Shortly after 9:00 pm on June 18, 1928, John Irving Glab was found lying next to his car fatally wounded by a .32 caliber bullet, which entered his chest, severing an artery. Unable to name his shooter, he bled to death while being rushed to the Van Nuys Emergency Hospital. When police arrived at the scene they questioned his wife, Hazel Glab; her niece, Ethyl Kaser; the gardener/chauffeur, M. A. Wilson; the maid, Mrs. Wilson; a neighbor, Mrs. J. Goodrich, and F. A. Krupp, a business owner from across the street. Both Mrs. Glab and Ms. Kaser stated that they were playing pinochle and had not heard anything unusual, but the neighbor and employees gave opposing declarations. The Wilson's stated the Glab's had been quarreling for several days prior to the killing, and Mrs. Goodrich insisted she saw a woman dash from the murder car and into the Glab home at the time of the shooting. In reconstructing the crime, police believed that the slayer was concealed in the automobile and as John Glab, 40, a wealthy retired Chicago Druggist, stepped to the running board and opened the left door, the pistol was thrust to his body and fired. The victim cried out for help and collapsed into the street, his left foot remaining on the running board of the car, with the car's ignition key laying near his right shoulder. Hazel Belford Glab was detained at the time by police for questioning, but she stuck to her original story as did her alibi Ms. Kaser. Detectives could not prove her guilt or involvement with the murder and eventually police dropped their pursuit. Glab moved on, managing to evade arrest for another eight years. Her luck would run out when her "new" wealthy fiance´, capitalist Albert L. Cheney, died mysteriously in early 1935 in Nevada while on an intended honeymoon with Mrs. Glab. Cheney had bequeathed her his estate in a will written in purple ink. It was discovered she crafted the bogus will days after her fiance´s funeral, forging the testament by which he willed her his entire $400,000 estate. Glab was arrested and during this trial, authorities reopened the investigation into her 3rd husband's shooting death. On December 27, 1935, she was found guilty and was convicted of forgery and preparing false evidence, and was sentenced to Tehachapi Women's Prison for a term of 2 to 14 years for that crime. Shortly thereafter, in April 1936, Glab was convicted of second-degree murder for killing John I. Glab, the sentence being seven-years-to-life. Surprisingly, though, she was out of prison in 1943 after serving only 7 years. Photograph caption dated March 23, 1936 reads, "Tension plainly written on their faces, Hazel Glab and her attorney, S. S. Hahn, are shown in court waiting for the verdict of the jury which is battling to reach a verdict on charges that Mrs. Glab murdered her husband on a dark night eight years ago. Reports said the jurors were deadlocked nine to three. The court denied Hahn's plea for a re-opening of the trial today."
Type
Image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;21 x 26 cm. Photographic prints
Glab, Hazel--Trials, litigation, etc Trials (Murder)--California--Los Angeles Trials--California--Los Angeles Lawyers--California--Los Angeles Murder--California--Los Angeles Criminals--California--Los Angeles Murderers--California--Los Angeles Women murderers--California--Los Angeles Mariticide--California--Los Angeles Courtrooms--California--Los Angeles Herald-Examiner Collection photographs
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