Just after midnight on December 18, 1953, Bonnie Hetty took her final breath in the gas chamber

at the Missouri State Penitentiary.

While sitting on death row, she wrote,

My case was loving not wisely, but too well.

I wanted so much for him to be happy.

Seven months earlier, she met Carl Hall in a bar in St. Louis, Missouri, and their story soon became one of two people who collided

at the bottoms of downward spirals. Bonnie knew of Carl before their meeting and was intrigued

by his bad boy crook reputation. Carl had just been paroled from prison, and Bonnie sought him out.

Carl exuded danger and charm, qualities which Bonnie found

irresistible. Their connection was immediate, all-consuming, and toxic. To say Bonnie was infatuated

with Carl was an understatement, and only days after their meeting, she allowed Carl to move into her

house. The pair bonded over similar

upbringings. They grew up privileged, and each had a wild side. Carl was from Pleasanton, Kansas,

and he was the child of a successful attorney. When his brother died young, Carl became the center

of his parents' universe. They showered him with wealth, but his father was

incredibly strict, and Carl began to rebel early in life. Teachers described him as lazy,

dishonest, and unmotivated. His ambition extended only to dodging responsibility. I'll never have to work

for a living, he'd say proudly,

as he believed his family's money would always shield him from real life and consequences.

Around 11 years old, his mother started employing tactics to instill order,

but they all failed.

In the early 1930s, Carl's mother sent him to the prestigious Kemper Military School. He excelled at first and became an honor student, but his old defiant nature resurfaced

...