Hi! As I mentioned in the last post, I wanted to start out this year's Octoberfest with something a little more tame and ease into the spooky shit. Since it's only Day 2 and we're already here, I'd say we jumped in headfirst instead. lol Today's post is centered around serial killers who aren't the typical ones we hear about. If you're a crime buff then these probably won't be new to you, but quite a few of the people on today's list were new to me so I wanted to include them. I made the cutoff year 1980 since that was nearly 40 years ago (where the whole frack has time gone, right?) and tried to cover killers I'd never heard about before. Like I advised last year, if you like crime but find yourself on the squeamish side (like myself), leave your food in the fridge until we're finished. Let's get started!
1. Wineville Chicken Coop Murders
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The Wineville Chicken Coop Murders took place in California during the late '20s and involved a number of young boys who were kidnapped, tortured, sexually abused and later murdered by a man named Gordon Northcott. The series of murders earned its name from where it took place, on the grounds of Northcott's poultry farm. In a way, these murders were a family affair--Northcott's own mother helped him both murder and dispose of the bodies afterward, and he recruited his nephew to do the same under false pretenses. There are four confirmed murders attributed to Northcott but the police have since rounded the number up to around 20 based on the number of young boys who went missing in the area between 1926 and 1928. After abducting the boys, Gordon would molest and sexually torture them before murdering them, mainly through decapitation or shooting, and the bodies were then injected with quicklime and buried in the desert. This case caused the reputation of the LAPD to be called into question, both as a result of their ineptitude with finding Northcott in time and other murders in the area that were also unsolved.
The smoking gun in this case was Northcott's nephew Sanford, who lived in Canada with his family until Northcott persuaded him to come help him run his poultry farm. This was in 1926, both when these murders began and shortly before the disappearance of California boy Walter Collins. The LAPD was satisfied with their assumption that the boy had simply run away and refused to look into the matter any further. A similar-looking boy showed up a few months later claiming to be Walter, and despite the mother's insistence that this was not her son, the LAPD forced her to take him anyway (If this sounds familiar, that's because it is. If you've ever seen the 2008 film The Changeling, it was based off of this case). He later came clean and admitted he only did it because someone had remarked on the similarities between himself and the missing child. I mentioned this because when Sanford finally revealed all two years later, he admitted not only that Northcott had abducted and murdered the child, but that he himself had actually helped with the latter. Walter's remains were never recovered in full because Northcott would burn the victims' bodies after killing them, but Sanford's testimony is as close as we'll get to definitive proof that Walter was one of Northcott's victims. Sanford was also one of Northcott's victims, as he was physically and sexually abused on a regular basis in addition to being forced into being the man's accomplice. The police were led to the desert where the bodies were burned, and they were able to recover the headless body of a young Hispanic boy along with bone fragments, fingers, and hair.
The research resources for this case all come together to paint a full picture of the investigation. The first link is for Northcott's Murderpedia, so there are tons of accounts and smaller details about his life story, Sanford's side of events, and a brief history about those who were involved in the killings. The story differs as to how Northcott's activities were discovered (while some sources, including the second link, credit Sanford's older sister with bringing suspicions to light, Murderpedia actually credits Northcott himself for trying to report a neighbor for his violence but inadvertently turning the spotlight on himself after the neighbor reported seeing Northcott beat Sanford) but the second link will explore the angle from Sanford's sister and give a bit more detail into Walter Collins' story.
2. Texarkana Moonlight Murders
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The Texarkana Moonlight Murders was the name given to a series of murders that took place in the Texas/Arkansas border town of Texarkana back in 1946. The usual targets were couples who made the fatally bad decision to park in dark secluded areas at night. The "Phantom Killer" (I really feel like they missed the boat by not calling the assailant the Moonlight Murderer) got his name from both the rapid duration of the murders and the fact that he was never facially identified. He would murder his victims then disappear into the night, remain quiet for a little while, then return and do it all again. The Phantom would force his victims out of the car with his gun and keep his identity concealed with a burlap sack, like in the above photo. He would then kill the male first, typically by shooting them at point-blank range in the head. I noticed the method for the males changed after his first failed attempt, in which he'd tried to bash in the male's skull but the man survived. The women were then tortured and sexually assaulted before being shot to death as well. In his first attempt, the woman survived as well after being chased twice by the killer. After catching her the first time, he raped her and told her to run again, and she was able to evade him after that.
In the instances where the Phantom Killer would ambush people's vehicles, the bodies were either found outside of the vehicle as a result of him forcing the people out of it beforehand, or they were placed back inside the vehicle after being shot. Despite the killer's usual MO of targeting couples in vehicles, a couple in a secluded farmhouse was also killed within the 10-week duration of the Phantom Killer's murders. The Moonlight Murders caused law enforcement from Texas and Arkansas to join forces in order to catch the Phantom Killer, but they were unsuccessful. This case is still officially classified as being unsolved, and the murderer has never been definitively identified. Many people suspect a local criminal named Youell Swimney was behind the Moonlight Murders, but this was never substantiated. A brief history of the investigation can be found at the first link, a more detailed account of events and cases that may be linked to the Moonlight Murders can be found at the second link, and the most in-depth account can be found at the third.
3. Austin Axe Murderer/Servant Girl Annihilator
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The Austin Axe Murderer or Servant Girl Annihilator was a serial killer roaming the streets of Austin, TX during the late 1800s. Because the first few targets were young servant girls, the killer received the name Servant Girl Annihilator. The story varies a bit depending on the source, but the gist (from what I understand) is that over the course of a year, the Annihilator would break into people's homes while they were sleeping, drag the servant girls out of their beds and into their backyards, where he would rape them before killing them with an axe. One of the sources I read for this story mentions that the majority of the public initially wasn't very concerned, as it was only Black servant girls who were being murdered at first. Some wrote it off as a Black male (or a group of Black males) being the assailant, deemed it an issue to be solved within the Black community, and ignored it. But the last two victims were married Caucasian women who were killed on the same night, probably a couple of hours apart, on Christmas Day. This made the front paper the following morning, with the (verbatim) headline "The Demons Have Changed Their Thirst For Blood To White Women," which would give weight to the theory that the public wasn't as concerned when it was just Black girls being targeted. Considering the times that this happened in, I wouldn't be surprised if it was written off initially, but this account wasn't substantiated so I can't say for sure.
The official count for those injured or murdered by the Annihilator is 16, with an equal amount of those injured to those who were murdered. The majority of his overall victims were women (11) but there were three men included in that count, one of whom died from his injuries. The last two women who were murdered left especially gruesome scenes for their families and the public; one had her forehead split open, and the other had a gash between her eye and ear that was deep enough to sink into her brain. Crazily enough, their husbands were later arrested on suspicion of their murders because it came out that neither marriage was a happy one. The convictions were later overturned, but the damage had already been done. Other than the fourth site on this list, which is dedicated to the case, there weren't many, if any, biographies on many of the Annihilator's earlier victims so check out that link if you're interested in hearing more about them. That link is probably the most detailed of the four.
Officially, the Servant Girl Murders are still unsolved but throughout the years, people have been able to identify a likely suspect for the murders in Nathan Elgin. He was an Austin local with the specific physical identifiers that the Annihilator had (the Annihilator was barefoot and left behind a footprint reminiscent of a club foot; Elgin only had four toes on one foot), and was shot by police some months after the last two murders for a standoff stemming from his drunken attack on a young woman. He was exhibiting the same behaviors the Annihilator did (forcing a girl out of a local saloon and into a nearby home) and it came out later that he was within the proximity of each murder so it was plausible for him to have committed the acts. The axe murders stopped after Elgin's own murder, and for many people, that is even further proof that Elgin was the Annihilator. As for the research resources, the second link describes Christmas for the town and the blissful moments leading up to the discovery of the last two bodies. The entire article is actually an excerpt from a book about the case. The third link is quite interesting; a map of Austin from 1884-1885 with the location that each woman was murdered at is combined with the present-day map of Austin and what now stands in each of those places.
4. The Vamp of Sacramento
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Richard Chase was a serial killer who went on a bloody rampage in the late 70s in Sacramento, CA. His life story is proof of both a massive failure on the part of local mental institutions at that time, and a perfect example of what happens when someone unfit for society is allowed to interact with it. He was infamous for the manner in which he murdered his victims. They weren't emotion/passion killings; his victims were picked at random, then brutally murdered and defiled. As is the case with many serial killers, his first victims were animals. This started in adolescence, where he mutilated animals and ate them raw afterward. As an adult, he had stints in mental institutions, where his behavior towards animals continued with no repercussions from the hospitals he was institutionalized in.
After being released (BTW, how in the hell does that happen? He was still killing animals while he was in there!) and removed from his anti-schizophrenia medications, his behavior worsened, until an accident with his gun resulted in a shot going through someone's kitchen window. A couple of days later, he claimed his first human victim via a random drive-by. His other victims just happened to be in their homes at the time he decided to break into them, and that was how the number of victims rose so quickly in such a short period of time. His second victim was shot, raped and defiled with a knife after dying from the shot to the head. The body was then drained of its blood (which he later bathed in) and further defiled by having dog excrement shoved into the mouth. The second round of murders came a few days later, when Chase broke into another home. A woman was babysitting her son and nephew with her neighbor, and all of them were found shot and butchered in the home. After the woman was murdered (either through gunshot or having her throat slashed), her intestines were removed, her blood was drained, and she had been sodomized with a knife. Chase then left with the woman's nephew, who was only a few months old. The baby had been decapitated and it came out later that his brain matter, along with his blood, had been consumed.
After a coincidental encounter with a former classmate, police discovered that Chase fit the profile of the person they had been searching for with the previous murders. Upon searching his apartment, they found evidence of his crimes in the form of bone, blood and other body parts belonging to both humans and animals. Apparently, some of these body parts were being refrigerated, probably for consumption at a later date. He was later found guilty of his crimes and was sentenced to death, but by then Chase was back on anti-depressants and after saving up enough of the pills, he killed himself in prison. There is a lot of this story that I had to leave out but I strongly recommend checking out the research resources; #2 is probably the most in-depth, detailed account of Richard Chase's path of cannibalism and murder. Having to read these details repeatedly in order to condense them properly for this turned my stomach something serious, I tell ya.
5. The Gorilla Killer/The Dark Strangler
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Earle Leonard Nelson was a man who became known as The Dark Strangler after a series of sex crimes and murders back in the '20s that spanned several states and two countries. He got his name of The Dark Strangler from his typical method of murder, which was strangulation. His other moniker, The Gorilla Killer, came after a testimony from his aunt during his trial in which she detailed his habit of walking on his hands during childhood. Despite showing odd mannerisms from as early as 7, what really turned the tides for Nelson was a streetcar accident that resulted in his being in a coma for a week. He started suffering from increasingly painful headaches, memory loss and exhibiting abnormal behaviors. After moving in with his aunt around 14, he started showing voyeuristic tendencies by secretly watching his cousin disrobe. A short but disastrous stint in the military was followed by an equally short marriage to a much older woman, which ended when she ended up in the hospital with a mental breakdown and Nelson attempted to molest her during a visit. This was followed by attacking a 12-year-old girl and attempting to rape her, and he was locked up for about three years as a result. It is when he was released from the mental hospital that his crimes finally escalated to murder.
After the mental hospital released him for showing 'improvement,' Nelson went on to murder at least 20 women. His history showed that he favored older landladies, as it was easier to gain their trust as a prospective tenant in their buildings. He deviated from that a couple of times, on one occasion killing a woman's eight-month-old baby after killing its mother, and on another occasion committing a triple murder. One of his favorite props was a Bible, as it helped build trust with the landladies. After gaining entry into the home and charming the women with his manners and Christian beliefs, he would then strangle them to death, rape their corpses, and hide the bodies within the rooms.
Many of Nelson's victims were found underneath their beds, and others were found in trunks, attics or closets. This pattern spanned sixteen months from California to Winnipeg, Ontario, Canada. By killing women, then quickly changing his name and moving away, he was able to evade police across the country. Sometimes he would attempt to cash in on those crimes by selling off the person's valuables before leaving town. It was his final murder, in Canada, that led to his capture. The woman had been missing for three days, and that night her husband knelt down at his bedside to pray. It was then that he discovered his wife's body stashed underneath their bed.
The local neighborhood tried their best to look for him but to no avail. The stories surrounding his capture tend to differ, with some saying that Nelson mistakenly boarded a train full of police deputies and others saying that he was captured on foot near the US/Canadian border after escaping from a Winnipeg jail. Either way, shortly after his capture and trial, The Gorilla Killer was hanged in Winnipeg in early 1928. He is recognized for being one of, if not the, first serial sex killers on record. The first resource is from Murderpedia and gives quite a few stories on Nelson's life, while the other two fill in details and show the differences between accounts of events.
*Mandy's Note:
While I was reviewing this post, I realized that because of the amount of info I included with each entry, you'd be here all day if I kept this at the original number of killers I wanted to include. I'd already done the research so I'm still going to include the links I used, but this was already running a bit too long so I cut the final number down to five. So here are a couple of extras!
The Cleveland Torso Murderer (this case was referred to as America's answer to Jack the Ripper back in the '30s because he left a number of similarly mutilated bodies in his wake; the case as a whole is still unsolved today)
Jack the Stripper (the name given to a serial killer who murdered a number of prostitutes in London back in the '60s; the case is often referred to as The Nude Murders because the victims were all found nude)
So that wraps things up for today's post and I apologize that it ran so long. I covered killers in a few capacities last year, from families who killed, to those in the medical field who took liberties with their patients, to black widows who killed the loved ones who trusted them. If you're a fan of true crime, I hope this post had something new for you and I apologize if it didn't. As much as I like true crime, I don't often research it and definitely don't research older cases so all of these were new to me. Either way, I hope you either were able to learn something new or at least find some new websites to check out. Please give the research resources a look; I condensed the stories down quite a bit but each of them have tons of interesting info that I had to leave out. These cases chilled my bones and turned my stomach so I'm off to watch something with rainbows in it. See you in a couple of days!
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