Before she was arrested, Marjorie arranged to have the body of her friend cremated. Marjorie kept on spending, writing bad checks and driving her new husband deeper and deeper into debt. They cannot believe the things people say about her. But if anyone thought Marjorie was the victim in this relationship, they had another thing coming. At the time, it was not possible to separate ore from sand, so the ore was worthless. Who wrote youll like my mother?Jo HeimsNaomi A. Hintze. "She lives in very nice properties," Gail Feichtinger, co-author of "Will to Murder: The True Story Behind the Crimes & Trials Surrounding the Glensheen Killings," who continues to keep track of Marjorie's whereabouts and crimes told the News Tribune in 2017. But in reality it was just the opposite. Marjorie Congdon Caldwell with her attorney Ronald Meshbesher. Suzanne is estranged from her mother, telling MinnPost interviewer Amy Goetzman in 2014 that the last shed heard, her mother was calling herself Marjorie Hagen and living in the Southwest. You find yourself not knowing what play youre in, Poling continues. From the beginning, the child was different. Marjorie married Roger Caldwell of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, on March 20, 1976, in the Denver, Colorado, area and they lived in Golden, Colorado. Those who know her find her friendly and engaging. The child shed adopted was olive skinned with straight, black hair and was so nearsighted she had to wear thick glasses. The stables at Glensheen Mansion where Marjorie was discovered trying to poison a horse. Shortly thereafter, the house burned to the ground. ", "Because the family didn't want to go back to a murder scene," he explained. To them, a psychopath is a person like Norman Bates in the classic 1960 Hitchcock thriller Psycho, a deranged maniac with little control over his mental state, a twisted monster made that way by abuse and trauma. She was given 15 years, but on October 30, 1992, Wally was found dead, a day before she was to report to prison. Marjorie Caldwell and her defense attorney Ron Meshbesher walk into the Dakota County Courthouse. In 1988, Roger took his own life, leaving a suicide note that read in part, referring to the Glensheen victims, I didnt kill those girls., Theres a lot of ground to cover, says Poling, around why the trials of Roger and Marjorie ended so differently. Psychopaths are without a conscience. Elisabeth named her Marjorie. When Elisabeth was found murdered, it didnt take long for the investigation to zero in on the Caldwells. Nancy and her brother Tom were always curious about their mother's rich friend, Marjorie Congdon. Most psychopaths are not violent, but all are treacherous. She had him cremated before police could determine a cause of death. Suzanne Congdon LeRoy, one of Marjories daughters, recently published a biography of her late grandmother, highlighting Elisabeths philanthropic legacy. How did Chester Congdon make his fortune? She wanted the money, and she was not content to wait for her inheritance. Investigators focused almost immediately on one of Elizabeth's adopted daughters, Marjorie Caldwell, and her husband Roger. When she was alerted to the fire, she was nonchalant. On March 24, 1992, she was arrested for burning down her neighbors house. And I have taken all the necessary precautions to keep myself safe. On the morning of June 27th, 1977 the day nurse arrived at Glensheen to take over for the night staff. The murders were truly reprehensible: attacks of deadly violence committed on two vulnerable, unsuspecting victims. For example, she stripped all the kitchen cupboards and repainted and decorated with Pennsylvania Dutch designs. As a result, no autopsy was possible. Her ability to coerce him in this way hinted at deeper implications. Psychopaths are not shaped by their upbringing. You cannot fault them for that, but neither should you give them sympathy. In addition, they are charming, charismatic and engaging. Tour lengths vary depending on the type of tour and the desired experience. TUCSON, Ariz. -- Marjorie Congdon Caldwell Hagen, the 74-year-old woman acquitted in connection with the June 1977 deaths of her mother and her mother's nurse at Duluth's Glensheen mansion, was taken into custody Thursday night at a Tucson assisted-living facility and booked into Pima County Jail on suspicion of theft, forgery, fraud and computer tampering. EARLY LIFE Meanwhile, during all this legal back and forth, the Glensheen mansion had opened to the public. Congdon's son-in-law, Roger Caldwell, was found guilty on two counts of first-degree murder in 1978. She had been smothered to death. Marjorie had a penchant for arson. What does Louis Osbourne do for a living? Glensheens Daughter: The Marjorie Congdon Story. In 1990, Hagen and her husband moved to Ajo, Ariz. One year later, authorities said Marjorie Hagen used a kerosene-soaked rag to try to burn down a neighbor's home. Marjorie Caldwell Hagen, seen in a photo from when she was in Arizona prisons from late 1992 to early 2004, serving time for arsons in Ajo, Ariz. DeSanto charged Roger Caldwell first. The cause was arson, but her presence there could not be connected to the crime, and she was not arrested. They win people over, before bending them to their will. I found out that her classmate at Vassar was the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. She parted ways with her second husband, Roger Caldwell, after the trials. She added that she hasnt had contact with her for 40 years. In fact, LeRoy herself learned about many of her grandmothers projects only when she began to research her new book, Nightingale: A Memoir of Murder, Madness, and the Messenger of Spring, Kitai Press. It was the stuff of an Agatha Christie novel. The marriage lasted twenty years and cost Dick LeRoy an estimated $1 million in debt and liabilities. Within hours of their return, Hagen was dead. She was arrested, tried and convicted. Hagen's children would later allege, in a 1994 St. Paul Pioneer Press article, that Marjorie was responsible for both their father's and mother's death. The crime immediately attracted national attention. Interesting. While Marjorie stood to inherit millions after her mother's death, she actually got a pittance in comparison. Roger returned to Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and committed suicide by slashing his wrists on May 18, 1988. Marjorie was charged with murder but charges were dropped. From 1993 to 2004, Marjorie Caldwell served 11 years of a 15-year prison sentence for arson. January 26,1985 Her appeal is turned down, so Marjorie begins serving her time for the arson and fraud conviction. To control that wealth mustve been very enticing to someone like Marjorie. We remember all the wrong things about Elisabeth Mannering Congdon. Accordingly, when Marjorie was thirteen, Elisabeth bought Marjorie a horse she had been demanding. I had an appetite for travel and interest in other cultures, and worked with aborigines in Australia. It sounds like fictionlike a murder mystery in a worn paperback novel. How much does the Glensheen Mansion cost? Since Marjorie's release from prison, she has lived in several senior residential communities in Tucson, where neighbors often had conflicts with her and her service dogs. }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); @2022 - 2022 - All Right Reserved. Additionally, two other men shes been close to have died in what some have regarded as suspicious circumstances. 15091511 E. Superior Street, Duluth, Minnesota. It might help visitors better understand Marjories behavior, and raise awareness about these dangerous people among us. Today, the University of Minnesota-Duluth operates the mansion, tours and events that take place inside and on the mansion's grounds. Alarmed, Elisabeth sent her away to a clinic in Topeka, Kansas for a psychological evaluation. Marjorie Caldwell, as Hagen was then known, was instantly considered a suspect in her mother's murder. Stained glass window above the stairway landing at Glensheen mansion where Velma Pitiela was murdered. They married two months later. MinnPost: Although Glensheen is well known, your grandmother is not. After other evidence was discovered at their home in Denver, Marjorie tried to poison Roger, but he was sent to Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park on July 5, and was ready to be handed over to Duluth police on July 7, 1977. In this light, Marjories difficulty in making friends at school can be seen as trial and error, a long learning curve that resulted in her emerging as an engaging, charismatic young woman at the age of nineteen, enough to snare a man like Dick LeRoy. Before the contract came due, she sold the house but didnt immediately vacate. Psychopaths are driven by their need for control. Police suspected that Roger Caldwell flew from Colorado to Minneapolis, drove to Duluth, and committed the murders under cover of darkness. On June 27, 1977, the aged heiress to a vast mining fortune is killed along with her night nurse at Glensheen, a posh mansion perched on the Lake Superior coast. Marjorie's behavior in court also had an impact on the trial. In 1951 Marjorie found herself in St. Louis, Missouri, and married Richard Dick Webster LeRoy, an insurance executive. js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1&appId=180027192065175"; A neighbor remembered Marjorie as being very industrious. She was released on October 19, 1986, and she and Wally moved to Ajo, Arizona. She was a product of her upbringing, in that she liked a genteel life. I thought that was kind of brilliant., Although hes best known for his work with The Suburbs, Poling is no stranger to the stage. The Classic and Full Mansion tours are self-paced with most visitors spending. Make a gift of any amount today to support this resource for everyone. "I don't have any comments about the facts of the new crime," DeSanto said Saturday. Elisabeth Mannering Congdon, Chester Congdons third daughter, didnt prefer the company of men, at least not to the extent that she would marry one. Sociopaths have a conscience, but their moral compass is weak. We see that you have javascript disabled. When we were invited to dinner, it was never casual. She went up to the prone figure. Now she was free to do whatever she wanted. Marjorie Congdon's mugshot, when she was arrested for arson in Arizona on March 25, 1991. Caldwell was a bad alcoholic. In November 2010 a judge in southern Arizona refused her request for a reduction in the terms of her probation so that she could move to a nursing home. Read this article as it appears in themagazine. Required fields are marked *. But psychopaths are different. Were happy to make this story available to republish for free under an, recent moves to open up the private areas, learn about all our free newsletter options, Augsburg author finds sweetness in light of Colbert Bump, Rebecca Rasmussen lives in the North Woods in her novels anyway, With carbon-free law in place, Minnesota Democrats now debating whether to mandate energy storage, An illustrated guide to the signs of Minnesota spring, State funds available to recruit diverse police officers, but not all departments are asking for the money, Addressing (and improving) life expectancies for Black Minnesotans, For years, St. Paul took a hands-off approach to trash collection. They turned him down flat. Roger had gray hair. In 1990, the Hagens moved to Ajo,. "It really was like a house in a time capsule.". Marjorie could not have been pleased. When you tour Glensheen Mansion, the 39-room Congdon family home on the shores of Lake Superior in Duluth, Minnesota, the docents try to avoid talking about the murders. Congdon's adopted daughter, Marjorie Congdon Caldwell, was acquitted in 1979 of charges that she helped plan the murders in what the prosecution called a scheme to get an early inheritance. Marjorie admitted as much, saying she and Walter had made a suicide pact, but that she had lost her nerve at the last minute and couldnt go through with it. They care nothing about anyone else, although they are often good at making it seem as if they do. She took her pulse. In 2007, Marjorie was charged with fraud, theft, forgery and computer tampering after befriending a man in his 70s and becoming his power of attorney. Dumbest of all, a rare Byzantine coin that had been taken from Elisabeths Congdons room on the night of the murders turned up in Roger Caldwells home in Golden, Colorado. One month before the murder Marjorie got a prescription for Antabuse. The next owner of this house remembered Marjorie well. I had 22 years with her and she impacted me so much in that time, and always after. Marjorie is now the same age her mother was when her mother was murdered. The day after she was convicted, Wally Hagen was found dead of a drug overdose. Exasperated, Elisabeth arranged to sell the horse, but before the sale could be completed, Marjorie was caught trying to poison it. She never did move into assisted living and as of 2017, at 84, her health didn't seem as bad as her attorney had claimed, according to Feichtinger. She was arrested in Tucson, Arizona, at her residence at an assisted living facility on March 23, 2007, on charges of computer fraud and several other counts. 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