During the night of June 9 to the early morning of June 10, 1912, eight people were murdered in the Moore family home in the small town of Villisca, Iowa: Josiah B. Moore and his wife Sarah, their four children — Herman, Mary Katherine, Arthur, and Paul — and two guests staying in the house that night, sisters Lena and Ina Stillinger. All eight were killed with an axe that belonged to Josiah. The next morning a neighbor, Mary Peckham, grew concerned when the household showed no sign of its usual morning routine, and the bodies were discovered soon after. The investigation that followed named several suspects, and one of them, Reverend George Kelly, a traveling minister, was tried twice for the murders — the first trial ended in a hung jury, the second in an acquittal. No one else was ever brought to trial. The house still stands, restored to its 1912 condition, and operates as a historic site offering tours.
Sources
- Wikipedia — Villisca axe murders
- Villisca Axe Murder House — museum and historic site (secondary reporting)