Thursday, May 2, 2024

Villisca Axe Murders, The 1912 Massacre That Left 8 Dead

viscilla ax murder house

Her body displayed a defensive wound on her arm, and she was lying lengthwise across her bed. Located in Montgomery County, Iowa, Villisca boasts a population of around 1,100 residents as of 2019. Back in the late 1890s and early 1900s, Villisca was a thriving town with a close-knit community. Although there were only 2,500 residents in Villisca, it was a hub for developing businesses and a magnet for local tycoons who were eager to capitalize on the area’s growth.

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Robert Durst, son of real estate magnate Seymour Durst, will soon stand trial for the December 2000 murder of his longtime friend Susan Berman, who was shot and killed at her home in the Beverly Hills area.. There are a million versions of the story, but they mostly assume that Hearst mistook Ince for Charlie Chaplin, who he believed was having an affair with his mistress, Marion Davies. An autopsy revealed Brown had been stabbed several times in the neck and had a gash across her throat so severe, she was nearly decapitated. The defensive wounds on Goldman led investigators to believe he died trying to save Brown from her attacker.

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It was not long before Holmes fell into a downward spiral of addiction. Historic Mysteries provides captivating articles on archaeology, history, and unexplained mysteries. Given Kelly’s history of mental illness, his confession was dismissed. It wasn’t until 1917 that a Grand Jury indicted Kelly for the murder of Lena Stillinger. In August of that year, Kelly confessed to the murder, saying that God had whispered “suffer the children to come unto me” in his ear. Ross called the local marshall and told him that something terrible had happened.

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viscilla ax murder house

In the boom that followed the railroad opening, the house at 508 E. 2nd Street was built in 1868 on lot 310 for local resident George Loomis. The home would have echoed most others in the area in size and features, at about 600 square feet, with two bedrooms, a parlor, a downstairs sewing room and a kitchen and an outhouse. Despite the commonalities, however, no actual connections could be made. No sale was ever attempted, and no changes were made to the original layout.

Twenty-two other ax murders had been committed in the mid-west during this time period. It was suggested that Moore was a serial killer who had a hand in all these killings. Despite the same surname, he was no relation to the murdered Moore family. Following Darwin’s unfortunate passing in 2011, his wife Martha took over operation of the house for the next twelve years, actively involved in operating the house with longtime manager Johnny Houser. Its sister company, Junket, provides food tours, brewery tours, special events, historic tours, and specialty experiences across the country. Read more about the murders and the restoration of the house here.

Villisca ax murder house: Photos from the scene of Iowa's biggest mass killing - Des Moines Register

Villisca ax murder house: Photos from the scene of Iowa's biggest mass killing.

Posted: Fri, 06 Dec 2013 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Peckham let the Moores' chickens out and called Ross Moore, Josiah's brother. Like Peckham, Moore received no response when he knocked on the door and shouted. While Peckham stood on the porch, Ross went into the parlor and opened the guest bedroom door, where he found Ina and Lena Stillinger's bodies on the bed. Moore immediately told Peckham to call Henry "Hank" Horton, Villisca's primary peace officer, who arrived shortly thereafter. Horton's search of the house revealed that the entire Moore family and the two Stillinger girls had been bludgeoned to death.

Find information on tours, including overnight stays, at villiscaiowa.com. Since this is a living museum, guests are asked not to sleep on the beds; sleeping bags will be provided. Also, to be true to the home as it stood that night in June 1912, there’s no running water, indoor plumbing or electrical outlets. As a convenience for guests, a modern bathroom is provided in the restored barn next to the house where you’ll also find multiple plug-ins and a mini fridge as well.

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Investigators discovered blood on a white Ford Bronco at his home address. They also discovered a women’s shelter had received a panic call from Brown four days prior to her murder. Brown said she was afraid of what Simpson might do to her as she refused to reconcile their marriage.

The Brutal Story Of How The Villisca Axe Murders Unfolded

Suspects included several actresses and a former chauffeur known to fake a British accent, but the murder has never been solved. They murdered Tate and her unborn child; 18-year-old Steven Parent; celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring; screenwriter Wojciech Frykowski and Frykowski’s girlfriend Abigail Folger. Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were murdered at their home on Waverly Drive in Los Angeles. In 1967, whilst studying at UCLA, she first met real estate heir Robert Durst. On December 23rd, 2000, Berman was murdered execution-style with a 9mm handgun at her home on Benedict Canyon Drive in Beverly Hills.

This sleepy-town back in 1912 was home to just 2,039 people and no more than two square miles in size. However, this house in Villisca (now known as the Villisca Ax Murder house) would become the location of one of the most brutal mass-murders in the history of the United States. Wilkerson managed to convince a grand jury to open an investigation in 1916, and Mansfield was arrested and brought to Montgomery County from Kansas City. Payroll records, however, provided an alibi that placed Mansfield in Illinois at the time of the Villisca murders.

When eight innocent people lost their lives in a single night, the usually-quiet, uneventful town of Villisca, Iowa, changed forever in June 1912. The perpetrator viciously murdered the Moore family and their two house guests with an axe. Suspects and confessions have come forward, and even trials were held, but, ultimately, the person responsible for the barbaric crimes remains unknown. Now more than a hundred years later, the Villisca axe murders remain one of the most mysterious cases in history. The next day, June 10, Mary Peckham, the Moores' neighbor, became concerned after she noticed that the family had not come out to do their morning chores. When nobody answered, she tried to open the door and discovered that it was locked.

He was released for a lack of evidence, and later won a lawsuit he brought against Wilkerson, and was awarded $2,225. Wilkerson believed that pressure from Jones resulted not only in Mansfield's release but also in the subsequent arrest and trial of Reverend Kelly. Every transient and otherwise unaccounted-for stranger was a suspect in the murders, Andrew Sawyer was one of those people. He also was obsessed with the murders and slept fully clothed as if he was ready to make a clean getaway and he also slept with an axe by his bed.

In Nov. 1977, police found the partially nude body of 18-year-old Jill Barcomb, a young New York woman who moved to L.A. The great Biggie Smalls was shot in his car outside the Petersen Automotive Museum after a party, early on March 9, 1997 (prior to the museum’s swooshy makeover). Lyle and Erik Menendez killed their wealthy parents with shotguns on August 20, 1989 at their mansion in Beverly Hills (the motive was allegedly money). They (and all of America) were subjected to a lurid televised trial. On August 14, 1980, Playboy model Dorothy Stratten was shot to death by her estranged husband Paul Snider at their former shared house in Rancho Park.

National Guardsmen blocked the street as a hearse moved toward the firehouse, where the eight victims lay. Their caskets, not on display during the funeral, were later carried on several wagons to the Villisca Cemetery for burial. Though Lena Stillinger’s nightgown had been pushed up and she’d been left exposed, doctors concluded she had not been sexually abused. Lena also had a bloodstain on her knee and an alleged defensive wound on her arm. A bowl of water was found in the home, spirals of blood swirling through it.

Lena’s nightgown was pushed up to her waist and she was wearing no undergarments. This led to police believing that the killer(s) sexually molested her or attempted to do so. Doctors concluded that the murders took place between midnight and 5 am. Two cigarettes found in the attic suggest the killer, or killers, waited in the attic for the family to come home. Waiting for the family to go to sleep before making their move. Not many people will have heard of Villisca, a small town in southwestern Iowa about an hour or so south-west of Des Moines.

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