On this day, May 3, in 1992, abducted Exxon executive Sidney Reso died in a wooden box in New Jersey.
The kidnappers were Arthur Seale, an ex-cop who was laid off as an Exxon security consultant, and his wife, Irene.
Reso, 57, was snatched from his Morris Township, N.J., driveway, shot in the arm, bound, gagged and stuffed in a wooden box with sleeping pills, an orange and water. Temperatures inside the box rose well over 100 degrees. Reso died four days later.
The Seales continued their ransom scheme, demanding $18.5 million. But DNA samples left on the ransom notes and pay phones led the FBI to the kidnappers.
Arthur was convicted and sentenced to 95 years in prison. Irene received 20 years.
In a strange twist, Sol Wachtler, the chief judge in New York’s highest court, copied Arthur Seales’ tactics to terrorize his former lover. Wachtler, who famously joked that a prosecutor could convince a grand jury to “indict a ham sandwich,” spent 11 months in prison.
