Onion Field revisted...

Out in Catalina, I had a interesting encounter with the daughter of one of the police officers that was the subject of a non-fiction book by Joseph Wambaugh called "The Onion Field". I was way off on the dates on my previous reference. The event occurred in the 60's and was written in the 70's. Short version is that 2 officers were kidnapped and one killed in an onion field in Bakersfield, CA.

My brief conversation with the daughter of Karl Hettinger began with a "where ya from?" her Bakersfield reply prompted a "oh onion country!" comment from me which led us eventually to the terribly unfortunate life her father led after his ordeal. She was a pretty nice lady but you could tell the conversation brought out some sad memories. She basically had lost her father before ever really knowing him pre-kidnapping. The wikipedia quotes below sum up her own description.

Hettinger suffered severe emotional trauma as a result, and people who knew him said he was never the same afterwards. He was forced to resign from the LAPD in 1966 after committing some acts of petty shoplifting and developing a drinking problem. Later in life, Hettinger was appointed to serve as a Kern County supervisor; he died of a liver disease in 1994 at the age of 59.