Solved Murders - True Crime Stories - The Shocking Kidnapping of John Paul Getty III and His Family’s Cold-Blooded Response PART1 #41

Episode Date: November 2, 2025

#horrorstories #reddithorrorstories #ScaryStories #creepypasta #horrortales #truecrime #kidnappingstory #gettyfamilydrama #familytragedy #realcrime  “The Shocking Kidnapping of John Paul Getty III and His Family’s Cold-Blooded Response – PART 1” recounts the harrowing beginning of one of the most infamous kidnapping cases in modern history. Young John Paul Getty III is abducted, throwing his wealthy family into a tense and shocking crisis. This first part introduces the chilling abduction, the stakes of ransom, and the disturbing reactions of his powerful family, setting the stage for a story of fear, manipulation, and survival.  horrorstories, reddithorrorstories, scarystories, horrorstory, creepypasta, horrortales, gettykidnapping, truecrimecase, familydrama, wealthyfamilycrime, shockingabduction, ransomordeal, crimeandpower, kidnappedandafraid, chillingstory, realcrimeevents, darkfamilysecrets, survivalordeal, harrowingkidnap, psychologicalfear

The Getty Legacy, a tale of wealth, rebellion, and the spark of chaos. This story doesn't start with our main character. Nope, not at all. If you think we're diving straight into his adventures, you're mistaken. To understand him, to really see where everything comes from, we've got to roll the tape back, way back, to the life of his grandfather. Because in stories like this, bloodlines matter. Family legacy can crush you.

you, lift you, or haunt you, and in the Getty family, it did all three. So, let's rewind to December 15, 1892, in Minnesota, United States, where Jean-Paul Getty came into the world. This wasn't just any guy. This was the man who would later become a tycoon, an industrial powerhouse, a philanthropist, a playboy, an art collector, and the founder of Gary Oil and the Gene Paul Getty Trust. For a time, he wore the crown of richest man in the world. Yeah, you heard right. One of the first humans to ever stack up more than a billion dollars. His name was everywhere. Headlines, magazine covers, business columns, they couldn't get enough of him. He wasn't just rich, he was interesting rich.

He was brilliant, eccentric, and always doing something worth gossiping about. Getty wasn't some lazy air either. He went through the University of California, Berkeley, graduated with a degree in economics and political science, and along the way, developed a passion for the classics. He devoured Latin and ancient Greek, and on top of that, he picked up French, Italian, German, Spanish, modern Greek, Arabic, and even Russian. A walking language machine, a businessman, a cultural addict, and an easy, and an easy, he was a German, egotistical genius all wrapped into one.

But here's the kicker, when he wrote his book, How to Be Rich, he admitted he couldn't have done it without Daddy's money. In his own words, he said he'd been subsidized at the start. He had a head start, no denying that. His father's death left him with the family business, and Jean Paul turned that inheritance into an empire. Without it, he believed the Getty Empire wouldn't exist. As for his personal life.

Well, let's just say the man had a thing for marriage. He walked down the aisle multiple times and had five sons, George, John Ronald, Eugene Paul, Gordon, and Timothy. And these boys? They had everything. Best schools, best teachers, golden opportunities. He expected greatness from each of them. For Getty, the family name wasn't just a name, it was a brand, a dime, a dime. that had to shine. But, from those sons, one stands out in our story, Eugene Paul Getty,

who people usually call Jean Paul Getty Jr. Eugene Paul Getty, the perfect air that went rogue. Eugene or Paul Jr. was polished on the outside. Good schools, good manners, sharp business sense. If you'd met him then, you'd think, yep, that's the next Getty empire leader. At some point, he married Abigail Harris, better known as Gail, a former water polo champion. She wasn't rich, but she had class, intelligence, and an untarnished reputation. She was the kind of woman a dynasty-approved heir was expected to marry. Together, they had four children. Everything seemed picture-perfect, on paper, at least.

But 1964 flipped the table. The couple divorced. By 1966, Eugene remarried, this time to Talitha Dina Pole, an actress and model. With Talitha, things weren't polished anymore. Their life was chaos, a roller coaster of love, fights, reconciliations, and wild adventures. Paul Jr. had already checked the dutiful air box. He'd married well, had four kids, fulfilled the family image. Now, he wanted freedom, parties, madness, passion, drugs, you name it.

And with Talitha, he got it all. They became immersed in a hippie lifestyle. A trip to Thailand sealed their fate, they both fell into heroin addiction. That was when Old Getty, the patriarch, stepped in. He gave his son an ultimatum, quit drugs or kissed the inheritance goodbye. Eugene's response. He basically shrugged and said, I don't care. He renounced his place in the family business. Instead, he lived off a trust fund that paid him $100,000 a year. Now, for most people, that's a life of dreams.

Parties, travels, luxuries, it was more than enough. But here's the catch, the better he lived, the more he wanted. That hunger for more is important. It'll come back to haunt this family. family. The next generation, a child named Jean Paul. Let's fast forward a bit. Back in 1956, before the divorce and the wild hippie years, Eugene and Gale had their first child together. His name Jean Paul Getty 3, born November 4, 1956, in Minnesota. The family moved to Rome soon after. And that's where Jean Paul grew up. He was Italian at heart. His friends, his schools, his life, it was all in Rome.

Even though he had American blood, he felt more connected to the cobblestone streets, piazzas, and Roman energy than to Minnesota. When his parents split in 1964, Jean Paul was just eight. Custody went to his mother, Gale. She wasn't insanely rich, but thanks to Alamony, she She and her kids lived comfortably in a gorgeous palace in central Rome. Jean Paul attended St. George's British International School, a fancy private school. At first, he was the dream student, polite, punctual, respectful, with excellent grades.

He was the perfect little Gettier. But perfection never lasts long. Things start to crack. In 1971, tragedy struck. Talitha, Jean Paul's stepmother, died of a heroin overdose. His father, devastated, moved to the UK. That shook Jean Paul's world. His mind shifted, his behavior started spiraling.

By 1972, he was expelled from school for painting an obscene mural in a hallway, inspired by the infamous Manson family. exactly the Getty image. From there, it was a downward slide, school after school, he kept getting expelled. Teenage Jean Paul plunged into a bohemian lifestyle. He squatted in apartments, hung out in cabarets, nightclubs, and underground joints. He embraced left-wing protests, and during one of them, he threw a Molotov cocktail that destroyed cars. Police locked him up, but his family's money got him bailed out. By 16, he was practically living on the streets,

drifting from party to party, drinking heavily, and surrounding himself with wild crowds. That's when he met Gisela and Yuda Smith, twin sisters. They became his constant companions. Eventually, Jean Paul started dating Gisela. The three were inseparable, moving into the same place, sharing everything. Gene Paul wanted nothing to do with the Getty name.

He despised it. He wanted to carve out his own identity. He told people his family didn't understand him, didn't care about him, and he was determined to live life his way. And to his credit, he wasn't useless. He was creative. He made jewelry, painted, wrote stories, even worked as a film extra. He made decent money.

But the problem was his lifestyle. He and Gisela loved to party, to drink, to indulge, and that required more cash than his little gigs provided. The idea of a fake kidnapping. One night, probably after too many drinks, Jean Paul josella, Yuta, and some friends. What if I staged a kidnapping? You guys grab me, throw me in a car, and then call my grandfather for ransom. The old man's rich as hell. We'd be set for life. They all laughed. It was just a joke. Just a drunk teenager talking nonsense.

But here's the thing about reckless ideas, they sometimes turn real. For the moment, though, the plan stayed a joke. Gene Paul got a modeling gig instead. Playmen, an Italian magazine similar to Playboy. offered him good money to pose nude. They even promised him a cover. For Jean Paul, it wasn't just about cash. It was about making a statement,

he didn't need the Getty Empire. He could create his own image, his own fame. He posed. He got paid. He felt unstoppable. And that's where the story pauses. Because the Getty saga isn't just about well. wealth. It's about rebellion, choices, and consequences that ripple through generations. Gene Paul

thought he was playing a game. But the game was about to play him. To be continued.