Thursday, May 2, 2024

Unsolved Villisca Axe Murders of 1912

viscilla ax murder house

In 2015, Durst was arrested for Berman’s murder and it was also believed he had killed his first wife, Kathleen, who went missing in New York in 1982. Notorious mobster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel was well-known for being the man behind the development of the Las Vegas Strip and he had a net worth equal to $100 million today. Along the way, he certainly made a lot of powerful enemies including Paul John “Frankie” Carbo a Mafia soldier in the Lucchese crime family, who operated as a gunman with Murder, Inc. On August 20, 1989, José and Kitty Menendez were enjoying a quiet night at their Beverly Hills Mansion on North Elm Drive when their sons committed the “Crime of the Century”. During the evening, 21-year-old Lyle and 18-year-old Erik, entered the living room and opened fire with a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun. Dark tourism creates a sense of excitement as if you are experiencing the forbidden.

Reverend George Kelly

After killing the parents, they proceeded into the children’s rooms and bludgeoned Herman, Mary, Arthur, and Paul. The killer(s) then returned to the master bedroom to inflict more blows on the parents Josiah and Sarah. While doing so the killer(s) knocked over a shoe that had filled with blood.

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Reverend Lyn George Kelly was an English-born traveling minister. He just so happened to be in the town on the night of the murders. Kelly was described as peculiar, reportedly having suffered a mental breakdown as an adolescent. In the weeks that followed, he displayed a fascination with the case and wrote many letters to the police, investigators, and family of the deceased. 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.

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It is believed that they spent somewhere around $700,000 in 100 days. 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.

The Villisca Ax Murders: 111 years later

The house today, restored to look just like it did in 1912, with open porches and a new chimney stack. Notice both porches are closed in and the chimney stack between the windows is missing. At some point between 1936 and 1994 the house underwent a large refurbishment. The front and back porches were both closed in, plumbing and electrics were added and outbuildings were removed and replaced. The Ax Murder suspects – Frank Jones, William Mansfield, Rev Kelly, Henry Moore. Traveling minister, Reverend Lyn George Kelly was one of the main suspects.

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Accusations regarding the culprit spread quickly throughout the small town of Villisca, Iowa, sparking suspicious glances among neighbors that would lead to friendships torn asunder. Unfortunately the crime-solving technology of 1912 was not sophisticated enough to identify the murderer, and the case has gone unsolved to this day. Amateur detectives ranging from historians to psychics have tried their hand at solving the case, but a verdict has never been reached. In Mueller's suspected crimes there was often but not always a sexual motive directed towards a pubescent girl, as with Lena's being partly disrobed. The 1,200 square foot house contains two stories and a cellar, and was originally constructed in 1900. Over the following ninety years, the “Villisca Axe Murder House” had 7 additional owners.

Villisca: A nice, quiet town known for ax murder house - Ames Tribune

Villisca: A nice, quiet town known for ax murder house.

Posted: Fri, 29 Mar 2013 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Police obtained a confession from him; however, it followed many hours of interrogation and Kelly later recanted. Grogan told ABC News, "I could never even to this day understand why somebody would want to kill somebody. Nobody deserves to die like that. But there is justice, thank God. Justice was served." Prosecutors sought to retry Maxwell, but they dropped the charges after doctors testified that he was gravely ill and likely wouldn't recover, The Los Angeles Times reported.

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viscilla ax murder house

The Travel Channel's television show Destination Fear filmed at the location for the eighth episode of their third season. Frank Fernando Jones was a Villisca resident and an Iowa State Senator. Josiah Moore had worked for Frank Jones at his implement store for many years before leaving to open his own store. Moore reportedly took business away from Jones, including a very successful John Deere dealership. Moore was rumored to have had a sexual affair with Jones’ daughter-in-law, though no evidence supports this.

The murders were described in the episode Who Committed the 1912 Villisca Ax Murders? On the August 3, 2017 episode of the Stuff You Should Know podcast. YouTubers Sam and Colby published a paranormal investigation video of the murders. The murders and purported paranormal activity was described in Episode 21 of the podcast And That's Why We Drink.

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. The house lives in infamy as one of Iowa's most haunted locations. The Villisca Ax Murder House has even been featured on the popular web series, Buzzfeed Unsolved.

On June 12th, 1994, the bodies of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman were discovered shortly after midnight at 875 South Bundy Drive in Brentwood. There was also teenage silent film star Mary Miles Minter whose mother, Charlotte Shelby, hated the relationship between her daughter and the director. Shelby had previously threatened to kill another director who was close to her daughter. After Taylor’s murder, Shelby’s alibi witness received a suspicious amount of money. From the night of the murders and up to their arrests, the brothers bought a Rolex watch, a Porsche Carrera, hired a professional tennis coach, and went on vacation in the Caribbean.

These following murder houses all attract hundreds of thrill-seekers every year and they also come with their own sinister backstories. For those who are interested in the morbid and the macabre, they will know that every city has it’s very own dark tourism hotspots. The largest city in California, Los Angeles is well-known for its Mediterranean climate, Hollywood entertainment industry, surfers paradise beaches, and some of the most gruesome murders in US history.

The family had spent the evening at a program at the local Presbyterian Church and returned home around 10 p.m. The crime scene was a macabre tableau of brutality, with shattered skulls, pools of blood and peculiar details. Despite a nationwide manhunt, multiple suspects and two trials, the murder remains unsolved. The Villisca AXE Murders of June 1912 remain an enduring and unsettling enigma in American criminal history.

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