“I’ll buy you a car if you help me kill your Uncle Robert,” Mrs. May Carey, 52, told her sons Howard, 28, and James. She had set her sights on the insurance money on the life of her brother, Robert Hitchens, who lived in the Delaware town of Omar.

In November, 1927, Mr. Hitchens was found dead in his house – he had been severely beaten and shot. The only clue was a bottle of whisky beside the corpse. That led police to think it must be the work of burglars or bootleggers. They were unable to solve the crime and the insurance company paid up.

For seven years the Careys must have thought they had committed the perfect murder. But in 1934 another Carey son, Lawrence, burgled a house during which a shot was fired. Arrested, Lawrence told the story of Uncle Robert, and May Carey, Howard and James were charged with murder. Mrs. Carey and Howard were hanged on Friday, June 7th, 1935, at Georgetown Prison, and James was given a life sentence.