Convict in 1977 kidnapping slay a free man
Ronald H. Krom, 67, is paroled after serving 38 years for murder of Trudy Resnick Farber, 30, in Wawarsing
After spending 38 years and four months behind bars for the kidnapping and murder of Gertrude “Trudy” Resnick Farber, Ronald H. Krom is once again a free man.
Krom, now 67, was released from Greenhaven State Prison in the town of Beekman hamlet of Stormville, Dutchess County, in April, according to the state Department of Corrections. According to published reports, he is living in Rockland County.
In 1977, the Ellenville community — and all of Ulster County — was rocked by the discovery that Farber, 30, the daughter of millionaire industrialist Harry Resnick and niece of the late U.S. Rep. Joseph Resnick, had been kidnapped from her Sullivan County home on May 24, 1977, and buried alive.
Two days later, police arrested Krom, a 25-year-old real estate agent who had known Farber since childhood, and charged him with kidnapping and murder.
According to news reports and court documents, a masked man had broken into Farber’s Sackett Lake home and had overpowered and bound her husband, Roger, and his business partner, Harvey Kornbleau. When Mrs. Farber, a therapist who worked at a mental health clinic, arrived home from work a short time later, the masked intruder abducted her at gunpoint.
Later that night, Krom placed the first of two ransom calls to her father, Harry Resnick, and demanded $1 million for her return.
When Krom called a second time on May 25, 1977, Roger Farber answered the phone, and, although the caller immediately hung up the phone, Farber said he recognized the voice as Krom’s, and the kidnapping plot began to unravel.
On May 26, 1977, under questioning by police, Krom denied he had kidnapped the woman, but conceded he had placed the ransom calls and told police he might known “something” about where she was. But, he said, he wanted to be paid for the information.
According to court documents, Krom at first demanded $400,000, then $300,000, for information about Farber’s whereabouts, and wanted to meet with Harry Resnick to make arrangements for payment. He also claimed that Farber’s
husband, Roger, was in on the scheme.
Ultimately, Krom agreed to take police to Farber, who he repeatedly claimed was safe, if her father agreed to pay his attorney fees, bail and $10,000 for expenses, but when Harry Resnick arrived at the barracks and agreed to Krom’s conditions, Krom changed his mind, instead again demanding $400,000.
According to court documents, “when the police protested that was not ‘the deal,’ Krom jumped up and said ‘Let’s go.’”
Krom brought police to an area in the Ulster County town of Wawarsing to property once owned by the Krom family. There, Krom led police to what was described in court papers as “a grave-shaped hole containing a large box with a lock on the lid.
Krom retrieved a key from
under a nearby rock and opened the box.
Inside was Farber’s lifeless body. An autopsy found she had died of suffocation.
Police also recovered a rifle, ski mask, and clothing fitting the description of the items used by the kidnapper.
According to court documents, Krom confessed to kidnapping Farber and demanding the ransom, but denied he intended to harm her. He said he had tried to ventilate the box by shooting holes in the lid before forcing Farber inside and said he returned the day after kidnapping her to offer her food and something to drink, but she had refused to accept it.
In December 1979, after
initially being declared unfit to stand trial following an incident in the Sullivan County Jail, Krom was found guilty of murder and kidnapping and sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison.
Krom’s initial appearance before the state Parole Board was on March 5, 2002, and he was subsequently denied parole seven times. He was finally granted parole in February and was released from prison in April, according to the Department of Corrections.
An office building in Ellenville, named for Trudy Resnick Farber, remains a center for county government services in southern Ulster County, including mental health services.