Morbid - Episode 581: The Murder of Patricia Lonergan

Episode Date: July 11, 2024

On the morning of October 25, 1943, the body of twenty-two-year-old Lion Brewery heiress, Patricia Lonergan, was discovered in a locked room in the New York apartment she shared with her infant son. Patrica was nude and had been bludgeoned with a candelabra. Suspicion quickly fell on her estranged husband, Wayne Lonergan, who had fled the country to Canada, where he was serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force.Wayne Lonergan was apprehended a few days later and returned to New York, where he was charged with the murder and two days later confessed to killing Patricia in a jealous rage. Despite his confession, Lonergan’s case went to trial and quickly became one of the most sensational trials of the decade. While the murder itself was a terrible tragedy, the extensive press coverage and intense public interest was on Wayne’s sexual identity and the supposedly scandalous lives of the two high society figures at the center of the case.Wayne was ultimately found guilty of the murder and served more than two decades in prison, after which he was deported back to Canada, where he resided until his death. Few people ever doubted that Wayne had indeed killed his wife; however, to this day many have questioned whether his sexuality and the couple’s nontraditional marriage biased the jury against him and led to an unfair trial.Thank you to the incredible Dave White (of Bring Me the Axe and 99 Cent Rental Podcasts) for research!ReferencesAnderson-Minshall, Diane. 2021. Did this queer man kill his wife? March 24. Accessed June 18, 2024. https://www.advocate.com/crime/2021/3/24/did-queer-man-kill-his-wife#rebelltitem1.Buffalo News. 1943. "Boats grapple for vanished RCAF uniform." Buffalo News, October 28: 1.Dunne, Dominick. 2001. "The Talented Mr. Lonergan." Vanity Fair, July 01.Levine, Allan. 2020. Details Are Unprintable: Wayne Lonergan and the Sensational Cafe Society Murder. Guilford, CT: Lyons Press.New York Times. 1944. "35 years to life given to Lonergan." New York Times, April 18: 1.—. 1942. "Husband is held for questioning in heiress' murder." New York Times, October 26: 1.—. 1944. "Lawyers rebuked in Lonergan case." New York Times, February 17: 20.—. 1944. "Lonergan choked wife, Grumet says." New York Times, March 23: 21.—. 1944. "Lonergan confession read; tells of bluedgeoning wife." New York Times, March 28: 1.—. 1944. "Lonergan defense is ended abruptly." New York Times, March 30: 1.—. 1944. "Lonergan guilty in second degree of slaying wife." New York Times, April 1: 1.—. 1943. "RCAF cadet's wife slain in home here." New York Times, October 25: 1.—. 1944. "State asks death in Lonergan case." New York Times, March 31: 1.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Morbid early and ad free. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. Listening on Audible helps your imagination soar. Whether you listen to stories, motivation, expert advice, any genre you love, you can be inspired to imagine new worlds, new possibilities and new ways of thinking. Audible has the best selection of audiobooks without exception, along with popular podcasts and exclusive audible originals all in one easy app. Enjoy audible anytime while doing other things, household chores, exercising,

on the road, commuting, you name it. Audible makes it easy to be inspired and entertained as part of your everyday routine without needing to set aside extra time. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. I'm Dan Tuberski. In 2011, something strange began to happen at a high school in upstate New York. A mystery illness, bizarre symptoms, and spreading fast. What's the answer? And what do you do if they tell you it's all in your head? Hysterical, a new podcast from Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios. Follow Hysterical on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, weirdos, I'm Ash.

And I'm Alaina. And this is Mourbed. It's Mourbed. Small bit. Did you like my like weird shrill introduction? I loved it. Thank you. I'm sure everybody loved it. I hope so. Yeah. For them. I know they will. It's for the people. You know? I know it. You know? I know it. We're very silly today. Yeah, it's a silly day. Just a Tuesday. Just a silly ass Tuesday. A silly ass Tuesday. Why is that so funny? I don't know. Because it's silly Tuesday. I don't know what's happening. We're not on drugs, I swear. It's true. We sound like it. But we're not.

Just high on life. This is just a toasted Asiago bagel with cream cheese. I did not know where you were going with that. Cappuccino coffee. I didn't hear the part where you said, I just had. So I thought you said, it's just a toasted Asiago. Oh no, I did say that. Oh, you did?

Because you were saying like, this is just us. And I was like, yeah, it's just a toasted Asiago bagel no, I did say that. Oh you did? Because you were saying like, this is just us. And I was like, yeah, it's just a toasted Osceago. Oh, you're high on the Osceago. Yeah. I see. Yeah. Do you have any, you should plug your book. Oh yeah, I have a book.

A couple. A couple. Now I have a sequel coming out. A couple of books. You guys have been awesome with the pre-orders. You're fucking killing it. The Butcher Game comes out September 17th. You can pre-order everywhere right now.

It's going to be awesome. I promise you it's longer, it's gorier, it's got some shit in it. It's fucked. And Ash has read it. I read it and I love it. And I would read it again. I it and I would read it again. I'm probably gonna read it again when it comes out. Hell yeah.

I want, I think I, yeah, I want a hardcover one. Oh yeah, the hardcover will come out first. Oh cool, I'll buy that. And it will be followed by a paperback at some point. So don't worry. I already have that. But, but yeah, if you, if you can pre-order, that would be so fucking sick of you. Sick nasty.

I'd be forever in your debt. You guys have been awesome about it, but it's very helpful to authors to pre-order for sure. And sometimes, sometimes you get the book like a day early sometimes. That's happened to me. I'm not saying it'll happen all the time, but like- No promises. It happens. So it's one of those things that it's like, you might as well roll those dice and see if you can get the book a day early sometimes. That's happened to me. I'm not saying it'll happen all the time, but like, it happens. So it's one of those things that it's like, you might as well roll those dice and see if you can get the book a day early.

Being first is the best. It is. It always is. So the drag queen, me, me, I'm first. There you go. You can go to the butcher game.com and it'll give you a list of all the places that you can order it at. And you know, like I'm going to be letting out some little quotes from the book. I've been doing that now and then. Notable quotables. That Mikey has made. Mikey's made those graphics.

He's so good at that. All by himself. So. All by himself. I just, you need to know that the talent is there. The talent. The talent, the charisma, the uniqueness nerve. Exactly. And of course, can't forget the talent.

It's all there. The cunt is showing, baby. Serving cunt, cunt, cunt. So it's fun. And the audio book will be available. So you can pre-order that. It's all exciting. It's the same narrators for the sequel.

Oh my God, Sophie and Joe. We love Joe and Sophie. They're amazing. And I'm very excited that they came back. So yeah. Yay. Yipp amazing. And I'm very excited that they came back. So yeah. Yay. Yippee.

I'm excited about it. Let's get this bitch on the New York Times bestselling office list. Let's do it. Again. I don't know who I am today. I'm several different people. I don't know who I am. I have anxiety today.

I got things to do, but I'm silly today. Feeling a lot of emotions. Feeling a lot of things going on. Yep. Are you going to take us back in time today? I am indeed. Right at the top of this story, like silly all aside, I want to get serious for a second because this is an interesting story and it's kind of like my typical kind of socialite vibe. But because I'm taking you back in time, there are heavy themes of homophobia. And that was a bummer going through this to say the least.

It always is. It was very angering going through this. And it's not, I mean, the person who committed the crime is the one who faces these themes. So you're going to feel a lot of different feelings going through this. A lot of conflicting feelings. Yeah, because you're going to be upset for them that they face things like this. But then also at the same time, they are the murderer. So you feel a little bit stressed.

Yeah, it's going to be stressful. It will be. Feel all your feelings. Feel them all. Feelings are valid. Yeah. But let's get into it. They're not fact, but they're valid.

That's exactly what my therapist says. She says my old therapist is actually not the new one. The old one said, feelings aren't fact. Yeah, it's true. The new one. But they're valid. Probably would say the same thing. Anyway, so let's get into it.

Patricia Hartley Burton was born September 1st, 1921, the only child to William Burton and Lucille Wolf. I fucking love the name Lucille. That's, I love the name Lucille. It's so cute. Like, I feel like, how could you ever meet a Lucille and not like them? I don't know. It hasn't happened to me. Yeah. Now, William was the son of Emanuel Bernheimer, the owner of Lion Brewing,

which was one of the largest breweries in the owner of Lion Brewing, which was one of the largest breweries in the United States in the early 20th century. So when William turned 21, he had inherited a trust fund of $250,000, which today would be like inheriting 6 million motherfucking smackaroos. Oh my. Or dollars, if you ask me. Smackaroos is much better. Smackaroos. Oh my. Or dollars, if you ask me. Smackaroos is much better. Smackaroos.

I like that. Smackaroos is definitely where it's at. That's a lot of money. A lot of smackaroos. A lot of smackaroos. They were rolling in smackaroos. A lot of cha-ching. A lot of kashash.

I don't know. A lot of kashash. A lot of kashash. A lot of kashash. I was cashash. A lot of cashash. I was going somewhere else and then my brain forgot where we were going. I saw you struggling and you were making this motion with your hand and I was like, I want to help,

but I don't know where you're going. Yeah, cashish, that's what I was trying to say. Cashish, there you go. Not cashash. Cashash. I like cashash. Cashash. TM.

So as the heirs to the Bernheimer fortune, William Lucille and their daughter Patricia lived a remarkably privileged life. Everything was insanely extravagant. They had butlers, they had this, they had that, they had everything. Like the Gilmour's. Yeah, exactly. Even richer. Even more. Wow. Don't tell Emily that. I would never. But despite having been raised in a family of brewer industrialists, William actually didn't really have any interest in brewing

or running a major corporation. That could present a problem. Yeah, it didn't even. He was just like, yeah, I'm not that interested. So the business just went to his brother, George, and William, he still got to keep his money, and he pursued a career in painting and visual arts. Now, despite their seemingly charmed life, the Burtons had what people, especially back

then, would have considered a non-traditional marriage. According to author Alan Levine, who wrote a book about this case, Details are Unprintable was the title. Definitely a good read, I check it out. Good title. Alan wrote, there's sufficient evidence to strongly suggest that William Burton was gay and his marriage to Lucille was somewhat of a sham or like a cover up kind of because obviously he couldn't be a very out gay man at that time. Now, William's parents seemed to be aware of his sexual orientation, but they insisted that he quote, find a nice girl and get

married, settle down and have children. Okay. Hence the marriage to Lucille on September 25th, 1920. Not surprisingly, William and Lucille's marriage was not very happy because neither of them was really living their true identity and their true lives. You know, can't truly be happy. No. In March of 1925, less than five years after getting married, Lucille actually ended up filing for separation on the grounds of cruelty. In her filing, she alleged, among other things, that William had, quote, used profane language in front of their home and had caused a crowd to gather. And she also said that he was physically abusive on more than one occasion and had taken their daughter to an undisclosed location for several

days without informing her. So things were nasty. That's fucked up. It's super fucked up. Things were nasty behind closed doors. William denied the allegations, but the court did end up siding with Lucille. And in May of 1926, she was granted a divorce,

and she was awarded primary custody of Patricia. But just four years later, 1930, Lucille and William actually ended up getting remarried in a small ceremony in France. Later, Lucille admitted that she had only gotten remarried for the sake of Patricia, who William adored and couldn't stand to be apart from. It was kind of like keeping the family together for the sake of her daughter and for her ex-husband. But there wasn't real love between the two, like William and Lucille. Okay.

It was from the jump, very fractured and very sad. I was going to say this is just very sad. And for William, I imagine it was lonely. Like I hope the abuse allegations weren't true, but it sounds, I mean, the court saw them as true. But it sounds like William was lonely. It sounds like Lucille was lonely. And then Patricia just suffers because she's being brought up in such turmoil. Yeah. And it's like, that's not, that's not healthy.

Yeah. And she sees the example of her mother just kind of like dealing with it. Yeah. Just like bearing the load of all this. The other thing was, while the remarriage likely surprised those who knew them well, it was, it had the benefit of upholding social expectations and shielding them from any further gossip about William's sexuality. Very 40s. Very, very 40s. And actually at this point, 30s.

Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah, we're not even there yet. We'll get there, don't worry. You're like, don't worry, we'll get there too. We're on our way. Very 30s. Yeah, so throughout a good portion of Patricia's life, the family lived in Europe,

spending most of their time in and around Paris. France was among the capitals of the art world at the time. And also at the time was a country that had pretty accepting attitudes around homosexuality. At the time, gay relationships were definitely not encouraged, but it was a place that would have been tolerant of William's casual relationships with men, especially given his station. He lived a little bit more of a privileged life, so people were willing to kind of look the other way, which is silly that that even had to be done.

They had to look the other way. Yeah, it's like, get over it. That's wild. But during this period, the family spent considerable time traveling back and forth between New York until finally deciding to move back to the United States in the later 1930s, just before the start of World War II. Patricia often referred to her parents as strict,

but there's actually a lot of evidence to suggest that when it came to their daughter, William and Lucille weren't any more strict than the average parent at the time. In fact, according to author Levine, Patricia was, quote, spoiled rotten by both her parents as they competed for her affection. Oh, man. To think of your parents competing for your affection is like it's great, but they want you to know how much they love you. But you can see all the Yeah. And you just see all the chaos. So it's like, it's a little hollow. It is a little hollow.

At the end of the day, I'm sure. But by the time she reached her late teens, Patricia was receiving a regular and sizable allowance from her father, was an active member of New York's Cafe Society and a regular contributor to philanthropic causes. In addition to the tea dances and luncheons that she hosted, she was also a regular at the debutante club gatherings and fundraisers around the city. So you see where my socialite shit is coming with. I was going to say you love that.

I do. I wish I could have been a debutante. A debutante. Now, it was during this period, circa 1939, so you're right, we are approaching the 40s, that Patricia, who was on the hunt for a husband, first met Wayne Lonergan. Wayne was born January 14th, 1918 in Toronto, Ontario, to Thomas and Clara Lonergan, an insurance salesman and a homemaker, respectively. The family, which also included Wayne's siblings, June and William, lived a middle-class life. They lived in a nice neighborhood, seemed to have like a fairly average

life. But behind closed doors, there was a considerable amount of dysfunction. Clara, the mom, regularly suffered from crippling anxiety and depression. And she also experienced psychotic episodes that according to Levine, quote, made her indifferent to her young children, as well as paranoid and delusional. So it's really sad. She was hospitalized in psychiatric institutions on at least four occasions, including one hospitalizations about six months after Wayne was born. She was really going through it and Wayne and the kids were having to kind of figure it out. Yeah, like come to grips with that. Other than that, Little is really known about Wayne's early life. But in 1932, his parents transferred him from a

Catholic school to Harvard Collegiate Institute, a public high school. But for whatever reason, that only lasted a year. And by 1933, he was transferred back to the Catholic school system. Later, after Wayne's trial, his aunt told reporters, Wayne had always been a fine boy, but he fell into bad and fast company after he went to New York in 1938. Oh, eek. When you say after his trial, I said, uh-oh. Oh, no. But yeah, maybe not entirely true. Auntie Wayne there. Oh.

Alan Levine speculated that the reason for Wayne's transfers between high schools actually might have had something to do with some delinquent behavior. His own delinquent behavior. Yeah, not necessarily the entire state of New York. Not like he was friends with yucky people. Yeah, once he moved to New York, he fell in with a bad crowd. Not necessarily. He did well in school and he was actually highly intelligent, but his high intelligence left him bored a lot of the time.

That's often an issue. It is. I think that was the case in my last story. And inevitably that got him into trouble. In December 1933, he was actually arrested a few days before Christmas when he was caught shoplifting a microphone, a purse, and a lighter from a department store. What an interesting array of items. Yeah. A microphone, a purse, and a lighter from a department store. And this- What an interesting array of items. Yeah, a microphone, a purse and a lighter.

Like the purse you're like, oh, like, was that like a Christmas gift? Like that's kind of sad that you feel you had to scale that. Yeah, microphone, you have things to say. Yeah. You have a shone to put on. You have a shane perhaps. And a lighter. And a lighter.

Fires to start. You know, arson. Great. But this was the first of several run-ins with the law. Wayne's poor behavior in his teenage years. Later. Fires to start. You know, arson. Great. Yeah. But this was the first of several run-ins with the law. Wayne's poor behavior in his teenage years, at the same time though, might not have been entirely his fault. Life in his house with, you know, his mom, she was pretty emotionally unavailable.

She was going through her own things. It just wasn't really easy for the kids. That's sad. And to make matters worse, when he was only 15 years old, Wayne's father actually died of coronary thrombosis, leaving the children solely in the care of Clara, who was unemployed and didn't really have a lot of skills. And this was during a particularly bad economic time period in Canada.

Oh, man. So they were really going through it. Yeah. So the year after he turned 16, or the year when he turned 16, excuse me, he dropped out of high school and attended Dominion Business College where he took courses in business management. But after a while, this was also pretty unstimulating for him and within a few months he dropped out.

So, in the years that followed, Wayne just kind of jumped from one job to another. He had a short stint as a special constable for the Ontario Provincial Police in 1937. But like the other jobs, all of these were unsatisfying for Wayne. He wanted bigger, more exciting things for himself. So in 1939, he landed a job as a bus dispatcher with Greyhound bus lines from whom you cannot buy a VIP ticket. I don't know if you guys remember that story. Like I need to be clear. There's no such thing. No VIP ticket on Greyhound bus. When you told me that I almost died. In case you don't know that story I once

spotted VIP ticket because they advertise VIP tickets and I thought I would get like a special more comfy seat. No bitch. I sat in the back next to the bathrooms and not anything about that experience was VIP. So fake as fuck. Very important. I wanted to be a very important Greyhound bus rider. Okay. And I wasn't. I love that you bought a VIP Greyhound bus ticket. It's like one of my top favorite things that you've ever done. What did you think that like you'd at least got like an extra leg room? I mean, it's like one of my top favorite things that you've ever done.

What do you think that like you'd at least got like a seat with extra leg room? I mean, yeah. Like I've boughten, I've boughten. I bought like, you know what? I rest my case. Anyway, just for those out there, don't be fooled. You can't buy a VI ticket. Don't be fooled like me. Don't get yourself in the same situation.

But anyway, he got a job with them. Maybe the VIP tickets were his idea. That took him to New York. But the job was hardly more exciting than what he'd done to that point. But the good thing was it did get him out of Toronto and allowed him to get to the decidedly more glamorous New York City. New York! Where he was confident that his charm, charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent would be rewarded. People often throw shade on renting, calling it a bad long-term deal. But what if I told you that with BILT Rewards, your rent money isn't just paying the landlord,

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start earning points with your rent payments today. I'm Dan Tuberski. In 2011, something strange began to happen at the high school in Leroy, New York. I was like at my locker and she came up to me and she was like stuttering super bad. I'm like, stop f***ing around. She's like, I can't. A mystery illness, bizarre symptoms, and spreading fast. It's like doubling and tripling and it's all these girls.

With a diagnosis the state tried to keep on the down-low. Everybody thought I was holding something back. Well, you were holding something back. And tension, I. Yeah, yeah, well, yeah. No, it's hysteria. It's all in your head. It's not physical.

Oh my gosh, you're exaggerating. Is this the largest mass hysteria since the witches of Salem? Or is it something else entirely? Something's wrong here. Something's not right. Leroy was the new dateline and everyone was trying to solve the murder. A new limited series from Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios. Hysterical. Follow Hysterical on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can listen to Hysterical early and ad-free right now by the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Hysterical early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus. I love it. Now, although he had always tried to make money through what back then would have been considered legitimate employment, quote unquote, there is ample evidence, including a number of Ontario police reports that suggest he also made money as a sex worker or an escort prior to relocating to New York, which they'll end up using against him. But it's like, who really gives a fuck? He needed money. Yeah. It's like a job is a job. I feel like that's not the issue here. Me too. But throughout his life, Wayne mostly, he kind of like went back and forth denying that he was gay or bisexual. But there is evidence that his clients were almost exclusively male. And on a few occasions when he was feeling less

Inhibited. Inhibited. Why can't I say that? I understand because when you say inhibitions, it changes the inflection that you use. So when you go to say inhibition, you say like in-hibit. Yeah. Like, you know, it just makes you… And then you're going to say like in-inhibit. Inhibit.

Yeah, I can't. But it's inhibited. On a few occasions when he was feeling less inhibited. You got it. Ay. He admitted to having at least some sexual interest in men. It seemed essentially that he probably did have some kind of interest in men and women. To me, it seems like maybe he was bi. But obviously you couldn't come out and say that back then without facing legitimate consequences. That's wild.

Yeah, which is sad. But who really knows? And the only reason I bring it up is because his sexuality ends up playing a role in his later trial. Otherwise, it's like, who cares? I wouldn't have brought it up is because his sexuality ends up playing a role in his later trial. Otherwise, it's like, who cares? I wouldn't have brought it up otherwise because it's not pertinent to me at all, but it plays a role in the trial. Exactly. But anyway, it was actually through William Burton, Patricia's father, in case you forgot, that Wayne came to meet Patricia in 1939.

William had met Wayne, so Patricia's father had met Wayne, in late 1939. And despite their 20 year age difference, they kind of entered a short lived relationship of sorts. In later interviews, Wayne would acknowledge his relationship with William Burton, but he would always insist that it was Patricia he was interested in.

Huh. Yeah, it's interesting. But at the time, homosexuality was not only a crime, but also considered by most, including medical professionals, to be a mental illness. So given, which is insane. That's like inconceivable. No, it truly is. It really is.

Well, and it's sad that like people are still trying to make that happen. But given the stigma and potentially serious consequences of being labeled gay or bisexual, you can understand why Wayne would have gone out of his way to conceal his sexuality. Absolutely. But like I said, and remember, like I said earlier, William Burton had the luxury and protection of wealth and status, where Wayne didn't really have that.

He's a middle class, blue collar kind of guy. I can't cover it up with that stuff. Exactly. But anyway, nobody really knows why, but William and Wayne ended their relationship after a few months. And with William's approval, Wayne started dating his daughter, Patricia. Okay. Yeah. There's a lot of different theories. Some people think that it was kind of like, Some people think that it was kind of like, do you remember the fucking William Woodward story?

Where he was, he set Ann up with his son so that they could carry on the relationship, but then they kind of fell in love. Yeah. To me, it kind of seems maybe like that is what happened here. Like Wayne was dating Patricia so he could stay close to William, but then maybe it worked out that he actually did fall in love with Patricia. Wow. Or maybe it just like...

The fact that you've had at least two cases where this scenario happens is pretty wily. Yeah, it is. I love a fucked up high society. You do. It's my favorite thing ever. Damn, these high society bitches are like... Secrets on secrets on secrets. Yeah.

Like what? Interesting. Scandals on scandals on scandals. Scandal, though. But according to journalist Dominic Dunn, one of my faves, Wayne Lonergan, quote, was one of those young men in New York who liked to be taken care of. And he had the kind of look, swagger and charm

to ensure that he was. I'm gonna look him up. I know you should. This certainly explained at least some of his interest in William Burton, but also his interest in Patricia. And for her part, Patricia didn't really seem bothered by this kind of arrangement. She'd spent her entire life seeing her father carry on relationships with men while still

being married to her mom. So the idea that the companionship of her latest love interest could be bought honestly seemed fine to her. Yeah, like this is not something foreign to her. Exactly. So not long after meeting, Patricia and Wayne were frequently spotted at some of New York's fanciest restaurants and nightclubs. They were really hitting it off and having a good time together. The relationship though resembled Patricia's parents' marriage in other ways too. Most significantly, she and Wayne were decidedly non-monogamous, the two

of them. They spent a great deal of time together socially, but Wayne also courted other wealthy young women at the time to kind of climb the social ladder, it seemed. And Patricia may have been doing the same thing. I think people just focus more on Wayne because of what happens later. Yeah. But within less than a year of arriving in New York, he had pretty much integrated himself into the Burton family while also gaining entrance

to the prestigious Princeton Club and acting as a popular escort for prominent historian and culture critic, Lucius Beebe among others. Lucius Beebe. Lucius Beebe, what a cool fucking name. Now, while William Burton seemed to approve of Patricia's relationship with Wayne, her mother, Lucille, was vehemently opposed to their affair.

Her feelings were probably an amalgamation of worrying that her daughter was going to end up in a similar position to hers. And she also didn't love the fact that Patricia was dating outside of her social station. Because remember, they're high society. They're going to all these nightclubs and afforded the best of the best. And now she's dating some middle class blue collar guy who like reminds Lucille a lot of her father slash husband.

Not great. Which is not a flattering portrait to her. Exactly. Whatever the reason though, Lucille strongly disliked Wayne and wanted Patricia to have a proper society debut. So in the summer of 1941, she took Patricia to California in hopes of breaking up the relationship.

Oh. But unfortunately for Lucille, Wayne followed them there, and on July 30th, he and Patricia eloped to Las Vegas. So not only did he be like, no, you're not breaking us up. We're just going to get married now. Yeah. And actually you made it easier for us because Vegas is right there. Yeah. Yikes. And you can imagine for a high society woman, her high society daughter eloping to Las Vegas, wasn't really what she'd hoped for. To the middle-class guy that she didn't approve of.

Yeah. Eee. Scandals. Yes, much scandal. So after the wedding, Patricia and Wayne moved into an apartment on Park Avenue in Manhattan, back to high society ship. William Burton had actually died from a heart attack a year earlier. Oh. Leaving Patricia with a $230,000 trust, which is about $3.5 million today.

Whoa. And that allowed the couple to continue their life of extravagance and luxury. Now they had a butler, a cook, a laundress. Damn. Yeah, sounds amazing. But there was a lot about Wayne that Patricia didn't know. And what she thought she knew was pretty much a bunch of lies. Oh. According to author Alan Levine, Wayne Lonergan was a consummate liar. Among other things, he had convinced Patricia that he had his own money from investments and that he hadn't married her for her inheritance.

But it never seemed to occur to her that their expenses always seemed to be paid out of her pocket. Anytime they did anything, it was on her dime. Yeah, that sounds like willful ignorance. It's just like, you know what, I'm just gonna believe this. And I think a lot of it probably had to do with the fact that they were also both carrying on other shit. Yeah. So she's just like, all right, whatever.

She's like, cool. We're married on paper. My mom is pretty pissed about it, but at least I'm married. We go to social events together and that's it. Let's go off and do our separate things. Yeah. Now, as soon as they were back in New York, Wayne and Patricia, like I was just saying, got back to their life of leisure.

Leisure. They were dining at the finest restaurants, spending their nights at popular clubs like El Morocco and the 21 Club. They became members of a small group. The society pages had dubbed celebutants. Stop it. Young men and women whose notoriety and celebrity were purely the result of their wealth.

Oh, so this started long ago. Oh, it started. I watched a documentary recently where they were saying, like, Paris Hilton was the first of the Celebutants. And that's my girl right there. I ride for Paris. She is not the first Celebutant baby.

Patricia is one of the first. Yeah. And this is in the 1940s at this point. Absolutely. It goes way further than that. But they traveled by limousine daily. They gained entrance to exclusive clubs and rooms across the city.

And they never had to worry about having a reservation. If they showed up, there was a table for them. That must have been nice. I know. I love the extravagance. That's fancy. I love it. Yeah, I do love the fanciness of it.

Oh, it's so fun. But the nightclubs and limousines were an important part of Patricia and Wayne's fancy. I love it. Yeah, I do love the fanciness of it. Oh, it's so fun. But the nightclubs and limousines were an important part of Patricia and Wayne's lives. But for Patricia, the excitement only went so far. She had been brought up in this kind of lifestyle, but she also had been instilled with a desire to contribute to society in some way. So a few months after the wedding, she actually took a nurse's aid course at Bellevue Hospital and she completed that in early 1942. And she started volunteering at Bellevue and St. Clair's Hospital three days a week. Damn.

So she wasn't just like throwing money at causes, which I mean, even still that's great that you're supporting causes and giving your hard earned money or, you know, money. Your money. Your money. But she also was like going to the hospital and doing the damn thing. Yeah, she was actually getting involved. Yeah, exactly. Wayne, on the other hand, didn't really feel a drive to contribute to anything other than his own life.

And he was very happy to just lay around the apartment all day until it was time to go out in the nighttime. Ew. Yeah, it's not super hot. But it turned out this fundamental difference in character and ethics was going to be the first obvious crack in their marriage. Oh yeah, there's no way that's going to last. No. Now Wayne got a stipend of $700 a month, which is about $13,000 today.

Oh, just that? A month. Just a measly $13,000 a month as a stipend? But he would blow through that before the month was even close to being over and would inevitably go to Patricia asking for more money. How though? Like, what are you spending that on? Everything.

Because you're not paying bills with that. Nope, because you don't have bills. That's just your fun money. Yeah. How much fun are you having? The most fun one could ever have. And that's the thing, like, it's so clear that they were going hard. They were going to these nightclubs, these, you know, private rooms, these dinners,

these any like anything that they were going to. And they were giving to like philanthropic causes, of course. But Patricia was like, this kind of only goes so far. Like, you can only get so much out of this. And then I'd like to be involved in actual normal society and like go see the other side of life. Like there's a finite amount of money here. We're not actively making money. Exactly. This is a trust. This can run out. And just also, I don't want to lay around the apartment all day. Like, yeah, we can do that, but that doesn't mean

we should. And I think she saw that, but he didn't see lay around the apartment all day like, yeah, we can do that, but that doesn't mean we should. Yeah. I think she saw that, but he didn't see that. And you have to remember, she had grown up this way. So it got old for her faster. Yeah, she's like, this high life is fine. Yeah. But whatever. I'd also like to be a little bit regular.

Yeah. And he had grown up in kind of a struggling household. Working. Working, going from job to job. And then he finally got here where he doesn't have to do shit. So he's just basking in it. That's a tough like conflict of just experience. Yeah, essentially. Exactly. You both experienced totally different like, uh, upbringings. Yeah. I was like, what is the word? Upbringings. And now you want the other one.

Exactly. You're used to the other thing, now you want the new thing. And when you're married and you want like two vastly different things, it's just not going to work out. Yeah. You don't have to want all the same things. No, of course not. But there's got to be a common ground.

Yeah, that's the thing. Like you need a little compromise with each other. And they just didn't have that eek. So when she would suggest that, you know, maybe he go try to find a job, Wayne would just balk at the very thought of giving up this life of leisure. Instead, he focused all his attention on climbing the social ladder. He played cards most afternoons. He went out of his way to make the acquaintance of the city's most famous residence.

Later, when detectives interviewed their friends and acquaintances, nearly every single one of them reported that Patricia was usually unhappy. That's sad. Yeah. And also it's like, at least like personally, man, that's unattractive. Oh, if you're just loafing around the house all day. Oh, the lack of ambition. Not hot. Oof. Not hot. Like that is a, whirr, whirr. Yeah. Ngh.

Ugh. Ugh. And you could tell it was having an effect on their marriage. Yeah, she's like, um, this is not OK. Most people don't find that attractive. No. So as the months went on, Wayne's less desirable character traits continued to show themselves.

In addition to his just straight up laziness, he also seemed to care little for Patricia's happiness and pretty much did everything without any kind of regard for her feelings. Eww. When they went out to nightclubs, he would just leave her for more interesting or exciting social opportunities. What the fuck?

Sometimes he would just skip their plans or obligations altogether. If he found something else he wanted to do, he'd just go do that. Wow. And other times, he would literally return home,, like essentially to her home, because she's the one with the fucking money. Yeah. From a night out in the company of men or women that she had never met or seen before.

That sounds like a nightmare. Yeah, it's horrible. Situation. So she complained about his behavior and like tried to talk to him about it, but he ignored her and just carried on doing everything that she asked him not to do. More than anything though, the tensions in Wayne and Patricia's marriage could be traced back to the fact that he had no control over their finances. Because remember, this is her trust. They're living off of her trust fund. But after all, Wayne reasoned he was the husband and it was a man's job to take care of such things in a marriage.

To make some money, honey. Exactly. But he felt it was emasculating that she was in charge of all the finances. Now it got to the point where the arguments between Patricia and Wayne got heated and were generally carried out with little regard for whoever was in earshot. They would just fight in front of anybody. Oh, they're those people. Yeah.

We all know that couple. They're like, there's that couple. You're like, we're still at dinner. Wait until we get in the car. I'm uncomfortable. Oh, god. But according to Daily News gossip columnist, Anton Walker, they fought like cats and dogs.

There was never any peace between them. Once when they got into an argument, I heard her say to Wayne, I suppose that's to be expected when a girl marries a man who's beneath her. Whoa! Shots fired. Damn. Someone give him some aloe for that burn. You guys hate each other? Yeah, you don't like each other. Maybe just go your separate ways. That's fine. Just don't be married. But despite their increasingly fractured marriage, Wayne and Patricia did their best to keep up appearances for social expectations. Yeah, that's what's important. And in October of 1941, Patricia became pregnant.

And on July 1, she gave birth to their first son, William Wayne Billy Lonergan, named for his father and his grandfather. Patricia absolutely adored Billy. But if her new maternal responsibilities prompted any urge for her to change her priorities or for Wayne to change him, it didn't show. Billy's birth did little to alter either of his parents' social lives, and he spent a lot of his time in the care of a nurse named Elizabeth Black. That's really sad. Yeah. I never understand the mindset of like, oh, my life doesn't need to change.

Yeah. There's a child here now. I feel like it's very of that time in this social station. This social class for sure. Definitely. Like the wealthy elite. Yeah. It's sad though, cause you're like, you're gonna be so disconnected.

Yeah, exactly. And it's like, why have a baby? Yeah, like why bother? Obviously, it was like different back then. Yeah, it definitely was. Divorced, beheaded, died. Divorced, beheaded, survived. We know the six wives of Henry VIII as pawns in his hunt for a son,

but their lives were so much more than just being the king's wives. I'm Arisha Skidmore Williams. And I'm Brooke Zifrin. And we're the hosts of Wondry's podcast, Even the Royals. In each episode, we'll pull back the curtain on royal families, past and present, from all over the world to show you the darker side

of what it means to be royalty. We rarely see Henry VIII's wives in their own light, as women who used the tools available to them to hold on to power. Some women won the game, others lost, but they were all unexpected agents in their own stories. Being a part of a royal family might seem enticing, but more often than not, it comes at the expense of everything else, like your freedom, your privacy, and sometimes even your head.

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But by early 1942, the US had finally entered World War II, and young men around the country were all driven by a sense of patriotic duty to join the military and fight. According to Dominic Dunn, it was actually an embarrassment not to be in uniform. So never one to miss an opportunity to impress or meet social expectations, Wayne also desired to join the military. But he was turned down on more than one occasion due to rumors surrounding his sexuality. Rumors. What the fuck?

Literal rumors about him, you know, carrying on relationships with not women. My God. So he couldn't join the military. What an embarrassment. Yeah, exactly. Like that's an embarrassment. For the country.

This man wants to fight for his country. And they're like, no, not because of who you love. Like, what? What? So the denial from the military was a blow to his ego. I mean, I can understand that. But it was only one of what would turn out to be many frustrating disappointments that year.

As the months went by, Wayne and Patricia's marriage continued to crumble, and she actually started talking about separating and even getting a divorce. It's probably for the best, man. Probably. And kind of a big deal for her to be talking about this. One at this time, two in this social class, and three as a woman. Yeah. So Wayne strongly objected to the idea of separating, likely for financial reasons.

But by 1943, the marriage had completely fallen apart, and they did separate in July of that year when Billy was literally one years old. Like he turned one that year. So no longer socially tied to Wayne, Patricia just resumed her life of partying and nightclubs, filling her date book with social engagements, seeing different men every night, just going crazy. Yeah. Wayne, on the other hand, floundered without Patricia, or more specifically, without her money and status.

Yeah. Fearing that she was going to divorce him and cut him off completely, he started brainstorming ideas to get back into her good graces, and he decided that she would be less likely to leave him if he was in the military. But of course, he had already been twice denied by the US military. So he returned to Toronto because remember he's from Toronto. Oh, yeah. In late summer of 1943 and he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force or the RCAF. To his surprise, the ploy actually worked and Patricia agreed to postpone the divorce. But unbeknownst

to him at this point, she removed him as heir in her will and instead listed their infant son as her sole heir. That's not going to be good when he finds that out. As a cadet, he managed to avoid combat and was stationed in Toronto, which allowed him to actually travel back and forth to New York to visit Billy whenever possible. Patricia, meanwhile, had moved on from her husband and was now seeing a man named Mario Gabellini. He was an Italian count who occasionally worked as a decorator. That is the fanciest shit I've ever heard.

Sometimes I work as a decorator. I'm an Italian count who sometimes works as a decorator. Okay, Mario. Cool shit. Damn. That's hot girl shit. That is hot girl shit. No, on the night of October 23rd, Patricia and Mario went out to dinner with another couple. Then they made the rounds to the usual nightclubs, finally ending the evening around 4 a.m. at the stork. Meanwhile, she has a baby. Yeah. Also, I would die. I'm 28 years old and I can't stay up till 4 a.m. I mean, don't you? I can barely get past 11 at this point.

Yeah. I had a glass of wine the other night and stayed up until like midnight. And the next morning, done for. Done for. Done for. But when he was interviewed by police a few days later, Gabellini told investigators that Patricia had been in a wonderful mood that night, and others even went so far as to suggest that she and Mario had become engaged that evening. After leaving the stork, they went to an apartment of some friends for a few more drinks, and then Mario finally dropped Patricia off at her apartment around 6am. Holy shit. When we said all night, we meant all night.

Damn. Now, that same weekend, Wayne had been given a 48-hour pass from his military duty, so that allowed him to return to New York for the weekend to visit his son. By all accounts, Patricia knew that he was coming to the city that weekend, but hadn't made any plans to see him. In the time that had passed in separating, Wayne had become aware that she had cut him out of her will, which caused an explosive argument between the two of them,

and she really had no desire to revisit the topic again, so she was like, oh, yeah, I don't want to see you while you're in New York. On the morning of the 23rd, Wayne went to a toy store and bought a toy elephant for Billy, and then he returned to the apartment of his friend John Harjes, where he had been staying for the weekend. That evening, while Patricia and Mario were out in the town, Wayne was attending a Broadway show in the company of another friend, and after that, they went to the 21 Club. After visiting a few more clubs and had a few more drinks, he ended up dropping off this friend at her apartment a little after 4 a.m.

My goodness, you two. Yeah, they stay out late, mama. Damn. Now, rather than return to Harge's apartment, Wayne's later story would be that he decided to go for a walk, during which he encountered an American soldier by the name of Maurice Wooster. He said they struck up a conversation and Wooster mentioned that he was waiting for a taxi to take him downtown and he was hoping to find a room for the night. He didn't have concrete plans.

Instead, Wayne said he suggested that the man come back to Harjit's apartment with him. And initially they slept in separate beds. But according to an interview with Wayne later, that didn't last long. And eventually he joined Worcester in bed. For what the interviewer described as quote unquote acts of perversion. Hosts of perversion. It's like, nope, just two people engaging in consensual sex. Yeah, but yeah. But just to show you what we're dealing with.

Wow. So on Sunday, Mario Gabellini called Patricia's residence and Elizabeth Black answered. Gabellini wanted to speak to Patricia, but Elizabeth told him she was still sleeping. But Mario insisted he really wanted to speak with her. And Black tried to wake Patricia by knocking on the locked door, but she was getting no answer. It wasn't until several hours later that they finally got the door to the bedroom open, and they found Patricia's nude body splayed out on the bed. By then, her body had become rigid, and her, quote, arms were raised as if she had been

attempting to thwart something from hitting her. There was a large gash in her head, and her hair had become matted with a large amount of dried blood that also had seeped into the sheets and as far as into the mattress. There was a lot of blood. There was also significant bruising around her neck, indicating that somebody had attempted to strangle her. On the floor by the bed, investigators found a heavy brass candelabra that usually sat on the nightstand, pieces of which had actually broken off in the struggle. Holy shit.

Like a brass candelabra was broken. Based on the blood stains found on the base of the candle holder, it was clear that this was the weapon that had been used to inflict her head wound. After an initial search of the apartment, detectives determined that nothing had been stolen and there was no sign of forced entry, so a robbery was quickly ruled out. Elizabeth Black was the first to be interviewed, but she explained to the police that she was actually somewhat hard of hearing, so she actually hadn't even woken up when Patricia got home that morning, and she hadn't seen her since the night before. When detectives

learned that Patricia had been out all night with Mario Gabalini, suspicion naturally fell on him. So he was picked up by police and questioned for nearly 12 hours, and he actually was held in the tombs for several days, but eventually they were able to rule him out as a suspect. Later that afternoon, during an interview with her mother, Lucille Wolfe, investigators learned that Wayne and Patricia had become estranged, And although he was stationed in Canada at the time, he had in fact been in the city on the night of the murder. So, ugh. But unfortunately,

by the time detectives got to John Harjes's apartment, Wayne had already left the state and returned to Toronto. Oh, shit. Mm-hmm. He just fled. And just said goodbye. So the following day, an autopsy was conducted by New York's deputy medical examiner, Dr. Milton Halpern. In his report, he confirmed that Patricia's cause of death was asphyxia by strangulation with additional blunt force

injury to her skull, likely caused by the broken candelabra discovered at the scene. He said, she bled a great deal and put up a desperate struggle. Several of her fingernails are broken. And I found the pieces scattered on the floor on both sides of the bed. I also picked up an artificial toenail that probably came loose when she kicked her attacker.

Wow. Yeah. And like that's all of that is shocking. Also that artificial toenails were a thing. Yeah. Okay, I'm glad that struck you as much as it struck me. You know, they're actually coming back. I've seen people have them before.

I've never like seen anybody that I know have them. Yeah. But on my, um, like discover page on Instagram, all of a sudden I'm seeing like, that's interesting people putting, um, like almost like acrylic, like tips on their toenails. Yes. Interesting. That's interesting. It's a vibe. I mean, they look nice. My goodness. What a fight. Yeah.

For like most several of her fingernails to be broken. And like scattered. Shattered all around. Like that's horrifying. Yeah, it is. His report also noted several bloody fingerprints that were discovered at the scene, though none would prove useful in identifying the killer in that moment. While Dr. Halpern conducted the autopsy, investigators started digging into Wayne Lonergan's background and quickly determined that, of all the men in Patricia's life, he was really the only

one with a motive for murder. And a very strong motive at that. She had been his meal ticket for years and now she had not only threatened him with divorce, but had cut him out of her will. That's a double whammy. Yeah, that's it. Not to mention he also had a criminal history for petty crimes. And because of the time period, they looked at his admitting to having some sexual history with men as a strong indication of a deviant personality. Nicole Soule-Miyazaki My, the fact that that factored into whether or not he could be a vicious murderer or not is insane. Nicole Soule-Miyazaki It's not apples or oranges.

Nicole Soule-Miyazaki No, it doesn't compute. Nicole Soule-Miyazaki But it played, and that's why I'm focusing on it, it played a heavy role in this case, and especially the way that the press reported about this case. Now, fortunately, among the belongings found in Patricia's room was an address book with the addresses where Wayne was staying in Toronto. So he was quickly located,

and arrangements were actually made to bring him back to New York ASAP. So as legal arrangements were put into motion to get him returned to the US, Assistant District Attorney John Lauer flew to Toronto to interview Wayne in person. According to the press, Wayne quote, denied point blank he had any connection with Patricia's death, though he admitted he had been in New York over the weekend. Investigators were already deeply suspicious of Wayne by the time they caught up with him in Canada,

but they became even more so when Lohr discovered several notable scratches on his face. Oh. He also admitted that he had been wearing his uniform over the weekend, his Royal Canadian Air Force uniform. But when he was asked to surrender that uniform for examination, he claimed the uniform had been stolen by Maurice, who also had scratched his face while they were intimate.

SONIA DARA-MARGOLA Wow. KATE Yes. SONIA DARA-MARGOLA Okay. KATE According to Wayne, the two had been engaging in sex when suddenly Maurice changed his mind, and that led to an argument. And during that argument, he said he scratched his face. After things calmed down, Wayne said he went back to his own room and went to sleep, but he got up a few hours later and said he found Maurice attempting to steal his watch and his uniform. Wayne claimed to have confronted

Maurice again and a second fight occurred, but he said Maurice managed to flee the apartment with the watch and the uniform. So that's why he didn't have his uniform to hand over. On its face, the story seemed absolutely ridiculous. Why would an American infantryman want a Canadian military uniform? I was a little confused by that one. I don't think he would. But still, Lohr insisted that they'd look into the story. He told the press, we want the uniform. It might tell an interesting story. Now, from the moment that he was arrested

in Toronto, investigators in New York made no secret that Wayne was their primary suspect in this murder. The day after Patricia's body was discovered, Deputy Chief Inspector Patrick Kenny told reporters, we consider Wayne Lonergan a very likely suspect. By then, detectives had already caught up with Jean Jaber, I think it is, the woman that Wayne had attended a show with that night before the murder, who confirmed that she had spent the afternoon and most of the evening with Wayne and that she did not notice any scratches or marks on his face at the time. Uh oh, Wayne.

Those were fresh. It took more than two days, but investigators were finally able to get Wayne back to New York on October 28th, where he again denied having anything to do with his wife's death. Upon arriving in New York, he told reporters, I had nothing to do with Pat's murder. I want to be at her funeral and I want to see our baby. It's unclear whether he knew it at the time, but at that point, Patricia had already been buried and had a funeral. So there's a chance that his statement to the press was just for show, or he might not have known, but there wasn't any chance.

He was going to see his son anytime soon. Patricia's mother, Lucille, had been awarded temporary custody of Billy, which would eventually become permanent. Oh, man. If you remember, she wasn't a big fan of Wayne. No. And now that was going to be even worse. Those closest to the case were pretty positive that Wayne had murdered Patricia, but not everybody was

convinced. In those people's minds that were not convinced, he had an alibi that was so socially unacceptable, it only made it easier to believe. One detective told a reporter a guilty man would never offer an alibi so degrading. Wow. Yeah. But still, others found the story about Maurice Wooster impossible to believe. Journalist Sid Bohm wrote in the New York Journal American, he's lying. The only bit of truth in the whole story is that he admits he's a degenerate. Can we move on everybody?

A degenerate. A woman was murdered. Can we stop talking about this guy's sex life for a minute? Thank you. Literally, like, the fact that that's, like the fact that she was murdered at all, but she was brutally murdered in her own home. Where her infant child is. Absolutely.

And nobody's focusing on that part that you're right, all they are focusing on is this man's sexuality. That's it. And trying to use it as proof that he's like a vicious murderer. And some people are literally willing to believe his alibi, just because there's no way a man would ever admit to being even slightly homosexual. Yep. If he was guilty.

Yep. What? Yeah. Damn. It's wild to think that this even happened at all. And it's wild to think that some people still fucking think that way. Yeah. I was going to say this isn't completely gone. That's the thing.

And I think it's podcast American Scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in U.S. history, events that have shaped who we are as a country and continue to define the American experience. We go behind the scenes looking at devastating financial crimes, like the fraud committed at Enron and Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme. American Scandal also tells marquee stories about American politics. In our latest season, we retrace the greatest corruption scheme in U.S. history as we bring to life the bribes and backroom deals that spawned the Teapot Dome scandal, resulting

in the first presidential cabinet member going to prison. Follow American Scandal on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge this season, American Scandal Teapot Dome, early and ad-free right now on Wondery+. And after you listen to American Scandal, go deeper and get more to the story with Wondery's other top history podcasts including American History Tellers,, and even the Royals. It was very clear that the salacious aspects of the story were far too irresistible for the press, who like we were just saying,

latched on to Wayne's sexuality and quote unquote scandalous alibi, and just spread that across the front pages of the papers all over the city. Wow. Versus a woman's brutal murder. Yeah. Let's follow the evidence.

That would be so sick. That'd be cool. Yeah. In reality, Wayne's story was actually a lot more plausible than people realized or were willing to admit at the time. Throughout a lot of history, queer men who risked anonymous sexual encounters, because remember he met Maurice that night. With strangers, there was an exponentially greater risk for them. And a lot of times, those people were victims of assault, robbery, murder.

Like, those things happened. But in Wayne's case, there really was no risk. So the police were right to be skeptical. Because within a day, detectives had interviewed John Harjes's butler, who actually only remembered Wayne because he had been so rude that weekend. The butler told police there had never been an American soldier in the apartment that weekend or anyone else for that matter. Similarly, when Wayne's alibi had made it to the papers, an American serviceman from

Connecticut named Maurice Worcester came forward and told police that while he had been in New York that weekend, he had quote, never seen or heard of anyone named Wayne Lonergan. Holy shit. Yeah. This man was just going to totally blame it on this guy. We had never met. Yep. Wow. Yep. So detectives interrogated Wayne Lonergan for nearly 24 hours straight with breaks, very few breaks and very little food. But he stuck to his story for a while. But still, investigators had already begun reporting

to the press that they had their killer. A detective told reporters, "'We feel that we have a very good circumstantial case "'against him, a case that will be extremely difficult "'for any defense to attack, knock down, "'or shake in any degree. "'Damn. "'A strong case that will be extremely difficult for any defense to attack, knock down, or shake in any degree. Damn. A strong case that was actually really starting to take shape. Because despite Wayne's insistence that he had nothing to do with Patricia's death, after intense questioning and scrutiny

his story was beginning to fall apart. When detectives confronted him with bloody fingerprint evidence collected from the apartment, which they insisted could prove his guilt, he finally broke down and confessed in great detail to the murder of his wife. According to Wayne, after he dropped Gene off at home early that morning, he returned back to John Harjes' apartment, but a few hours later, he decided to pay a visit to Patricia. He arrived at her apartment a little before 9 a.m., and she let him in, and then returned to her bed.

They had a brief discussion about him wanting to see Billy, which turned into an argument during which Patricia allegedly told him, you're not going to see the baby again, ever. Wayne claimed it was that statement that sent him into a rage, and he continued telling detectives, I lost my head. His connection to Billy was his last chance at accessing Patricia's fortune at all, and if she severed that tie, he was never going to see another penny from her. So he explained that, after Patricia threatened to withhold their son, he grabbed the candelabra from the nightstand and struck her in the head with it. The candelabra

broke, so he grabbed the identical one from the other nightstand and hit her again. Still not subdued, Patricia managed to get out of bed and began fighting him, punching, kicking, clawing at his face, hence the scratches. And finally, Wayne grabbed her by the throat and he said he started squeezing as hard as he could. He estimated that it took several minutes, about three minutes, for her to actually die. When he said he finally let go of her body, he realized that the blood from her head had gotten all over his hands and his uniform, so he went back to John Harjes's apartment, where he cut the uniform into strips for easy disposal, and then pulled a suit from Harjes's closet and left a note that he hoped would later support his alibi. He wrote, John, thank you so much for the use of your flat. Due to a slight case of mistaken trust,

I lost my uniform and borrowed a jacket and trousers from you. I will return it on my arrival in Toronto. I'll call you up and tell you about it. Yours, Wayne. Once he got talking, it seemed like he couldn't stop. And the only thing he didn't want was for the case to go to court. He actually asked the assistant district attorney, Jacob Grumet, suppose I say I'm guilty and have it over with. Can I do that? Grumet explained that while he certainly could confess to the DA and the investigators in the room, any legal consequences would have to come from a judge. So he was going to have to see the inside of a courtroom at some point. Yeah. But for whatever reason, Wayne seemed very reluctant

to provide the details of the murder itself. It was describing the act of killing Patricia that he wanted to avoid, especially in the court. Yeah. So Grumet explained that he could bring in a stenographer and take the confession, meaning Wayne would only have to go over the details once. But if he planned to confess to first degree murder, a guilty plea actually wasn't permitted and take the confession, meaning Wayne would only have to go over the details once.

But if he planned to confess to first degree murder, a guilty plea actually wasn't permitted under New York law, and he would have to stand trial. Now, the details of Patricia's murder, her brutal murder, may have been the primary thing that Wayne wanted to avoid, but of course, there was also the matter of his sexuality that the press was fucking harping on. Obsessed with. Literally obsessed with, like, why are you so obsessed with me? Yeah.

Wayne asked the assistant DA, well, suppose I have to go to trial. Will you bring all this out about what I am, about my morals? He had mostly denied, like I said, his homosexuality or bisexuality. But regardless of what he said, there was evidence of his supposed quote unquote deviance.

Like no, his deviance is that he's a murderer. That's the thing. That's the deviance. That's the deviance right there. I don't give a fuck who he's sleeping with. That is, he's a murderer. Exactly. He's a vicious, callous, cold piece of shit murderer.

What the fuck are you doing talking about who he goes to bed with? And claiming that's the deviance of the story. Who gives a shit? He's an asshole. Exactly. But like most queer men, he knew that that was what was going to be splashed across the newspaper, every single newspaper in New York. And it would have probably a primary role in the trial itself. So that was another big reason he didn't want this to go to court. So Grume and Lohr tried to minimalize his sexuality when speaking in hypotheticals,

but the press had already seen to it that any version of the story that was told was going to be framed as a deviant murder. And it's like, no, he's just a, he's a horrible, vicious murderer. Also, all murder is deviant. Exactly. Because it deviant. Exactly. Why is this deviant? Exactly. And the others aren't?

Like, all of them are deviant. This one's very deviant because of how brutal it was. Nothing to do with preferences. Nothing else. So on October 30th, 1943, a grand jury indicated Wayne Lonergan for the first degree murder of Patricia, after which he was returned to a cell at Rikers Island. Damn. I know. If anybody had hoped for a speedy trial and resolution, they were going to be very disappointed. Five days after the indictment, Wayne's lawyer, Edward Broderick, succeeded

in getting an 11-day stay in the Court of General Sessions in which to enter a plea. It's unclear why Lonergan or Broderick wanted to put off entering a plea to the charge, but it was going to be the first of many delays in the case that was receiving intense press coverage. A few weeks later, Wayne ended up pleading not guilty to the charge of first-degree murder, but Broderick succeeded in delaying a trial with just one motion after the other. So after multiple delays and shakeups, the trial finally got underway on March 22nd in New York's Court of General Sessions. Despite the courtroom theatrics leading up to the trial, the opening statements from

the prosecution and defense were actually surprisingly short. Not required to offer a motive for the murder, Grumet laid out the facts of the case, explaining that Wayne Lonergan had murdered his wife, and after a few days of attempting to deny his actions, he confessed to the crime. He told the jury, we have only his statement as to what transpired there just before he killed her. His wife, the only person in the room at the time, is dead. As for any of the salacious details emphasized by the press, Grumet did his best to live up to the promise that he had made to Wayne saying, I don't believe it's necessary to go into the sorted story

of degeneracy that he told, indicating it had no bearing on the facts of the case. Cause it doesn't. It literally doesn't. Like I'm surprised it was even allowed to be brought up so much because it, it really doesn't have anything to do. It feels like it's a very extraneous thing to add into a pretty brutal and open and shut case. It's actually like, it was kind of surprising to me that the prosecution didn't rely more on it because they could have back then. Like it just was a thing that happened a lot.

I think they just didn't need to. They didn't need to in this case. He had admitted it. But we've seen cases where they didn't need to and they still did. So it was kind of surprising that he was like, yeah, we don't have to talk about that. Yeah, that is a little surprising. I think it was mostly just, it's open and shut a little bit. I mean, pretty much.

He confessed. He has all the motive in the world. He was there. It's an easy case for the DA. There's nothing to really contend with here. So they're probably like, why not just get this done quicker? Exactly. Which, honestly, good, because it has no place in a courtroom. It's ridiculous. Now, the defense on the other hand gave opening remarks in which Wayne was made out to be

another victim in the case. Broderick told the jury, we'll show you that this defendant Lonergan from the very inception of this case has been the victim of double dealing, double crossing and double talk. His defense was a very simple one. He said his client was innocent and had only confessed under duress and coercion. In fact, he argued, if anyone appeared guilty in the case, it was Mario Gabellini who had been with Patricia just hours before her murder. According to Broderick, Wayne had only confessed after being subjected to illegal and immoral tactics that included quote allowing the defendant to go hungry for a lengthy period, plying him with brandy and pyramiding a series of petty discomforts. A number of witnesses were called to testify

as to the discovery and facts of the case, including Elizabeth Black, Dr. Halpern, Lucille Wolf and Gabellini himself. But the most damning evidence that you just called it out against Lonergan, it was the confession. He confessed in great detail. Despite Broderick's repeated attempts to prevent the confession from actually being introduced into the courtroom, including badgering nine police witnesses into admitting coercion, about a week into the trial, the confession was read aloud for the jury. Through the confession, the jury heard, in his own words, how Wayne had killed his wife in the heat of an argument over their son and over money, how he panicked, destroyed his uniform, and threw it in the river, and how he bought makeup later that day in order

to conceal those heavy scratches on his face. On March 29, the state rested its case. In the lead-up to the trial, Broderick, the defense attorney, had made allusions to several important witnesses that he was going to call to prove his client's innocence, including tombs, stool pigeons, and a well-known wealthy lawyer who was in the murder chamber at the killing. The murder chamber at the killing? Yeah.

None of those exciting supposed witnesses were ever called. And he rested his case after calling three witnesses. Cool. Yeah. So on March 30th, the defense rested their case having proven little if anything. I was going to say after doing what? After doing theater. Yeah.

In his final remarks, Jacob Grumet revisited the facts of the case. He emphasized the violence of the murder, which like, thank you. Finally, somebody does that. Can we talk about that part? He told the jury this was brutal, cold-blooded, deliberate murder. There she was on the side of the bed opposite to him, but he was determined to kill her. He grabbed her by the throat with both hands and continued to strangle her for three minutes. Given the brutality of the crime and the defendant's repeated attempts to cover up what he had done to avoid detection, Grumet encouraged the jury not only to find Wayne guilty, but also to impose a death sentence.

Whoa. The jury retired for deliberation on March 31st, and after 10 and a half hours, they emerged to find him guilty of murder in the second degree. The jury foreman later said, there's no question that Lonergan murdered his wife, but I think it's obvious he did not premeditate it. I don't think he went to see his wife for the purpose of murdering her. I can agree with that. I agree with that. From what I know. Yeah. I mean, just that he didn't go there with any weapon.

With a weapon or anything. It seemed like it was in the heat of the moment. Yeah. Wayne said nothing when the verdict was read. Outside the courtroom, District Attorney Frank Hogan addressed the press saying he believed the jury's verdict was fair and just. Joseph Broderick was similarly unmoved, saying that his client was a soldier of fortune. He said it's his belief that if his number's up, it's up. Okay.

Already. I don't think it's that your number's up. I think you murdered your wife. Yeah, I think that's more it. The jury also rejected Wayne's claims of coercion, saying the people assert that the defendant had sufficient sleep in Canada and Statler Hotel in Buffalo, and that this was all necessary in order to discover whether or not the defendant was guilty of murder.

Yeah. So two weeks later, on April 18, Wayne returned to the court of general sessions, where he was sentenced to 35 years in prison. Again, he said nothing after the verdict was read, and he was transported to Sing Sing Prison. Woof. He went to some of the worst prisons. He hit the biggies.

Yeah. While Wayne seemed resigned to his fate, Broderick appeared more than hopeful when he stood before the press. He told them, Last week, District Attorney Frank S. Hogan received a major setback when the Court of Appeals reversed another murder conviction obtained by his office. I expect my appeal will add to the list of Mr. Hogan's setbacks. I doubt it. His confidence notwithstanding, Wayne's appeal was ultimately rejected, as were his later attempts to a new trial.

Not shocking. According to Dominic Dunn, in prison, Lonergan enjoyed the sort of celebrity certain high-profile killers achieve among the other inmates. His charm worked for him in prison as it had in life." Damn. Which is crazy when you think of the prisons that he was in. That's crazy. Yeah. And it's also like, no, I want you to not have a great experience in prison. Like I don't want anything bad to happen to you. Like I'm not crazy, but you should go to prison and not become a celebrity. You shouldn't have a fun time.

Yeah, you know, it's not for funsies. No. Now, after serving several years at Sing Sing, he was transferred to Clinton prison in Danimora before being released in December of 1965 after serving 22 years of his sentence. Oh, excuse me. Following his release, he was deported back to Canada where he lived quietly in Toronto until his death from cancer in 1986. So this man's just went like 20 more years after strangling and bludgeoning his wife

to death in her bed where their infant son was in another room. Cool. Yup. Sick. Literally sick. Really sick. Uh huh. Cool. Yup. Sick. Yup. Wow. Literally sick. Really sick.

Wayne and Patricia's son Billy grew up in the care of his grandmother, Lucille Wolf, like I said earlier. A few months after Patricia was murdered, Lucille actually petitioned the court for a name change and Billy was rechristened William Anthony Burton. I think she didn't want him to carry his father's name. And as far as anybody knows, Wayne never made any attempt to contact Billy after he was released from jail. In an interview later in his life, he told a reporter, I know where my son is, but I'd rather not say he's had enough to put up with. No one ever hears of him or where

he's living. He has a bodyguard to keep it that way. Honestly, I'm glad he didn't. Yeah, it seems like hopefully William was better off without being wrapped up in any more of this. He does. He had enough to put up with. I hope his grandma was great for him. I know.

She seemed really loving. Her name's Maciel. So I feel like she was. Yeah. Now, there was never really any question as to whether Wayne Lonergan murdered his wife. He confessed as much just a few days after his arrest. And with the exception of a few insignificant details, there's no reason to doubt that his confession was anything other than what it was.

It lines up perfectly. And the fact that he can't find his uniform, all that stuff, it's like it all lines up. Yeah, the scratches on his face, everything. But there are, however, a number of people who believe that how he was portrayed in the press had a significant and negative influence on the trial and sentence. Alan Levine said, given the lack of any physical evidence, which today might cause a jury to have doubts, the intense publicity around Lonergan's sexuality no doubt contributed to a preconceived and negative bias about him in the minds of a typical 1940s male heterosexual jury whose members subscribe to the anti-gay

attitudes of the era. Which I think it's a case of two things can be true at once. Yeah, for sure. I'm sure that jury had some bias because of what they had read in the papers and, you know, I'm sure they saw what they saw in the papers, but I think they also heard his confession. They heard that it was detailed. They heard it lined up. And it didn't seem... Where's his uniform? Why do you have scratches on your face?

You lied about that guy, Maurice Wister. Exactly. I feel like that's pretty... Pretty cut and dry. Pretty decent, especially when he's being like, yeah, I did it. Yeah, I completely agree. Yeah.

I think it's really shitty that his sexuality came into play as often as it did. And unnecessary. Just like, what a waste of time. Entirely unnecessary. I think it's really shitty that his sexuality came into play as often as it did. An unnecessary. What a waste of time. Entirely unnecessary. Because realistically, it didn't play a huge role in the trial. No. If those jury members were biased because of what they read in the papers, it played

some role, obviously. I don't think you can say it didn't play any role. But like logic, like it shouldn't have. It didn't have anything to do with the crime that was committed. So like, why are we talking about it? And I wish somebody had said like, somebody should have been like, why are we talking about this? His defense attorney should have said that. That's like having like being in a murder trial and then harping on the fact that you played field hockey, but that having nothing to do with it.

It's like, why are we talking about that? Like why this is just like mess and noise. Like why are we talking about it? It's wild. So weird. Absolutely wild, but it's an interesting story. I know. And I feel so bad that Patricia gets kind of...

Lost it all. Because it's all focused on his shenanigans. And it seemed like she was like a pretty good person. Like the fact that she had all this wealth and status, but still decided to get back. because it's all focused on his shenanigans. And it seemed like she was like a pretty good person. Like the fact that she had all this wealth and status, but still decided to get back. Yeah. And like would volunteer at the hospital

and that kind of thing. Yeah. That's nice. All of that was lost. And I hope that Billy, you know, I hope he like thrived. Yeah, me too. Same. Poor guy.

I know. So that is too. Same. Poor guy. I know. So that is another high society story. Good for you. Riddled with mess and mess and mess. And mess and mess and mess. And mess and mess. But anyways, we hope you keep listening. And we hope you.

Keep it weird. But not so weird that you murder your wife and Claude Budd with a candelabra because holy shit, that is dark. I'm going to be a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a

little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a If you like morbid, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey.

I'm Afua Hirsch. I'm Peter Frankenbaum. And in our series Legacy, we look at the lives of some of the most famous people to have ever lived and ask if they have the reputation they deserve. In this series, we look at J. Edgar Hoover. He was the director of the FBI for half a century. An immensely powerful political figure, he was said to know everything about everyone. He held the ear of eight presidents

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