ENVY: The Kidnapping and Murder of Sidney Reso

Cold Blooded

It is perhaps a measure of how detached Seale had become from his victim that even as late as late as his 2003 interview with Winter he still bristled at the description of the box that would become Reso's death chamber and his tomb as a comfortless thing.

He maintained that he had blankets in it. And he had drilled a couple of air holes in it.

He also drove it to an almost unventilated storage shed where the temperatures inside approached 100 degrees.

Geraldo Rivera

But in a 1997 interview with Geraldo Rivera, Reso's daughter Robin put it this way.

"Dad was, basically, tortured to death...he was entombed in a box that was, I think, very symbolic," she said. "Although Arthur Seale says he never intended for anyone to die, the fact that he built a coffin-like box and left him there—I mean, the symbolism is pretty
clear that he—he intended—he didn't care whether anyone died or not. And the horror that my poor dad must have suffered—being completely alone, being bound and gagged and handcuffed, not being able to move, not being able to get out of the—of this—this box for any reason. Only being given water, no food, in a stifling... hot, unventilated storage shed—you know—as well as this box. And they even had a system of—he had built this box so there was jus—a system of ropes that would surround my dad so that he couldn't move at all, so—make anyone—make any noise to cry for help.

"Arthur Seale had planned this well in advance," she said. "He knew exactly what
he was doing and he, basically, tortured my father to death...You don't survive with no ventilation, no food and—and probably not enough water to compensate for the heat that was in that metal storage shed."