Hiding of Baby charged to Dianetics Author L. Ron Hubbard 1951

Hiding of Baby charged to Dianetics Author

Wife Says Her Husband Conspired to Conceal 13-month-Old Girl Missing Since February 23rd

April 11, 1951

Mrs. Sara-Northrup Hubbard, 25, yesterday charged that her husband, L Ron Hubbard, 40, inventor of "Dianetics," a new brand of psychology, had conspired to hide her baby from her.

In a nine-page petition for a writ of habeas corpus she stated she had not seen the child Alexis Valorie, 13 months old, since February 23rd when the child was taken from her nursery and she herself' was "kidnapped" and taken to Yuma, Arizona.

The document was set for hearing next Monday in court of Superior Judge Mildred Lillie. It stated that Hubbard is not in California but named Frank B. Dessler, 39, an executive of the local Hubbard Dianetics Foundation, as the person holding the child.

Conspiracy Charged

Through Attorney, Caryl Warner, Mrs. Hubbard stated that Dessler and Richard B. DeMille, 29, whom he identified as the son of Film Director Cecil B. DeMille, and her husband conspired last February 24th to kidnap the child.

That night at 11 o'clock, according to the petition, they took the baby from her nursery at 2600 S Hoover Street "without food, bedclothes or diaper changes to West Los Angeles." Alexis was left in a nurse's registry agency there under the name of Anne Marie Olson, she said.

The director of the agency later reported to Beverly Hills police the suspicious circumstances under which the child was received, Mrs. Hubbard set forth.

Clad in Nightgown

She said she was asleep when the child disappeared, and after the men left the agency, she said, they drove to her house and forced her against her win to go into an automobile although she was wearing only a nightgown.

DeMille drove, she continued, while Hubbard subdued her with a "hammerlock, causing strangulation and thus preventing any outcry."

Dessler remained in Los Angeles County with the child, Mrs. Hubbard declared, while DeMille drove her and her husband to Yuma.

She said she pleaded with Hubbard to tell her what he was going to do.

Urged to Kill Herself

He told her she would never see her baby again, she said, and that "if she really loved him, she would kill herself and thus save him further bother with her."

Mrs. Hubbard further said that she warned her husband that kidnapping was a capital offense and that he should release her. Thereupon he told her, she said that if she would sign a paper that she had gone with him voluntarily he would release her and returns their child to her.

Attached to the petition was a photocopy of a note:

"Feb. 25. To Frank-This will authorize Sara to take Alexis to live with her when she has a house. (Signed) Ron H. Hubbard. Baby-Sitters, Inc., Hollywood phonebook. Give Sara the baby's address now so Sara can see her."

Drives Back to City

Hubbard threatened to "track her down" if she took the baby away before he gave permission, she said. He then went east by plane, she said, and she drove the automobile back to Los Angeles.

She found the nurses agency, she continued, and inquired by telephone if the child was there. When informed that the baby was, she said, she went there- only to find that two men had just left with the baby.

Since that time, she said, she has searched for her child without finding her and asked the aid of the court in restoring her baby to her.

Hubbard, whose book, "Dianetics," was a best seller last year, and whose psychiatric laboratories have been established in many cities throughout the country, was arrested last November, assessed a $50 fine and given six months probation for leaving his child Alexis unattended in a parked car.