Thread by @WhoresofYore

On Nov 17th 1972, 51yo Barbara Baekeland was found murdered in her Chelsea penthouse flat. A famous socialite & one of America’s richest dynasty, Barbara's death was shocking, but was nothing compared to the revelations that followed
Thread

CW: suicide, incest, sexual assault

What made the murder particularly shocking was that Barbara had been stabbed to death by her 25yo son, Anthony (Tony) Baekeland.

Barbara Daly was born in 1921 & as a young woman was named one of the most beautiful women in New York. Her natural good looks led to modelling contracts, posing for famous artists, & some small roles in Hollywood films.

But Barbara’s beauty & popularity hid a private struggle with mental health. Her father took his own life when Barbara was just 11 & her mother Nini was plagued with bouts of insomnia & friends described her as ‘neurotic’.

Barbara kept her depression & mood swings secret & but privately sought psychiatric help. Her good looks & charm caught the attention of Brooks Baekeland, grandson of Leo Baekeland, the inventor of Bakelite plastic, & heir to a vast fortune

According to one report, Barbara lied & told Brooks she was pregnant to force a marriage. True or not, they got married. They were the toast of high society, but It was not a happy marriage. Barbara drank heavily, had severe bouts of depression, & they both had affairs.

It was into this that Antony Baekeland was born on August 28, 1946. From a young age, Tony exhibited worrying behaviour, such a hurting animals, but his father excused it as scientific curiosity.

As he grew older, it became clear he wasn’t well, but his father refused to allow him to seek psychiatric help

By 1968, after numerous affairs, several suggestions of divorce – always followed by Barbara attempting suicide - Barbara & Brooks finally went their separate ways.

But Barbara had more important things to worry about & had discovered her son was gay (possibly bisexual), & was having a love affair with an Australian man called Jake Cooper.

Barbara became determined to ‘fix’ her son’s sexuality. She would hire sex workers for him in the hope this would ‘cure’ him. She once told her husband, ‘I could get Tony over his homosexuality if I just took him to bed’.

It is unclear if Barbara really did make her son have sex with her or if she was saying this for shock value, but both Barbara & Tony told other people this happened. Tony told his friend Jim Robertson, ‘I’m having an affair with my mother… I am fucking my mother’.

It is widely believed that Barbara began abusing her son to rid him of his homosexuality. By 1972, Tony’s mental health was deteriorating. He started threatening his mother with knives, attempting to choke her & tried to push her into traffic.

It unclear precisely what happened on the night of Nov 17th 72, but Tony later confessed they had got into an argument & he remembered punching then stabbing her. He phoned an ambulance, who found Tony trying to order a takeaway when they arrived.

Following the murder, Tony was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. In 1973, Tony he found guilty of manslaughter with diminished responsibility & sent to Broadmoor hospital for an indefinite period.

Tony seemed to do well in Broadmoor, but his friends & family campaigned for his release. Tony’s father did not agree, however, & felt his son still posed a risk. In July 1980, Tony was discharged & went to live with his 87yo maternal grandmother, Nini Daly.

Only six days after his release, on July 27, Tony attacked Nini with a kitchen knife. She survived, but only just. He was arrested, charged with attempted murder & sent to Rikers Island prison. In 1980, Tony said this of the murder.

On March 20, 1981, was found dead in his cell, with a plastic carrier bag over his head. His father was certain Tony had been murdered to prevent him identifying guards he’d been having sex with, but the official ruling was suicide.

In one final tragic twist, the carrier bag that ended Tony’s life was made of the same plastic that had made the family’s fortune.

If you would like to know more about this case, Savage Grace: A True Story Of Incest And Murder Among The Wealthy Elite by Natalie Robins and Stephen M. L. Aronson, is an excellent place to start.