was. So by all accounts, George was a pretty steadfast kid. He's one of those chars charismatic people who everyone just kind of gravitates to. Everyone kind of likes them.
Speaker: But he was also very much, and i wouldn't say impatient, but he's very much a nine-year-old in that. Like, why wait when I can go play somewhere else or do something else? yeah So on May 24th, when he was let out early from school on their lunch break, he was he was let go 15 minutes early.
Speaker: He, instead of walking directly to Annie Wright Seminary, which is a school just down the road for where he was going, to meet up with his sister and get a chauffeur ride back to his house. Is that the same Annie Wright that's in Tacoma?
Speaker: Yes. This is all in Tacoma. This is all happening in Tacoma. So George went to the Lowell Elementary School in Tacoma, which is just a couple of streets away from Annie Wright.
Speaker: when he got When he gets out from lunch every day, he is supposed to walk to any w right, with meet his sister, and then walk home or get a ride from the cha chauffeur home. okay Today, he got out 15 minutes early.
Speaker: So unwilling to wait on the curb, he decided to walk the half-mile home alone. He took an overgrown footpath bordering the Tacoma Lawn Tennis Club, cutting downhill towards Borough Road.
Speaker: So he's starting to kind of... He's kind of in between buildings, but it's still... a pretty expansive area. So you can see kids walking out of school. Essentially is what I'm trying to get at. Gotcha. Then a car pulls up and waits on the curb of Barrow road.
Speaker: It was a faded dust cover dust covered 1927 Buick sedan and two men were inside of this car. As George was walking past this car, the driver stepped out He's around 40 years old with brown hair and neatly trimmed brown mustache. And he approached George and asked him politely for directions.
Speaker: Okay. Why are you smiling at me? Did I say something? i love the way you mustache. mousache a Mustache. I mustache you a question. I can't talk this week. It's even worse than normal. You know how i normally sound like I'm drunk?
Speaker: This week, it's like even worse. I don't know what's going on. My mouth just doesn't want to cooperate with me. Well, for everything, it's so funny that you sound so drunk half the time, but like you're also the most sober person I know.
Speaker: I know. it's I don't understand. Maybe I should start drinking so I sound sober. Yeah.
Speaker: So this man approaches this boy, asks politely for directions. And when George pauses to answer, the man grabs him by the wrists, picks him up and shoves him onto the rear floorboard seats and drive they drive away.
Speaker: While the man kind of throws him in, the second man pins George down and throws a blanket over him in the backseat. And George hears the door slam shut and the sedan accelerates down into the midday traffic.
Speaker: Unfortunately, no one saw the abduction. So at this point, no one knows that George was kidnapped. So the kidno the kidnappers did not pick George Weyerhaeuser by accident.
Speaker: Earlier this week, his grandfather passed away. Okay. Across all of the newspapers across the country, this was headlining news, and all of them said this kid, or this grandfather, essentially was an heir to a billion-dollar fortune, and he has sent this billion-dollar fortune across all of his kids because he was a logging magnate, right? Okay.
Speaker: Frederick Weyerhaeuser, who actually started... the Weyerhaeuser Logging Company, was a German immigrant who actually worked at the bankrupt Midwestern lumber but yard in Rock Island, Illinois.
Speaker: He, Illinois. illinois Illinois? Illinois. Pick your poison. So as Frederick was really good with money, as this lumber yard starts to go bankrupt, he actually buys it with his paycheck and he immediately turns this yard around and starts making $8,000 a year in profit, which is very significant because this is an 1857. That's a pretty significant amount of money.
Speaker: He then invests. The company had been around for that long. That's um yes like that's impressive. Okay. impressive. Okay. very impressive And as he's making these $8,000 of profit, he's putting it back into the company and then also putting it investments so he can grow and grow and grow. And in 1900, Frederick and his part partners made a defining purchase, that which would solidify Weyerhaeuser's you know amazingness in history in the history books, because they bought 9 million acres of Washington timberland from the Northern Pacific Railway $6 acre.
Speaker: at six dollars an acre $6 an acre. Wow. 9 million. and We're losing trees in this state. Actually, surprisingly. And I, this was kind of a fun fact.
Speaker: Frederick realized that all of his money is based on these national forests or these forests. Like that's where he's got to take that lumber at some point and then put it essentially for sale.
Speaker: So uh, is actually very connected with Yale and their environmental studies program, specifically in how to replant forests and make them old growth forests faster so that he can conserve forest land. So immediately after he cuts it down, he like builds it back up. And so he doesn't ever run out of his product.
Speaker: I'm a little torn on how I feel about that. I'm a little torn on how I feel about it, but at least they're just not destroying the land and then walking away. Yes. Yes, definitely. The best option, giving that tearing down the forest seems to be a necessary task for them. Yes. Another fun fact, they own another 14 million acres in Canada.
Speaker: That's a lot of land. So 1914, Frederick dies and his eldest son, John Philip Weyerhaeuser Sr. stepped into the presidency and he was the one that that passed away a couple of days before George was kidnapped saying that you know billions of dollars was essentially what this guy got.
Speaker: Gotcha. Gotcha. Now, this is the mid-1930s at this point. So concentrated industrial wealth ah existed alongside regional poverty, a.k.a. we're in the Great Depression.
Speaker: yeah Yeah. So in 1930, Tacoma held a population of roughly 106,800 people. and as the great depression deepened ah the Washington's resource economy really struggled because most of our economy was based on logging and sawmill employment. But as no one's building houses, there's the the industry as a whole doesn't need, or the country as a whole doesn't need lumber. Of course, you're going to see that reflected in employment at these lumber mills. And you know within just from of the labor force had already been let go
Speaker: And there's this actual correlation between letting go of all of these sawmill employees and the creation of a shantytown in Tacoma on the mud tide flats called Hollywood on the tide flats.
Speaker: Oh, this Hollywood on the tide flats held approximately 1200 displaced people. A lot of whom were families and, Oh.
Speaker: And what's even crazier is George's house overlooked, like essentially his house was on the bluff and they could overlook this, this shanty town, which is pretty sad. So there's definitely this huge, you could see why,
Speaker: After this publication goes out saying this family has billions of dollars and then all of these individuals who are going through the Great Depression that have pennies to their name, you can see some enticing like, oh, maybe this is somebody we should go after. This is also just a month after the Lindbergh kidnapping. Are you familiar with that?
Speaker: Yes. really rich person kidnapped. They get a lot of money. So that is the rationale, essentially why George himself was picked yeah versus someone else.
Speaker: So on May 16th, 1935, eight days before George was taken, Philip senior died in Tacoma at age 76. And like I said, the newspapers kind of flash splashed out all over the news.
Speaker: So going back to May 24th, which is when George actually got kidnapped Everyone's back at home. They think that George, you know, he never made it back for lunch, but they're thinking, oh, he's just, maybe he went home with one of his friends, whatever. He just went back to school. It's fine. We haven't heard from the school. So we're thinking everything's okay. But at 625 PM on May 24th, a postal carrier delivers a special delivery envelope to the Weyerhaeuser residence.
Speaker: the It's addressed to, quote, who it may concern. And the typed letter laid out 21 distinct demands in this ransom letter. And they're requesting $200,000 in unmarked circulated currency. They want $100,000 in bills, bills, and bills.
Speaker: yeah that's equivalent to like four million today oh my god Yes. And on the back of this envelope, George was actually signed his name in his own hand, which is how they knew that George was still alive, or they at least assumed that he was still alive. And the note was signed as a single alias, the egoist.
Speaker: which is an interesting name to put on an envelope, but that's fine. Ego has banned phone communication and ordered that George's father, John Philip Jr., place classified notices in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer under the name Percy Minnie, which is also...
Speaker: what an interesting name i feel like the egoist great band name that name a great like don't know just like storybook character or something it's definitely like a comic yeah percy mini like a disney character well now the family's a little conflicted they're thinking okay obviously george has been kidnapped they're freaking out yeah also keep in mind this was just a couple months after the lindberg kidnapping and the baby ah ultimately in that story didn't survive so they're They're freaking out. They're like, do we get the police involved? do we not get the police involved? The main goal is to get my son back. What do I do? So the police become aware that something is happening because when George or when George's father goes to the bank to withdraw essentially $4 million, dollars it raises some flags. And they're like, why are you doing this? Especially during the de Great Depression. This is a lot of money.
Speaker: yeah And he doesn't necessarily have $4 million in cash just in his bank account. So he has to sell off some assets to do this. So the the economics in my brain is like, would that cause a bank run during the Great Depression? Like, that's a lot of money.
Speaker: Yes. Yes. Yes. And of of course, the egoist only gave five days for his father to get this money, too. So they're freaking out. The police eventually do find out because of this money withdrawal.
Speaker: And so they're they're trying to get George's father, John, to let them investigate. And his father's like, no, I don't want you to do anything that would put my son's life at risk. I would rather just get rid of this money that and get my son back in one piece than have you mess anything up.
Speaker: So over the next four days, the classified pages carried the the exchange. On May 25th, in May 25th, in the classifieds of the paper, a note was left that said, expect to be ready to come Monday. Answer, Percy Minnie.
Speaker: On May 26th, the local news began circulating. Due to publicity beyond our control, please indicate another method of reaching you. Hurry, relieve anguish, Mother Percy Minnie. So essentially what happened was the word got out.
Speaker: Journalists found out because of the police force, yada, yada, yada. Some details that shouldn't have been released were released, AKA this Percy Minnie situation. And so on the 25th,
Speaker: It was published in the paper. The public made this correlation between George being gone, the family trying to find him, and this Percy Minnie character being the one that's like who he has to talk to. And so now the classifieds are so full of pranksters that they have to find a different communications avenue. so shitty.
Speaker: on and And so the family is just kind of... freaking, I mean, I'd be freaking out too. They're like, how the hell are we going to figure out what to do? Like where to get my son at? And so on May 28th, finally, John got all of his money together and he published in the newspaper, hoping that the kidnappers would see it, that we are ready.
Speaker: Percy Minnie in the background, agents from the FBI's Portland office entered the case under the federal kidnapping act. Fun fact, Do you remember the FBI's Portland field office?
Speaker: It was in my alien episode. Episode. My alien episode. So they get a lot of play at this Portland office because the 1947 alien and this is in 1930, 35, 1935. Was there a Seattle office? That seems kind of weird that Portland get involved.
Speaker: was there not a seattle office that seems kind of weird that portland would get involved I can tell you. I'll have to look that up. I don't know. But the FBI is pretty new at this point. I think. Oh, you're right. Is it 1930 when 2830?
Speaker: Yeah. yeah It was around this time. So it's still pretty new. So maybe they were just getting stood up and Portland was kind of a midway between California and Seattle or California, Washington.
Speaker: And so ah agents from the FBI's Portland field office entered the case under the federal kidnapping act operating secretly inside of the home and at local banks. Agents logged the serial number series year and issue bank of every five, 10 and $20 bill in the $200,000 package. Imagine that being your job.
Speaker: You have to log every serial number. sounds so mind numbing. Oh my God. And my hand would hurt so bad. Oh yeah. So bad. So while the, while his family read in the classifieds, George was actually underground.
Speaker: Oh, literally. So when the kidnappers, okay. So after grabbing him, the men drove North, the men drove Northeast into the rural woods near Issaquah. They blindfolded George, led him through the thick, thick brush past the rushing Creek and halted at a freshly dug hole in the ground.
Speaker: At this point, they take George's blindfold off and ask him to get in. Imagine that scenario. little Poor little boy. Oh my God. I'm thinking that's my grave. George estimates that it was at least four feet square and deep enough for him to sit in, but not necessarily stand up in. They force him in down into the damp clay. They lock iron chains around his wrists and right ankle and drag a a broad wooden board across the opening and dirt and brush were kind of piled on top to keep them hidden, which is scary.
Speaker: The kidnappers took turns standing guard above this pit, but they started hearing campers or someone in the area, so they feared that they were gonna be discovered, So they moved him deeper into the trees, keeping George chained to a cedar tree. They dug a second pit into wet soil. So now it's like there's standing water at the bottom of this. um So they dropped an old car seat into this hole and blankets so that George could essentially stay the night in there. And that's where he stayed for a couple of days.
Speaker: They covered this hole with um chains, a board, and they tarred it down. So it was like almost like a roof. Oh. Interesting. So um the pit soon filled with spiders, salamanders, and ground beetles, George ri recalls.
Speaker: And on Sunday, May 26th, the kidnappers pulled George out of the hole and put him in ah in the trunk of a Ford sedan and drove east across Washington into hyde Idaho. Crossing the state line firmly triggered federal jurisdiction under the Lindbergh log. So obviously the police and FBI at this point don't know that George has crossed state lines, but because they eventually find this out, this makes this a federal jurisdiction case and actually the kidnappers could be sentenced to death because of this. Oh, okay.
Speaker: So while George, or so the trio that kidnapped George, there's actually three people. There's Harmon Whaley, Margaret Whaley, and William Daynard. They turn back west to rent to a rented house. So as they put George into this trunk, they go to, they drive all the way to Spokane, Washington. Then they're driving around Idaho because they're scared that people are going to notice them in Spokane. So they're kind of going in between Idaho and Washington at this point.
Speaker: They eventually decide to rent a house in on the outskirts of Spokane. Harmon and his wife are the ones that stay in this house with George and they lock him in a closet.
Speaker: While in the closet is when George starts to listen for their movements because he's thinking, okay, like it's been a couple of days now. I think I might, you know, be murdered soon. And I just want to listen for what's going on. And this is when he starts noticing that the two men are calling each other themselves, Harry. One is being referenced as Harry. The other is Bill.
Speaker: He also hears and has seen a woman, but he's not sure how she's involved. So that is where we get these three characters coming in. On Wednesday, May twenty ninth instructions arrive at John, George's dad's house, to travel to Seattle and check into the Ambassador Hotel and register as Jane Paul Jones from Seattle.
Speaker: A note from George was included in the instructions confirming that he was alive. And the the notes the note was really sad. It's like, Mom, don't worry about me. I'm fine. I'm getting enough food. I'll be home soon.
Speaker: Isn't that so sweet? I know it's so sweet and so sad. So late in the evening, a taxi delivered the envelope and envelope to the hotel. So John George's father is now at the ambassador hotel. He's checked in under this alias. A taxi driver walks up to his hotel room, hands him an envelope and the weirdest of treasure hunts ensues. There's instructions requiring him to spot a white cloth flag tied to a wooden stake. So this is across the street.
Speaker: So he goes over and he looks and he has to search in the brush for a tin can that's nailed to a fence post and pull out a handwritten index card directing him to the next marker. So essentially, it's like this treasure hunt through the city to try and find his son.
Speaker: This is intense. Oh, my God. Yes. And so as John is going through this treasure hunt to get his son back, unfortunately, it starts to rain really, really bad. And there's this heavy fog starts rolling in. And by the time he gets to the fourth marker, it was missing.
Speaker: it It just wasn't there. And so he's like, is this where I'm supposed to meet... the guy? Is he supposed to show up? Is George here? Do I drop the money here? And so he's at a stalemate. And so he's waiting at this fourth marker. There's no extra instructions. He's waiting there for a couple hours, like between two and four is what he estimated. And at this, but after like a couple out of this long of ah of a period of time, he's like, okay, I got to go back to the hotel because I don't think there's any more instructions coming.
Speaker: So he goes back to the hotel and On Thursday morning, he gets a call to the hotel room saying from the kidnappers being like, why why the hell didn't you finish? Like, why didn't you show up? And he's like, what do you mean? I couldn't show up. the The markers were missing. And they're like, the markers were missing. What do you mean?
Speaker: And so there's this back and forth of like, I was trying to get you the money. I'm insisting I'm trying to get you this money, but I just couldn't follow your treasure hunt. For some reason, one of the clues was missing. So they hang up on him.
Speaker: And then after a little bit, he gets another call from the kidnapper saying, okay, okay, okay, okay. This is what we're going to actually have you do. On the night of May 30th, you're going to drive south down Highway 99 following some markers that we have set out for you.
Speaker: Once you get to an unpaved logging road near Angle Lake, you're going to leave the money in your car. You're going to get out and you're going to start walking towards Seattle. And when you get out, you're going to leave the engine running and you're going to leave the head headlights on. And you're also going to turn on the interior dome light so that we can see what's going on inside.
Speaker: So this is exactly what John does. He finds this logging road. He pulls over to the shoulder, leaves his car on, puts on the headlights, makes sure the the dome light is on, and he starts walking towards Seattle. And then all of a sudden he hears his car start revving, and he turns around to see his the taillights disappearing in the other direction with the $200,000 inside.
Speaker: Oh my God. So John is walking away in the dark and now he's got this horrible feeling in his stomach of like, okay, I just lost essentially $4 million. dollars I might not get my son back. And I have no fucking idea who that was.
Speaker: my God. So then it's around 3.30 AM on Saturday, June 1st, and a car pulls onto the shoulder of an unlit highway near Tiger Mountain outside of Issaquah, which we've both been to, I believe at least. Yes.
Speaker: yeah I pass by it often. So I'm not trying to triangulate myself, but ah after this car pulls over on the side of the road, this door pops open and this nine-year-old boy is shoved out into this rainy night.
Speaker: He's got no shoes and no coat. All he's got on is a pair of jeans and a short sleeve shirt. They hand him a blanket and they said, your dad is going to be here in two hours. Here's a dollar bill. You need to wait for him right here.
Speaker: And then the car drives off. So this child is just dropped on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. And those roads aren't very safe. What does it do with a dollar? I don't know. I mean, back in the day, that might've been a lot of money, but I'm not sure. What's in the middle nowhere? was he going to spend it on? Like there are other stores around.
Speaker: No, they're he's like in the middle of nowhere. I'm pretty sure that they were expecting him to like potentially die of hypothermia or or something because where they dropped him off was just a a random logging road in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker: Oh my God. Luckily for George, he is a very tenacious guy. And he says, I'm not going wait here. i'm just not going to wait here and succumb to black bears or whatever is going to come and get me. Like I'm going to start walking and I'm going to to get myself out of this. So he starts walking and he walks about six miles in the dark.
Speaker: Wow. And he comes across a farmhouse. He sees a light way off in the distance. He starts heading towards that light and he finds... The house that belonged to a local dairy farmer, Louise Boniface. I'm probably saying that wrong, but Boniface was up preparing for for morning chores when he heard someone knocking at the door. When he opened the door, there was this little child just drenched, shaking. And he's like, I'm George Weyerhaeuser. Can you take me home?
Speaker: would you not die? i would die. I'd be like, come in immediately. So they did, they said they kept, they brought them in immediately. They gave them dry clothes and food and let them borrow a pair of shoes from one of their daughters. And unfortunately they couldn't contact the authorities in their house. Cause they didn't have a ah telephone.
Speaker: So they had to essentially, they got George fed and warmed up. They put them in the car. They drove to the nearest gas station. They called John George's father. And said, hey, we have your son. We are going to bring him to you.
Speaker: ah Just wanted to let you know we do have him. So rest assured, we're going to show up. So John's like, yes, please bring him. Please bring him home. So they the farmer and his wife and George start heading towards Tacoma.
Speaker: When they get into cona Tacoma, somehow the journalists have found out that George is on his way home. what They notice this truck, a journalist in particular, notices this truck coming into town that's like pretty dirty.
Speaker: And he flags it down and pretends to be a police officer. They transfer custody, the the farmer and his wife transfer custody of George to this journalist who puts George in the back of the taxi and then starts grilling him about what happened just to get the story.
Speaker: That's so messed up. Oh, my God. Isn't that disgusting? Yes. Yes. This journalist gets ah doesn't get penalized from what I know. What? you kidding me so No.
Speaker: So after the journalist gets all of the scoop that he wanted, he takes George back to 420 North 4th Street, which is his house. And George jumps out of the car and goes into the doors in the basement. And there's some sort of family reunion. and That happens.
Speaker: And then the next day, the street was jammed with reporters, photographers, and neighbors. And so they they're like insisting that George come out and just wave to them so that they know he's fine. So the family has to like essentially let him do this press conference. And the ultimate take home from this press conference was actually that...
Speaker: George is kind of like a cool cat. He kind of just like nonchalant. He's like, yeah, I survived this thing. It's pretty cool, but like, I'm fine. Thumbs up. Like just this really like nonchalant, charismatic guy.
Speaker: But this is not where the story ends because now the FBI is like, who the were these people? We can't just let them get away with this. So they also have to interview George, which is unfortunate because, know,
Speaker: So essentially the reporters now know more than the police at this point. And so they're they're playing catch up to the papers, which is kind of counterproductive when you're trying to solve a case. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: So what the FBI did do is that they published all of those serial numbers that they documented. They published them in the papers and they sent them to everyone across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah. So essentially all of the West Coast into the the Midwest a little bit and said, be on the lookout for these serial numbers. If they happen, call the police immediately.
Speaker: And on June 2nd, a man bought a passenger ticket at the Union Pacific Depot in Huntington, Oregon with a $20 bill, and it did match the registry. The passenger was listed as Harmon Metz Whaley.
Speaker: And essentially his wife at the same time on June 8th or not at the same time, but so this was the second, but he was already gone, but they got his name on June 8th in Salt Lake city, 22 year old Margaret Whaley handed a $5 bill to the clerk at Woolworth store. And when that came back as being registered, that is how,
Speaker: They caught Margaret. She was stopped on the sidewalk by some police because the lady was able to wave them down pretty quickly. And as soon as she got arrested, she just started to spill in her guts.
Speaker: Oh my God. She's like, my husband gave me this. He was the one that, um, he was the one that kidnapped George Weyerhaeuser. And they're like, what's his name? And they're like Harmon Whaley. And they're like, Oh, we're interesting because we have that guy that bought the train ticket under the, with the same name.
Speaker: let's go Let's go get him up. So faced with the federal kidnapping charges, Harmon confesses. He admits that he was quote-unquote Harry and that a man named William Daynard as Bill planned the operation. So Harry was the one that wrote the first ransom note that signed it egoist. He was also the one...
Speaker: that took Bill, dropped him off at Angle Lake so that he could get in that car and drive away. He was also the main person that watched over George for the entirety of his stay. And he went into how he wanted to be the person to do that because Bill just wanted to kind of like beat him up.
Speaker: allegedly that's what he wanted to do but harman was like no like i want him to have a somewhat comfortable stay so he made sure that you know george got food while george was in the closet he also noticed that george was getting bored so he like played the ukulele for him and like they sang together and stuff which was and he like talked with george to make it like a little less scary just still doesn't excuse your behavior But the reason why he said he did this is because he also was a victim of the great depression. Didn't have a lot of money. And when that billion dollars came out, it was like a quick way to get some money. Yeah.
Speaker: He throughout his time was always very, very, very regretful of what he did. In fact, he wrote George like six or seven letters, apologizing for his actions and like trying to take accountability.
Speaker: And so on June 10th and 11th, Whaley led agents into Utah's immigration canyon, digging it into the brush. Agents discovered a sack containing $90,000 of the ransom. And now they also
Speaker: another person to go after as well. So they have essentially the three people that they're looking for. um Daynard or Bill hid across the West working to disguise the cash using ah scalpels, magnifying glass glasses, bleaching techniques and numbered stamps, scraping off the serial numbers and reapplying different ones.
Speaker: This worked until 1936 when he tried to go to a bank in California and switched the switch the bills out for no apparent reason. He was just like, hey, I'm going to give you like 16 $20 bills. Can you give me 16 different $20 bills?
Speaker: And like this raises flags. And so um the they alerted the Los Angeles police and the Los Angeles police set up a stakeout. They essentially on the morning of May 7th, 1936, they found the Ford sedan of the guy who was trying to switch the money out and they disconnected his car battery.
Speaker: And so when the man came out to his car, to start it. Obviously he had to get out. And as soon as he propped open the hood and tried to disconnect the batteries, the FBI swooped out of the bushes with result revolvers drawn. Doesn't that seem like a movie scene?
Speaker: Wow. Yeah. And William Daynard raised his hands and then went home with him in the vehicle. Agents were able to recover $37,374 47 cents. And they found a map that led them to an additional
Speaker: Buried in Utah. Could you imagine just burying that kind of money? No, that's wild. I would be stressed the entire time. Were they from Utah? like what Why are they keep going back to Utah to bury everything?
Speaker: They were just driving around, trying to get as far away as possible. Which, at this point, you essentially have $2 million. Yeah. yeah Leave the country. Yes. Why are you still here?
Speaker: I'd be so far gone. Oh, yeah. They're not looking for these serial numbers in France. No. ah I'm just saying. So after they caught everyone, or actually the the trial for Harmon and his wife went quickly. they they so Margaret, they started the trial before they even caught William. So Harry Metz Whaley pleaded guilty on June 21st, 1935. He was sentenced to 45 years for kidnapping and two years for conspiracy to run concurrently. He served time at McNeil Island.
Speaker: Oh, yes. ah And then was transferred to alcabra Alcatraz before being paroled in 1963. Margaret Whaley stood trial in Tacoma in 1935, July 1935. She claimed she was raised ah to obey her husband. So she was more of the Mormon faith. And she was saying like, look, he did this and like, I'm taught to just obey whatever he does. He knows best. But unfortunately the the judge was not.
Speaker: buying that at all. And in fact, since she was the one that rented the Spokane house, they they said she was like 100% complicit and she got 20 years in federal prison.
Speaker: William Daynard pled guilty on May 9th, 1936, receiving a 60 year sentence. He was sent to McNeil Island in Leavenworth, where he later moved to a site geriatric facility after being declared insane.
Speaker: Oh, wow. Which is kind of crazy. In late 1936, an associated named Edward Fliss was arrested in San Francisco for helping Daynard pass the altered build or the altered bills that he made. He played pled guilty and was sentenced to 10 years and a $5,000 fine. So, altogether, years in prison sentences were handed down of the thousand paid at angle lake the fbi received $157,319.47 essentially, burned.
Speaker: i mean forty grand of it is still gone but so they spend all of it like what did they how did some of it got burned um Because when they knew the police were closing in, they were trying to like burn it. Others was just spent. ah Bill, particularly, they think that he lived a pretty lavish lifestyle before he got caught.
Speaker: George was ah essentially, when he returned home, George essentially set went back to... status quo. He didn't have too much of trauma based on this, which is pretty and and crazy because I would be freaking the hell out. yeah Um, he completed his under, um, his high school education. he went into the Navy during world war ii graduated from Yale University in 1949, and he entered the family enterprise by working at on the mill floors in Longview, Washington.
Speaker: In 1966, he was named president of the Weyerhaeuser Company, later becoming chief executive officer and chair of the board. He ran the company for decades, directing modern timber magnets across the Pacific Northwest lands that his grandfather and great friend father had bought for him. um So an interesting thing that I wanted to point out here is This was in the book Gone or Deep in the Woods. ah Highly recommend reading that if you want more information on this story. But George Weyerhaeuser was interviewed when he was like 94 about his kidnapping. And he actually said when Harry got out of prison, he gave him a job being a long haul trucker for Weyerhaeuser and essentially supported him until the until he died.
Speaker: That is like ultimate forgiveness. Oh, my God. Yes. And then the farmers that found George, his father essentially gave them enough money for them to buy their own land and build their own house. Then like some extra was left over. Wow.
Speaker: So what I, I don't know. I just feel like this family is pretty cool. Especially George. I couldn't imagine being kidnapped. And then, you know, when this guy gets out of jail, you give him a job and a living and make sure that he has a retirement. I think that's pretty cool.
Speaker: Yeah. So that is my story for you. The kidnapping of George Weyerhaeuser, the weirdest treasure hunt in history. And I mean, a happy ah happy ending for a kidnapping story for sure.
Speaker: Yeah. I had no idea that he got kidnapped. I heard a a lot about the Limber kidnapping, but not much about the Weyerhaeuser. Yes. And I think because of Lindbergh, i think Lindbergh was obviously very, very famous, but warehousers have always been pretty secretive. That was such a good story. Thank you.
Speaker: Hey, you're welcome. Well, that's it for today's dive into the dark corners of the Pacific Northwest. If you love the stories or shivered a little, be sure to subscribe and follow so you don't miss what's lurking beneath the evergreens next time.
Speaker: Thanks for joining us on Beneath the Evergreens. We appreciate you diving into the mysteries with us. Until next time, keep your eyes open.
