Garrett Brock Trapnell
| Garrett Brock Trapnell | |
|---|---|
| Born |
January 31, 1938 Brockton, Massachusetts, U.S.A. |
| Died | September 7, 1993 (aged 55) Springfield, Missouri, U.S.A. |
| Criminal charge | Hijacking of an aircraft, kidnapping and armed robbery, conspiracy to commit kidnapping and escape from custody |
| Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment for hijacking, concurrent five years to life for armed robbery, consecutive 15 years for kidnapping conspiracy |
Garrett Brock Trapnell (January 31, 1938 – September 7, 1993) was a con man, bank robber, and aircraft hijacker of the 1960s and early 1970s. Trapnell robbed a string of banks in Canada, frequently posed as an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency, masterminded a $100,000 jewelry store heist in Freeport, Bahamas, and simultaneously maintained marriages with at least six women. When arrested for his crimes, he frequently feigned madness and successfully used the insanity defense to be committed to mental institutions, from which he would later escape or be released on the grounds that he was no longer dangerous. While serving life imprisonment for the hijacking of a passenger airliner in 1972, he was the subject of a book, The Fox Is Crazy Too, written by journalist Eliot Asinof.
A lifelong smoker, he died at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri after developing emphysema.
On January 28, 1972, Trapnell, using a .45 caliber pistol he had smuggled aboard inside a plaster cast on his arm, hijacked TWA Flight #2 on a flight from Los Angeles to New York while over Chicago. Trapnell demanded $306,800 in cash (to recoup the loss of a recent court case), the release of Angela Davis (as well as that of a friend of his who was also imprisoned), and a formal pardon from President Richard Nixon. The FBI was able to retake the aircraft during a crew switch at Kennedy Airport; Trapnell was shot and wounded, no one else was hurt. Trapnell's skyjacking came after a string of similar domestic incidents (especially Cuba-bound hijackings) and was directly responsible for an overhaul of security procedures by the Federal Aviation Administration that remained in place until the September 11 attacks almost 30 years later.
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