Douglas Van Vlack

1904 - 1935  (31 years)

• Name	Douglas Van Vlack
  Born	1904	Tacoma, Washington
  Gender	Male
  Died	10 Dec 1935	Boise, Idaho
  Person ID	I1892	Marinus (M1) Tree
  Last Modified	23 Mar 2022

  
  

  Father	Carl Clark Van Vlack,   b. 8 Apr 1878, Brant,Erie Co.,NY ,   d. 11 Aug 1956, Tacoma,Washington  (Age 78 years)
  Mother	Edna Douglas
  Married	1902
  Notes	Record Series: Death Records Collection: Washington State Death Records County: Statewide Da Reference Number: {D3C81565-DC4E-4B76-B116-CB47177199EB} Image Number: 1541 Document Number: 38 Document Reference Id: 150 Name: Allan Van Vlack Date Of Death: 18 Oct 1909 Age: 0 Gender: Male Father Name: Carl Van Vlack Mother Name: Edna Douglas Batch Id: 275475 Batch Locality: Washington, United States Death Place: Tumwater, Thurston, Washington Mother Name Gn: Edna Mother Name Surname: Douglas Bill Van Vlack, researcher; 2013
  Family ID	F544	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Mildred Hook,   d. 25 Nov 1935, near Twin Falls, Idaho
  Married	28 Jul 1933	Mason
  Last Modified	30 Mar 2013
  Family ID	F679	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  History Link: https://historylink.org/File/8238 Tacoma News Tribune, November 18, 1965 Mildred Hook, daughter of Joseph F. Hook, a well known Tacoma writer was kidnaped by Douglas Van Vlack, whom she had recently divorced, just after she stepped off a street car near the residence of her parents on her way home from work on Saturday evening, November 23, 1935. Van Vlack at pistol point forced his former wife to enter his auto, and he sped away. Police over the Pacific Northwest were alerted. Van Vlack was stopped by two officers near Twin Falls, Idaho, the following Monday. He promptly shot them both dead. He was captured later that same day, but Mildred Hook was not with him. He claimed he had freed her and that he did not known where she was. Her body was found on Friday, six days after the kidnaping. Her abductor had forced her to crawl into a culvert and then shot her to death. Van Vlack was convicted of her murder and was sentenced to hang. He appealed the vertic and exhausted all legal expedients until his inexorable date with death was fixed for the early morning of December 10, 1937. By a ruse he gained release form his cell the eveing before and cheated the gallows by leaping thirty feet to his death on the concrete floor below. Nov. 1936 In another Tacoma kidnap case about a month before the Mattson kidnapping, Mildred Hook, daughter of Joseph F. Hook, a Tacoma writer, was kidnaped by Douglas Van Vlack, whom she had recently divorced. Van Vlack forced his former wife to enter his auto at pistol point and drove her to Idaho. Van Vlack was arrested in Twin Falls, Idaho and his former wife's body later was found in a culvert, where he had forced her to crawl before her shot her. Van Vlack was convicted of her murder but cheated the gallows by leaping to his death in a thirty foot plunge to a concrete floor the evening before he was to hang. Bill Van Vlack, researcher; 2013: Marriage Records Collection: Mason County Auditor, Marriage Records, 1857-2013 County: Mason Reference Number: sw-32302001-002286.tif Groom's Name: Douglas Van Vlack Bride's Name: Mildred Hook Marriage Date: 7/28/1933