William Gettle

Who was William Gettle?

William F. Gettle was an American businessman and millionaire. He gained some notoriety when he was kidnapped in 1934.

Gettle was originally from Oklahoma, and moved to Bakersfield, California, in the 1920s, where he worked for J.C. Penny and invested in oil fields. The 1920 United States Census showed he was living in Kern, California. At the time of the kidnapping, Gettle weighed 500 pounds, and he and his handicapped wife Fleta had four children, all of whom were under 10 years of age. One of their neighbors was comedian Joe E. Brown. According to the Los Angeles Times, he was worth around 3,500,000.