The Villisca Axe Murder House

This is the Villisca Axe Murder House.

It is located at 508 East 2nd Street in Villisca, Iowa.

Between the night of June 9 and the early hours of June 10, 1912, an unidentified killer entered the residence and murdered eight people with an axe.

The victims were Josiah B. and Sarah Moore, their four children (aged 5-11), and two of the children's friends (aged 8 and 12).

One theory posits that the offender patiently waited in the attic for the Moore family to return home from a local church.

However, the cellar door was later found unlocked.

The prevailing theory is that the killer entered the home through the cellar, grabbed an axe, and attacked the family while they slept.

It is believed that most of the victims were asleep when the attack took place. One of the children's friends, Lena Stillinger (12), was the only person who suffered defensive wounds.

An English-born traveling minister named Reverend George Kelly became the main suspect after investigators learned that he had left Villisca just hours after the murders.

Kelly had a history of mental illness and deviant behavior. He was a voyeur and arsonist who sexually harassed young women and girls.

On the evening before the attacks, the Moore family attended the Children's Day service at their local church, where Kelly was a guest minister.

In the weeks that followed, he reportedly displayed an unhealthy fascination with the case by sending letters to the police and relatives of the family. He even claimed to have heard sounds on the night in question.

One week after the murders, Kelly allegedly had a bloody shirt cleaned at a drugstore.

Despite his behavior, investigators initially ruled him out due to his slight build. At the time, they did not believe that a 5'2" man was capable of such a crime.

The authorities finally tried Kelly for the murders five years later. However, due to the passage of time, witnesses struggled to recall key details.

Little is known about Kelly's movements following his acquittal. On April 6, 1959, he died in a psychiatric hospital in Central Islip, New York, at the age of 80.

Although there were several suspects besides Kelly, none of them were ever charged with the crime.

The murders remain unsolved to this day.