SYSK’s Fall True Crime Playlist: Who Committed the 1912 Villisca Ax Murders?

Key Takeaways

The 1912 Villisca axe murders left eight people dead in Iowa.
Initial investigations focused on prominent local figures as potential suspects.
A theory suggests a serial killer, linked to 10 similar Midwest murders, was responsible.
Early crime scene integrity was severely compromised by townspeople.

The podcast episode focuses on the 1912 Villisca axe murders in Iowa, described as a horrific and grisly crime.
The crime occurred on the night of June 9th into June 10th, 1912, in Villisca, Iowa.
Victims included the Moore family (Joe, Sarah, and their four children) and two guests, Lena and Ina Stillinger, totaling eight people.
While clues suggested a stranger attack, some details hinted at a possible connection to the victims.

The perpetrator entered the two-story house through an unlocked back door, using Joe Moore's own axe from outside as the weapon.
Joe and Sarah Moore were killed first in their bedroom with the blunt end of the axe, causing significant damage.
The killer then murdered all six children, including the Stillinger sisters, who may have awakened during the attack.
The perpetrator returned to the victims, striking them repeatedly in the head with the sharp side of the axe.

A neighbor, Mary Peckham, noticed the house was unusually quiet by 5 a.m. on June 10th and found it eerie by 7 a.m.
Joe Moore's brother, Ross Moore, discovered the bodies after entering the locked house and immediately exited to call Marshal Hank Horton.
The crime scene was severely compromised by over 100 townspeople who entered the house before proper procedures could be followed.
The initial group to enter included Marshal Horton, two doctors, and a minister; one individual allegedly took skull fragments from the scene.

The primary suspect was Frank Jones, a state senator and prominent Methodist businessman in Villisca.
Jones became a suspect because victim Joe Moore was a former employee who left Jones's farm equipment business in 1907 due to demanding 16-hour workdays.
Some believed Jones hired a killer due to a business rivalry and a rumored affair between Joe Moore and Jones's daughter-in-law.
Detective James Wilkerson of the Burns Detective Agency pursued Jones, damaging his political career and costing him re-election.

Attention turned to George Kelly, an English traveling preacher known as a 'sexual deviant,' who was in Villisca on the murder day and attended the same children's service.
His reputation was bolstered by a lewd advertisement he placed, deemed too obscene for public court disclosure.
Kelly was tried twice for the crime but acquitted in the second trial due to flimsy evidence, despite a witness statement and potential observation of the house.
He later signed a confession, detailing how he killed the children, but subsequently recanted it, leading to his exoneration.

With local suspects cleared, the narrative shifted to a theory that a serial killer was responsible for the 1912 Villisca murders.
This theory is supported by at least 10 similar axe murders occurring across the Midwest between 1911 and 1912.
Five suspicious crimes, including Villisca, are identified between October 1911 and June 1912, suggesting a single perpetrator.
Henry Lee Moore, a suspect in a December 1912 murder, was considered but doubted due to his motive appearing to be greed rather than psychopathy.

Researcher Ed Epperly highlighted similarities among five crimes, suggesting a serial killer was active.
Specific methods included obscuring light with oil lamps and covering mirrors, windows, and telephones.
Further patterns noted were the removal of undergarments from female victims.
The proximity of multiple killings, such as in Colorado Springs and Villisca where a subsequent attempted murder occurred, also suggested a common perpetrator.

Villisca, a train town with frequent daily trains, suggests the murderer likely escaped via rail after the killings.
Several train towns were linked, indicating a serial killer potentially used train depots to travel across the Midwest for several years.
In Colorado Springs, the Longmire family was awakened by broken glass and saw an intruder who fled, narrowly avoiding an attack.
This pattern of using train networks left a trail of unsolved murders across the region.