Fetch the Devil: The Sierra Diablo Murders and Nazi Espionage in America

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21 Almost from the outset, the newspapers and some Austin officials were publicly calling the Frome murders the biggest criminal case in Texas history . The national attention turned up the pressure on the famed Texas Rangerstofindaquicksolution.MuchwasmadebyGovernorJamesAllred and other politicians in the state capital about the crime-solving abilities of the elite, Stetson-crowned lawmen. To put money where his mouth was, the governor had dispatched half the Ranger force across the state to investigate all aspects of the case, or to participate in the manhunt. He hinted that he expected the case to be wrapped up in short order, having dedicated so much of the force to the job. It was becoming evident to seasoned investigators that this crime had probablybeencommittedbysophisticated,ruthlesskillers.SheriffFoxand several of the Rangers believed the killer or killers had strong motives and the skill to professionally cover an escape without leaving any viable trace of evidence. In the alternative, they may have just been incredibly lucky. It was beyond the wildest odds that anyone could snatch two adult women driving a powerful automobile, after a high-speed chase on a major U.S. highway in broad daylight, and not be credibly identified. It was further implausible that the assailants could hold their victims captive for hours while driving more than a hundred miles through several towns and settlements, torture and murder them just off a busy highway, leisurely ransack their belongings near another busy road, and then vanish completely with a carful of distinctively marked luggage, including two steamer trunks. Yet those seemed to be the circumstances of this case. Lawmen—local, state, and federal—repeatedly interviewed witnesses whocouldnotdescribethenumberofpursuerstheybelievedtheyhadseen, let alone their specific features. They could not be certain of the make or color of the cars they claimed to have seen in the unusual chase. Even normally common clues, such as the make and caliber of the death bullets, defied adequate description. The slugs removed from the skulls 118 fetch the devil of the victims were proving to be a problem for the new DPS laboratory in Austin. The lead projectile from Hazel Frome’s head, believed to be of .38-caliber weight, was so badly mangled it could not be further identified. The slug taken from Nancy’s head was still intact. It was a .32 caliber, with clear manufacturer markings. However, it still could not be specifically identified. The lab head, “Lone Wolf ” Gonzaullas, reported after ballistics analysis in Austin that it appeared to be a kind of Spanish-made ammunition not sold in North America. His technicians were not positive about that, because they had no match for the slug on file. The Rangers themselves disagreed about several key aspects of the case. On April 10, Ranger captain Harvey Purvis told reporters at a press conference in Houston that the Frome murders had been overly sensationalized. Contrarytoearlierannouncementsthattwodifferentcaliberweaponswere used, Captain Purvis claimed that only one gun, of “unidentified foreign manufacture,” killed both women. He said the massive amount of blood on the women’s heads was not unusual and that Nancy probably had not been tortured at all. Purvis said Nancy had been shot “in the face,” and the excessive blood resulted from a nosebleed. The eight scabs on the back of her hand were attributed by that veteran Ranger to the victim having been dragged along the ground, even though the autopsy described them as “burns inflicted . . . possibly with a lighted cigar.” He said the girl’s ruptured diaphragm was not caused by a major blow to the abdomen, or by being stomped while lying on the ground,butwasprobablycausedbydecompositionofthebodyafterdeath. Despite the deep gash or bite mark on Hazel’s arm, he claimed there was no evidence that either woman had been tortured or involved in a struggle. Purvis seemed to make light of the massive Ranger manhunt being conducted along the state’s southern border, by concluding the press interview with the statement that the slayers most likely fled east. They “might be in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, or somewhere else in East Texas,” he said.112 Upon reading the Ranger captain’s comments seeming to debunk most ofthefindingstodate,SheriffFoxandotherlocalinvestigatorswerefurious aboutAustin’smeddlinginthecase.EvensomeoftheRangersworkingwith local lawmen in West and South Texas were perplexed by the comments and expressed concern about the direction—or lack of direction—the investigation was taking. murder in the desert 119 The cream of the law enforcement crop from a dozen agencies in several states had...