Most kidnappings are brutal because they're simple.

This one is dangerous because it isn't.

It unfolds less like a crime thriller and more like a Cohen Brothers movie, the kind where

the plan keeps getting more elaborate.

Everyone is very sure of themselves and every extra detail makes things worse.

There are unnecessary rules over- over explained instructions and people who mistake

having a plan for knowing what they're doing. What starts as a kidnapping quickly

turns into something stranger, a kind of Rube Goldberg crime where bad decisions

and serendipity triggers the next absurd outcome and no one

can quite stop the chain reaction once it's in motion. By the time law enforcement fully understands

what's happening, the situation has become so convoluted, so bizarre that even they can't believe it's real.

This is the story FBI agents called the most bizarre ransom kidnapping case ever investigated by the Bureau.

I'm Harvey Guillen, and this is Killer Story.

It's December, 1968, Atlanta, Georgia, with less than 10 days until Christmas.

The city shines with holiday tinsel.

On the campus of Emory University, students hustle to their classes in heavy coats.

There's just one last thing standing in the way of their winter break, final exams. Barbara Jane McEl, a 20-year-old junior, isn't the

tide to let a few tests get to her. She describes herself as a terrible optimist. Her friends

think of her as the most down-to-earth rich girl they've ever known.

Her cheery attitude is infectious.

But you know what else is infectious? The flu.

It's been really bad this year, and it's hit the campus pretty hard.

...