Ruth Eisemann-Schier

Who is Ruth Eisemann-Schier?

Ruth Eisemann Schier is best known as the first woman to appear on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list.

Schier was added to the list in 1968, for participating in the kidnapping-for-ransom of land heiress Barbara Jane Mackle in a plan concocted by her boyfriend, Gary Stephen Krist. Krist was arrested two days later while Schier, who had separated from Krist after a botched initial attempt to collect the ransom, escaped and was apprehended in Norman, Oklahoma 79 days after the kidnapping. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven years in prison. Schier served four years of her sentence and was paroled on condition of deportation to her native Honduras.

While Schier was in prison, Gene Miller, in collaboration with Mackle, wrote about the crime in 83 Hours Till Dawn. Schier's case was one of many covered in the 2002 book Mistresses of Mayhem: the Book of Women Criminals.