Those who broke into the home of a brutally murdered family were warned: don’t go in, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life

Eight people died in one night and life in a quiet town that had never seen crime before was forever changed. The Vilisca city massacre is one of the unexplained historical secrets, according to a story posted on historicmysteries.com.

Viliscos Town, Iowa

19 a. late 20th century In the early 19th century, Vilisca in Montgomery County, Iowa, was a prosperous city whose people interacted closely with each other. There were only 2,500 inhabitants, but the conditions for developing various businesses were favorable, and several tycoons quickly took advantage of this.

Life in the city flowed smoothly, only the trains that passed through the countryside disturbed the peace of the townspeople. Villisco ran several businesses, as well as the first local-funded US military exercise base.

And these days, Villisca has the charm of a small town, only to be darkened forever by the horrible 1912s. June events.

Victims

That fateful night at Villisco killed eight people: the entire Moore family and two family guests: Josiah B. Moore, 43, Sarah Moore, 39, Herman Montgomery Moore, 11, Mary Katherine Moore, 10, Arthur Boyd Moore, 7, Paul Vernon Moore, 5, Ina Mae Stillinger, 8, and Lena Gertrude Stillinger, 12.

Moore family

Josiah B. Moore was a successful Villisco businessman who followed whatever it took. Up to 30 m. He amassed a considerable fortune, then married and had four children with his wife Sarah. In the city, Moore loved family members and treated them as honest and good-hearted people. The family attended church and had strong and warm relationships with many members of the community. It is true that the head of the family, Josiah, had several enemies in his personal and professional life.

1912 June 10

On the morning of June 10, Josías and Sara prepared the children for the intense day they had planned. Children’s Day was held at the local Presbyterian church and Sarah was one of the organizers of the celebration. Various events lasted into the night, the children’s performances ended around 9:30 p.m.

Along with Moore’s family, two neighbors, Lena and Ina Stillinger, attended the party and had asked their parents to allow them to spend the night with Moore’s girls, with whom they were friends.

Households with church guests came home, everyone ate a snack and went to sleep. Since then, none have seen him alive again.

1912 June 11

The next morning, 7.30pm. Mary Peckham, a neighbor who walked in, was surprised that Moore’s home was unusually quiet – the curtains were still closed and no members of the large family could be seen outside. Mary called Josiah’s brother Ross to come see what was going on. He arrived at 8 pm Upon entering the house, he first opened the bedroom door on the ground floor and, to his great horror, saw that the bloody beds covered two bodies, Josiah and Sarah Moore.

Ross called the chief of police and told him about the horrible incident.

Half an hour later, Police Chief Henry Horton arrived at the victims’ home. He saw dead people lying on all the beds, and in the room where the Stillinger girls were found, a bloody ax was dropped, which later turned out to have buried all eight victims.

The place of the massacre

Rumors of the horrible massacre quickly spread through Villiscas. Police officers and a local doctor inspected the crime scene and the bodies. Dr. FS Williams found that the crime occurred between midnight and 5 pm in the morning.

The victims were found in blood clans, stung on beds. Each victim was hit between 20 and 30 times with an ax. The killer cut Josiah with an ax blade and struck all the other victims with the blunt side. As a result, law enforcement guessed that the killer’s true target might have been Josiah.

Seven victims died in their sleep, and 12 m. Lena Stillinger probably did not sleep, as indicated by the wound on her arm (probably raised defensively) and the position of her body, the girl was lying on the bed.

The limbs and heads were not cut off from the victims, there was no evidence of a crime of a sexual nature, all the victims died from blows to the head. Spurts of blood could be seen on the ceiling of the hosts’ bedroom.

Evidence

Rather strange finds were also found at the crime scene. Two cigarette butts were found in the attic, indicating that the intruder was waiting for everyone to calm down, and then, lighting a kerosene lamp, he went through all the houses and killed everyone they found.

On the kitchen table, the police found a plate with food and a container of bloody water; the killer probably washed his hands. He had covered various mirrors with mirrors, glass inserts on doors, and other surfaces. The strangest thing is that the killer left about 2 kg of pork ham in Stillinger’s girls room. When he left, he locked the front door and took the keys.

On the afternoon of June 11, a crowd of people rushed toward Moore’s home. Dr. FS Williams warned them: “Do not go in, you will regret it for the rest of your life.”

Subsequent events

Despite the doctor’s warning, the Villiscos neighbors gathered at Moore’s home and entered. Forensic medicine was far less advanced at the time, making it virtually impossible to find the offender’s DNA.

The local police had very little evidence. They searched the entire town, its surroundings, interviewed part of the population, but given that the murderer ignored the police for at least three hours, it was concluded that he had already fled the town.

Subsequently, over the years, several suspects emerged, some even admitted to being the Villiscos killers.

Lynas George Jacklinas Kelly

Itinerant pastor George Kelly first came to Villisco on June 10 to attend a Sunday school led by Sarah Moore. The next morning he left to catch an early train west.

The rumors had not yet spread massively when he told several fellow travelers about the murder found in Villisco and even mentioned that the victims had killed the sleeping ones.

Kelly returned to Villisco a couple of weeks later, pretended to be a detective from another city, and went to Moore’s home with investigators.

When the police learned of Kelly’s past, he became a suspect. As a teenager, Kelly had a fairly severe mental disorder, followed by sexual dysfunction. He later traveled to churches in Iowa and neighboring states, earning a reputation as an eccentric man.

1917 jurors found Mr. Kelly guilty of murdering Lena Stillinger. In August of that year, he confessed, stating that God whispered in his ear and ordered the children to be sacrificed.

Still, given his mental illness, the court ruled that Kelly was not guilty.

Henry lee moore

Henry Lee Moore (not a relative of the Moore family) – a murderer who killed his mother and grandmother with an ax a few months ago, a crime very similar to the Villiscas massacre. According to HL Moore himself, he wanted to take possession of his house in Missouri. At a similar time, when Henry became a suspect, several ax murders were carried out in the county. An investigator into the Villiscas massacre began to believe that Henry was the killer who carried out similar attacks in Colorado, Kansas and Illinois. But due to lack of evidence, he had to be released.

William Mansfield

Two years after the Villiscas massacre, the alleged maniac killer killed his wife, daughter, and father-in-law in a manner similar to the murder of the Moore family.

Investigators later concluded that he, too, was guilty of the ax massacre in Colorado, Kansas, and even suspected that he was a notorious New Orleans killer who buried the victims with an ax.

In the state of Illinois, the killer covered the windows so that he could not see what was happening inside, just like in Villisco. After a while, it became clear that Mansfield was in Illinois at the time of the Villisco massacre. Later, a person testified that he saw Mansfield boarding a train in Clarinda, 20 minutes away. Villiscos road.

Frank F. Jones

Frank F. Jones was a Villisco businessman who also had considerable political influence on campus. Mr. Moore was his employee, and then he started building his own business. It is true that when he left, he took over a large portion of F. Jones’s clients.

According to the neighbors of Villiscos, J. Moore and F. Jones hated each other. But law enforcement officials doubted that Jones had decided to kill the competitor.

There were also rumors of Moore’s novel with F. Jones’s March.

The house where the victims lived

More than 100 years after the horrific events, the home of the murdered family still stands on a quiet street. The surrounding residential houses are being repaired and renovated, and this house remains as stagnant in time: there is no electricity, water supply, the curtains are constantly closed, the doors and windows are covered with boards. In the courtyard there is a board with the inscription “House of the Villisco Massacre”.

The house is a local celebrity, attracting those who are tempted by horrible secrets. The house has been renovated and now houses a museum with the same furniture, the same beds where the Moore family slept forever.

Many tried to find out who was responsible for the Villiscos massacre, but so far no one has been able to do so.