Murderer-socialite Frances Schreuder dies at 65
BK
Murderer-socialite Frances Schreuder dies at 65
New York socialite Frances Berenice Schreuder, convicted of capital
murder for ordering her son, Marc, to kill her millionaire father, has
died in San Diego at the age of 65.
By Stephen Hunt
The Salt Lake Tribune
Frances Berenice Schreuder -- Utah's grand dame of murder conspiracy
-- died Tuesday at age 65 at a San Diego hospice.
A Manhattan socialite who feared her tightfisted father was about to
disinherit her, Schreuder tried to keep a grip on Franklin Bradshaw's
oil and auto-parts fortune by persuading her 17-year-old son to kill
the elderly man.
Faced with losing his mother's affection, Marc Schreuder went to his
grandfather's Salt Lake City warehouse on July 28, 1978, and fatally
shot the 76-year-old self-made multimillionaire.
A classic case of ruthless greed and misplaced love, the sensational
story dominated Utah headlines and became fodder for two books and two
television movies.
Marilyn Schreuder Reagan said Wednesday that her younger sister had
died from a chronic lung disease. Funeral services are planned for
Friday in San Diego.
"Don't write something negative," Reagan urged during an interview
with The Salt Lake Tribune. "She did some terrible things to family
and friends, but it's past. That's all been done."
Convicted in 1982 of second-degree murder, Marc Schreuder was paroled
in 1995, after serving 13 years at the Utah State Prison.
Frances Schreuder denied planning the slaying, but -- based primarily
on the testimony of her son -- she was convicted in 1983 of capital
murder. She, too, served 13 years behind bars.
A model inmate who earned two psychology degrees under an
inmate-education program, she was released in 1996.
The murder ripped the family apart, but Frances Schreuder's illness
and death has begun to bring them together again.
Reagan said her sister never admitted her part in the murder. But
Frances Schreuder and her son had reconciled within the past year, she
said.
Frances Schreuder was also forging a relationship with her daughter,
Lavinia, who had resisted contact, but was with her mother at the end.
"I told Lavinia [by telephone] there was no animosity," Reagan said.
"And I told her to pass that on to Frances, and to say I was sorry for
her suffering."
Reagan said the murder plot grew from her father's unwillingness to
support Frances in New York, where she played the socialite and had
been a member of the board of directors of the New York City Ballet.
She said Frank Bradshaw was willing to bankroll Frances if she
returned to Salt Lake City, but his conservative nature rebelled
against her lavish East Coast lifestyle.
"He felt she was asking too much," Reagan said. "It was an excess of
money that didn't need to be spent."
In the end, Frances Schreuder ended up with a portion of her father's
fortune, by way of her mother, Berenice Jewett Bradshaw, who died in
early 1996 at age 92.
Bradshaw had spent millions on defense attorneys for Marc and Frances
Schreuder.
And six years after her daughter's murder conviction, Bradshaw created
the so-called "Trust for Frances," which required that her daughter
receive an annual income totaling 5 percent of the trust's market
value. Bradshaw bequeathed what was left of the estate to her
grandsons Samuel and Maxwell Drukman, according to court records.
Frances also inherited her mother's personal belongings, including
jewelry, a full-length fur coat and a swank condominium in Salt Lake
City's Avenues.
Reagan -- who last saw her sister at their mother's 1996 funeral --
noted that Frances Schreuder "could manipulate Mother and had Mother's
sympathy."
Jonathan Coleman, author of At Mother's Request, the best-selling book
about the Bradshaw murder, said Wednesday that he is still affected by
"the incredible sadness" of the story.
"Everybody in this story was destroyed in one way or another," Coleman
said during a telephone interview from Virginia. "Everyone was
affected."
Coleman said Marc Schreuder chose to testify against his mother "to
make sure she wouldn't continue to be a negative influence on
Lavinia's life. It was a very brave thing he did to testify."
