She Married Into The Bakelite Plastics Fortune. Then Her Own Son Killed Her (Documentary)

In 1907, Leo Baekeland invented Bakelite, the world's first synthetic plastic, and in 1939 he sold the company to Union Carbide for $16.5 million — roughly $285 million in today's money. His grandson Brooks married Barbara Daly, a model from the pages of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, ranked among New York's ten most beautiful girls. For two decades they lived as expatriate royalty, renting villas in five countries and hosting Greta Garbo and Tennessee Williams. But behind the dinner parties was a son with untreated schizophrenia, a father who called psychiatry "amoral" and refused to pay for treatment, and a mother who ignored an arrest, a hospital admission, and a doctor's explicit warning on October 30, 1972 that her son was capable of murder. Eighteen days later, in a Cadogan Square penthouse, he killed her with a kitchen knife — and when police arrived, he was on the phone ordering Chinese food. In this video, we talk about the rise and destruction of the Baekeland family, including Leo Baekeland's $750,000 Velox deal with George Eastman, the invention of Bakelite, Barbara's modeling career and Hollywood screen test, the marriage that began with a false pregnancy, the expatriate years in Paris and Majorca, the divorce of 1968, the disturbing allegations recorded in Savage Grace, the Old Bailey trial of 1973, seven years in Broadmoor, the release that lasted six days before he stabbed his 87-year-old grandmother, and the plastic bag at Rikers Island that ended the story in 1981. Hit subscribe to never miss a video! Drop a comment with where you're watching from and what you think of this story. Share this anywhere — Facebook, Reddit, or even your group chats. You're the reason this channel exists. #BarbaraBaekeland #Bakelite #SavageGrace #TrueCrime #Documentary #20thCenturyWomen #LeoBaekeland #Broadmoor #OldBailey #London #Chelsea #1972 #HistoryDocumentary #WomenInHistory #Socialite #GildedTragedy #MentalHealthHistory #AmericanHeiress #FamilyTragedy #PlasticsFortune #TrueStory #CrimeHistory