Murder of Marion Parker

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Frances Marion Parker (October 11, 1915 – December 17, 1927) was an American child who was abducted and murdered in Los Angeles, California, in 1927. Her murder was deemed by the Los Angeles Times as "the most horrible crime of the 1920s", and at the time was considered the most horrific crime in the history of California. In later decades, Parker's death was the subject of various murder ballads. Parker went missing on December 15, 1927, after she was dismissed from her classes at Mount Vernon Junior High School in Lafayette Square: an unknown man, posing as an employee of her father, Perry, checked her out of school with the registrar, stating that her father had suffered an accident. The next day, the Parker family received ransom letters demanding $1,500 (equivalent to $28,125 in 2025) in gold. The letters were signed with various titles, including "Fate", "Death", and "The Fox"; and some had words written in Greek. Following the orders of the ransom, Perry Parker—a bank employee—met...

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