Jul 17, 2008
The Barbara Daly Baekeland Case
The Mail Online has a feature on the true-life circumstances and events that led to the murder of socialite Barbara Daly Baekeland at the hands of her son Antony Baekeland in 1972.
Her murder took place at their London home, where 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.
Source: Mail Online
This story is very sad indeed…
I really feel sorry for them…
So desperate after love… it just kills me…
XoXo…
Having just seen the movie based on this true story, I searched the internet for info to see if it was indeed true.
So very sad, I guess there was mental instability involved from the beginning. But why wasn’t there intervention of some sort? Have seen/read other stories of dysfunctional/strange family behaviors and tragedies, and many times I just don’t understand why this happens, when the very wealthy seem to wallow in self-pity and unstable behavior, rather than “fixing” the problems – where money is no object yet they simply wallow…its a mystery to me. The movie was too sad, and it portrays such a waste of precious life, -these people who are in the enviable position to do wonderful selfless things in/for the world, but they don’t.
I just watch this movie last night and Julianne Moore and the actor that played the son were brilliantly disturbing,now that’s great acting.The father could have ended this mess before a murder happened…. to me he was the coward to just walk away and not try to salvage what normalcy the family could have had if someone just intervene.All that money and so f## up!!
I feel the same way. I just saw the movie over the weekend, and it was disturbing to say the least. I had to look up the true story as well. Very interesting. I wonder what ever happened to the husband/father…
I just watched this movie. WTF came from my mouth many times. The actors were great. But I want more info on the father and what was his deal with his son..this was truly an tragic tale from beginning to end.
We’re fascinated by rich people. When they behave like this, the tragedy seems more pronounced.
In any case, my grandmother pursued an incestuous relationship with my father that lasted into adulthood. They were middle-class at the time. As in the film, my father showed severe signs of mental illness that likely resulted at least partially from his relationship with his mother.
Not that you’d find me at a cocktail party talking about this. These things are usually buried deeply by rich, poor, and everyone else. Sometimes I wonder how often …
say to say, but this kind of crap goes on far more than people realize or admit – especially among the very rich…
god have mercy on their souls…
+
well always wanted to have a mother just like her who could allow me having sex with her .If she was my mother i wouldn’t have stabbed her rather would bang her in every way.