The gang’s next victim was Edward G. Bremer, a prominent community leader and President of the Commercial State Bank in Minnesota. Edward Bremer was the son of Adolph Bremer, one of the most well known figures in Minnesota, who owned his own brewing company. On the morning of January 17, 1934 Bremer drove his nine-year-old daughter to school, as part of his normal daily routine. After dropping her off, he proceeded to a crossroad and stopped to check for oncoming traffic. Volney Davis approached the Lincoln Sedan and held a pistol to Bremer’s head, directing him to “move over.”  Another man then entered on the passenger side and struck Bremer over the head several times with a blunt object, then covered his eyes with a pair of goggles that had black electrical tape over the lenses.

At 10:40 a.m. Walter Magee, a very close friend of the Bremer family, received a call at his St. Paul office from a man who called himself Charles McGee. The caller explained that Bremer had been kidnapped, and that a note could be found on the side of the building providing further instructions. Under a side door, Magee found a note which read:

You are hereby declared in on a very desperate undertaking. Don't try to cross us. Your future and B's are the important issue. Follow these instructions to the letter. Police have never helped in such a spot and won't this time either. You better take care of the payoff first and let them do the detecting later. Because the police usually butt in, your friend isn't none too comfortable now so don't delay the payment. We demand $200,000. Payment must be made in 5 and 10-dollar bills - no new money - no consecutive numbers - large variety of issues. Place the money in two large suit box cartons big enough to hold the full amount and tie with heavy cord. No contact will be made until you notify us that you are ready to pay as we direct. You place an ad in the Minneapolis Tribune as soon as you have the money ready. Under the personal column you must write: We are ready Alice. You will then receive your final instructions. Be prepared to leave at a minutes notice to make the payoff. Don't attempt to stall or outsmart us. Don't try to bargain. Don't plead poverty; we know how much they have in their banks. Don't try to communicate with us; we'll do the directing. Threats aren’t necessary - you just do your part - we guarantee to do ours.

Magee promptly notified the FBI, and they began a full-fledged investigation. Bremer’s abandoned car was discovered with bloodstains on the steering wheel, the gearshift, and all of the car seats. It was clear that a struggle had taken place, and the Bremer family feared that Edward was already dead. The gang quickly learned that the police had been summoned, and sent several more letters warning of the outcome if the family didn’t pull the police off the case. The gang also devised a new signal, which would be to place a special sticker on the office window when the money was ready, and they warned again that they would kill Bremer if the family failed to come through with the ransom. On January 25, 1934 another note and a key were found inside a can of Hills Brothers coffee. The note instructed Magee to open a locker at the Jefferson Lines Bus Station, located in downtown St. Paul, and stated that additional instructions would be found inside this locker. Magee complied fully with their demands, assuming the name of John B. Brakesham and boarding a bus that departed at 8:40 p.m. for Des Moines, Iowa. But despite Magee’s efforts, the payoff failed to transpire as planned, and officials later found another note canceling the whole thing.

The kidnapping finally came to an end on February 6, 1934, when Magee received new instructions to locate a vehicle that had a note hidden in the glove box. Magee followed the additional instructions, which eventually led him down a dark dirt road at night, where he was to drop off the money. The FBI allowed the transaction to take place according to the wishes of the family, but they carefully recorded the serial numbers of the five and ten dollar bills. The following day, Bremer was released in the middle of an intersection near Rochester, Minnesota, and was told to stand with his back to the car and to count to fifteen before removing the large bandage covering his eyes.

After the kidnapping was safely resolved, U.S. special agents immediately embarked on an intensive investigation. Bremer had not been kept blinded folded all of the time, and he told agents that he could hear children playing outside of the hideout and two dogs barking frequently close to the house. Bremer had also studied his surroundings with great care. He had memorized the wallpaper and furnishings in the house, and the FBI searched for matching samples using old store receipts and other investigative means. Bremer had also heard traffic, and he told agents that when buses approached he could hear the drivers apply their brakes. Magee took agents to where he had dropped off the ransom money, and they found four flashlights that had been left behind. A young girl at a local store later identified photographs of Alvin Karpis and Doc Barker as the ones who had purchased the flashlights in downtown St. Paul. Bremer also remembered that his captors had thrown away a gas can that had been used to refuel the car during his kidnapping. The FBI recovered the gas can and it was found to have Doc’s full hand and fingerprints all over it.

The bills that had been used to pay in the ransom soon started surfacing in various banks around the Chicago area. Officials also later confirmed that Karpis and Fred Barker had met with Dr. J.O. Moran, a physician with close ties to Capone and the Chicago Crime Syndicate. Both of the criminals had received surgery to alter their facial features, and had also attempted the removal of their fingerprints. The operations were apparently severely painful, and the FBI later documented that Fred became a “ raving maniac” from the acute distress. Volney Davis and Doc later underwent similar surgery, also attempting to conceal their identity. The Barker-Karpis Gang then started to split up to avoid apprehension, since word was growing stronger that the FBI was closing in on them.

Karpis moved to Cleveland, Ohio with Dolores Delaney, taking enough funds to live happily for several years. Soon thereafter Fred Barker followed them, and rented a home in a nearby housing development. Doc and several of the others also moved to Cleveland and led a fairly quiet existence. According to FBI reports, the gang still had about $100,000 of the original ransom money in their possession. The idyll was soon disrupted however, when a few of the female members were arrested for being drunk and disorderly in a hotel, and were quickly linked to the Barker-Karpis Gang. Karpis moved around the states, ending up in Miami, Florida, and then he and Dolores made their way to Havana, Cuba, where Alvin felt confident that agents would not find them. But Alvin Karpis would not be granted any rest, as his picture was already being circulated in the newspapers of Havana. He fled back to Miami, where once again several of the other gang members were starting to reassemble.

The FBI noted that during this period, Doc Barker spent time hiding in Toledo, Ohio, where he became infatuated with a woman named Mildred Kuhlman. Until then, many of Doc’s associates had termed him as a woman hater, who spurned female companionship with the exception of his frequent visits to houses of prostitution. He persuaded Mildred to accompany him back to Chicago, where he promised a life of luxury and riches. When she agreed to go with him, the FBI had already put her under surveillance. On January 8, 1935 special agents surrounded the Barker house on Pine Grove Avenue in Chicago and took them both into custody. Agents also found a Thompson submachine gun, and the crime lab determined that it had been used in a robbery on August 30, 1933, in which a policeman had been killed with that very weapon. Also found in the house was a map with a street in Ocala, Florida circled in pencil. Doc received a life sentence for his role in the Bremer kidnapping, and was sentenced to serve his time at Alcatraz. He was shipped to the Rock in October of 1935.