Crimes Charged: Murder and kidnapping
Chief Defense Lawyer: Stanley D. Whitney
Chief Prosecutors: Frank Coakley and Folger Emerson
Judge: Wade Snook
Place: Oakland, California
Dates of Trial: November 7, 1955-January 25, 1956
Verdict: Guilty
Sentence: Death
SIGNIFICANCE: Shrewd advocacy and the marshaling of highly charged emotions overcame evidential limitations in one of California's most sensational murder trials.
On April 28, 1955, 14-year-old Stephanie Bryan failed to return home after school in Oakland, California. Apart from finding a school textbook, the police had little to go on. A statewide search proved fruitless until July 15, when Georgia Abbott reported that she had found some of Stephanie's personal effects—a purse and ID card—in the basement of her Alameda home. When police searched the basement more thoroughly the next day, they dug up yet more books belonging to Stephanie, also her spectacles and a brassiere. Neither Georgia Abbott nor her 27-year-old husband, Burton, an accounting student, could explain how the effects came to be there. Burton Abbott told police that at the time Stephanie disappeared, he was en route to the family's vacation cabin, 285 miles away in the Trinity County mountains. On July 20, the battered body of Stephanie Bryan was found lying in a shallow grave, just 335 feet from Abbott's cabin. Soon afterwards he was charged with murder and rape.
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about 1 month ago
I was 15 when this happened and my sister was 14. This murder had a frightening emotional impact on both of us. My mother feared that Abbott had been framed and the guilty party went free but my sister and I feel he was guilty and his punishment was just.
2 months ago
Well, its now been 53 years since the disapperance of Stephanie and not a day goes by without thinking about it..I live in a state north of CA and have since age 13 but ironically Burton was born in the city nearby where I live...there is still something very haunting about this case and I still can't help think that he was framed by a member of his own family, now deceased. It also appears that Elsie outlived many of those involved, living to age 100... I also wonder if DNA could be used in this case now that it is available.. ALH 4/30/08
2 months ago
Of course he is guilty! How many people do you know that claim they were "set up" when they have been caught? 100 % of criminals thats who! How does this girls personal belongings end up at HIS house and then her poor body discovered at HIS cabin? He is a sick little worm, and he got less than what he really deserved...he should have been forced to experience all the pain and suffering that Stephaine and her family did!
2 months ago
I read all of your comments with interest, because I also was eight years old when Stephanie was kidnapped and it has left a lasting impression on me. I lived in Berkely, not far from the Claremont Hotel and my best friend's father was a teacher at the Jr High where Stephanie attended school. I remember being terribly upset by this incident, which I feel was life changing as a child and as an adult. As a mother, I would never allow my daughter to travel to a friend's home alone, etc. I think the most heart felt thing that I remember as a child, was praying every night for Stephanie's safe return and the terrible saddness day after day when she did not return. I cannot imagine the pain uffered by her or her family.
6 months ago
I wonder if they could solidify the links now with DNA. Like ALH, I was about 8 years old when this hit the papers, and I've remembered it all this time - probably because it was so close to home and because it was the first time I had heard of anything like it. I don't know enough about the case itself to question the verdict, but I do remember that the journalistic style was very sensational - more like a pulp magazine.
10 months ago
All of you who think that Burton Abbott was railroaded, please banish the thought. Burton Abbott was a weak, pathetic, little man who inwardly hated women. His true disdain was for both is wife and his mother, both of whom ironically stood by him to the very end. The tragedy was that he chose a gentle little soul like Stephanie Bryan to inflict his cruel and brutal rage upon. This little worm of a man destroyed the Bryan family as well as his own. Stephanie's father, Dr. Charles Bryan died three years after Stephanie's murder of a massive heart attack. This was due to the stress of his daughter's murder, he left behind a widow and four surviving orphans. His wife Mary Bryan had to return to the work force to support her family. The Bryan children still bear the emotional scars of this ordeal to this day as do some of Stephanie's friends. It all could have been avoided if this self centered little atheistic psychopath had let Stephanie walk home in peace and respected her human rights. Sadly, this tragedy has been repeated countless times throughout the United States only the victims and perpetrators are different.
about 1 year ago
Are you kidding me? You think Burton Abbott was innocent? Do you also think Scott Peterson was innocent? Burton actually admitted to the head psychiatrist 23 days before he was put to death that he couldn't admit to his guilt because it would ruin his mom. Read the book "A Shallow Grave in Trinity County" dummy!
about 1 year ago
This case has been a haunting one all my life as I was a grown up 8 year when it happened with a penchant for mystery and followed it every day in the Oakland Tribune from day one till the end. It happened so close to home and nothing like that had ever happened till then.. I had to read it when my parents weren't around as they didn't think it was fitting to be reading about a homicide at my age.....not sure why I keep thinking about it but I still believe that Abbott was innocent... I know most of the key players are gone now except for Burton and Georgia's son and Stephanies siblings...