In 1925, Police officer James Pyle asked the Bureau of Investigation (BOI,) the agency preceding the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI,) for help. They sent Tom White to lead an investigation.
Because of the perception that the police were corrupt, White decided the agents would work undercover. After two years, agents uncovered Hale’s scheme.
Hale persuaded Ernest to marry Mollie Kyle, a full-blooded Osage. He then arranged for the murders of Mollie’s family for insurance policies and the rights of each family member.
Investigators learned Ernest was poisoning Mollie. She recovered, and after the trial, divorced Ernest, dying on June 16, 1937.
In the case of the Smith murders, Ernest turned state’s evidence, naming Hale as responsible for the murder conspiracy. He said that he had used Henry Grammer as a go-between to hire a professional criminal named Ace Kirby to perform the killings.
Grammer and Kirby were both killed before they could testify.
Hale was convicted in 1929 for the shooting death of Roan and sent to Leavenworth Prison in Kansas. He was sentenced to life but paroled on July 31, 1947.
After being paroled, he spent time in Montana, working as a ranch hand for Benny Binion (of Las Vegas casino fame,) dying in Arizona in 1962.
The Old Blog in the Desert 
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