Villisca Axe Murders

On June 9, 1912, Josiah and Sarah Moore, their four young children - Herman (11), Katherine (1), Boyd (7), and Paul (5) - and two houseguests - Lena (12) and Ina (8) Stillinger - attended a children's program at their Presbyterian church. They returned to their Villisca, Iowa, home that evening. When they did not emerge the following morning, neighbors entered the house and found all eight people in bed, bludgeoned and slashed with an axe.

A massive investigation followed, with multiple suspects caught in the crosshairs, including hobos, business rivals, and serial killers. Josiah's brother-in-law, Sam Moyer, with whom he had a brusque relationship, was considered, but he produced an alibi. Reverend George Kelly, who had officiated the church services the Moores had attended was tried twice, with the first trial ending in a hung jury and the second resulting in a verdict of not guilty.

The most likely explanation was that the Moores were targeted by an itinerant serial killer. A rash of savage axe murders continued to grip the United States, occurring in Kansas, Colorado, and Iowa, culminating most notably in Louisiana, where the "Axeman of New Orleans" terrorized the populace from May 1918 to October 1919.