Death Ride: A Little Boy's Night of Terror

A riveting account of the 1937 ambush and killing of Mike and Frieda Kuntz in eastern Montana and the attempted murder of their five-year-old son, Larry, who witnessed the murders. An amazing story of survival and the ability of the human spirit to transcend unspeakable cruelty. Over 70 years after the crime, which made the national news at the time, Larry Kuntz, a 60-year resident of Spokane, Washington, shared his story with the authors.

On that fateful late-November night, Frank Robideau, a neighbor and the father of little Larry's best friend, forced Mike to drive to a secluded spot near their home, where he pulled out a revolver and shot Mike in the head. He then struggled with Frieda, who ferociously fought back, until he shot her through the heart. Within seconds, he mercilessly beat Larry, his only witness, with his now-empty pistol. Leaving all three for dead, Robideau hid the car inside an enclosed grain elevator. Upon regaining consciousness, Larry managed to make his way to the local general store early the next morning. Stumbling inside, he came face-to-face with the murderer. Unknown to anyone in the small farming community, this man was a convicted killer who had escaped from prison 15 years earlier. In less than three months from the time of the murders, Frank Robideau was hanged.