On the morning of Feb. 8, 1977, Tony Kiritsis walked into the Indianapolis offices of the Hall-Hottel Company for an appointment with mortgage broker Richard O. Hall.

Kiritsis entered Hall’s office carrying a flower box under his arm. A few minutes later, they both emerged.

A sawed-off shotgun was wired to a steel noose around Hall’s neck, the barrel of the weapon pressed to the base of his skull. Kiritsis had his finger on the trigger.

The two walked out into the frigid streets, and Kiritsis began marching his hostage through downtown Indianapolis. The police — whom Kiritsis had called from Hall’s office — were already on the scene with guns drawn.

The cops received a startling warning from Kiritsis: He had wired the shotgun’s trigger to a ring on his index finger. It was a dead man’s switch — even if the police managed to get a clean shot, killing Kiritsis would cause the shotgun to fire right into Hall’s skull.

The police frantically tried to clear the streets of civilians and reason with Kiritsis as he led Hall down the sidewalks. At one point, Kiritsis slipped and fell on a patch of ice. Hall fell with him, preventing the gun from going off.

On Senate Street, he commandeered a police car and ordered Hall to drive him. With police in cautious pursuit, the captive drove his captor to Kiritsis’ apartment on the west side of the city.