Sarah Weinman - The Real Lolita - The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World

BACK IN CAMDEN, police continued to investigate another dangling thread: the mysterious “Miss Robinson” Sally said had accompanied her and Frank La Salle on the bus to Baltimore, after which she disappeared. Camden police tried to reconcile Sally’s statement to Sheriff Hornbuckle with what they found in their own initial investigations. They had proof, after all, that Sally and La Salle had spent time in Atlantic City, in the form of unsent letters, photographs, clothing, and other material abandoned at 203 Pacific Avenue. Proof bolstered by the recollections of Robert and Jean Pfeffer, the young Philadelphia couple who had reported spending a summer day with Sally and La Salle.

No trace of the woman known as “Miss Robinson” was ever discovered by law enforcement. It remains another of the unresolved mysteries of Sally’s captivity. I believe the woman existed, because I believe Sally. Just because police did not track the woman down, and that decades later I also could not find her, does not mean Sally made her up.

A CAMDEN GRAND JURY indicted La Salle for kidnapping and abduction at 2:20 P.M. on March 23, the same day as the hearing in San Francisco. Ella Horner testified in front of the grand jury. There’s no record of what she said, but she was likely asked about why she put Sally on the bus to Atlantic City and whether La Salle was her daughter’s biological father, as he claimed.

Mitchell Cohen sent a copy of the grand jury indictment to the New Jersey governor to start the extradition process. A second copy of the proceedings, signed by Judge Rocco Palese, was airmailed to California to reinforce La Salle’s detention. Cohen also received permission to bring both Sally and La Salle—separately—back to Camden, and to cover their travel expenses, as well as those of Camden city detective Marshall Thompson and county detective Wilfred Dube.

Cohen, Dube, and Thompson flew into San Francisco on Sunday, March 26. Over the next few days, Cohen received approval to extradite La Salle from Governor Driscoll in New Jersey as well as his California counterpart (and future chief justice of the Supreme Court) Earl Warren. Cohen also interviewed various residents of the trailer park. One was Ruth Janisch, who told Cohen she was willing to testify at La Salle’s trial.

On Thursday, Sally was released from the San Jose detention center into Cohen’s custody. Just after 8:40 A.M. Pacific time on Friday, March 31, Sally and Cohen boarded a United Airlines flight headed for Philadelphia. Sally wore a navy-blue suit, polka-dot blouse, black shoes, a red coat, and a straw Easter bonnet for her first-ever plane trip. She told Cohen how much she looked forward to seeing her family. She threw up only once, when the plane ran into turbulence just outside of Chicago.

Ella waited at the airport in the backseat of Assistant Camden County Prosecutor (and future New Jersey governor) William Cahill’s car. The rest of Sally’s family, including Susan, Al, and their baby, Diana, arrived separately. Several other planes landed first, each one lifting Ella’s spirits before crushing them again. “Why doesn’t it come,” Ella said, her face pressed against the car window. Sally’s plane finally landed just after midnight, just over an hour late.

From the plane, Sally spotted her brother-in-law in the crowd. Sally wanted to get out right away, but Cohen told her to wait for the other passengers to leave first. Then she spotted her mother. “I want to see Mama!” she cried.

“All right, Sally,” said Cohen. “Let’s go.”

Sally stood at the doorway for a moment, looking around. Then she spotted her mother running toward her, holding out her arms. Sally raced down the steps, her face lit up with joy and washed in tears.

She and her mother clung to each other for several minutes, oblivious to the myriad flashbulbs popping at them. At first, they were weeping too hard to speak. Then Sally said: “I want to go home. I just want to go home.”

When they were safely in Assistant Prosecutor Cahill’s car, Ella explained to Sally that she couldn’t go home just yet. Instead, the authorities would take her to the Camden County Children’s Shelter in nearby Pennsauken, New Jersey, where she had to stay “until the trial is over.”

After a short drive, their car arrived at the center, the Panaros following closely behind in a separate vehicle. Susan got out of the car at the same time as Sally.

“Susan!” Sally cried upon spotting her older sibling. Sally had been so overwhelmed by the sight of her mother, the photographers, and so many well-wishers that she hadn’t realized her sister was part of the crowd.

“I kissed you at the airport but you didn’t recognize me!” Susan said.

Then Sally realized her sister was holding a little girl in her arms. Sally reached for Diana, the niece she’d never met, and hugged her tightly. “Gee, she looks like pictures of me taken when I was a baby!”

Cohen, exhausted from the trip, gently informed the family that Sally needed to get some sleep.

In the days that followed, Ella was the only family member allowed to visit Sally at the Children’s Shelter, to ensure the girl stayed in a calm frame of mind before and during the trial. Fortunately, Sally got along well with the matron. She also attended Palm Sunday mass with six other children from the shelter the day before her first scheduled court appearance, and that offered some solace. No one knew how long La Salle’s trial would last, and they tried not to bring the subject up with Sally, lest she get upset. The place she really wanted to be, after all, was home.

Thanks to an unexpected development, Sally’s stay at the center didn’t last long at all.

Frank La Salle wasn’t allowed to travel from California to Camden by plane. Airline regulations at the time did not allow for passengers to be shackled, and Mitchell Cohen wasn’t about to take any chances that the man would escape. “It is possible he could be a docile prisoner,” Cohen remarked. “On the other hand, he could cause trouble.”

The solution was to transport La Salle by train. Doing so would increase the travel time from hours to days, but on the train he could stay handcuffed to an officer for the entire duration. Marshall Thompson got stuck with being shackled to the prisoner for the cross-country trip, hardly a reward for all of his dogged investigative efforts. Wilfred Dube took the berth next door to Thompson and La Salle, staying as close as possible to the two men. (While it would have made sense for the two detectives to trade off being handcuffed to La Salle, I couldn’t find any evidence that they did.)

Mitchell Cohen was at the train station to see La Salle and the detectives off. Before La Salle boarded, he asked Cohen why he and Sally Horner weren’t getting on the same train. Cohen explained the two were due to fly later on in the day.

“Well, take good care of Sally,” said La Salle.