Crime Tidbit: The Carbon Copy Murders at Erdington

Mary Ashford killed 1817  (Source)

Have you heard...of the Carbon Copy Murders of Erdington? They're downright stupefying.
So...there are two victims in this case, and their stories are eerily similar.

20-year-old Mary Ashford was murdered in May of 1817. Her body was found in a flooded sandpit 5 miles outside of Birmingham, England, in a small village called Erdington. She'd been raped and strangled.

Then there was Barbara Forrest, also 20 years old. Her body was found in the long grass, roughly 300 yards from where Mary's body was discovered. She, too, had been raped and strangled.

Mary Ashford was a well-liked local girl who delivered dairy products. The day before her murder, May 26th, was Whit Monday, a local English holiday. Mary had made plans to celebrate it and attend a dance with friends.

Barbara Forrest also died on the eve of Whit Monday, though it fell on May 27th that year. She, too, attended festivities.

On the day of her murder, Mary Ashford visited her best friend, Hannah Cox, to change from her day clothes into a dress. They then attended the dance together, where they spent the evening with two local boys.

Barbara Forrest also visited a friend's house to change for the festivities, and then spent the evening at the Whit Monday dance.

Both women were killed around the same time of night and dumped in the same place.

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Source

fter Mary Ashford's body was discovered, the boy she'd spent the evening at the dance with, Abraham Thornton, was arrested for her murder. He admitted he and Mary had had sexual intercourse before he took her home, but he pled his innocence on the subject of her death. He was tried, more than once, actually, due to the laws of the time, but ultimately acquitted.

A local man by the name of Michael Thornton was arrested in the case of Barbara Forest. He, too, was tried vigorously, but ultimately acquitted.

Neither case has ever been solved. The two women even have similar physical features.

These cases are obviously very similar. Does it sound like they're related? Perhaps a serial killer or copy cat at work? Well, normally, that would probably be the theory. There's just one problem: these cases happened 157 years apart, to the day. Barbara Forest was killed in 1975.

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Killed 1975 (Source)

he similarities are downright chilling.

And just one more similarity: A week before her death, Mary Ashford told Hannah Cox's mother that she had "bad feelings about the week to come" though she couldn't say why she felt that way, or about what specifically.

Ten days before Barbara Forrest died, she told a colleague, "This is going to be my unlucky month. I just know it. Don't ask me why."

Was it coincidence? Related somehow? An evil spirit setting these things up? What do you think?

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Crime Tidbit: the Death of Michael C. Rockefeller

Michael Rockefeller, not long before he disappeared.
Source

Did you know...that the heir to the Rockefeller fortune may have been killed by cannibals?

It's true, Michael C. Rockefeller, the fifth child of Nelson Rockefeller graduated cum laude from Harvard with degrees in history and economics. He joined a film crew to film a documentary in New Guinea in 1961. 

Now, this may not be exactly a crime tidbit. It's more of an unsolved mystery, but it's still interesting. 

On November 1, he and anthropologist Renee Wassig were trying to study the Asmat tribe of Southern New Guinea when they're double pontoon boat was swamped and overturned. After drifting for some time, Rockefeller decided to swim for shore. It is estimated that he was nine miles from shore. Wassig was later rescued, but Rockefeller was never seen again. 

Nelson Rockefeller (in the white shorts) and Michael's
twin sister Mary looking around the area where he
disappeared. (Source)

Most people, including the Rockefeller family, believed he had either drowned or been the victim of a shark or salt-water crocodile.

However, at the time there was a great deal of unrest in New Guinea, and many of the tribes in the area he would have come ashore around were practicing cannibalism.

Several leaders of Otsjanep village, where Rockefeller likely would have arrived had he made it to shore, were killed by a Dutch patrol in 1958, and thus would have some rationale for revenge against someone from the "white tribe." Neither cannibalism nor headhunting in Asmat was indiscriminate, but rather were part of a tit-for-tat revenge cycle, and so it is possible that Rockefeller found himself the inadvertent victim of such a cycle started by the Dutch patrol. (Source)

Though the family has never said they believed the cause of death was anything but drowning, Mrs. Rockefeller did pay a great deal of money to a private detective who went to New Guinea to investigate the death, and returned with 3 skulls he'd obtained from the natives, one of which he believed to Rockefeller's. 

Several books and documentaries have been done about the disappearance, which made news world wide when it happened. Just recently in 2014, "Carl Hoffman published the book Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest for Primitive Art where he discusses researching Rockefeller's mysterious disappearance and presumed death." (Source) Also see this website, which has quite a few gruesome details. 

What do you think? Was Rockefeller murdered by cannibals or did he simply drown? Will we ever know?

If you're interested in unsolved mysteries and crime drama, check out Dark Remnants, book 1 of Street Games. The e-book is currently $3.99 on Amazon.

In the most dangerous city in the country, one controlled by a sadistic gang called the Sons of Ares, Kyra Roberts is searching the deep places for someone…

Kyra has come to Abstreuse city to find someone she’s lost, but walking the underbelly—a dark alley system residents call the Slip Mire—even in disguise, is rife with dangers. Kyra must stay on her toes if she intends to live. After crossing paths several times with the same detective, she wonders if his work and hers might be connected.

Gabe Nichols has worked homicide in Abstreuse for three years. Dead prostitutes and gang violence are part of the night shift. When a woman who looks like a street junkie but acts like an intellectual saves his life, he’s intrigued. Another woman shows up at his crime scene, and Gabe’s instincts kick into high gear when she clams up. Two cases involving strange women who won’t tell what they know are too coincidental.

If Gabe and Kyra can’t find a way to collaborate, they may not live to see the sunrise. Doomed, like so many others, to become gray, unmarked graves in a forgotten fracture of the Slip Mire.

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Crime Tidbit: The Real Female Bluebeard

Gunness with her three children. 1908
Source

Did you know...that there was a real-life female Bluebeard, a Norwegian serial killer named Belle Gunness?

It's true. Gunness was born in Selbu, Norway in 1859 and christened Brynhild Paulsdatter Størset. Little is known of her origins and some stories are contradictory, but the legend goes that she showed up at a country dance pregnant. A rich boy there kicked her in the abdomen, causing her to miscarry, and was never prosecuted for it. Family and friends reported that her personality changed markedly at that point, and she was never the same again.

Eventually she followed a sister to America.

In 1884, Gunness married Mads Ditlev Anton Sorenson. They opened a confectionary shop that was not successful. It mysteriously burned down a year later and the couple collected insurance money.  Some report that the union produced no children, but others say they had four children, two of whom died in infancy from acute colitis. The symptoms of colitis closely mirror many forms of poisoning, and both children were insured. The couple collected on both deaths.

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Crime Tidbit (Sort of): Swift Runner

Swift Runner on the day of his execution
(Source)

So this crime tidbit is a bit different than most that I post. It's different because who did the deed is not the mystery. But rather, why he did it.

In 1879, a Cree Indian man (age unknown) by the name of Swift Runner lived a fairly normal life in central Alberta. He had a wife and six children, traded with the Hudson's Bay Company, and served as a wilderness guide for the territory. At roughly six feet, three inches, Swift Runner cut an imposing figure, and was known for liking the whiskey smuggled into the territory a bit too much. And when he drank it, he caused all kinds of mischief.

Local police eventually grew fed up with his behavior and sent him back to his tribe, but when he caused trouble there, they kicked him out too. He retreated with his wife, brother, and six children into the wilderness. The following spring, rumors sprang up that Swift Runner had turned cannibal. The man turned himself into the police, telling them that his children had died of starvation over the winter and his wife had taken her own life in grief. Yet, Swift Runner himself didn't look emaciated for half-starved.

W

Remains of Swift Runner's victims (Source)

hen police went looking for the camp he and his family had stayed in over the winter, they found a pile of bones beside a cold fire, many of which didn't even have the marrow in tact anymore. It was obvious that Swift Runner had, indeed, cannibalized his family.

He was arrested, tried, and hanged for murder and cannibalism.

The real question was what had caused him to turn cannibal. It was reported that years earlier, Swift Runner had been forced to eat the remains of a starved hunter in order to save himself from starvation, and he had developed a taste for human flesh.

Others said he was possessed by Wendigo, a creature from Native American legend that is half-demonic and lends itself to cannibalism. On the one hand, being possessed by Wendigo might insight a human to participate in cannibalism, and Swift Runner claimed the spirit was giving him nightmares. But on the other hand, it was also said that human beings could become Wendigos if they participated in cannibalism. So which was it, according to Swift Runner?

No one could say for certain. He faced the scaffold with relative dignity and was hanged December 20, 1879 at Fort Saskachewan.

There is also something called Wendigo Psychosis, a culture-bound cannibalistic mania that was said to have been document among the Algonquian tribes.

So, what do you think? Why would someone like Swift Runner suddenly turn cannibal? Was it a culture thing, simply a result of starvation circumstances, or was their really a malevolent spirit involved?

Thoughts? Comments? Insights?

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Crime Tidbit: Hinterkaifeck

Former Hinterkaifeck Farmstead (Source)

March 31, 1922. On an obscure homestead situated between the Bavarian towns of Ingolstadt and Schrobenhausen, roughly 70 km north of Munich, a family of five and their maid are brutally murdered in one of the most puzzling crimes in German history. The murders remain unsolved today.

The farmstead didn't have a true name. Kaifeck was a larger homestead roughly 1 km north. Hinter is a German prefix meaning "behind."

The inhabitants of the farmstead were Andreas Gruber, his wife Cazilia, their widowed daughter Viktoria, and her two children little Cazilia and Josef, who were 7 and 2 years old respectively. It was whispered among the neighbors that Josef was the son of Viktoria and Andreas, who had an incestuous relationship. The final victim was the maid, Maria Baumgartner.

Six months prior to the crime, the Gruber's maid left their service, claiming the house was haunted. The new maid, Maria, arrived only days before her own death.

In the days before their deaths, Andreas told neighbors about finding footprints in the snow leading out of the woods and to the homestead, but none leading back. He heard creaking in the attic and found a strange newspaper on the farm as well. The day before, the house keys went missing, but Andreas reported none of this to the police.

Though no one can say for sure what happened that night, it is believed that somehow the elderly couple, their daughter Viktoria, and her daughter Cazilia, were lured one by one into the barn where they were killed with a weapon resembling a pickax. Then the killer or killers went into the house and killed Josef, who slept in his mother's room, and Maria the maid, her own bedchamber.

When none of the inhabitants of Hinterkaifeck had been seen for several days, and young Cazilia hadn't shown up for school, neighbors went to the farmstead to check and found the grizzly scene. 

Autopsies, performed the next day on location, showed that 7-year-old Cazilia lived for several hours after the assault. Lying beside the bodies of her mother and grandparents, she tore her hair out in tufts before succumbing to her injuries.

Inspector Georg Reingruber headed up the original investigation and over the years, more than one hundred suspects have been questioned. The most recent questioning took place in 1986, but all to no avail.

Shrine near Hinterkaifeck Farmstead (Source)

At first, robbery was a suspected motive, but a great deal of money was soon discovered in the house. It's believed that the perpetrator(s) stayed at the farm after the murders, perhaps for days. They fed the livestock and ate the food in the kitchen. Neighbors reported seeing smoke from the chimney over the weekend, after the family would already have been dead, so there was plenty of time to discover the money.

The death of Karl Gabriel, Viktoria's husband who had reportedly died in the trenches of WWI in 1914, was called into question. His body had never been found.

In 2007, students of the police academy in Furstenfeldbruck were tasked with investigating the mystery with modern methods. They came to the conclusion that after so many years and the loss of so much evidence, it was impossible to solve the crime for certain. Tey did zero in on one person as a main suspect, but wouldn't release the name out of respect for still-living relatives. (Grrrh.)

Today, many amateur investigators still pour over the case.

What do you think of this case? Who do you think the main suspect in the 2007 investigation was?

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Crime Tidbit: Evangelist/Voodoo Murders

Source

Have you heard of the Evangelist Murders of 1929?

Benny Evangelist was a mystic and "faith" healer who used a combination of religion and mysticism to heal the ailments of his community. He may have dabbled in voodoo as well. He was moderately wealthy, both due to his soothsaying as well as because he was something of a realtor.

On July 3, 1929, a neighborhood real estate agent went looking for Benny. When he got no answer to his knocks at the door, he let himself in and made a grisly discovery. Not only was Benny Evangelist dead, but he'd been decapitated. His entire family--wife Santina and four children aged 7, 5, 4 and 18 mos. had been killed as well. They were all hacked to pieces.

Benny Evangelist was an Italian immigrant who had founded a cult entitled, "Great Union Federation of America." He held worship services in his office amidst grotesque wax figurines which represented the planets. One was a huge eye, electronically lit, which Evangelist referred to as "the sun."

As with most unsolved cases, police of the time made a mess of things, the crime scene was trampled and compromised, and no one was ever charged. The Italian immigrant community was stubbornly tight-lipped, which didn't help matters.

Benny Evangelist (Source)

Still, police had three major theories. 

One involved a quasi-secret criminal band called the Black Hand, which Evangelist was tied to. Police found several letters from them, one of which was signed, the Vendetta, with a hatchet drawn underneath. This theory was kept open constantly, but nothing ever came of it.

A second theory involved a man named Umberto Tecchio. Tecchio was the last man to see the Evangelists alive, and three months prior to the murders had killed a man with a knife in an argument over a debt. He stopped by the house the evening prior to the murders to make a final payment on a house Evangelist had sold him. A friend who went with him reported nothing strange in the meeting between Tecchio and Evangelist. Yet, later a paperboy reported that Tecchio was seen on the Evangelists' porch early the morning the bodies were discovered. Tecchio died in 1934, and an important witness was deported to Italy, essentially blocking the pursuit of this theory.

A third, more disturbing theory involved a man named Aurelius Angelino, another Italian immigrant who had been acquainted with Evangelist in New York (where he'd previously lived). In 1919, Angelino tried to murder his entire family with an ax. He succeeding in killing two of his children before being stopped. He was sent to an insane asylum, where he broke out twice and was brought back. In 1923, he broke out a third time and was never seen again. Police wondered if perhaps Angelino had made his way to Detroit, where his old friend had set up shop. After all, the crime scene was “much more suggestive of the fanatic run amok than it is of the neighborhood bad man.” (Source)

Still others believed Evangelist himself was insane. He wrote a book entitled "The Oldest History of the World." It's "a pastiche of religious fanaticism with moments of clarity, delusion and illiterate beauty." (Source) Perhaps he was really into voodoo, or perhaps that was a cover to rip people off and make money. It is believed that he relieved more than one of his clients of their life savings.

What do you think of this cold case? Was Evangelist crazy, or just a con man? Were one of the two named suspects the culprit, or was it the Black Hand? Or someone else entirely? What strikes you about this story?

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Crime Tidbit: The Case of the West Memphis Three

Do you know...about the 1993 West Memphis Murders?

It's really a fascinating--and of course tragic--case. I first heard about it when I read that Peter Jackson made a documentary called West of Memphis which lays out the case. 

The Facts: Three eight-year-old boys, Stevie Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers, went missing. Their bodies were found the next day in a creek in Robin Hood woods, near their homes in West Memphis, Arkansas. The boys were nude, their ankles and wrists hogtied with their own shoe laces. 

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Crime Tidbit: 50-Year-Old Cold Case Solved

Maria Ridulph (Source)

Did you know...

That in 2011, the oldest cold case in U.S. History was solved with a conviction?

In 1957, Marie Ridulph, a brown-haired, big brown-eyed seven-year-old from Sycamore, Illinois disappeared from her hometown.

It was a small farm town where everyone knew everyone and, in 1957, few people bothered to lock their doors. Marie went out to play after dinner with her best friend Kathy, and they were approached by a light-haired young man who called himself Johnny. He gave them piggy backs and made them laugh. At one point, Marie went home to get some toys, and Johnny asked Marie if she wanted to go on a car or bus ride with him. She said no. When Kathy went home to get her gloves, Marie stayed with Johnny. When Kathy returned, Johnny and her best friend were gone.

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Crime Tidbit: The Infamous Case of Lizzie Borden

Lizzie Borden (Source)

Did you know...

About the infamous case of Lizzie Borden? 

I've done posts about plenty of famous, unsolved crimes, but the Lizzie Borden case might be the most well-known and obsessed-about case yet.

On August 4, 1892, a wealthy local business owner native to Fall River, Massachusetts named Andrew Borden and his wife Abby were both found dead in their home. Both had been bludgeoned to death about the head with a hatchet or ax-like weapon. Mrs. Borden received nineteen blows to the head, while Mr. Borden, killed while napping on his couch, only took ten or eleven. 

It was a gruesome murder scene, and only a few hours passed before the police zeroed in on Lizzie, Mr. Borden's thirty-year old daughter, as a suspect. 

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Crime Tidbit: New Twists in the Zodiac Killer Case

Sketch of the Zodiac killer
Source

Did you know about the newest development in the infamous, 41-year-old Zodiac case?

The Zodiac killer was one who operated in California in the 1960s and 70s. He targeted men and women, often couples, and got his name because he taunted the police and the press, sending ciphers with supposed clues to his identity in them. Up until 2012, only one of the four ciphers was positively solved.

Now, a hobby code-cracker from California named Corey Starliper believes he's solved another of the killer's puzzles, which has remained a mystery for more than forty years. The cipher, known as the 340-cipher because there are 340 characters, is one he took an interest in soon after learning about the case by way of several books and the 2007 film, Zodiac.

Starliper believed that the number 340 itself was significant. After studying the case, he found that the killer, according to police reports, had some ties to the U.S. Virgin Islands. The area code of the U.S. Virgin Islands, it turns out, is 3-4-0. Playing around with the numbers some more, Starliper found evidence of the exact area codes that the Zodiac's most infamous kills were committed in. Using the numerals 3, 4, he began applying a Caesar code.

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Crime Tidbit: The Atlas Vampire Case + FREE BOOKS

Happy Wednesday! Quick announcement: Quantum Entanglement is FREE on Amazon today. My first KDP promo. Yea! If you don't have an e-copy of it yet, head over now and download away! The more downloads I get, the further up the lists I climb!

Also, if anyone would be willing to post, tweet, share, or otherwise help spread the word, I'd really appreciate it! I can use all the help I can get. Thanks so much for all your support, and Happy Hump Day!

Free download here: http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Entanglement-Interchron-Liesel-Hill-ebook/dp/B00F6643SI/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1389500685&sr=1-4&keywords=quantum+entanglement

Source

Have you heard...of the Atlas Vampire Case?

I would guess probably not. This one's pretty obscure. In May of 1932, a 32-year-old prostitute was found dead in her flat in a district of Stockholm, Sweden. She hadn't been seen for two days. The last person to see her was her friend who lived downstairs. 

The prostitute, Lilly Lindestrom, was killed by blunt force trauma to he back of her head. She'd lost far more blood than even her injury could account for. It seemed she had been drained. Yet the rest of her apartment was cleaner than it should have been. No prints or forensic evidence of any kind was found at the scene. The really bizarre thing is that her killer seems to have drank some of her blood. Police reports mentioned a gravy ladle full of blood that had obviously been consumed. *shudders*

Other clues in the case? Uh, yeah there really aren't any. This case is more than 80 years old, and most reports of the cases are in Swedish, and have never been translated, which makes it hard to find anything new or deeper on the story. There is some hint of rumor about a bloody rag that was held back by one of the investigators and later found in his possession, but it's difficult to understand if there's even any truth to that.

So, the question remains: A psychopath...or a true vampire? 

What do you think of this case? If you had to guess, what do you think the explanation would be?

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Historical Mystery: The Missing Sodder Children

I'm combining historical and crime tidbits today with a historical mystery. Anyone ever heard of the vanished Sodder children? It's actually a very tragic tale.

Source

On Christmas Eve, 1945, the home of George and Jennie Sodder burnt to the ground. The Sodders lived near Fayette, West Virginia and had ten children, nine of whom were under their roof that night for the holidays. The only one missing was one of older boys who was serving in the army. 

The fire started in the middle of the night and, sadly, only four of the nine children made it out of the house. The oldest son and Mr. Sodder did everything they could to get back inside. The staircase leading to the second level where the other five children had been sleeping was engulfed in flames. Mr. Sodder kept a ladder by the side of the house. Always. But when he went to retrieve it, it was gone. The water sources around the house were frozen solid with the cold weather. In desperation, they tried to start their trucks, hoping to bring them to he side of the house and stand on them to reach the second level. The trucks, though they'd run just fine hours before, refused to start.

The house burnt to ashes in less than 45 minutes. The small town police department didn't arrive until dawn. 

Then the true oddities of the situation began to emerge. In the crematoriums of the time, it took 2 hours at 2000 degrees to incinerate bone. It's impossible to gauge the temperature of the fire, but it burnt out in less than an hour, which means five skeletons should have been found in the aftermath. Not a single one was.

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Creepy Elevator Video: The Elisa Lam Case

Source

So I came across a seriously crime tidbit this past week and thought I'd share it today. But first, NaNoWriMo updates!

As of yesterday, I've written 39,460 words for NaNo, which equals 53,154 words for my book, Desolate Mantle. I'm going to press through and try to hit the 50,000 word count this week, which means I have 10,000 words to write in the next five days. Participating writers can start uploading their manuscripts for validation today. I'm not done yet, but I hope to finish by the 30th. Wish me luck!

(P.S. If anyone's looking for some great Thanksgiving stories, check out this anthology. I don't make any money on the sale of it, but I do have a story in there entitled Hill vs. Hill vs. Hill about our annual family football game. All the stories in it are pretty great.)

Did you know...

About a girl named Elisa Lam who was killed in L.A. in February of this year? It seems I'm a bit late to this story, but I stumbled across the security cam footage which has gone viral on internet since it was first released. And it's seriously creepy!

The facts: 

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Crime Tidbit: The Texarkana Moonlight Murders, 1946

Source

Time for another unsolved historical tidbit.

Did you know...that in the 1946, the twin cities of Texarkana, TX and Texarkana, AR were briefly terrorized by a serial killer known only as the Phantom Killer?

Much like the Monster of Florence, the Phantom Killer struck at couples in their cars late at night. The attacks generally occurred on the weekends, roughly three weeks apart. 

In the first confirmed attack, the couple both survived. They managed to give a vague description of their attacker, though it was more frightening than enlightening. They claimed it was a man, roughly six feet tall, whose face was covered in a white bag with holes cut out for the eyes and mouth. He always used a .32 caliber pistol to kill and no one else ever got a look at him. The only other survivor didn't, and the rest were only recovered as corpses. 

In all, eight people were attacked, with five killed, and the killer's name came from the fact that he simply disappeared each time without a trace. Sheriff William Presley told the press, "This killer is the luckiest person I have ever known. No one sees him, hears him in time, or can identify him in any way." (Source) The murders themselves became known as the Texarkana Moonlight Murders, and were never solved.

Many have speculated that this might have been the early work of the notorious Zodiac Killer, though no solid link has ever been made between the two cases.

What do you think? Decent story fodder? Anyone else intrigued by possible link to the Zodiac?

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Crime Tidbit: The Axeman of New Orleans

Source

Did you know...

That between May 1918 and October 1919, a brutal axe-murderer terrorized the city of New Orleans? He began attacking victims, generally by breaking into their homes and attacking them with either an ax or straight razor. Though his victimology was broad, many of his victims were Italian-American working class people, which made many people believe they might have been racially motivated.

He was definitely more angry toward women than men, as it was the women who were often killed or hurt more profoundly. Criminologists of the time believed he only killed men who got in the way of his killing women.

In March, 1919, he sent a letter to the local paper, which was published, sensationalizing him even more. It read as follows:

Hell, March 13, 1919 

Esteemed Mortal:      

They have never caught me and they never will. They have never seen me, for I am invisible, even as the ether that surrounds your earth. I am not a human being, but a spirit and a demon from the hottest hell. I am what you Orleanians and your foolish police call the Axeman.      

When I see fit, I shall come and claim other victims. I alone know whom they shall be. I shall leave no clue except my bloody axe, besmeared with blood and brains of he whom I have sent below to keep me company.

If you wish you may tell the police to be careful not to rile me. Of course, I am a reasonable spirit. I take no offense at the way they have conducted their investigations in the past. In fact, they have been so utterly stupid as to not only amuse me, but His Satanic Majesty, Francis Josef, etc. But tell them to beware. Let them not try to discover what I am, for it were better that they were never born than to incur the wrath of the Axeman. I don‘t think there is any need of such a warning, for I feel sure the police will always dodge me, as they have in the past. They are wise and know how to keep away from all harm.      

Undoubtedly, you Orleanians think of me as a most horrible murderer, which I am, but I could be much worse if I wanted to. If I wished, I could pay a visit to your city every night. At will I could slay thousands of your best citizens, for I am in close relationship with the Angel of Death.      

Now, to be exact, at 12:15 (earthly time) on next Tuesday night, I am going to pass over New Orleans. In my infinite mercy, I am going to make a little proposition to you people. Here it is:      

I am very fond of jazz music, and I swear by all the devils in the nether regions that every person shall be spared in whose home a jazz band is in full swing at the time I have just mentioned. If everyone has a jazz band going, well, then, so much the better for you people. One thing is certain and that is that some of your people who do not jazz it on Tuesday night (if there be any) will get the axe.      

Well, as I am cold and crave the warmth of my native Tartarus, and it is about time I leave your earthly home, I will cease my discourse. Hoping that thou wilt publish this, that it may go well with thee, I have been, am and will be the worst spirit that ever existed either in fact or realm of fancy. 

The Axeman 

Source

Looking at the letter, obviously this guy was insane, and had something of a god complex. No one was killed that night, though ever dance hall and speak easy was filled to capacity well past midnight.

My favorite part of this story is that several citizens, outraged by the letter and the situation on the whole sent letters of their own to the paper, inviting the Axeman to come to their homes, and see who would be killed first. One even offered to leave the window open, politely asking that he not damage the back door. I love these people! I'm not sure I'd have their nerve, but you gotta admire the guts! And people who just can't stand the idea of a madman bringing New Orleans to it's knees.

The Axeman stopped killing as suddenly and mysteriously as he started. His identity was never discovered. Many believed he might have been a man by the name of Joseph Momfre, who was shot to death in L.A. in December of 1920, but deeper investigation has revealed this to be something of an urban legend. Momfre was a common surname in New Orleans at the time and was probably used as a place holder because the killer's ID was unknown. (Akin to calling someone John Doe.) The records of the time are too incomplete for us to understand all that happened in the investigation.

Who do you think the axeman was? What were his motivations? Can you see this as an awesome fiction story?

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Crime Tidbit: The Case of Marilyn Sheppard

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In the summer of 1954, in Bay Village, Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland) the 31-year-old wife of well-known doctor was savagely murdered. Sam Sheppard was the wealthy, well-liked surgeon from a family of surgeons, and he and his wife, Marilyn, were an active part of the high-society crowd.

Sheppard Home outside of Cleveland
Source

Sheppard claimed that after having guests over for the evening, he'd fallen asleep watching TV and Marilyn had gone up to bed. He awoke to her screams and ran upstairs to see "a form with a light garment, I believe, at the same time grappling with something or someone." After that he was hit over the head. When he came to, he chased a "bushy-haired" intruder out of the house and down to the beach. A fight ensued and Dr. Sheppard was knocked unconscious.

After a media-obsessed trial, Sheppard was found guilty of murdering his wife and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. Many believed the verdict unjust, however, and his family worked tireless to clear him. Ten years later, in 1966, he was granted a new trial. This was a case that had compelling evidence either way.

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Crime Tidbit: the Gatton Murders

Mr. & Mrs. Murphy and 8 of their 10 children.
Michael not pictured, but Ellen and Nora are 2nd and 3rd
from the right, respectively.
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Do you know...what the Gatton murders are?

Michael, Nora, and Ellen Murphy were three of ten siblings in the Murphy family. Their parents worked a farm on Blackfellow's Creek nearly the rural Australian town of Gatton, Queensland. In 1898, Michael had moved out of his parents' house, and was working another farm in a nearby town, but had returned home for the holidays. On the evening of December 26, took his two sisters to a dance that was to be held in Gatton. The three siblings left together in a borrowed sulky.

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Crime Tidbit: Weirdest Unsolved Crime EVER!: The Taman Shud Case

Unidentified Somerton Man
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Early on the morning of December 1, 1948, the body of a man was discovered on Somerton Beach in South Australia. It was destined to be one of the most baffling cases in known history, and remains unsolved today.

The man was believed to be British--at the very least, not an Australian native. He was in peak physical condition with many traits that pointed to his being either a dancer or an avid runner. (Given that this was 1948, the latter is more likely.)

He had no identification on him, and only a negligible amount of money. Based on eyewitness reports and autopsy findings, it was believed that he was poisoned, though no trace of whatever was used could be detected in his blood.

The only other thing found on the body was a torn scrap of paper with the words "taman shud" and a phone number on it. This paper was found in a secret pocket of the man's clothes. Eventually it was discovered that the page was from a book of poems called The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. The book the scrap was torn from was discovered in a car that was parked not far from where the body was found. The owner of the car had never seen the book before and didn't know how it got in his car. Police believed the killer tossed the book in the unlocked car to get rid of it.

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Crime Tidbit: Australia's Beaumont Children

Did you know...?

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That there is a famous missing children case in Australia that goes back to the '60s? 

Here in America, most people are fairly familiar with unsolved crimes in our own country that became media darlings, as well as the major serial killer cases that captivated the nation while they were happening. And then there are the world-famous cases like Jack the Ripper than everyone knows about. Yet, famous cases in other countries tend to elude us. I'm sure that's true of most people in their respective countries.

So, this famous case, the disappearance of the Beaumont children, happened in Australia in January of 1966. The three Beaumont children--Jane, age 9, Arna, age 7, and Grant, age 4--left their parents' house to go to the beach. Jane, the oldest, was to watch the two younger kids. They left home about ten and were to be back by noon. When 3 o'clock rolled around and they still hadn't returned, their mother called police.

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Crime Tidbit: The Monster of Florence

Did you know...?

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That between 1968 and 1985, a barbaric killer stalked the countryside around Florence, claiming at least sixteen victims? The killer, who came to be known as the Monster of Florence has never been identified, though four different men were convicted of the murders at different times.

Though things might have changed today, but during the decades these murders took place there was a sub-culture at work in Italy that much of the rest of the world would have been unfamiliar with. In the Italy of that time, young women were not encouraged to be independent, at least not in their living situations. This was not a culture where a young woman, educated or not, went out and got her own place to live. She lived with her family until she got married, at which time she of course moved in with her husband. Because bachelor pads weren't en vogue either, young lovers wanting to engage in intimate relations had few places to go for privacy.

Obviously family homes were out of the question. Because of this, there was an entire sub-culture of young people parking their cars in the pastoral countryside at night and enjoying private time together. 

True Crime Book about murders
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It was this un-talked-about scene that the Monster of Florence patrolled. It would have been easy for him to locate victims; easy for him to stalk and watch them for hours before striking. Much like the also-unidentified Zodiac killer, Il Monstro attacked couples, but often showed more anger toward the female victims than the male ones, sometimes mutilating the female genitalia. One victimized couple were both men--most likely gay lovers--and while the killer showed great anger to the victim who may have looked more like a woman from a distance, this was also the only time the killer changed his MO, leading police to believe he was angry and disoriented upon finding that neither of his victims were women. In another instance, the male victim even survived.

Not all the murders took place in cars, but the MO was always similar enough for a connection. In most cases, both lovers were shot with a .22 beretta. Sometimes they were stabbed as well. 

In all those years, more than ten thousand people were interviewed, and various people arrested and charged with the crimes, but nothing ever panned out. Most often suspects were released because more murders happened while they were in custody. To this day, the killer has never been positively identified.

Have you ever heard of the Monster of Florence before? What do you think this killer's MO says about his psychology?

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