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Like the murders themselves, the riddle of the house and why these things occur will likely never be solved. The ceiling in the parents’ bedroom and the children’s room upstairs showed gouge marks, apparently made by the upswing of the axe. All the victims were found in their beds, their heads covered with bedclothes, and all had their skulls battered 20 to 30 times with the blunt end of an axe. The murders spawned nearly ten years of investigations, repeated grand jury hearings, a spectacular slander suit and murder trial, and numerous minor litigations and trials.
Multiple Murders
The House and Murders were used as the setting and premise of the haunted house horror film The Axe Murders of Villisca (2016). In 1914, two years after the murders, Kelly was arrested for sending obscene material through the mail (he was sexually harassing a woman who applied for a job as his secretary). He was sent to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, the national mental hospital in Washington, D.C. Investigators speculated again that Kelly could be the murderer of the Moore family.
Whispers from the Shadows: Exploring the Villisca Axe Murder House
Doctor F.S. Williams, the first medical officer on the scene, determined that the attacks took place sometime between midnight and 5 am. 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.
Daytime Tour
Bianchi pleaded guilty to five killings, while Buono was convicted of nine killings and sentenced to life in prison. A well-liked college student studying art in Los Angeles was found dead with ligature marks on her wrist and both ankles. Two girls, ages 12 and 14, were last seen waiting at a bus stop to go to the mall. On February 3, 2003, legendary music producer Phil Spector shot actress Lana Clarkson to death in his house in Alhambra. Iskenderian, who was suffering from cancer, then turned his gun on himself.
Visit the Villisca Ax Murder House
He also searched through the drawers and found garments to cover various surfaces in the house, including mirrors and glass panels in the doors. However, most strangely of all was that the killer left a four-pound slab of bacon in the Stillinger girls’ room. The killer took the house keys as he left, locking the doors behind him. Marshall Henry Horton arrived on the scene thirty minutes later and thoroughly searched the Moore house.
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]
On June 10, 2012, a number of Iowa newspapers covered the 100-year anniversary of Iowa’s most highly profiled crime. KCRG-TV9’s piece featured an additional video with a tour inside the notorious home. Kelly recanted his confession at trial, and his case went to the jury on September 26. A second jury was immediately empanelled, but acquitted Rev. Kelly in November. The Moore-Stillinger funeral services were held in Villisca’s town square on June 12, 1912, with thousands in attendance.
Cielo Drive Manson murders
After reading about the Villisca Axe Murders, read about another unsolved murder, the Hinterkaifeck murders. Then, check out the history of Lizzie Borden and her infamous string of murders. After murdering the Moores, the killer had apparently set up some kind of ritual. He had covered the Moore parent’s heads with sheets, and the Moore children’s faces with clothing. He then went through each room in the house, covering all of the mirrors and windows with cloths and towels. At some point, he took a two-pound piece of uncooked bacon from the fridge and placed it in the living room, along with a keychain.
The Hillside Strangler Murders
On June 12, 1994, Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman were stabbed to death outside of Brown's condo in Brentwood. Brown's ex-husband, OJ Simpson, was eventually tried and acquitted of the murders—but you probably already knew that. Cousins Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi kidnapped, raped, and murdered 10 women in 1977 and 1978. Bianchi said that most of the murders were committed at Buono's home and auto upholstery shop in Glendale. On the night of August 8, 1969, members of the Manson Family broke into a house being rented by pregnant actress Sharon Tate. She, several of her friends, and an acquaintance of the caretaker were murdered.
Frank F. Jones
Rebel Without a Cause co-star Sal Mineo was stabbed to death near his West Hollywood apartment on February 12, 1976. Most of the hotel was demolished in 2006 to make way for an LAUSD campus. Siegel spent many years developing his dream house in Holmby Hills for his wife and children. The mansion reportedly had several secret panels, a secret corridor behind a bookcase, and hidden trapdoors.
Around the time Henry became a suspect, other similar axe murders were popping up around the country. An officer assigned to the Villisca case became convinced that Henry Moore was responsible for the Villisca killings and a string of similar attacks in Colorado, Kansas, and Illinois. But little evidence tied Henry to the Villisca killings, so it was dismissed. Police discovered a plate of food and a bowl of bloody water on the kitchen table, which the killer might have used to wash his hands.
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. Officials cautioned the townspeople against going inside, but as soon as the premises was clear at least 100 townspeople gave in to their gross fascinations and traipsed through the blood-spattered home. The police determined that the Moore parents had been murdered first, and with obvious force. The axe that had been used to kill them had been swung so high above the murderer’s head that it gouged the ceiling above the bed.
Why he stabbed himself we simply don’t know, it does, however, add to the intrigue of the house. While the Villisca Ax Murder house still stands, it is no longer lived in. The Linn family keep the property as a time capsule and museum to remember the crimes that took place there. Unlike what we have seen at other crime properties such as Cielo Drive, the Manson Murder House, which was demolished. The Villisca Ax Murders house was built in 1868 by George Loomis.
On February 16, 1929, shortly after oil heir Ned Doheny moved into Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, he and his secretary Hugh Plunkett were both found shot to death in a bedroom. It's unknown who exactly shot whom or why, but money, sex, and the Teapot Dome scandal are obviously the most common theories. In one of Hollywood's oldest mysteries, Irish director William Desmond Taylor was found shot to death in his Westlake bungalow on February 2, 1922.
The memory of the eight victims lives on in Villisca, where the Moore home has been returned to its original condition at the time of the murders. The house, redubbed the Villisca Ax Murder House, now is open for tours and overnight visits. The family was discovered in the morning after Josiah Moore didn't answer a call from his clerk. Neighbors became concerned that the Moores were not up doing their typical morning routines, prompting neighbors to call some of their relatives.
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