Laughing Bandit betrayed by Pumpkin Center nurse
Baton Rouge Police last captured William Aeby, a reputed escape artist, womanizer, and holdup man on May 12, 1956, but his most publicized arrest came during Mardi Gras 1949. That week, the Pumpkin Center girlfriend of the “Laughing Garage Bandit” helped New Orleans police nab him in an arranged hotel rendezvous.
The United Press Syndicate reported:
“Authorities today hold a 20-year-old man from Flint, Michigan, known as the Laughing Bandit, and say he had admitted three prison escapes and 10 robberies. Police identified him as William Aeby and arrested him on a French Quarter street corner as he waited to meet a girlfriend.”
“Aeby told police he is wanted for escapes from the Michigan State Prison at Marquette, a Florida penitentiary road gang, and a prison in Ionia, Michigan.”
“Police said Aeby gained his nickname while he was a trusty at the Michigan State Prison because he was always smiling.”
“They now believe he is also New Orleans’ infamous Garage Bandit, a holdup man they have tracked several months. The Garage Bandit, a man matching Aeby’s description, waylaid several wealthy New Orleans businessmen and robbed them in their garages.”
“In Chicago, authorities want Aeby for 26 robberies committed in that area. With the help of Aeby’s girlfriend, an unnamed nurse from Pumpkin Center, Louisiana, NOPD officers found $6000 in loot in several suitcases at a Hammond railroad station here. Police believe this loot is from the Chicago robberies.”
The Times-Picayune reported:
“Aeby did not surrender without a struggle. He kicked Desk Sergeant Alfred Theroit in the shin and attempted to break away when Theroit grabbed him on the street. Theroit held the bandit’s feet, and Aeby drug him until Detectives Pat Jackson and Charles Otnott with patrolman Leonard Scheeler assisted. The event created a spectacle for a large crowd on Bourbon Street.”
The New Orleans States added:
“The bandit said he and the girl, who walks with a limp from polio, had been staying at a hotel in the 900 block of St. Charles. He found her in New Orleans after they had broken up in St. Petersburg, Florida. They moved to 1910 Carondelet and split again, following an argument. This is when the girl contacted the police.”
Aeby told a reporter following his arrest, “The police are lying. I met Rita in St. Petersburg, Florida. We came to Louisiana to meet her family. We had a disagreement and broke up in New Orleans. But she didn’t betray me. We were trying to reconcile when the cops grabbed me.”
Aeby told a New Orleans court he had “given up robbery as a trade” but “was forced to become the Garage Bandit” after his girlfriend left him in a city where he knew no one.
He said he became the “Garage Bandit” by accident. “When she left me, I needed money for a hotel, so I broke into this house. I was in the garage when the owner came home. Later, I thought to myself, that worked really well. Maybe I’ll do it again.”
In the fall of 1948, New Orleans police received 16 reports of robberies inside garages and back yards as wealthy owners returned home. However, in the early part of the year, Aeby worked the Detroit-Chicago casino circuit. He left the area when another girlfriend betrayed him.
Muriel Christopher, a 19-year-old Detroit nightclub dancer, told police the four thousand dollars in stolen jewelry she received came from a 22-year-old gambler named Fred Stevens. She had a photo they took together, allowing Cleveland police to confirm Aeby’s identity.
With the dancer’s help, the Ohio State Police also set a trap for Aeby, but their venture proved less successful than that of New Orleans police. Aeby escaped in a stolen car, leading police on a 90-mile-per-hour car chase before vanishing in traffic. The All-Point Bulletin released that day described Aeby as 5-foot-10, 160 pounds, medium build, brown hair, and blue eyes with a ruddy complexion.
A Michigan judge gave Aeby four years, for his first conviction on April 17, 1945. However, awaiting trial and out on bond, the 16-year-old robbed ten more people, stealing mostly war bonds. The judge then increased his sentence to fifteen years. Aeby escaped after three and robbed eight people in St. Louis, Missouri.
After the New Orleans arrest in 1949, New Orleans District Judge Fred W. Oser sentenced the 20-year-old to another fifteen years for burglary.
After fleeing Louisiana, Aeby returned to Flint, Michigan, where he continued the garage tactic he had learned in New Orleans. Michigan Police booked him on six counts of armed robbery. His fifteen-year sentence grew to thirty years in Angola Penitentiary. He escaped on November 19, 1954 and remained at large until getting in a car accident in Baton Rouge.
On November 9, 1956, Baton Rouge Judge William J. O’Hara added another fifteen years to Aeby’s thirty-year sentence following his conviction for the armed robbery of a 30-year-old barmaid named Dorothy Miller one month earlier.
In his year outside Angola, police suspected Aeby of another four un-prosecuted armed robberies in Slidell and the attempted murder of a night watchman, John Lewis, Jr. The 39-year-old told police Aeby shot him in the arm when he attempted to prevent a robbery in the Pontchartrain Park subdivision. The intruder fired six times, emptying his revolver, but only one shot hit the security guard.
William Aeby died in a maximum-security prison in 1991.