Who Were the 8 Family Murdered in Iowa

The Villisca Axe Murders

The Villisca, Iowa dwelling house where two adults and six children were slain June ten, 1912.

Montgomery County in Iowa

Villisca in Montgomery County

Multiple Murders

Josiah B. "Joe" Moore, 43
Sarah (Montgomery) Moore, 39
Herman Moore, xi
Katherine Moore, 10
Boyd Moore, 7
Paul Moore, 5
Lena Stillinger, 12
Ina Stillinger, viii
508 E. 2nd St.
Villisca, IA
Montgomery County
June 10, 1912

Case summary compiled past Jody Ewing

Josiah B. "Joe" Moore

Former around midnight between Sunday, June 9, and Mon, June ten, 1912, a person or persons entered a modest house in Villisca, Iowa, and bludgeoned to death 8 people sleeping there, including 2 adults and six children aged v through 12. The killings became known as the "Villisca Axe Murders," and are easily the most notorious murders in Iowa history.

Sarah Moore

The murders spawned nearly ten years of investigations, repeated k jury hearings, a spectacular slander arrange and murder trial, and numerous minor litigations and trials. The horrific crime made and broke political careers.

Legislation was written in response to the murder, including the institution of the current State Bureau of Criminal Investigation'southward predecessor.

The Dark Before the Murders

Herman Moore

On Dominicus evening, June ix, 1912, Josiah (Joe) Moore and his wife Sarah took their four children, Herman, 11, Katherine, ten, Boyd, 7, and 5-year-old Paul to the Children'due south Solar day service at the Presbyterian Church. Accompanying them were Lena (12) and Ina Stillinger (8), neighbors who had asked their parents' permission to stay overnight with the Moore children.

Katherine Moore

The Children'due south Day service was an terminate-of-the-year Lord's day school programme. Sarah Moore was a co-managing director and her children performed their piddling speeches and recitations along with the other Sunday school members.

The service ended with a social mingling that lasted until at least 9:30 p.thousand. When parishioners left on that cloudy, damp and cool night, no one suspected that neither the Moores nor their overnight guests would be seen live again.

Paul Moore

They walked the 3 blocks to their home. Cookies and milk ended the festive evening, and all went to bed.

One-time after midnight, the killer or killers picked upward Joe's axe from the back yard, entered the house, and bludgeoned to death all 8 of its occupants.

Lena and Ina Stillinger

By 7:xxx a.m. on June 10th, Mary Peckham, an elderly neighbor to the due west, became concerned that the Moore house seemed quiet and deserted. She called Joe's brother Ross, a local druggist, who arrived at about eight:00 a.grand. to look around. His cautious inspection of the downstairs revealed two figures covered with a sheet in the back bedroom, and he besides saw blood on the bedstead.

Boyd Moore

Ross stepped back and abroad from the offense scene and called Joe's hardware store, telling employee Ed Selley to fetch Marshal Henry "Hank" Horton, because something "terrible had happened."

Hank arrived near viii:30 a.grand., went through the house, and found — as he told Ross when he came out — "somebody murdered in every bed." The partially cleaned murder weapon was left leaning against the s wall of the downstairs bedroom where the visiting Stillinger girls were found.

"Bizarre" Murder Scene

The killer had added two bizarre touches to the murder scene. The first was a four-pound piece of slab bacon leaning against the wall next to the axe. The murderer also had searched dresser drawers for pieces of vesture to cover the mirrors in the house and the glass in the entry doors. On the kitchen table was a plate of uneaten food and a bowl of bloody water.

The funeral procession for the Moore family unit and Stillinger sisters. (Courtesy photo Ancestry.com – "The Funeral in the Park")

All the victims were institute in their beds, their heads covered with bedclothes, and all had their skulls battered 20 to 30 times with the blunt finish of an axe.

The ceiling in the parents' bedchamber and the children's room upstairs showed gouge marks, apparently fabricated past the upswing of the axe.

Though Lena Stillinger's nightgown had been pushed upwards and she'd been left exposed, doctors concluded she had non been sexually abused. Lena also had a bloodstain on her knee and an alleged defensive wound on her arm.

The Moore-Stillinger funeral services were held in Villisca'due south boondocks foursquare on June 12, 1912, with thousands in attendance. National Guardsmen blocked the street equally a hearse moved toward the firehouse, where the eight victims lay. Their caskets, not on display during the funeral, were after carried on several wagons to the Villisca Cemetery for burial.

The funeral cortege was 50 carriages long.

Rev. George Kelly

The Reverend

At 5:19 a.chiliad. the morn following the murders, the Reverend Lyn George Jacklin Kelly left Villisca on lath the westbound number v train and allegedly told fellow travelers there were eight dead souls dorsum in Villisca, Iowa — butchered in their beds while they slept, he said — even though the bodies had not nonetheless been discovered.

Kelly had arrived in Villisca for the offset fourth dimension the Sun morn of the murders and attended a Sunday school performance past the Stillinger girls before departing early Mon. He returned 2 weeks later, and, posing equally a detective, joined a tour of the murder house with a grouping of investigators.

Regime first became interested in Rev. Kelly a few weeks after the murders later on being alerted by recipients of his rambling letters.

The Moore family unit was cached at the Villisca Cemetery. (Courtesy Ancestry.com)

Kelly — the son and grandson of English ministers — had suffered a mental breakdown as an adolescent. Since immigrating to America with his wife in 1904, Kelly had preached at Methodist churches across North Dakota, Minnesota, Kansas and Iowa. He'd been assigned every bit a visiting minister to several modest communities northward of Villisca, where he adult a reputation for odd behavior. He'd also been convicted of sending obscene fabric through the mail and had spent fourth dimension in a mental infirmary.

A Grand Jury indicted Kelly for Lena Stillinger's murder, and he was interrogated throughout the summertime of 1917 while in jail awaiting trial.

Lena and Ina Stillinger are buried together at the Villisca Cemetery. (Courtesy photo Hiesela, findagrave.com)

On August 31 at seven a.m., Kelly signed a confession to the murder, saying God had whispered to him to "suffer the children to come up unto me."

Kelly recanted his confession at trial, and his example went to the jury on September 26. The jury deadlocked eleven to one for amortization. A 2d jury was immediately empanelled, but acquitted Rev. Kelly in November.

No ane else has ever been tried for the murders, and the crime remains ane of the most horrific, unsolved mass murders in American history.

Villisca: Living with a Mystery

On June 10, 2004, Fourth Wall Films released a documentary feature moving picture, "Villisca: Living with a Mystery," which get-go premiered in Des Moines. Filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle combined period photographs, estimator animation, original art, limited re-enactments, and interviews with historians, eyewitnesses, town residents, and forensic experts to shed light on the then-92-year-old mystery and to reveal the face of a new suspect.

The documentary, now available on DVD, features Dr. Edgar Epperly, the historian considered the foremost say-so on the Villisca murders.

Ten years in the making, the documentary explores the possibility that the Villisca criminal offense and similar murders in Monmouth, Illinois, Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Ellsworth, Kansas, may take been the piece of work of one of America's first serial killers.

CourtTV reporter Catherine Crier interviewed Kelly Rundle and Dr. Epperly for a programme that aired Nov 21, 2006. The interview is shown below.

"Villisca" director Kelly Rundle and historian Dr. Edgar Epperly are interviewed past Catherine Crier
November 21, 2006 | CourtTV

The 100-Year Ceremony

On June 10, 2012, a number of Iowa newspapers covered the 100-yr ceremony of Iowa's nearly highly profiled criminal offence. KCRG-TV9's slice featured an additional video with a tour within the notorious home. Both videos may be establish below.

100 Years After Iowa Ax Murders, Case Remains Unsolved — KCRG Goggle box-9, Airdate June 10, 2012

Villisca Murder House Tour: 100 Years Afterwards Iowa Ax Murders, Instance Remains Unsolved — KCRG TV-ix, Airdate June 10, 2012

New documentary coincides with 101st anniversary

A new documentary virtually the slayings fabricated its debut Monday, June 10, 2013, on Facebook. Rockford, Ill., filmmaker Stuart Wahlin premiered The Ax Homo Enigma: The real-life inspiration behind "Slay Utterly" to coincide with the Villisca murders' 101st anniversary.

"Villisca is the most well-known in this serial of crimes, largely owing to the popularity of paranormal TV shows that have featured the house where the murders occurred," Wahlin said in a Rock River (IL) Times article published June 7, 2013. "But what few people realize is that the Villisca crime scene was not unique."

During a ii-year period (1911-1912), a rash of eerily similar ax murders swept across the Midwest. Leaving unique criminal offense scene signatures in his wake, it is believed the "Ax Homo" may have been responsible for at least two-dozen murders, said Wahlin. No one was ever brought to justice.

"The documentary is really aimed at educating people nearly the instance, while too generating interest in our upcoming feature film," Wahlin added, noting The Ax Homo Enigma's release too coincided with a Kickstarter fund-raising entrada for Slay Utterly, a modern crime thriller inspired by the example. That moving picture is slated for a 2014 release.

Wahlin, a former Rockford announcer, was awarded Best Director at the Prairie State Film Festival in Chicago last year for his pic, Paw of Glory.

Other Updates

In June 2017, the new fictional horror movie, "The Axe Murders of Villisca," was released on the popular streaming site Netflix. A Daily Nonpareil article published June 12, 2017, said Netflix describes the moving-picture show as, "Iii ghost-hunting teens get more than they bargained for when they intermission into a historic habitation where eight people were murdered over a century ago."

KCCI.com's Damond Fudge reviewed the film, and said the incident is used every bit a springboard, of sorts, for the film's story, which is ready in the present 24-hour interval and "more than interested in being a standard haunted house tale than a study of a tragic small town horror."

Fudge said of the picture:

While at that place are some good things to exist plant during the short, 74-minute runtime, they're outweighed by a lot of awfulness. The movie, as a whole, is a jumbled mess that leaves a lot of unanswered questions. . .

Read his deftly written review hither.

Sources and References:

• Villisca Axe Murders Official Website
• "Villisca Axe Murder Firm focus of new movie on Netflix," by Krystal Sidzyik, The Daily Nonpareil, June 12, 2017
• "Review: Is 'The Axe Murders of Villisca' worth your time?" by Damond Fudge, KCCI.com, June 11, 2017
• "This moving-picture show shows just how creepy the Villisca Axe Murder House really is," past Aaron Immature, The Des Moines Register, January 12, 2017
• "What makes the Villisca Ax Murder Firm and so chilling?" Des Moines Annals VIDEO, July xvi, 2016
• 'Ghost Hunter' stabs himself at 'Ax Murder House' during paranormal investigation, by Ben Axelson, Nov 10, 2014
• Wisconsin man injured in stabbing at Villisca Axe Murder Business firm, by John Schreier, The Daily Nonpareil, Fri, Nov 7, 2014
• Stabbing reported at Villisca Axe Murder house, KCCI.com, November 7, 2014
• New Indie Film 'Slay Utterly' Explores the Uncaught Ax Murderer of Iowa – HorrorMovies.ca, January 2014
• TV series volition revisit Villisca ax murders | The Des Moines Register | desmoinesregister.com, by Melanie Lageschulte, Nov. 24, 2013
• The Ax Human Enigma: The real-life horror behind 'Slay Utterly' from Stuart Wahlin on Vimeo, June ten, 2013
• "Local award-winning director to release documentary exploring murder case," The Rock River (IL) Times, June vii, 2013
• "100 Years Afterwards Iowa Ax Murders, Case Remains Unsolved," KCRG-TV9, June 10, 2012
• "Ax Murder Firm," The Sioux City Periodical, Sept. 22, 2010
• "Villisca: Mass Murder in Iowa," TruTV Crime Library, By Katherine Ramsland
• "The Odd Petty Preacher," The Daily Kos, May 24, 2009
• "Restored House reminiscent of erstwhile Villisca slayings," The (Council Bluffs) Daily Nonpareil, November. 3, 2008
• "Mahaska County Reads" visits ax murder firm in Villisca, The Oskaloosa Herald, Oct. fifteen, 2008
• "Axe Murder Mystery: Interview with "Villisca" director Kelly Rundle and historian Dr. Edgar Epperly," by Catherine Crier, CourtTV, November 21, 2006
• "Murder Axe Used in Iowa's Worst Mass Homicide to be Donated to Historical Society on Halloween Night – Criminal offence is as Intriguing every bit the Black Dahlia," PR.com Press Release, October 29, 2006
• "Iowa murder documentary coming to Sioux Metropolis Theater," The Sioux City Journal, March twenty, 2005
• "Press Release: VILLISCA – Living with a Mystery," villiscamovie.com, January 7, 2005
• "Unsolved Iowa Murders Defy All Probe Efforts," by Pat Curran, The Centerville Iowegian, May 26, 1965
• The New York Times, Sept. 2, 1917: "Says He Killed Eight at God'due south Command: Iowa Preacher Studying Sermon on "Slay Utterly" When Impulse to Slay Seized Him
• Villisca: Living With a Mystery (moving-picture show site at villiscamovie.com)
• Villisca Axe Murders, 1912 (Compilation of newspaper articles at iagenweb.org)
• Cold Example: Murders of 1912 (voices.yahoo.com)
• Josiah B. "Joe" Moore (1868 – 1912) — Find a Grave Memorial
• Sarah Montgomery Moore (1873 – 1912) — Find a Grave Memorial
• Herman Montgomery Moore (1900 – 1912) — Find a Grave Memorial
• Mary Katherine Moore (1902 – 1912) — Detect a Grave Memorial
• Arthur Boyd Moore (1905 – 1912) — Find a Grave Memorial
• Paul Vernon Moore (1907 – 1912) — Discover a Grave Memorial
• Lena Gertrude Stillinger (1900 – 1912) — Notice a Grave Memorial
• Ina May Stillinger (1903 – 1912) — Detect a Grave Memorial
• Ancestry.com
• Josiah B. Moore, "Iowa, Deaths and Burials, 1850-1990" — FamilySearch.org
• Person Details for Josiah B Moore, "BillionGraves Alphabetize" — FamilySearch.org
• Josiah B Moore | Billion Graves Record, billiongraves.com
• Iowa Gravestone Projection

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