ENVY: The Kidnapping and Murder of Sidney Reso

A Bid for Redemption

Patricia Reso

In the years since the case ended, the Reso family has maintained a low profile. Patricia Reso, a woman who earned the respect of the FBI agents who worked with her on a daily basis during her ordeal, moved to Houston, where, as she had always done, she maintained a simple life and did what she could to serve others. According to an Associated Press report from 1993, she spoke to a meeting of the New Jersey Bar Association a year after the kidnapping, and credited her faith, the work of law enforcement officials, and most importantly the kind letters of support she had received for helping her to withstand the tragedy. "It meant so very much to us," she was quoted as saying.

Irene Seale, who is barred from having any contact with her now estranged husband, has also maintained a kind of silence during her incarceration.

Not so Arthur Seale. Over the past few years, Seale has spoken publicly about his achievements in prison — he has earned a doctorate in psychological counseling and has spent much of his time behind bars counseling other inmates and helping some of them obtain their G.E.D.'s, according to reports published in both the Bismarck Tribune and the Christian Science Monitor.

He insists that his work in prison proves that he had been rehabilitated, though he seems to maintain that whatever improvement there has been in his character is largely the result of his own efforts rather than a product of his incarceration.

And now, he is seeking some measure of redemption.

As he told the Christian Science Monitor in a 2003 interview, ""I can never undo deeds done, but I am trying to make myself into a decent good person."

"I think there is a point, which I have reached, where I am no longer the person who committed that crime. I certainly think and act differently now."

"People should be judged by the totality of their lives...I'm not saying I don't deserve my punishment. But I want to be considered as more than just the kidnapper and murderer of Sidney Reso."

Perhaps Arthur Seale has changed. It is interesting to note that in way ironic way, his life does now include a level of service to others, for whatever reason, that imitates one aspect of the life the Reso family lived; a life that Seale was so by his account desperate to emulate. It's not their wealth or their power; it's their simplicity.

Throughout her adult life, according to published reports, Patricia Reso felt a great need to help others. Though she had almost anything she could wish for, she still made time to work regularly at a soup kitchen, caring for those less fortunate than herself.

The difference is, she didn't kill anybody or have to go prison to see the value in it.