FBI Believes Found Body Is Missing Exxon Executive

The two-month disappearance of a top Exxon Corp. executive ended in apparent tragedy Saturday when the FBI announced a body, strongly believed to be the remains of Sidney J. Reso, was discovered in the desolate Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey.

A friend of the Reso family said that police and FBI agents were led to the shallow grave site after Irene Seale, who was arrested and charged with kidnaping Reso, supplied the location of his corpse in Bass River, N.J., in the midst of the wilderness area.

Officials said initial examination of the badly decomposed body made it appear that Reso died of natural causes. According to the friend, a New Orleans nun, Seale told authorities that Reso had died in early May. He had a history of heart problems.

Seale’s husband, Arthur, a former policeman and one-time Exxon security official, also was charged with kidnaping Reso, the president of Exxon International, who disappeared on his way to work April 29.

A federal indictment charged the Seales kidnaped Reso, a 57-year-old engineer who is a native of New Orleans, outside his home in Morris Township, N.J., then wrote ransom notes and made telephone calls seeking to collect millions for the high executive’s safe return.

On Saturday, one of the largest manhunts in recent FBI history ended sadly.

The FBI said late in the day that “positive identification is not expected until tomorrow.”

At the Reso home, where his wife, Patricia, and several of his children had kept a long and painful vigil, his death appeared to be a foregone conclusion.

Reso’s sister talked with an old family friend, Sister Ruth Angelette, who told WCBS-TV that Irene Seale had broken down and revealed that Reso had died of natural causes in early May.

“She called us to tell us that the person, that lady who had been in the kidnaping had confessed that he had died in the early part of May and that he had died of natural causes,” Sister Angelette told the television station. “They had buried him in a park.”

Reso had suffered a heart attack several years ago and was taking medication at the time of his disappearance. Reso’s family and authorities had feared the strain of being held by kidnapers could cause further heart problems.

After he failed to report for work at the headquarters of Exxon International in Florham Park, N.J.--a 10-minute drive from Reso’s home--his family and police became alarmed. Reso’s car was found with its motor running at the end of his 250-foot long driveway. The door was open on the driver’s side and his overcoat was still inside.

The Seales, both 45, are charged with sending ransom letters and making telephone calls seeking the funds. When they were arrested, FBI agents found rubber gloves, three bullets and a directory listing the addresses of key Exxon executives in a car rented by Mrs. Seale.

A federal magistrate ordered the couple held without bail after prosecutors said they feared the Seales were planning to flee to Pakistan. A search of their home turned up a guide to money laundering and notations indicating they could have been planning to set up bank accounts in Switzerland and Pakistan.

Prosecutors said Arthur Seale had been employed in security at Exxon’s Florham Park office and had served as a police officer in Hillside, N.J., until retiring in the 1970s.

The arrests came just days after Patricia Reso made a dramatic televised appeal to the kidnapers that her husband be returned home in time for Father’s Day.

The abduction of such a high executive has caused corporations across the country to re-examine their security practices.

If convicted on charges of kidnaping and extortion, the Seales could face life in prison and $1-million fines.