[1] FBI director J. Edgar Hoover called him "the nation’s cruelest criminal" and the "most cold-blooded, ruthless and atrocious killer" he'd ever encountered.

As a child, he played on his school's hockey team and was an avid hunter who often hunted more animals than was legally allowed.

In July 1929, Seadlund left home and worked various odd jobs in Chicago.

His body was found in the family car, having died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

It was speculated that his father's death, the Great Depression, and a chance meeting with an infamous gangster pushed Seadlund towards committing crimes.

"When his father died, John tried to get work in the iron mines, but they told him there was nothing for him," his mother, Delia Seadlund, later said.

One day in 1933, Seadlund was hunting in the woods when he saw Tommy Carroll, a hiding gangster and a member of the Dillinger Gang.

It is not known what Carroll told him, but Seadlund was apparently thrilled by the meeting, viewing him as a "big shot" gangster.

On March 1, 1935, Seadlund stole a car in Memphis, Tennessee and drove it to Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

He faced a federal charge in that case since he'd transported the vehicle across state lines.

Seadlund hid in the woods for about a week, evading detection but becoming extremely hungry.

After the bank robberies, Seadlund went to Spokane, Washington, bought a truck, and went into the timber business.

As Seadlund and Gray planned to rob the bank in Wisconsin, they learned about a group of women who were driving a truck which supposedly had valuable jewelry.

On September 2, 1937, still in Wisconsin, Seadlund and Gray learned that a cafe owner had supposedly saved $100,000 worth of jewelry.

Seadlund later told Hoover that he considered kidnapping famous baseball player Dizzy Dean, but abandoned this idea since it would force his club to pay the ransom.

[1] On September 25, 1937, Charles Sherman Ross, a 72-year-old greeting card executive, was kidnapped by Seadlund and his accomplice, James Atwood Gray, in Franklin Park, Illinois.

On October 8, 1937, the money was paid by Ross's family to Seadlund outside of Rockford, Illinois, as he had instructed.

It was at this point that Seadlund claimed he thought Gray was about to attack him and all three of them got into a fight, resulting in them falling into a pit.

Thinking Gray would not survive his injuries, Seadlund emptied his gun into the younger man's body, killing him.

Unable to revive Ross, and to ensure he was dead, Seadlund shot him in the head.

During the sentencing phase, Seadlund claimed that he shot Gray in self-defense, and then killed him and Ross to put them out of their misery.

Seadlund was executed in the electric chair at the Cook County Jail in Chicago, Illinois.

[4] Seadlund asked Severin E. Koop, a Minnesota undertaker, to attend his execution, saying he was sorry for what he'd done.