Good morning everyone. I wanted to lead with an apology if this has already been posted, however, as has been discussed a few times, searching this thread is rather hit or miss.
Anyway, I was recently looking up something about L.A.'s history that turned into something of a multi-part rabbit hole, and ended up researching something else completely unrelated:
"Murf the Surf"
Jack Roland Murphy was born in Oceanside California in 1937 and moved to Miami in 1955. Apparently he made a name for himself as a surfer.
In 1964 he was involved in the largest jewel heist in U.S. history.
It seems that he was also involved in assaulting and robbing Eva Gabor.
in 1965 he was sentenced to only 3 years in prison.
Apparently he was out of prison by 1967.
There was a movie made about the heist in 1975.
That same year (1967) two secretaries for the firm Rutner, Jackson & Gray, (Terry Rae Frank and Annelle Marie Mohn) apparently stole about $500,000 (almost $4 million today) in stocks and fled to Hollywood Florida where they fell in with "Murf the Surf". It would seem that things did not go well, as they were both found at the bottom of Whiskey Creek with weights tied around their necks.
In 1968 Murphy was involved in the robbery of a socialite named Olive Wofford.
in 1969 Murphy pleaded not-guilty by reason of insanity for the murder of one of the secretaries (Terry Rae Frank), he was sentenced to life with hard labor. He was given an additional life sentence, plus 20 years for the robbery of Olive Wofford.
He only served 17 years.
Apparently he claimed to have found Jesus, and after he was released (after only serving 17 years
), he found a new, legal con, and became a minister. (because of course he did).
It seems he made quite a comfortable living bible-thumping until he died just a few months ago, this past September.
I stumbled on this story because the two secretaries who were murdered were working in the Fine Arts Building on 7th street downtown.
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