Villisca ax murders

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As Villisca ax murders of the crime scene is an unsolved multiple murder in the town of Villisca , Iowa designated. On the night of June 9-10, 1912, eight people, six from the Moore family and two from the Stillinger family, were murdered with an ax. Despite two lawsuits, several suspects and more than ten years of investigations, the crime remained unsolved. In 1998 the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places .

Sequence of events

The Moore family consisted of the married couple Josiah (43) and Sarah Moore (39), and their four children, Herman (11), Mary (10), Arthur (7) and Paul (5). On the afternoon of June 9, 1912, Mary Moore invited her friends Lena (12) and Ina (8) Stillinger to her home, where they later stayed the night. In the evening the Moores and the two Stillingers visited the church from 8:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. They probably got home around 10:00 p.m.

The next morning at 5:00 a.m., neighbor Mary Peckham began hanging up her laundry, noticing the unusual silence among the Moores. At 7:00 a.m. still nothing happened to the Moores, so sometime between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. she knocked on the Moores' premises. When she tried to open the door, she noticed that the door was locked from the inside. Out of concern, she called Ross Moore, Josiah's brother. When he arrived, Mary and Ross tried to look into the house through the windows, but they couldn't because all the windows were covered. So Ross opened the door with a spare key. While Mary was waiting in front of the door, Ross went alone into the house and found the bodies of Lena and Ina Stillinger in the guest room. After the discovery, the police were notified.

Investigations

According to forensic medicine, the victims died on the night of June 9-10 between midnight and 5 a.m. When searching the house they found two lit cigarettes in the attic, the origin of which was unknown. It was therefore assumed that the perpetrator could have hidden in the attic. Since only one victim showed signs of defense, the investigators assumed that the victims were surprised in their sleep. The perpetrator struck first in Josiah and Sarah's bedroom, with Josiah's injuries differing from those of the others. Josiah was the only victim who was murdered with the edge of the ax, while the murderer only used the ax plate for the others. In addition, Josiah had been hit most of the time, so his face was completely cut open. The investigators assumed that the perpetrator subsequently murdered the four children of the Moors, Herman, Mary, Arthur and Paul, in the nursery. Subsequently, the siblings Lena and Ina Stillinger were murdered on the ground floor, with Lena in all likelihood being the only one who was not murdered in her sleep, as she had defensive marks on her arms and was not in bed. Since Lena's nightgown was pulled up and her underwear was missing, it was assumed that she may have been sexually abused by the perpetrator.

After the crime, all victims, windows and mirrors were covered with clothes or bedclothes. The murder weapon, an ax belonging to Josiah, was found in the guest room. The ax was thoroughly cleaned by the perpetrator. After the crime, the perpetrator cleaned himself at the sink and ate something in the kitchen. A pot of blood was also found in the kitchen. No fingerprints were found anywhere in the house. Likewise, no valuables were stolen. The investigation was made more difficult by almost a hundred onlookers, some of whom even penetrated the house.

It could not be clarified whether there was actually only one perpetrator or at least two perpetrators at work.

Testimony

After the murder, many witnesses reported to the police who said they had witnessed strange events around noon and evening of the murder.

Mary Peckham

The neighbor Mary Peckham was the first to be questioned by the police. She said the last time she saw the moors was on the evening of June 9th on the way to church. That evening, Mary went to bed at 8:00 p.m. When asked whether she had heard any unusual noises during the night, she said that she had neither heard nor seen anyone. When she finished her laundry the next morning, she knocked on the Moors front door. Receiving no answer, she fed the hens of the Moores. Mary thought Josiah was in his own shop so she called. Ed Selly, a Josiah employee, said Josiah was out of the store. So Mary called Ross Moore, who came a little later, the first to enter the house and discover the bodies.

Ed Selly

Ed Selly was working at Josiah Moore's store on Discovery Day. He testified that he had two calls from Mary that morning. First she called to find out about Josiah. On the second call she told about the murder and that Ed should call the police. During his interrogation, Ed also told about a man named Sam Moyer. Sam Moyer was Josiah Moore's brother-in-law. Josiah and Sam didn't have a good relationship and Josiah told him he felt threatened by Moyer.

Edward Landers

Edward Landers came to Villisca with his wife and children that summer to visit his mother. His mother lived a few houses away from the Moors. On the morning of June 9th, at around 10:15 a.m., he saw two unknown men on the street, who disappeared after a while. The first man was sturdy, the second man was shorter and had a mustache. When Edward Landers went for a walk with his wife, they are said to have seen the son of businessman and Senator Frank Fernando Jones , who was one of the suspects during the investigation, at the later crime scene . That evening, Landers went to bed around 9:00 p.m. He woke up at 11:00 pm after hearing noises for a long time. But he couldn't place where the noises came from. It wasn't until he heard of the murders the next morning that he figured these noises sounded like those of a woman screaming.

Alice Willard

Alice Willard was divorced and lived with her father, who lived near the Moores. She testified that she saw two strange men with the Moores on June 9th. That evening she went for a walk with Ed McCrae and saw the two strange men again, but this time with two other men. One of them is said to have been Frank Fernando Jones. She heard one of the men say to go to Josiah first and the rest would be easy. Investigators could not find a person named Ed McCrae for the testimony.

Suspects

Over time there were many suspects, but the police could not blame anyone for the murder. The investigation was made more difficult by the fact that some citizens suspected others for no reason or that criminals claimed they were the murderers.

Andy Sawyer

According to Thomas Dyler, a construction worker, Sawyer arrived in Creston on June 10, the day it was discovered . He was wearing a brown suit, his shoes were covered in mud, and his pants were wet to his knees. Sawyer asked for work at Creston, and Dyler hired him. Dyler stated that Sawyer showed a keen interest in the murder. Sawyer would have meticulously researched the murder and developed dozen of theories as to who the killer might be. Back then he always went to sleep with his clothes on and was nervous, almost worried. Dyler's son also stated that Sawyer was acting strange. As he and Sawyer drove through Villisca together, Sawyer was keen to show him how the killer escaped town. Sawyer said the perpetrator crossed the tracks and footprints were actually found there. Sawyer was later arrested by a sheriff. The reason for the arrest was that Sawyer allegedly admitted to Thomas Dyler that he was in Villisca that night. Afraid of being suspected, he fled to Creston. Dyler said that Sawyer talked to himself shortly before the arrest, including saying "I will cut your god damn heads off" while imitating ax strokes. Ultimately, Sawyer stated during interrogation that he was in Osceola , Iowa that night . The Osceola Sheriff was able to confirm this after arresting Sawyer for vagrancy.

George Kelly

Kelly, an English pastor traveling the Midwest, was in Villisca that night. Kelly suffered a nervous breakdown in his youth, was described by outsiders as a "strange character" and had been accused of voyeurism several times. The Presbyterian Church held a Children's Day every second Sunday in June . On June 9, 1912, Kelly directed Children's Day in Villisca, which the Moore family also attended. Kelly left Villisca at around 5:00 a.m. the next morning. After the murders, he showed great interest in the investigation and wrote several letters to the police. A private detective found this behavior strange and asked Kelly to give him more details about the murder. Thereupon Kelly replied that he had been walking the night of the murder and heard noises, maybe even witnessed the murder. Since Kelly's mental illness was known to the authorities, he was not initially suspected. In 1914, Kelly was arrested for sexual harassment and then admitted to St. Elizabeth's Hospital, a psychiatric clinic. Police arrested and interrogated Kelly in 1917 on charges of murder. During interrogation he confessed to the murder. He said that he slept very poorly that evening and that he wanted to stretch his legs. When he got to the church, a "voice" told him to go out and follow a shadow. Kelly followed the shadow that is said to have led him to the Moors. The "voice" ordered him to murder the Moores. He took an ax from the moor's shed and went into the house through the back door. First he murdered the four children upstairs, but the voice ordered that there was more to be done. He therefore murdered Josiah and Sarah Moore. After that he was so tired that he went down the stairs and wanted to sleep. In the guest room he found Lena and Ina Stillinger, whom he also murdered because the "voice" ordered them. Finally, he covered up all the bodies and left town at dawn. He later revoked the confession. The first trial ended in a hung jury. The second trial eventually resulted in an acquittal for Kelly.

Frank Fernando Jones

Frank Fernando Jones lived in Villisca, was a businessman and until 1909 a member of the House of Representatives from Iowa. Josiah Moore worked in Jones' business for a while before Moore opened his own business in 1907/1908 and became successful himself. According to reports, Moore has received a large contract from John Deere , and Jones received nothing. Some even said Moore was having an affair with Jones' daughter-in-law. But there was no tangible evidence of this affair. A woman named Vina Thompkins claimed that in 1911 she heard three men talking about money in the woods. One of these men is said to have looked like Jones.

William Mansfield

Mansfield (also known by the aliases George Worley and Jack Turnbaugh ) was a criminal accused two years after the Villisca murder of murdering his wife, child, father and mother-in-law with an ax in Blue Island , Illinois . However, there was a lack of evidence to support a conviction. Mansfield is said to have been hired by Frank Fernando Jones and his son to kill the Moores, who were a competition for Jones. Since Mansfield's fingerprints were taken at Fort Leavenworth Military Prison, investigators assumed that Mansfield only murdered while wearing gloves. In 1916 Mansfield was arrested for the Villisca murder, but was able to produce an alibi for the night of the crime. During interrogation, restaurant owner RH Thorpe alleged that Mansfield was in Villisca. He remembers Mansfield allegedly telling him he had just come from Villisca.

Sam Moyer

Moyer was Josiah Moore's brother-in-law and is said to have threatened Josiah again and again. In the course of the investigation, Moyer was able to produce an alibi and was therefore no longer considered a suspect.

More suspects

One witness came forward and said that a stranger asked her about the Moore house. Joe Ricks, a train traveler with blood stains on his shoes, was stopped and taken away by police after the murder. But the woman was able to confirm that Ricks was not the man who had questioned her.

An Oklahoma City minister claimed in 1913 that a man on his deathbed admitted the murder.

Leroy Robinson aka George Meyers confessed to the Villisca murder in Detroit prison in 1931 . He said that a Kansas City man offered him $ 5,000 for the murder. The man, whose name he didn't know, bore no resemblance to George Kelly or Frank Fernando Jones. When Meyers accepted the offer, he was driven to Villisca. Once there, the driver showed him the house. Around midnight Meyers got out of the car, got an ax from the man and murdered the Moores. But Meyers stated that he only murdered the Moores and not the Stillingers. In the end, he was not charged.

Similar deeds

Before the Villisca murder, there were a number of similar killings in the American Midwest . On September 17, 1911, there was a murder in Colorado Springs that showed great parallels with the murder in Villisca. Four people were murdered with an ax and the windows were covered with clothes and bed linen. The ax was found thoroughly cleaned at the scene. Two weeks later, William Dawson, his wife, and their daughter were murdered in Illinois and covered with towels. On October 15, Will Showman, his wife and three children were murdered with an ax while they were sleeping in Ellsworth , Kansas . The murder weapon was washed and the bodies were covered. Four days before the Villisca murder, there was another similar murder in Paola, Kansas. Rolland and Anna Hudson were found murdered in their bed, the murder weapon was an ax.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Asset Detail. Retrieved November 17, 2017 .
  2. ↑ The Villisca Ax Murder Victims. Retrieved November 17, 2017 .
  3. ^ Villisca Ax Murders . In: Iowa Cold Cases . February 24, 2011 ( iowacoldcases.org [accessed November 17, 2017]).
  4. ^ The Crime of the Villisca Ax Murder House. Retrieved November 17, 2017 .
  5. ↑ The Villisca Ax Murders -. Retrieved November 17, 2017 (American English).
  6. ^ Edgar V. Epperly: The Villisca Ax Murders: A Forgotten Chapter of American Violence (Page 1). Retrieved November 17, 2017 .
  7. ↑ a b c The Inquest of the Villisca Ax Murder House. Retrieved November 17, 2017 .
  8. ↑ Ed Landers. Retrieved November 17, 2017 .
  9. ^ A b Edgar V. Epperly: The Villisca Ax Murder: A Forgotten Chapter of American Violence (Page 4). Retrieved November 17, 2017 .
  10. ↑ a b c d e f The Suspects in the Villisca Ax House Murders. Retrieved November 17, 2017 .
  11. ↑ Children's Day | Reformed Church in America. Retrieved November 17, 2017 .
  12. ↑ Says he killed eight at god's command. The New York Times, September 2, 1917, accessed November 17, 2017 .
  13. ^ Edgar V. Epperly: The Villisca Ax Murder: A Forgotten Chapter of American Violence (Page 5). Retrieved November 17, 2017 .
  14. ↑ Orrin Gray: Serial Suspects: Who Committed the Villisca Ax Murders? Retrieved November 17, 2017 .
  15. ^ The Lineup: The Villisca Ax Murders. In: Huffington Post. August 27, 2015. Retrieved November 17, 2017 (American English).
  16. ^ Edgar V. Epperly: The Villisca Ax Murders: A Forgotten Chapter of American Violence (Page 3). Retrieved November 17, 2017 .
  17. ^ The Evening standard. (Ogden City, Utah) 1910-1913, June 13, 1912, Image 1 . June 13, 1912, ISSN  1943-8753 ( loc.gov [accessed November 17, 2017]).
  18. ^ Edgar V. Epperly: The Villisca Ax Murders: A Forgotten Chapter of American Violence (Page 2). Retrieved November 17, 2017 .
  19. ↑ Mike Dash: The Ax Murderer Who Got Away . In: Smithsonian . ( smithsonianmag.com [accessed November 17, 2017]).
  20. ^ The Telegraph-Herald - Google News archive search. Retrieved November 17, 2017 .