The Man In The Box

Stephen B. Small was a wealthy man in Kankakee, Illinois, about an hour south of Chicago. His great-grandfather, Len Small, had been a two-term Illinois governor, and his family built a newspaper and broadcasting conglomerate; his aunt, Jean Small, edited the Kankakee Daily Journal. Stephen, forty in 1987, directed the Kankakee Historical Society and was restoring a Frank Lloyd Wright house, the Bradley House, to turn it into a museum. He had also bought the former Yesteryear restaurant across the street for the same purpose. this part of the story is covered for now

At half past midnight on September 2nd, 1987, the phone rang at the Small house. Ramsey answered; a deep voice said he was from the Kankakee police and there had been a break-in at the Bradley House. Ramsey woke his father, who spoke to the caller and left; Ramsey heard the garage door open and close. details of the account remain covered until revealed An unidentified man said her husband had been kidnapped, and then Stephen's voice came on: he was handcuffed inside a box under a couple of feet of sand, had 48 hours of air, and she should get one million dollars. A voice behind him said 'grave' rather than box. He told her to contact the family attorney and investment manager. The family raised the money, but police and the FBI were already involved because of the size of the cash request.

At 5.03 p.m. a call played a poor-quality tape of Stephen giving directions for the drop, saying a map would come in the mail; it was too garbled to follow. The frustrated kidnapper phoned Jean Small at 5.40 p.m., said he made his living kidnapping wealthy people in small towns, that Stephen was buried, and that police would bring a bloodbath; he threatened to kill Jean and her husband too. Small's maroon Mercedes was found that evening near Aroma Park. A neighbour, a sheriff's deputy, had heard a car pull up at about three that morning and seen it drive off followed by a white van with no front bumper.

More calls came that night from pay phones in Aroma Park and Kankakee. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

The next morning police had the garbage truck emptied and recovered gloves, a Radio Shack receipt for an audio cassette and electrical straps, a gun and a saw. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed That day, with aircraft and dogs searching, he took investigators to the spot. Small was found three and a half feet down in sandy dirt inside a homemade box six feet long, lying on his back in a red T-shirt and jeans, shoes off, a jacket rolled behind his head. There was a light wired to two car batteries, a gallon of water, candy bars, gum, a flashlight and a 20-foot PVC pipe, but no hole had been cut for the pipe; it merely reached slits in the box. The medical examiner said the air supply was insufficient and he probably suffocated within an hour, without a struggle. The cause of death was asphyxia due to suffocation.

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it Witnesses had seen him building the box all summer, with changing explanations: a lemonade stand, storage, something for his brother's pool. He had also been heard envying Small after seeing him leave a boat store in his Ferrari.

this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed Neighbours testified to a light-coloured van with a spare tyre driving through the alley by the Small house eight to ten times that summer, with a blonde woman staring from it. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

this part of the story is covered for now The prosecution said the candy bars, light, water and pipe were used to lure Small into the box and keep him quiet, and that he needed Small to make the tape recordings; the defence called the faulty air system an accident, not intentional murder. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed She apologised to the Small family, saying the day of the kidnapping was the most horrendous of her life and that she did not knowingly take part in the murder.