George Weyerhaeuser Kidnapping - Victim's Account

Victim's Account

Young George Weyerhaeuser was released at a shack near Issaquah, Washington, on the morning of June 1, 1935.

George revealed that when he left Annie Wright Seminary on May 24, 1935, he took a shortcut through some tennis courts. As he left the tennis courts, he met a man of about 40 with brown hair and a moustache who asked for directions. When George responded, the man picked him up and carried him to a sedan which was parked across the street.

The child noticed that a second man was sitting in the front seat of the car. George was put in the back seat and a blanket was thrown over him. He was driven around for over an hour, during which time he heard the men conversing in whispers.

The men stopped the car by the side of a road and removed the blanket covering George. He was given an envelope and told to write his name in pencil on the back of it. He was then blindfolded and carried ten or twelve steps, where he said the man must have waded across a stream because he heard rushing water. On the other side of the stream, he was placed on the ground and led by the hand over the countryside for about one-half or three-quarters of a mile. The boy noticed that the area was covered with bushes or trees, which he frequently brushed against, and that the ground was very uneven.

They arrived at a point by a large log, and the man who was leading George put him into a hole which had been dug in the ground. George, whose blindfold had been removed, estimated the hole to be about four square feet. After chaining the boy's right wrist and leg, his two captors placed a board over the hole, completely covering it. The men took turns guarding him until about ten that night, when one of them said that the police might find the hole.

The boy was carried back to the car and placed in the trunk, where he rode for about an hour. He was taken from the car and led through the woods again. Reaching their destination, his kidnappers dug another hole while George waited by a tree. George was placed into this hole, along with a seat from the car and two blankets, and the hole was covered with tar paper. Subsequent examinations of this hole revealed the presence of lizards and spiders which could have endangered the child's health.

Investigation later determined that next, on May 26, 1935, the two men, accompanied by a woman, put George in the trunk of a Ford and drove through Washington into Idaho. Having passed through Blanchard, Idaho, they followed the highway until they turned at a point on the mountain. During the early morning, the boy was taken from the car and handcuffed to a tree, where he was guarded until nightfall.

His abductors then took him to a house and put him in a large closet with a mattress, two chairs and a small white table. On the evening of Friday, May 31, 1935, George was told that they were leaving this house. He noticed a watch on the table indicating it was 5:55. The two men, who addressed each other as "Bill" and "Harry", went upstairs. George did not try to run away because the men had told him that he would be going home soon.

Again, George was placed in the car's trunk and taken to a little shack near Issaquah, Washington. At about 3:30 the following morning, his captors left, telling him that his father would come to take him home. George wandered into a farmhouse and announced his identity. The family took him in, washed him, gave him clean clothes, and drove him to Tacoma, Washington, in their car.