1941 CE) was a former U.S. Marine who in 1966 was responsible for the massacre at The University of Texas at Austin, becoming known as the " Texas Tower Sniper ". Wealthy socialite Barbara Baekeland and his son Antony Baekeland Kendall, who had been following the young traveler for years, said he couldnt reconcile [Baekelands] willingness to organize and arrange tours with his lack of a social media profile and the use of aliases and nom de plumes., In their exchange, Mitsidis defended Baekeland. 20 Chilling Cases of Patricide and Matricide from History Radcliffe, for his part, stopped responding to emails shortly before the publication of this story. Unfortunately, this heartbreaking story gets even sadder. He seemed to be going everywhere all the time. But despite openly calling him a fraud on Twitter, there was little Kendall could do. In 1939, Leo sold the Bakelite Corporation to the chemical giant Union Carbide, solidifying his familys fortune. As a young woman living in New York City, Barbara became a prominent socialite. Referencing negative posts Dominique Laurent wrote on TripAdvisor, Radcliffe calls him a particularly irascible and unreasonable Frenchman. He disputes many of Laurents claims of being ripped off, arguing that he only paid deposits for trips and not the full amount. Because of their fierce individualism and competitiveness, some extreme travelers can become easy marks.. William played to the ego, and theres a lot of ego out there, says Terry Last, a traveler who went on the expedition to Palmyra. Its unclear if the admission had more to do with Tonys unstable mind than his mothers actual behavior toward him. But now he likens the travelers to a melodramatic mob. A lot of the big travelers are very, very wealthy. After that, Barbaras life really went off the deep end. In a sense, using the Baekeland name was genius. According to Last, part of Baekelands ploy was marking up the cost for journeys. When the cops responded to the scene, they reportedly found Tony placing an order for Chinese food. The 29-day journey was long and arduous: Considered by some measurements the remotest landmass on the planet, the Norwegian territory lies in the middle of the south Atlantic Ocean, a forlorn speck between Antarctica and the bottom tip of South Africa. We went on safaris quite a lot, we went to east Africa, Namibia, Ethiopiawe also went to the Congo, he said. Barbaras controlling personality was cited as being a main contributing factor to her sons increasingly unstable mental health. After the stock market crash, Frank ended his own life by filling up his car with carbon monoxide in his garage. By the time he was about ten years old, his parents had decided to lead a nomadic life and travel the world with an apartment in Paris, where the relationship problems began. From 1960 onward, the family's main base was an apartment in Paris, where during one party, Brooks met an English diplomat's daughter who was 15 years his junior. He made multiple attempts to get his release reversed. yearly orientation no Anthony, 1922 - Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States, Nov 17 1972 - Chelsea, London, England, United Kingdom, "and ordered held in for a hearing next Monday Anthony, Sep 28 1922 - Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States, Francis James "Frank" Daly, Mrs. Nini Lillian Daly (born Fraser), Sep 28 1921 - Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, Estados Unidos de Amrica, Nov 11 1972 - London, Inglaterra, Reino Unido, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savage_Grace. The company hasnt carried out any trips as of yet, but Radcliffe says it has received significant interest from travelers in Japan. Savage Grace (2007) - User Reviews - IMDb She was the ex-wife of Brooks Baekeland, who was the grandson of Leo Baekeland, inventor of Bakelite plastic. At the time this incident seemed of minor importance, Mitsidis tells me. However, Tony was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to Broadmore, one of the highest security hospitals in the U.K., where the rich and famous came to visit him due to his mothers celebrity status as a member of the Baekeland dynasty. Geni requires JavaScript! (The bank declined to comment.). On the surface, Barbara had everything she could ever want: good looks, money, and status. When Tony was a toddler, the youngest Baekeland heir started to show some disturbing signs. These sources say Baekeland has yet to make good on reimbursements for the trips that they didnt go on. Just days after landing in New York and moving into his grandmothers apartment, Tonys bizarre behavior turned chilling. How Barbara Daly Baekeland's Seduction Of Her Gay Son Led To Murder Last October, he failed to show up to a trip in the Sudan. . William Baekeland seemed like a polished young explorer. However, Leos grandson Brooks managed to dash the familys unilateral image of success. William is absolutely legit, he wrote. Despite all the hype surrounding Baekeland, one man had long harbored suspicions that the young heir was actually Jesse Gordon, the kid supposedly from Birmingham. After the stabbing, his mind manifested that he thought he was doing Nini a favor as it was the kinder thing to kill her. Just before Barbaras brutal death, she was out with a friend in London bragging about her extravagant, wonderful, fun-filled life that she had with her son Anthony whom she absolutely adored. The parents werent ready for this responsibility, and it couldnt have come at a worse time. She was 51 years of age at the time, and Antony was 25. She pursued Green relentlessly; when she returned to the United States that fall, she walked barefoot across Central Park in the snow wearing nothing but a Lynx fur coat to demand entry to his apartment. Baekeland claimed his bank confused Palmyra Atoll with the ISIS stronghold of Palmyra, Syria, and impounded the funds. George passed away in 1966, at age 71. It stars Stephen Dillane as Brooks Baekeland, the socially recessive heir to a family fortune (his grandfather, a plastics pioneer, invented Bakelite), Julianne Moore as Barbara Daly. The entire caper was predicated upon simple wire transfers, he says, all of which were willfully forked over to Baekelands checking account under the assumption that he could engineer trips to isolated hinterlands like Rockall and Johnston Atoll. "Brooks Baekeland" Birthdate: February 21, 1921: Death: 2007 (85-86) Immediate Family: . Unfortunately, her DNA also consisted of a hidden history of mental health problems that haunted her for the rest of her life, and she spent tons of money on expensive therapists and the best psychiatrists. Charles Whitman (b. At the time of the marriage, Barbara listed her profession as painter, while Brooks listed his as writer.[7]. However, at the French border, Anthony was found not to have his passport. They had one child, a boy named Tony, who grew up surrounded by opulence, but always in close proximity to his parents toxic marriage. Cooper introduced Antony to various hallucinogenic drugs, which they traveled to Morocco to obtain. After this failed, while the pair were living in Majorca in the summer of 1968 following Barbara and Brooks's divorce, Barbara was alleged to have raped her son. The Irish Garda declined to comment for this story, but Bonifas suspects it has taken some action in freezing Williams bank account and line of credit.. Later introduced to her son, noted pop art curator Green was very unimpressed by his artistic capabilities. His financial travails werent part of a planned grifting, but rather borne of a fledgling business hitting hard times, he says. William Baekeland ostensibly absorbed this backstory and simply told travelers that he didnt enjoy talking much about his personal life. At the time of the marriage, Barbara listed her profession as painter, while Brooks listed his as a writer. It was based on the book of the same name. After the film opened, Baekeland's former lover Samuel Adams Green, wrote an article pointing out elements in the film possibly misleading for those trying to read back to the reality inspiring it. Despite being a relative newcomer to the insular world of extreme travel a competitive subculture of people who journey to some of the most obscure and treacherous corners of the globe, often at great monetary cost Baekeland earned an astonishing amount of trust from the group in a matter of days. Among them was William Baekeland, a young and unassuming outsider, who cut an intriguing figure. [10] The 50 Worst Decisions in Music History Nobodys ever going to see five cents out of this, says Bonifas. Police arrived and found Antony at the scene of the crime. The social climber became a high society socialite in her own right. Since she was a little girl, she knew she wanted the good life with big cities, vacations, parties, and a whole lot of cash, and she knew she had the looks to make it happen. While driving back to Switzerland, Tony remembered he didnt have his passport at the French border. In a sinister act of unintentional irony, his ultimate end was brought on by the same material that made his family wealthy decades before. Antony was found at the scene of the crime, and later confessed to and was charged with her murder. She was terrified of losing him. Savage Grace movie review & film summary (2008) | Roger Ebert At first, Brooks was everything Barbara wanted, but in the long run, this romance led to a gruesome bloodbath. The first Baekeland murder was made into the 2007 film Savage Grace, starring Julianne Moore, Stephen Dillane, Eddie Redmayne, Hugh Dancy, Elena Anaya and Unax Ugalde. [3] Her social status and beauty resulted in frequent invitations to high society parties, allowing her to date various wealthy admirers. According to Hugh Karraker, a Baekeland family descendant, the book was a major embarrassment to everyone in the family. He confirms that all of the unsavory assertions in the book are accurate, to the best of his knowledge, and says the publication of Savage Grace caused the family to further retreat from public life. [11] After six weeks, Green broke off the relationship, although Barbara was still obsessed with him. Renting houses and villas from London, Paris and Zermatt, to Cap d'Antibes and many parts of Italy; they continued to party, entertain and both to have affairs. She introduced Barbara to her younger brother Brooks, a trainee pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force. He also said hed chartered a Britten-Norman Islander airplane to Sable Island in Nova Scotia, Canada, where he saw groups of horses running through the water at the shoreline.. She was the ex-wife of Brooks Baekeland, who was the grandson of Leo Baekeland, inventor of Bakelite plastic. He was then arrested by the New York City Police Department, charged with attempted murder[7] and sent to Rikers Island prison. Brooks Baekeland Net Worth - Net Worth Folder When the police arrived, they found Anthony, who was 25 years old at the time, ordering Chinese food over the phone. Cornelia Fitch Middlebrook. Despite spending thousands of dollars to be there, the passengers were roughing it in cramped cabins cluttered with beds and luggage, while Baekeland stayed alone in a private room. Months after promoting trips to a variety of places, such as the Desventuradas Islands off the coast of Chile, Baekeland wrote that he was experiencing a number of personal tragedies. The doctor became so concerned about Antony's condition that on October 30, he warned Barbara that he was capable of murder. Nobody will be able to compete with him once hes done. Her beautiful face certainly helped her climb the social ladder, but a pretty face isnt everything. But the captivating story had a shocking aftermath as details came out about Barbara and Tonys dark and unsettling family secrets. After the film opened, Barbara Baekeland's former lover Samuel Adams Green wrote an article pointing out elements in the film, which were potentially misleading for those trying to read back to the reality inspiring it. Returning to Spain, Barbara accepted the extent of her son's relationship with Cooper, but preferred his developing relationship with a young Spanish girl, Sylvie. After the marriage the couple set up home in a luxury apartment in the Upper East Side of New York, where they held extravagant dinner parties for their friends, who included Greta Garbo, Tennessee Williams, William Styron, and Yasmin Aga Khan. William Baekeland in February 2017 on the remote Palmyra Atoll, 1,000 miles south of Hawaii. But I don't believe she had sex with Tony. Arrested by the New York City Police Department, he was charged with attempted murder. The familys ultimate undoing occurred in 1972, when Tony murdered his mother with a kitchen knife in their London apartment. She introduced Barbara to her younger brother Brooks, a trainee pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force. To make matters worse, his father encouraged his psychopathic tendencies and praised his scientific talent.. Anthony was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Basically, he thought Tony was a weirdo and that Barbara was crazy, and he preferred to spend his time with his new, emotionally stable family and abandon his old one. The violent attack ended a turbulent, toxic, and combative mother-son connection. Dominique Laurent, a French national who spent the majority of his career working in the oil industry, met Baekeland on the Bouvet expedition and went on a trip organized by the young man to the Central African Republic. [15], In late July 1972, Antony tried to throw his mother under the traffic outside her penthouse on Cadogan Square in Chelsea, London. He was closing in on his goal of visiting all 193 countries (as defined by the United Nations), and planned to visit his final targetSerbiaalong with his mother, Lady Violette Baekeland, in October 2017 for an elite extreme traveler conference where they were set to become the first mother-son team to have visited every country in the world. In 1933, everything changed in the worst way ever. Anthony Baekeland. Fellow traveler Harry Mitsidis had a similar impression onboard the ship. Mitsidis recalls never seeing him in jeans or a T-shirt during their travels together, only country club attire. Moreover, Radcliffe asserts that Baekeland did follow through on most of the trips that he promised. Her plan worked. Ex-wife of George Middleton Baekeland Travelers dont often study the granular detail involved with commissioning a private jet to an isolated desert island. The now-thirty-three-year-old was accompanied on the plane by a total stranger his grandmothers friend who happened to live near Broadmoor. But her plan took a dark turn. She Had Humble Beginnings Advertisement On September 28, 1921, Barbara Baekeland was born as Barbara Daly to a normal American family. [16], Antony then undertook sessions with a psychiatrist while living at home. The size of the traversable world varies according to different travel societies. The brutal murder was the violent climax to an emotional rollercoaster ride for the beautiful socialite who was linked by marriage to the Bakelite empire - the world's first plastic. Genealogy for George Middleton Baekeland (1921 - 2007) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. Cooper introduced Anthony to various hallucinogenic drugs, for which they travelled to Morocco. Death of a socialite: the Barbara Baekeland case In March 2015, an elite group of adventurers boarded the Ortelius, an ice-strengthened cruise ship bound for Bouvet Island. Anthony was subsequently admitted to The Priory private psychiatric hospital, but was released soon afterwards. He referred in particular to the mnage trois scene, which depicted Barbara, Antony, and Sam Green in bed together having sex. In November of last year, the same month that allegations of his grifting emerged, Baekeland was removed from the companys list of shareholders. She was a driving force in acquiring powerful family allies, including Hugo Money-Coutts (linked to the famous bank family), to help launch her campaign to get Tony back in the U.S. Nini loved her grandson and thought he could live a normal happy life with her help and supervision. Oh, you know, just bloody humans, the usual. She was the ex-wife of Brooks Baekeland, who was the grandson of Leo Baekeland, inventor of Bakelite plastic. The old-style explorer with a hat.. But despite getting fired from his internship, Baekeland was boarding the Ortelius a little over a year later, meeting Mitsidis in person for the first time. But she quickly went from bombshell to scandal-maker. She married into wealth and lived a dream life of fortune, glamour, and status. Will Levis leaves Kansas City after NFL Draft fall - New York Post [9] This led Barbara to severe depression and another suicide attempt, from which her friend Gloria Jones, wife of author James Jones, saved her.[10]. Given all his eccentricities and expertise, how could he not have grown up with a bottomless family coffer to finance his jet-setting lifestyle? And who helped Tony deal with his escalating, disturbing behavior? In January 1933, when Barbara was aged 11, her father, Frank, committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning from the exhaust of his car in the garage. After Brooks requested a divorce and Barbara subsequently tried to commit suicide, Brooks terminated the affair. As it turns out, their relationship was the furthest thing imaginable from the ideal, loving bond that Barbara always boasted about; the reality was a fatal combination of possessiveness, mental illness, and disturbingly, alleged incest between mommy and son. [William] learned very quickly thats what a lot of travelers are like; They just pay up to get it out of the way to visit the place, says Last. He was born on January 12, 1957, and has an estimated net worth of $100 million. Then, while on a trip to Antarctica in February 2017, Baekeland said that his father died. Brooks Baekeland is a businessman and entrepreneur, best known as the grandson of Leo Hendrik Baekeland, the inventor of Bakelite. After the cheating and divorce, Barbara and Tony were heartlessly rejected from Brookss new life and new family in America. [12], Barbara Baekeland had a complex and allegedly incestuous relationship with her son, Antony Baekeland, who was either gay or bisexual. After the attempted murder of his elderly grandmother, no rich or influential people had Tonys back. But it didnt take long for the marriage to self-destruct. From the summer of 1954 onwards, with Anthony aged eight, the couple led a nomadic seasonal existence, maintaining their home in New York while being mainly based in Europe. Barbara Daly Baekeland One mother who most certainly seduced her son was Barbara Daly Baekeland. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. [7], Two weeks later, on November 17, 1972, Antony murdered his mother by stabbing her with a kitchen knife, killing her almost instantly. According to interviews Rolling Stone conducted with Mitsids and two other sources, the young man successfully carried out at least two trips, but there were nine more that they paid for either in part or in full but because of decisions made by either the travelers or Baekeland didnt come to pass.