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Syracuse, New York, December 17, 1938.

Detectives concluded a search along waterfronts in the Syracuse area

in their hunt for Mrs. Florence L. Ames, 53, as Boy Scouts from

two troops Saturday resumed their hunt for the woman in the underbrush and swamp lands on the

northern edge of the city. Mrs. Ames disappeared from her home at 116 Stedman Street Wednesday afternoon during the darkness which accompanied the start of a severe snowstorm.

Possibility was expressed that she was frightened into a panic when the sudden darkness occurred.

As he has done for the last two days, Millard R. Ames Jr., a scout commissioner

and son of the missing woman, Saturday led Boy Scouts in their search. He took the party to a

swampy area near North Syracuse Friday afternoon, widening search of the same region on Saturday.

Ames told police that he doubted his mother had gone to the home of relatives.

In a letter received from Mrs. Ames' brother, Frank Fuller of Brooklyn,

no mention is made of her, Ames said, adding that other relatives live in Virginia,

North Carolina, and Michigan. Furthermore, circumstances of Mrs. Ames' disappearance all point to

an intention to return home soon. She was wearing a house dress under her coat, she left the current turned on in

her iron and did not take her glasses or jewelry. It is believed that she had $20 in a purse. The

The True Crime Historian presents an eye for an eye, a special edition of yesterday's news exploring the criminal justice system at its most extreme, inflicting the death penalty. Episode 331 is dedicated to

listener Kaylee Jansen, who recommended this strange story of a Syracuse, New York woman who came

up missing during a brutal snowstorm and the surprising way in which the mystery unfolded.

I'm true crime historian Richard O. Jones, and for your information and indignation, I give

you a corpse in the attic next door, the $2.35-cent murder.

January 22nd, 1939.

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