This will be a digression to register a potential lead relating to Steve Hodel’s idea that his father—a child prodigy just shy of 14 in August 1921—was the diminutive, foreign-sounding motorist-kidnapper in the Heslin case. I tend to credit the theory, fantastic as it might seem, for the same basic reason Steve Hodel likes it—it fits perfectly into a much bigger picture. But, it could use some development…
What might have brought George from Pasadena to the Bay Area during the summer of 1921? I’ve previously mentioned a couple of ideas: (1) it might involve Alexander Zelenko, the family friend who built the house George got as a 15th birthday present the following year, given he had offices in San Francisco’s Financial District minutes from the scene of a suspected rendezvous between Hightower and his “small, dark, foreign” accomplice; (2) there might be a connection to the boy’s known enrollment in Prof. Lewis Terman’s famous “Genius” study at Stanford University.
With respect to the second “angle,” it caught my attention that Hightower spoke of visiting Stanford University in the weeks before the kidnapping. This is revealed by a courtroom exchange involving Doris Shirley (SF Examiner, 8/20/21):
I’ve found no other references to shed light on the DA’s question. I note the following points: (1) it’s routine for science undergraduates to get summer jobs in university labs and high school students occasionally do that, too; (2) per The Early Years, George Hodel’s stated ambition on graduating high school in 1923 was to “become a chemical engineer,” (3) Stanford’s Prof. Terman was known for pulling strings on behalf of the prodigies (“Termites”) in his study, e.g., supplying recommendation letters touting their “genius” status. Meanwhile, we know that unemployed, itinerant baker William Hightower had a long-term side hustle as a would-be inventor. Some of his inventions involved better living (or dying) through chemistry. From the SF Examiner (8/17/21):
[Continued…]