True Life Tuesday: Sally Horner

This is the story that many people believe inspired the novel Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. However, he denied this on many occasions.

Florence Sally Horner was born on April 18, 1937 in Camden, New Jersey. Her parents were Russell and Ella Horner. When she was 5 years old her father committed suicide. Her older half-sister, Susan, helped to raise her after her step-father's death. 

In March 1948 she was caught shoplifting a 5 cent notebook from a local Woolworth by Frank Le Salle. He told Sally that he was a FBI agent and that he would send her to reform school unless she reported to him regularly. In actuality he was a 51 year old mechanic and convicted sex offender. 

On June 15, 1948 La Salle told Sally that she needed to tell her mother that he was a friend's father and that she was going to join the family on a week long vacation to Atlantic City. Once there he made her write a letter to her mother that said that the vacation was extended to July 31st. Her mother contacted the Atlantic City police department and they investigated the address listed on the letter on August 4th. The house was empty except for two packed suitcases and the picture above of Sally on a sing.

Over the next 21 months they travelled under several aliases in several states with La Salle posing as Sally's father. He used a gun to keep her from escaping and raped her on several occasions. In April of 1949 they moved to a trailer park in Dallas, Texas. Their neighbor, Ruth Janisch, was suspicious of La Salle. Sally eventually confided in Ruth and she allowed her to use her phone. She called her mother but the phone had been disconnected but she was able to get ahold of her sister Susan. 

La Salle was arrested on March 22, 1950 while still claiming to be her father. On April 1st she was reunited with her month at the Philadelphia airport. La Salle was extradited to New Jersey where he was eventually convicted and sentenced to 30-35 years in Trenton State Prison. Sally was killed in a car accident on August 18, 1952. La Salle sent flowers to the funeral but they were not displayed based upon the wishes of her sister Susan and Susan's husband. La Salle died from ateriosclerosis on March 22, 1966 at the age of 69.