Woman Gets Prison in Exxon Kidnaping Case

The woman who told authorities how her husband masterminded the fatal abduction of Exxon executive Sidney Reso was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison for helping in the kidnaping.

Irene J. Seale, 45, was sentenced to concurrent 20-year prison terms on state and federal charges. She was fined $500,000 in federal court and $100,000 in state court.

U.S. District Judge Garrett E. Brown rejected defense assertions that Mrs. Seale suffered from battered women’s syndrome, saying she was a “full participant” with her husband, Arthur.

Reso, 57, president of Exxon Co. International, was shot in the arm during the April 29 kidnaping outside his Morris Township home. He was then kept handcuffed, bound and gagged in a box in a storage vault. He died May 3, and the Seales buried him in a shallow grave in Bass River State Park.

The Seales were arrested weeks later and Mrs. Seale led authorities to Reso’s body.

In federal court in Trenton, Mrs. Seale, in a thin, quavering voice, read a letter she had sent to U.S. District Judge Garrett E. Brown in which she described her role.

“At the time of my arrest, I was physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. I had to tell my story,” she said.

She could have been sentenced to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to federal extortion and conspiracy charges. Prosecutors agreed to the 20-year sentence.