Unsolved Murders: True Crime Cases Uncovered

233 Pages·2019·46.04 MB·English

by  Amber Hunt

CONTENTS
HOW TO USE THIS EBOOK
THE SHROUDED HOUSE
(THE VILLISCA AX MURDERS, 1912)
A HOLLYWOOD WHODUNIT
(WILLIAM DESMOND TAYLOR, 1922)
THE BODIES IN THE BARN
(THE HINTERKAIFECK MURDERS, 1922)
THE IMPOSSIBLE MURDER
(THE WILLIAM WALLACE CASE, 1931)
DEEP WATERS
(THE SHARK ARM CASE, 1935)
PANIC IN THE CITY
(THE CLEVELAND TORSO KILLER, 1935-38)
SCANDAL IN SHANGRI-LA
(THE HAPPY VALLEY MURDER, 1941)
THE SKELETON IN THE WOOD
(WHO PUT BELLA IN THE WYCH ELM?, 1943)
DEATH OF A DREAMER
(THE BLACK DAHLIA, 1947)
DID SAM DO IT?
(THE MURDER OF MARILYN SHEPPARD, 1954)
THE LAST BIKE RIDE
(THE MURDER OF LYNNE HARPER, 1959)
CAMPSITE OF HORRORS
(THE LAKE BODOM MURDERS, 1960)
KILLING FOR FUN
(THE ZODIAC KILLER, 1968-69)
STRANGER DANGER
(THE OAKLAND COUNTY CHILD KILLER, 1976-77)
DEATH AT THE DRUGSTORE
(THE TYLENOL MURDERS, 1982)
A CHRISTMAS NIGHTMARE
(THE MURDER OF JONBENÉT RAMSEY, 1996)
DRIVE-BY SHOOTINGS
(TUPAC SHAKUR AND BIGGIE SMALLS, 1996-97)
SHOT IN BROAD DAYLIGHT
(THE MURDER OF JILL DANDO, 1999)
STAIRCASE OF DEATH
(THE MURDER OF KATHLEEN PETERSON, 2001)
THE BODIES IN THE MARSHLAND
(THE LONG ISLAND SERIAL KILLER, 2003-10)
REFERENCES
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THE VILLISCA AX MURDERS, 1912
THE SHROUDED HOUSE
The residents of Villisca, Iowa thought of their little town as a friendly,
neighborly place. This illusion was shattered by a single, terrible
event. Life in Villisca would never be the same again.
June 10, 1912, was a quiet Monday morning in the farming town of
Villisca, Iowa. Too quiet, in fact. A woman named Mary Peckham was
bustling about doing her chores when she noticed an “odd stillness” at
about 7:00 a.m. Normally by this time, Mary’s neighbors would be
bustling, too. Instead, aside from the impatient mooing of cows waiting to
be milked in the field, their house was silent.
The house next door belonged to the Moore family—parents Josiah B.
(a businessman known as either J.B. or Joe) and Sarah, and their four
children: 11-year-old Herman, 9-year-old Katherine, 7-year-old Boyd,
and 5-year-old Paul. With that many kids, the home was rarely quiet.
Worried, Mary called J.B.’s brother Ross, who used his key to get inside.
He saw blood and asked her to fetch the town marshal.
BLOODBATH
Marshal Henry “Hank” Horton was similarly shaken after walking
through the silent house. “Somebody murdered in every bed,” he
muttered1 as he went to fetch Dr. J. Clark Cooper, the first physician to
examine the scene. Inside the house, the entire Moore family had been
brutally slain, as had two young friends of the family, Lena and Ina
Stillinger. The killer had wielded an ax, using the blade to kill his victims
and then the handle to bludgeon their faces beyond recognition, before
covering the heads with bedclothes. The mutilation was so severe that
one Iowa newspaper misidentified the Stillinger girls as another pair
altogether.
Main image: The parlor bedroom in the Moores’ house.
Clockwise from top: Exterior of the Moore family house; a Villisca Review newspaper article on the
murders; a sheet-covered mirror in the parlor bedroom.
The night before the deaths, J.B. and Sarah were at the local
Presbyterian church watching their children perform Children’s Day
exercises. Lena and Ina also took part, and the two girls—aged 11 and 8,
respectively—were invited to stay the night at the Moore home. The
young guests were in a downstairs bedroom, while the rest of the family
was upstairs. Investigators determined Lena and Ina were the first
victims—and that one of them had awakened, judging by a defensive
wound that suggested she’d thrown up an arm to ward off a blow. It’s
possible that Sarah had also awoken during the attack. One neighbor told
police she thought she heard Sarah’s voice in the night yelling: “Oh!
Dear! Oh! Dear! Don’t! Don’t! Don’t!”
“ALL THE BODIES WERE FOUND IN
A NATURAL SLEEPING POSTURE
WITH HEADS BEATEN ALMOST TO A
PULP.”
ADAMS COUNTY FREE PRESS, JUNE 15, 1912
It appeared the killer had taken pains to conceal himself. The blinds
had been tightly drawn closed on the windows. Glass doors had been
covered with articles of clothing. Even the mirrors inside the house had
been shrouded. The attack was not a robbery, as no valuables were taken
or even disturbed. It seemed that the killer wasn’t in a rush: he had taken
time to partially clean the murder weapon before leaving it propped
against the wall of the downstairs bedroom.
The crime scene had some odd elements that still perplex researchers
today. One four-pound slab of bacon was left leaning against the wall
next to the ax, while another piece of bacon was found on the piano in the
parlor. On the kitchen table was a plate of uneaten food and a bowl of
bloody water. It’s perhaps noteworthy, too, that Lena’s nightgown had
been pushed up, leaving her exposed—though doctors determined she
had not been sexually assaulted.