Crime: Burnice Comes Home

For years Mrs. Burnice Iverson Geiger played Lady Bountiful to the little town of Sheldon, Iowa (pop. 4,251). Daughter of the president of the Sheldon National Bank, Burnice could always be counted on to help a needy family or befriend a deserving cause. It seemed as if half the folks in Sheldon could have testified to her generosity.

They did not, in fact, when Burnice admitted in 1961 that during the more than 40 years that she had served as the bookkeeper in her father's bank she had embezzled $2,126,859.10 of their funds—more...