Benny and Estelle Dickson had a seven-month crime career that took them to multiple states throughout the Midwest. The FBI entered the case after they robbed a couple of federally insured banks in South Dakota. Aside from banks the husband and wife duo kidnapped people at random and took hostages. Stella Mae "Estelle" Irwin was only sixteen when she joined Benny Dickson in a life of crime. Benny, an amateur poet, was the son of a high school chemistry teacher in Topeka.