25,000 From 1933 Kidnapping Ransom Could Still Be Buried Somewhere In Cheyenne

FBI files from 1933 reveal that $90,000 in ransom loot from a Machine Gun Kelly kidnapping scheme ended up buried somewhere around Cheyenne. Whether all the loot was ever recovered remains a question, with about $25,000 still unaccounted for. Nearly a century later, it is still not known for sure if all of that money has been found, and there could still be loot buried somewhere in Cheyenne.

The kidnappers were Machine Gun Kelly and Albert Bates. The Cheyenne money represented Bates’ cut of the loot and was buried by Bates’ wife of three months and her 21-year-old son. The kidnapping occurred on July 22, 1933, when two masked men—one with a machine gun and one with a pistol—entered the Oklahoma City home of oilman Charles Urschel, who was playing cards with his wife and another couple. The men marched Urschel and Walter Jarrett to their car and drove them away. Jarrett was released 12 miles outside the city after they robbed him of $50.