Helen Brach
| Helen Brach | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Helen Voorhees Brach November 10, 1911 Unionport, Ohio |
| Disappeared | February 17, 1977 (aged 65) Rochester, Minnesota |
| Nationality | American |
Helen Voorhees Brach (born November 10, 1911 – disappeared February 17, 1977) was an American multimillionaire widow whose wealth had come from marrying into the E. J. Brach & Sons Candy Company fortune; she endowed the Helen V. Brach Foundation to promote animal welfare in 1974. Brach disappeared on February 17, 1977 and was declared legally dead in May 1984. An investigation into the case uncovered serious criminal activity associated with Chicago stable owners including Silas Jayne and Richard Bailey. More than a decade later Bailey was charged with, but not convicted of, conspiring to murder Brach; he eventually received a long sentence after being convicted of defrauding her.
Helen Brach was born on November 10, 1911 on a small farm in Unionport, Ohio. Helen married her high school sweetheart in 1928; the couple had divorced by the time she was 21. Brach found work at a country club in Palm Beach, where she met and married millionaire, Frank Brach. The couple built a home in Fisher Island, Florida, shortly afterwards. The couple purchased another home in Glenview, Illinois closer to their Chicago factories. Helen and Frank spent most of their time in south Florida.
After a routine medical check-up at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, Brach left for the return journey by air to her north suburban Chicago mansion on February 17, 1977. A gift shop assistant near the clinic insisted that Brach had said, “I’m in a hurry, my houseman is waiting.” This is the last sighting of Brach by an independent witness.
The crew on the commercial airliner on which she was supposed to return did not report seeing her on the flight. Her houseman/chauffeur, Jack Matlick, said that he collected her at O'Hare Airport, further asserting that Brach spent four days without making a call before she was dropped off at O’Hare for a flight to Florida.
Matlick was the focus of police attention during the investigation. Matlick always claimed to be innocent and angrily denied to reporters that he knew what happened to Brach, but a former federal agent who worked on the case said after Matlick's death that he was indeed responsible. Brach's brother was of the opinion that Matlick had been responsible for the murder of his sister without any involvement from Bailey or horse racing racketeers. On February 14, 2011, Matlick died in a Pennsylvania nursing home at the age of 79.
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Wikipedia