Murder of Patricia Lonergan

Patricia Hartley Burton Bernheimer Lonergan was born September 1, 1920 (some sources also list 1921), in Elberon, New Jersey, granddaughter of Lion Brewery founder Emanuel Bernheimer. She married Wayne Lonergan, a Toronto-born Royal Canadian Air Force pilot, in Las Vegas in July 1941, against her mother's wishes. Their son, William "Billy" Wayne Lonergan, was born July 1, 1942. The marriage was widely believed to be a front for an intimate relationship between Wayne Lonergan and Patricia's father, William Burton, who had facilitated the match after meeting Wayne at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Both Patricia and Wayne worked as escorts and frequented Manhattan clubs including the Stork Club and El Morocco. The couple separated in the summer of 1943, with Patricia moving with Billy to East 51st Street and removing Wayne from her will.

On October 22, 1943, Wayne traveled from Toronto to New York, spent the evening with a date, then attended gay clubs and had sexual encounters. He and Patricia both arrived at her residence around 7 a.m. on October 24 and, per the account, a physical altercation escalated into Wayne beating and strangling her with a candelabra. He disposed of his bloodied uniform in a river and returned to Toronto. Patricia's nude body was discovered in her bedroom two days later by her mother, Lucille, and the family's nanny, Elizabeth Black.

New York police traced Wayne to Toronto, where he had taken refuge with a family friend. Toronto police detectives questioned and detained him; he was interrogated for 84 hours, during which he described the killing as following a quarrel over "mutual boredom" and lack of sexual interest. He was extradited to New York and stood trial beginning March 1944 amid intense media coverage. Assistant District Attorney Jacob Grumet testified that Lonergan had confessed to homosexual inclinations before and after the marriage; Lonergan and his defense repudiated an unsigned confession. On March 31, 1944, he was convicted of second-degree murder, avoiding a possible death sentence, and on April 17, 1944, was sentenced to 35 years to life.

Lonergan later sought a new trial in 1963 based on the disputed confession, which was denied. He was paroled in 1965 after serving 22 years and deported to Canada. He died of throat cancer in Toronto on January 2, 1986. His son Billy was reportedly raised believing he was an orphan under a new name and inherited the brewery fortune in 1954. The case inspired Kenneth Fearing's 1946 novel The Big Clock and subsequent film adaptations.