Barbara Mackle is amazing! Charles “Duke” Tanner is justly free. But so is Gary Krist.
If you don’t believe there’s a significant difference in how people are sentenced, read the following examples:
Charles Duke Tanner was sentenced to 2 life sentences for possession of 20 pounds of cocaine. (No violence. Just possession of cocaine.) President Donald Trump appropriately granted him clemency (pardon of his sentence) on 10/21/2020.
Gary Stephen Krist kidnapped Barbara Mackle and buried her alive in a wooden box. Barbara is amazing and she survived—after almost 4 days of being buried underground. (It was a specially made box with air exchange, but it doesn’t change the fact that she was buried alive.) Gary Krist served 10 years and was released. He was then caught smuggling 38.6 pounds of cocaine (nearly double what Charles Tanner possessed) and 6 illegal immigrants into the U.S. Gary Krist served 5 more years and is currently a free man. No clemency needed.
In December of 1968, Gary Steven Krist, age 23, and his partner, Ruth Eisemann-Schierthe, 26, posed as police officers and knocked on Barbara Mackle’s door. The pair said that her boyfriend, Stewart Woodward, had been in a car accident, so her mother, Jane Mackle, let them in. Gary and Ruth attacked Barbra and knocked her out with chloroform. They drove Barbara into the woods, where they had buried a wooden box. Gary Krist made wooden boxes to transport animals for long distances for a living. The kidnappers had engineered the box so Barbara could breathe and loaded it with food and water containing sedatives. The box was in the woods just 20 miles from Barbara’s home. It was buried about 2 feet underground. A carboard sign that said kidnapped was placed in her hand and Krist requested $500,000 ransom for her return (equivalent to $3.5 million today.)
Barbara Mackle wrote in her book, 83 Hours ‘Til Dawn, “The sound of the dirt got farther and farther away. Finally, I couldn’t hear anything above. I screamed for a long time after that.”
Barbara’s father agreed to pay the ransom but the first drop-off attempt was interrupted when 2 police officers randomly drove by and scared off the kidnappers. The second exchange was successful, but Gary Krist took the money and ran. In the bungled exchange, Gary and his partner Ruth were separated. After 3 days, the police received an anonymous phone call identifying the woods where Barbara was buried. 100 officers walked through the woods, and finally discovered 2 pipes sticking out of the ground.
Ruth and Gary. Ruth Eisemann-Schierthe was the 1st woman on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list.
Krist later stated he was looking for a rich, tough-minded female. Someone who could stand up to the trauma of being buried alive. Barbara Jane Mackle fit that profile.
The FBI found a trailer used to transport the wooden box and fingerprints that lead to the name Gary Krist. Krist had been arrested several times for car theft and had escaped from a California prison in 1976. He was now going by the name George Deacon. Gary Krist is arrested 2 days later in a swamp in Florida and served 10 years in prison. Ruth Eisemann-Schierthe was arrested in Oklahoma months later. Ruth served 4 years in prison and was then deported to Honduras. Ruth had a troubled childhood, and reported she with was ‘in love’ with Gary Krist. The prosecutor wanted to put Gary Krist to death. Barbara Mackle didn’t want him to get the death penalty since Gary called the police and that ultimately saved her life. Gary Krist was released after serving only 10 years, and then given a pardon so he could attend medical school. In 2006, Krist was arrested off the coast of Alabama in possession of over 30 pounds of cocaine and with illegal immigrants he had charged $6000 a piece to smuggle into the country. Krist was sentenced to 5 years for his new offenses and was released. However, in 2012 he violated probation by leaving the country without permission. He sailed his sailboat to Cuba and South America and was sentenced to 3 more years in prison. He is now free.
Barbara Mackle stated she survived by thinking about enjoying Christmas once again with her family. She believed someone was going to rescue her. There is no evidence that Barbara suffered long-term negative effects from the event. Barbara was described as peaceful and kind after, as she was before. She married her boyfriend, Stewart Woodward in 1971, and they were married for 46 years until his death.
It’s been a tough year, but so many people stepped up and helped others. Thank you to everyone for your kindness! Merry Christmas to all, and all a Good Night! Thanks for listening, Frank
The Christmas truce of l914. In the hundred years since, the event has been seen as a miracle, a rare moment of peace in a war that would eventually claim over 15 million lives.
Pope Benedict XV, who took office in September of 1914, called for a Christmas truce to World War I, an idea that was officially rejected. Still, it occurred. To this day historians continue to disagree over the specifics: no one knows where it began or how it spread, or if, by some curious Christmas magic, it broke out simultaneously across the trenches. Nevertheless, two-thirds of troops — about 100,000 people — participated in the legendary truce. Most accounts suggest the truce began with carol singing from the trenches on Christmas Eve, “a beautiful moonlit night, frost on the ground, white almost everywhere”, as Pvt. Albert Moren recalled: “First the Germans would sing one of their carols and then we would sing one of ours, until when we started up ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’ the Germans immediately joined in singing the same hymn to the Latin words Adeste Fideles. And I thought, well, this is really a most extraordinary thing – two nations both singing the same carol in the middle of a war.” Some Germans lit Christmas trees around their trenches, and there was even a documented case of soldiers from opposing sides playing a good-natured game of soccer. The next morning, in some places, German soldiers emerged from their trenches, calling out “Merry Christmas” in English. Allied soldiers came out warily to greet them. In others, Germans held up signs reading “You no shoot, we no shoot.” Over the course of the day, troops exchanged gifts of cigarettes, food, buttons and hats. The Christmas truce also allowed both sides to finally bury their dead comrades, whose bodies had lain for weeks on “no man’s land,” the ground between opposing trenches. One more quick story to share. I injured my shoulder in a baseball game and went to the doctor. She asked, “How did it happen?” “I was playing in the over 30 state tournament with my youngest brother’s team and I dove for a ball and landed on my shoulder?” She asked, “Did it pop out?” “No—I caught it.” Immediately after I said it, I realized she didn’t care if I caught the ball, but was wondering if my shoulder popped out. We both got a good laugh out of it.
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AuthorFrank F. Weber is a forensic psychologist specializing in homicide and sexual and physical assault cases. He uses his unique understanding of how predator’s think, knowledge of victim trauma, actual court cases, and passion for writing true crime thrillers. His Award Winning books include "Murder Book" (2017) "The I-94 Murders" (2018) "Last Call" (2019) and "Lying Close" (September 2020). Archives
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