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The community has a proud military history, beginning with the construction in 1912 of Iowa’s only publicly funded and longest operating Armory on the north side of the town square. At one point, after a long interrogation, he eventually signed a confession detailing the crime. However he almost immediately recanted, and a jury refused to indict him.
The Brutal Story Of How The Villisca Axe Murders Unfolded
Lena also had a bloodstain on her knee and an alleged defensive wound on her arm. "The slaying of the entire family promises to become a mystery which will take much time to unravel," a Tribune reporter wrote at the time. The 1912 Iowa Touring Atlas proclaimed it as “one of the finest towns in the state.” The brochure described it as a perfectly picturesque small town, populated with lovely Victorian homes on its tree-lined streets.
Visit the Villisca Ax Murder House
Berman herself was only 12-years-old when her father died under mysterious circumstances during an operation and a year later, her mother committed suicide. Gradually, she received a total of $4.3 million from the Mafia due to her father’s business interests. 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.
Responses to Villisca Axe Murders
He had left Villisca behind but never forgot it after he earned his degree from the University of Northern Iowa and started to teach social studies in Pella. “Anybody that got close to it got blood on them,” McFarland said. People switched churches or didn’t allow kids to play with kids of families who believed in one or the other’s innocence.
He remembered sitting on the porch of his boyhood home after Sunday dinner in Leon, listening to older family members discuss the unsolved crime. Investigators believed that all of the victims except for Lena Stillinger had been asleep when murdered. They believed that she was awake and tried to fight back, as she was found with a defensive wound on her arm. 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.
"Everyone's in bed, just like they went to sleep," Houser said. "Everybody loved them. And all of a sudden they wake up, and everyone's dead in bed." The night of the murder, Mary invited two of her friends, Lena Stillinger (12) and Ina Stillinger (8) to the home for a sleepover. "Everybody loved them," said Johnny Houser, a tour guide at the Villisca Ax Murder House. "Think of that family from your small hometown that everyone loves, everyone respects, nobody has a problem with."
A spooky endeavor: DI editors spend night at Villisca Ax Murder House - UI The Daily Iowan
A spooky endeavor: DI editors spend night at Villisca Ax Murder House.
Posted: Tue, 20 Oct 2020 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Henry Lee Moore
However, after only a few months, the Sprague family sold the property to Darwin and Martha Linn. Local newspaper article from a few days after the murders took place. Frank F. Jones was an Iowa state senator and a prominent member of the town. Josiah Moore worked for Frank Jones at the Jones store for several years until he opened his own company in 1908. According to Villisca residents, Jones was extremely upset that Moore had left the company. While also taking the very lucrative John Deere franchise with him.
The murders were also described in Episode 16 of the podcast Lore, by Aaron Mahnke. 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). On April 1, 1984, legendary soul singer Marvin Gaye was shot to death by his father after an argument between the two escalated into a physical fight. The shooting took place at the West Adams home where Gaye’s parents lived. Cheish Merryweather is a true crime fan and an oddities fanatic. Can either be found at house parties telling everyone Charles Manson was only 5ft 2" or at home reading true crime magazines. Founder of Crime Viral community since 2015.
This aroused suspicion and a private investigator wrote back to Reverend Kelly, asking for details that the minister might know about the murders. Kelly replied with great detail, claiming to have heard sounds and possibly witnessed the murders. His known mental illness made authorities question whether he knew the details because of having committed the murders or was imagining his account. Bonnie Lee Bakley was shot to death outside of Vitello's restaurant on May 4, 2001. Her husband, actor Robert Blake, was acquitted on criminal charges but found civilly liable. He said he wasn't at the scene of the crime because he'd gone back to the restaurant to get a gun he'd left there.
According to their own defense, the Menendez brothers had suffered years of sexual and emotional abuse at the hands of their mega-rich parents, so they agreed to defend themselves in a fatal way. José was shot in the back of the head and Kitty was shot in the leg while trying to run from the room. The Menendez brothers then shot both their parents in the kneecaps to stage the crime scene as a Mafia hit. The neighbors heard Judye scream “Don’t kill me” before she managed to run out of the house and call for help. Judye’s younger sister 11-year-old Debby was still in the house and when she awoke, her father told said, “Go back to bed.
As for the perpetrator of the Villisca Axe Murders, the police had shockingly few leads. A few half-hearted efforts to search the town and surrounding countryside were made, though most officials believed that with the roughly five-hour head start that the killer had had, he would be long gone. Bloodhounds were brought in, but with no success, as the crime scene had been fully demolished by the townspeople. By the time the police, the coroner, a minister, and several doctors had thoroughly perused the crime scene, word of the vicious crime had spread, and the crowd outside the home had grown.
The Moore family was well-liked throughout Villisca and gained a reputation for being generous and kind. They were a church-going family who maintained strong contacts and good relationships with many in the community. However, Josiah had a number of enemies in both his personal and professional life. It was a quiet town, interrupted only by the regular trains which passed through. In addition to the many businesses, Villisca also featured a National Guard Armory, funded entirely by the local residents – the first of its kind on U.S. soil.
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