The Villisca Axe Murders

Almost 95 years ago, long before serial killers and mass murders had become a way of life, two adults and 6 children were found brutally murdered in their beds in the small mid-western town of Villisca Iowa.

During the weeks that followed, life in this small town changed drastically.

Hardware stores ran out of locks and weapons as townspeople armed themselves against an unknown assailant. Newspaper reporters and private detectives flooded the streets. Accusations, rumors and suspicion ran rampant among friends and families. Bloodhounds were brought in. Law enforcement agencies from neighboring counties and states joined forces. Hundreds of interviews filled thousands of pages.

In all honesty though, we will never really know what happened on that dark night inside the home of J.B. and Sarah Moore. The murderer or murderers were never caught and given the many years that have passed, their dark secret was obviously carried with them to their own graves.

For some, the speculation is almost too much to bear and many have convinced themselves that they have discovered the secret to the Villisca Axe Murder Mystery.

I have visited the home, read the newspaper articles of 1912, pored over the grand jury testimonies and the coroners inquest. I have spent hours looking into the eyes of the victims in the few tattered photographs that remain. I have come, in a sense, to know the townspeople of Villisca in 1912. I share their frustration, their anger, their suspicions and their fear. But most of all, I share their pain.

The pain of the unknown.

The pain of a terrible tragedy that forced neighbors to look with suspicion upon neighbors.

The pain of the 20th century.

Originally, the construction of this website was simply a favor to a friend. Over the past several years, however, it has become a way of life. The Moores have become family. Once you've entered this site and been drawn into this story, I can guarantee that it will become a part of your life. At first, you'll feel an insatiable need for information. Until this site went live, that was difficult if not impossible to find. Secondly, you'll find within yourself a desire to know the truth, to unmask the identify of the murder or murderers and see justice done. Finally, you'll feel the pull to the house. You won't be satisfied with anyone else's experiences there and you'll need to have your own. I know. I've been in your shoes.

I can only hope that as you sift through the information we have compiled, that you will find the peace that ultimately comes with this story. According to Sarah Moore, "we can heal and we can overcome, even a tragedy as gruesome as this."

Read the documents, know the people, and if you must- play detective.

But know that each lesson learned in Villisca is personal. Each person that visits this site or this home will come away with something that will change their lives. The murders will never be solved. The tragedies we'll face in our lives, however, can be.

Carol Knight, webmaster

The work on this site is dedicated to the victims of the Villisca Axe Murders.

Private Detectives gather in Villisca, each hoping to be the one to solve the crime.

The Dates: June 9th and 10th, 1912

Lena and Ina Stillinger, the daughters of Joseph Stillinger left their home for church early Sunday morning. They planned on having dinner with their grandmother after the morning service, spending the afternoon with her and then returning to her home to spend the night after the Children's Day exercises concluded. The girls, however, were invited by Katherine Moore to spend the night at the Moore home instead. Prior to leaving for the exercises, Mr. Moore placed a call to the Stillinger home to ask permission for the girls to stay overnight. Blanche, Lena and Ina's older sister told Mr. Moore that her parents were both outdoors but she would pass the message along to them.

The Children's Day Program at the Presbyterian Church was an annual event and began at approximately 8:00 p.m on Sunday evening June 9th. According to witnesses, Sarah Moore coordinated the exercises. All of the Moore children as well as the Stillinger girls participated. Josiah Moore sat in the congregation. The program ended at 9:30 pm and the Moore family, along with the Stillinger sisters, walked home from the church. They entered their home sometime between 9:45 and 10:00 p.m.

The home of J.B. and Sara Moore in 1912

The following morning, at approximately 5:00 a.m., Mary Peckham, the Moore's next door neighbor stepped into her yard to hang laundry. At approximately 7:00 am. she realized that not only had the Moore's not been outside nor the chores began, the house itself seemed unusually still. Between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m., Mary Peckham approached the house and knocked on the door. When she received no response, she attempted to open the door only to find it locked from the inside. After letting out the Moore's chickens, Mary placed a call to Josiah's brother, Ross Moore - setting into place one of the most mismanaged murder investigations to ever be undertaken.

The Crime: Based on the testimonies of Mary Peckham and those who saw the Moore's at the Children's Day Exercise, it is believed that sometime between midnight and 5:00 a.m., an unknown assailant entered the home of J.B. Moore and brutally murdered all occupants of the house with an axe.

The Victims: Upon arriving at the home of his brother, Ross Moore attempted to look in a bedroom window, knocked on the door and shouted, attempting to raise someone inside the house. When that failed, he produced his keys and found one that opened the door. Although Mrs. Peckham followed him onto the porch, she did not enter the parlor. Ross went no farther than the room off the parlor. When he opened the bedroom door, he saw two bodies on the bed and dark stains on the bedclothes. He returned immediately to the porch and told Mrs. Peckham to call the sheriff. The two bodies in the room downstairs were Lena Stillinger, age 12 and her sister Ina, age 8, houseguests of the Moore children. The remaining members of the Moore Family were found in the upstairs bedrooms by City Marshall Hank Horton who arrived shortly. Every person in the house had been brutally murdered, their skulls crushed as they slept. Josiah Moore, age 43, Sarah Montgomery Moore, age 44, Herman Moore, age 11, Katherine Moore, age 9, Boyd Moore, 7 and Paul Moore, 5 -as well as the Stillinger Sisters.

The Crime Scene: Once the murderers were discovered, the news traveled quickly in the small town. As neighbors and curious onlookers converged on the house, law enforcement officials quickly lost control of the crime scene. It is said that up to a hundred people traipsed through the house gawking at the bodies before the Villisca National Guard finally arrived around noon to cordon off the area and secure the home. The only known facts regarding the scene of the crime were:

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Eight people had been bludgeoned to death, presumably with an axe left at the crime scene. It appeared all had been asleep at the time of the murders.
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Doctors estimated time of death as somewhere shortly after midnight.
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Curtains were drawn on all of the windows in the house except two, which did not have curtains. Those windows were covered with clothing belonging to the Moore's.
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All of the victims faces were covered with the bedclothes after they were killed.
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A kerosene lamp was found at the foot of the bed of Josiah and Sarah. The chimney was off and the wick had been turned back. The chimney was found under the dresser.
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A similar lamp was found at the foot of the bed of the Stillinger girls, the chimney was also off.
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The axe was found in the room occupied by the Stillinger girls. It was bloody but an attempt had been made to wipe it off. The axe belonged to Josiah Moore.
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The ceilings in the parent's bedroom and the children's room showed gouge marks apparently made by the upswing of the axe.
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A piece of a keychain was found on the floor in the downstairs bedroom.
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A pan of bloody water was discovered on the kitchen table as well as a plate of uneaten food.
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The doors were all locked.
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The bodies of Lena and Ina Stillinger were found in the downstairs bedroom off the parlor. Ina was sleeping closest to the wall with Lena on her right side. A gray coat covered her face. Lena, according to the inquest testimony of Dr. F.S. Williams, "lay as though she had kicked one foot out of her bed sideways, with one hand up under the pillow on her right side, half sideways, not clear over but just a little. Apparently she had been struck in the head and squirmed down in the bed, perhaps one-third of the way." Lena's nightgown was slid up and she was wearing no undergarments. There was a bloodstain on the inside of her right knee and what the doctors assumed was a defensive wound on her arm.
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Dr. Linquist, the coroner, reported a slab of bacon on the floor in the downstairs bedroom lying near the axe. Weighing nearly 2 pounds, it was wrapped in what he though may be a dishtowel. A second slab of bacon about the same size was found in the icebox.
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Linquist also made note of one of Sarah's shoes which he found on Josiah's side of the bed. The shoe was found on it's side, however it had blood inside as well as under it. It was Linquist's assumption that the shoe had been upright when Josiah was first struck and that blood ran off the bed into the shoe. He believed the killer later returned to the bed to inflict additional blows and subsequently knocked the shoe over.

Had these murders been committed today, it is almost certain that law enforcement officials would have easily solved the crime and brought the murderer to justice. Almost 100 years later, however, the Villisca Axe Murders remain a mystery. The murder or murderers are probably long dead, their gruesome secret buried with them. In hindsight, it's easy to blame the officials at the time, for what could only be considered a gross mismanagement of what little evidence may have remained. It's important, however, that we also realize that in 1912 - fingerprinting was a fairly new venture, crime scene photographs were unheard of and DNA testing unimaginable. Although a local druggist had the forethought to attempt to enter the crime scene with his camera, he was promptly thrown out.

It is quite probable that even if the crime scene had been secure, the evidence would not have provided any real clues. There was no central database of fingerprints so even if any had been recovered, the murderer would have had to have been apprehended for a comparision. Granted, prints may have either convicted or cleared Kelly and Mansfield. Frank Jones, however, was suspected only of masterminding the plot, not actually committing the murders himself. Fingerprints would not have exonerated him.

The History of Villisca

In the early 1900's, Villisca Iowa, a midwestern town of 2500, was flourishing. Businesses lined the streets and several dozen trains pulled into the depot on a daily basis. According to D.N. Smith, a Chicago, Burlington, Quincy Railroad employee, Villisca meant "Pretty Place" or "Pleasant View."

In 1912, the town built the only publicly funded Armory in the state of Iowa. The Company housed there participated in the 1916 Mexican Expedition, WWI and WWII, as well as the Korean and Vietnam Wars. During World War II, Montgomery County lost more men per capita than any other county in the United States. Villisca surely contributed several of her own to that number.

According to the Villisca Review, Robert Ross Moore (pictured above) spent over 40 years in the Army and the National Guard. He was born in 1905, retired from the service in 1963 and died in 1991. Mr. Moore fought in World War II and led troops in battle in North Africa. The picture above was taken upon Moore's return to Villisca. Also in the photograph are Moore's wife, Dorothy Dee Moore, his daughter Nancy, and his nephew, Michael Croxdale. Robert Moore was Josiah Moore's nephew. His father, Ross, was J.B.'s brother. While Mr. Moore was not in the service, he was a partner in the Moore Brothers drugstore in Villisca, a bailiff of the Montgomery District Court and the city clerk in Red Oak, Iowa. He also had a son, Robert Moore Jr. born a few years after the picture was taken. He is the only living member of the Moore family and lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Unfortunately for the citizens of this close-knit community, however, these accomplishments will be forever overshadowed by the horrific deaths of eight of their own. On June 10, 1912, the tranquility of this "Pretty Place" was shattered by the discovery of the Villisca Axe murders. The Moore Family, well-known and well-liked Villisca residents and two overnight guests were found murdered in their beds. Little known to it's residents was the possibility that their town was named, not after a "pretty place" but for the Indian word "Wallisca" which means "evil spirit."

Villisca Churc hes

Ninety-four years later, the unsolved murders remain a part of Villisca's past that continues to haunt its future.

While several of Villisca's historic buildings have been demolished, the Axe Murder House, as it is known, has been placed on the National Registry of Historic Buildings. Owners Darwin and Martha Linn, have returned the home to its original condition and hope that renewed interest in the mystery may somehow help Villisca heal her wounds and rejuvenate her economy.

The Chutes

Aries Works Entertainment, an Iowa independent film company completed shooting of a feature length film, "Haunting Villisca" in the summer of 2005. Please visit the Movie page for more information and updates on this project. Published books include, Villisca, The true account of the unsolved mass murders that stunned the nation," by Roy Marshall, and "Morning Ran Red", a historical fiction novel based loosely on the Villisca murders, by Stephen Bowman. For more information on these publications, visit the Books page at left.

Villisca Armory, Town Hall and Library

Villisca is located in Montgomery County, Iowa, southwest of the county seat of Red Oak and very close to Viking Lake State Park. The county population on July 1, 1999 was 11,707, a decrease of 369 from the 1990 census. Villisca's population in 1990 was approximately 1,332. That number included about 638 families. Villisca covers approximately 4 square kilometers. The largest closest metropolitan areas are Des Moines (the Iowa State Capital) and Omaha, Nebraska.

Villisca Town Square

Although businesses in Villisca are few, the town is rich in history. The county seat of Montgomery County is Red Oak, located just a few miles from Villisca. It was in Red Oak that the trial of Reverend George Lyn Jacklin Kelly was held. Click here for a tour of the Montgomery County Courthouse.

The Streets of Villisca

The citizens of Villisca have struggled for decades with the town's association to one of the grisliest crimes to be committed in the state of Iowa. Ten years ago, visitors inquiring about the axe murders were met with cold stares and turned heads. Today, however, these same residents seem to be on the verge of accepting the one thing that they cannot change. If Villisca is to recover and continue to grow, they must accept and eventually embrace the their history.

The Villisca Historical Society has been a somewhat of a "ghost" in Villisca for some time now. Although the Society officially existed, its accomplishments were few and any interest displayed by outsiders rebuffed. The recent announcement that the Society has finally received it's 501(c)3 designation is a spark of hope for those of us who are sincerely interested in seeing the history of the town documented and preserved rather than swept under a rug. As one of the goals of this society is to preserve the documents related to the Villisca Axe Murders, we wish them luck and pledge our support. One of the first items on their agenda, however, is to locate and purchase a building in Villisca to house their historical items. With the number of closed and abandoned buildings on the town square, this shouldn't prove too difficult. If you'd like to contribute to the growth of the Society, please contact Mary Hansen at 113 West 5th Street, Villisca, IA 50864.