Tha Barbara Baekeland Case

Her murder took place at her London home, where her son, Antony stabbed her with a kitchen knife. Antony was 25 at the time. She died almost instantly.

Most disturbing of all, was how Antony’s act of matricide was preceded by another crime equally as shocking – Barbara Baekeland’s sexual seduction of her own son.

Baekeland was the wife of Brooks Baekeland, grandson of Leo Baekeland, founder of Bakelite plastic. Before meeting Brooks Baekeland, Barbara was a model and would-be Hollywood starlet. During their marriage Barbara was known for her unstable personality, rude outbursts and bouts of severe depression.

She led a lifestyle of drinking and risqué sexual encounters which in time, lead to her husband Brooks leaving her for a younger woman. A divorce soon followed and in a bout with severe depression, Barbara made a failed attempted at suicide.

Barbara’s relationship with her son Antony, who was homosexual and had displayed signs of schizophrenia all his life, grew bizzare. There were no boundaries or lines of privacy between them. They shared everything and every experience, developing an intense co-dependence that would ultimately resulted in incest.

Barbara tried to “cure” her son by hiring willing girls to take him to bed, when this failed she decided to seduce Antony herself. In an attempt to cure Antony of his homosexuality, Barbara coerced him into having sex with her.

Barbara and Antony’s mother-son relationship began to worry those around them. Antony’s erratic behavior was cause for concern, and over the years the two had several threatening arguments involving knives.

After Barbara’s murder, Antony was institutionalized at Broadmoor Hospital and was released on July 21, 1980. He relocated to New York City, where he lived with his grandmother for a short time until July 27, 1980 when he stabbed her as well. She survived and Antony was sent to Rikers Island, where he was found suffocated to death with a plastic bag on March 20, 1981.

Barbara Baekeland’s story was adapted for the screen in a film currently in release titled “Savage Grace”. Julianne Moore stars as Baekeland.


Via: http://gothamjournal.com