Strange Sight | CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND UNSOLVED CASES

Villisca Axe Murders

[OVERVIEW]

The Villisca axe murders refer the the 8 people who were bludgeoned to death with an axe between June 10, 1912 and June 11, 1912 in the town of Villisca, Iowa.

[DETAILS]

The Moore family consisted of Josiah and Sarah and their four children, Herman (11), Mary (10), Arthur (7), and Paul (5). The family was very well liked.

On the evening of June 10, 1912, the family went to a church for a Child's Day Program. The kids wanted some neighborhood kids to come back home with them to spend the night, that parents agreed. Those kids were Ina (8) and Lena (12) Stillinger.

The program ended at 9:30 pm and the family walked to their home. The arrived somewhere between 9:45 and 10 pm.

[FOUND]

The next day, around 7, Moore's closest neighbor, Mary, came by after concern grew because she hadn't noticed any of them come outside to do their chores, which was extremely odd.

She knocked on the door and when no one answered she tried opening the door, but it was locked. She let their chickens out and called Josiah's brother, Ross. Ross too got no answer from his brother.

Ross had a copy of the house key and used it to open the door. Mary stayed at the door while Ross searched the house. He searched the guest bedroom first where he saw Ina and Lena's bodies on the bed. Moore immediately told Peckham to call Hank Horton, Villisca's primary peace officer, who arrived shortly thereafter. Horton's search of the house revealed that the entire Moore family and the two Stillinger girls had been bludgeoned to death. The murder weapon, an axe belonging to Josiah, was found in the guest room where the Stillinger sisters were found.

Doctors concluded that the murders had taken place between midnight and 5 a.m.

There were two cigarette butts on the attic floor, leading investigators to believe the killer, or killers, waited in the attic until the family got home and fell asleep.

The killer(s) began in the master bedroom, where Josiah and Sarah Moore were sleeping. Josiah received more blows from the axe than any other victim; his face had been cut to such an extent that his eyes were missing. They used the blade of the axe on Josiah while using the blunt end on the rest of the victims.

They proceeded into the children's rooms and bludgeoned Herman, Katherine, Arthur, and Paul in the head in the same manner as their parents. They returned to the master bedroom to inflict more blows on the elder Moores, knocking over a shoe that had filled with blood, before moving downstairs to the guest bedroom and killing Ina and Lena.

Investigators believed that all of the victims except for Lena Stillinger had been asleep when murdered. They thought that she was awake and tried to fight back, as she was found lying crosswise on the bed, and with a defensive wound on her arm. Lena's nightgown was pushed up to her waist and she was wearing no undergarments, leading to law enforcement speculation that the killer(s) sexually molested her or attempted to do so.

All the mirrors were covered, and to this day it's still unknown why.

[SUSPECTS]

Over time many suspects emerged.

[ANDREW SAWYER]

One suspect was a man named Andy Sawyer. No real evidence linked Sawyer to the crime, but his name came up often in grand jury testimonies.

According to Thomas Dyer of Burlington, Iowa, a bridge foreman and pile driver for the Burlington Railroad, S.A. (Andy) Sawyer approached his crew in Creston at 6:00 a.m on the morning the murders were discovered. Sawyer was clean-shaven and wearing a brown suit when he arrived. His shoes were covered in mud and his pants were wet nearly to the knees. He asked for employment and, as Dyer needed an extra man, he was given a job on the spot.