Crimes - Y - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

VIRGINIA YELTON - kidnapped

Crawfordsville No 26 – Crawfordsville police said tonight that 6-year-old Virginia Yelton was kidnapped during an afternoon recess today at the Mills School here. Police Chief Fred Grimes said the little girl last was seen entering a gray automobile with an unidentified man who had been taking pictures at the school. He said a John Doe warrant charging kidnapping had been issued for the man. The chief said other children told him the man officered Virginia a birthday present if she would go with him. He said the girl lived with an aunt, Mrs. Carroll Beeson. He said her parents were separated, her mother living Paragough, Ark and father in Key West, Fla. The girl was described as having dark hair, dark complexion and brown eyes. She was wearing a red jumper and white blouse but had no coat when last seen,. Police described the man as 5’11” weighing more than 200 pounds and having dark hair.

Source: Indianapolis News Thu 28 Nov 1946 p 1

Crawfordsville Nov 28 – Mrs. B.G. Yelton of Mt. Juliet, Tenn paternal grandmother of Virginia Yelton, 6 who disappeared from a school yard here Tuesday during a recess, believes the girl is en route to Florida with her father, the Rev. Charles Yelton. The grandmother said her son was en route to Key West, Fla with the girl. She said her son had told Crawfordsville school authorities he was taking the child. Wednesday, a teacher at the school, Mrs. Bety Phares, identified a picture of the hcild’s father as that of the man with whom the girl talked at the school. Fred Grimes, chief of police, said schoolmates of the girl told him Virginia had left the school yard and entered an automobile with a man who offered her a birthday present. Mr. Grimes said the girl’s parents are separated but not divorced. He said under these circumstances no action could be taken against the father if the child is found with him. The girl had been living with her mother’s siter, Mrs. Carroll Beeson.

Source: Muncie Star Press Sun 1 Dec 1946 p 10

Indianapolis, Nov 30 – Sixteen year old (sic) Virginia Yelton who disappeared from a Crawfordsville school during a recess last Tuesday is safe with her father in Key West, Fla, Norman McCabe, special agent in charge of the Indianapolis FBI office said today. McCabe said the FBI had made inquries at Key West through its Miami bureu and had found the child in good health. The girl’s parents, the Rev. and Mrs. Charles Yelton were separated and the child had been living in Crawfordsville with her mother’s sister, Mrs. Carroll Beeson. McCabe said the FBI made its check onlyt as a courtesy to the Crawfordsville police chief since no legal ruling had been made on the custody of the child. He said the FBI considered the case closed.