True Crime
Parricide in Paradise, The Tony Baekeland Story
How mental illness and incest led to a mother’s death at her son’s hand
Brooks and Barbara Baekeland were wealthy socialites. Canadian-born Brooks was the wealthy grandson of the man who had invented Bakelite plastics. He was handsome and arrogant. Fiery redhead American Barbara had been a cover model for Vogue and other magazines before their marriage and was very much into the social scene of the day.
The couple traveled often, often spending their summers overseas in various countries. They were known among friends to throw extravagant booze-laden parties filled with debauchery all over the world. Both spouses were unfaithful to one another. Though not in an open marriage, it didn’t seem either was inclined to be secretive about it.
Behind the beautiful face of the former model, Barbara, lay a deeply troubled mind. How much of her mental illness can be attributed to her upbringing remains a question, but her mother had a nervous breakdown several years before she was born, and her father committed suicide by gassing himself in the family garage in 1932 when Barbara was only ten years old.
Brooks had been tricked into marriage when Barbara told him she was pregnant. By the time he found out that…
