Kenneth Crone

James Kenneth Crone was born on 16 August, 1941 on the city of Tyler, Texas. For four years he served the United States Air Force before joining the Texas Department of Public Safety to a work as a state trooper. On his second year on the function a most unusual event changed his life when on 2 May, 1969, he was kidnapped by Ila Fae Dent and Robert "Bobby" Dent, a young couple who wanted to retrieve their son who was about to be sent to foster parents. A big pursuit from the authorities ensued for the next couple of hours and it ended when Robert Dent was killed by an FBI agent. In 1974, the story was turned into a motion picture directed by a then-unknown Steven Spielberg, in what would become his first theatrical release. The movie was The Sugarland Express (1974), starring Goldie Hawn and William Atherton as the kidnappers, and the helpless trooper role was played by Michael Sacks. The real Crone had a small role as a deputy and also worked as an advisor for the film presenting to Spielberg the accuracy of events. A few months later after the kidnapping, Crone married Carolyn Faye Fontenot and they had two children. They remained married for more than 30 years. His later career after the Public Safety, included jobs as a insurance and car salesman; chief of security of a Petroleum reserve and as a dispatcher for a industrial company. Crone died on 10 February, 2011.