This is an automated archive.
The original was posted on /r/unresolvedmysteries by /u/CrimeFan365 on 2024-01-18 19:46:35+00:00.
Original Title: From 1936 to 1952 a man named George J. Stein open dozens of savings account across the Midwest United States then he mysteriously vanished never returning to claim his $130K fortune. Yet 72 years after vanishing one question still remains as to who really was George J. Stein?
This is my first post on this subreddit so forgive me if this story might be a little confusing I’ve done all the research i could but the best information was from unsolved mysteries because this case was featured as a lost heirs segment on Season 1 episode 18 of UM i will be using that as a reference for this story along with a few old newspaper articles below and one done in July 2023. I also tried to look through Anchestory but i didn’t have any luck at all. Also forgive my terrible grammar it’s never been my strong point.
The Mystery of George J Stein
On November 12, 1936, at a bank located in Ripon, Wisconsin, a man named George J. Stein opened up a savings account for $120. He had no social security numbers on file and did not leave a home address. Between 1936 and 1952, he opened dozens of bank accounts, primarily in savings & loans in the Midwest. However, he never returned to these banks to claim his money, which today totals at $130,000.In addition to five accounts in Wisconsin, Stein also held three savings accounts in Indiana, two in Minnesota, and one in both Iowa and Illinois. One bank in Texas believes Stein was a depositor, but this remains unconfirmed. Also, it's not confirmed if the man's name is actually George J. Stein.One researcher, Tom Becker, looked into a deposit Stein made in Indianapolis. He found that Stein had placed a real address for this account, which was 505 Washington Street. The address was for a company that made hats, gloves, and other accessories. Becker was able to find a physical description of Stein; this description matched that of a traveling salesman named Ralph Barnett. Barnett's sales territories matched the places where Stein's accounts were created. Becker believes that Barnett probably died suddenly while on the road, due to the fact that he never withdrew money from the accounts.Another researcher, Frances Scoll, believes Stein may have had sinister motives. In her research, she discovered that Stein had written a return address on one of his deposit envelopes. The name written with the address was Ed Fay. While looking through newspaper archives, Scoll discovered that a man named Ed Fay had robbed a post office in Superior, Wisconsin, with his gang. In October 1903, Fay and his gang had stolen over $15,000 in stamps and cash from the post office. Fay was arrested shortly after the robbery; however, he escaped from jail in 1904 and was never seen again. Scoll discovered that Fay's age would match the age of Stein. She believes that Fay changed his named to Stein in order to cover up his crimes and still be able to access his money.In order to collect on Stein's money, his heirs must first prove that they are related to him; then, they must produce handwriting samples that match his known handwriting. Although several possible heirs have come forward, none of them could prove their relationship to Stein as required in order to access the accounts.
My thoughts and theories on this case.
So who really was George J. Stein? and did he actually exist to begin with? Well obviously he had to at one point because someone was opening up accounts in his name i do wonder though if it was either Ed Faye or Ralph Barnett because while i could see Faye going under another persons identity it doesn’t seem that Barnett had any reason to hide or change his identity. My own theories is that whoever George J. Stein was that he was either one of the following
- A real person who wasn’t a criminal or salesman but possibly just a regular guy who worked hard but was someone who lost all his family from 1936 to 1952 and died alone so no family or friends came forward to verify who he actually was. It could also be someone who looked similar to Ralph Barnett or Ed Faye and died sometime in 1952 but was buried in unmark grave with no headstone so researchers were never able to find where he was buried to verify if it was actually him. It also possible he grew up an Orphan and never had a family and once he was sixteen to eighteen he left the Orphanage and was out to fend for himself with no way of finding his real family because he couldn’t get access to those records assuming they were kept and because no one had heard of DNA back then so there was no possible way to find out who he was and he went by George J. Stein because that’s what his birth certificate said or because that’s the name the Orphanage gave him.
- He was actually a criminal who was on the run from law enforcement who after he committed a crime changed his identity by going to a Children’s cemetery checking the baby and toddler section of the cemetery where he saw the name George J. Stein he decided he liked that name took it and then eventually applied for a social security number in a different state with it but just chose not to leave the number with the banks he opened up accounts with since it wasn’t a requirement to do so and he eventually was going to return after so many years to reclaim the money he put in but he died before he could do so and since he more then likely was never married or had any children no legitimate heirs came forward to claim his fortune or he did have heirs but they didn’t realize their father, grandfather or uncle actually invested this money so they never were aware they needed to reclaim his fortune because they didn’t know about the money he invested in the banks.
From what i could find i don’t believe his fortune can be claimed anymore most states depending on the laws they have usually are given ten to thirty years to find the next of kin of a deceased person in most states it’s ten years and if they can’t find them that money typically goes to the state where the money was located. So while I’m not certain i do believe the UM segment might have been a last ditch effort to find Stein’s heirs before his fortune went to the states where he held his bank accounts in. So someone likely missed out on getting $130K in 1989 which if adjusted for inflation would be around $320K in 2023 obviously I’m using 2023 since we just started 2024 lol.
Links
- Unsolved Mysteries episode the stein segment starts at 30:20.
- Unsolved mysteries fandom article on the case which i used above.
- The Newspaper article i found from this past year i searched newspaper archives but only have my libraries version of the site so i couldn’t find anything else about Stein or the segment UM did. August 2023 Article.
Again my bad if the story is confusing but i would like to know your thoughts who do you think George J. Stein really was?