Billy the Axeman

Attacks attributed to this killer are characterized by the slaying of a whole family in their beds by crushing their skulls with a blunt instrument, usually an axe.

[10] The idea that a roaming killer was behind a series of axe murders in the American Midwest was first introduced by the press in 1911, calling him Billy the Axeman.

Many press articles and a number of law enforcement officers therefore considered the possibility that a single killer was responsible for a series of crimes across the Midwest.

The idea of such a killer was then used by Matthew Wilson McClaughry, a Special Agent of the Department of Justice, to connect the axe murders committed by Henry Lee Moore in 1912 with this series.

[5] He initially focused on a series of axe murders that also took place between 1911 and 1912, but happened in the southern states of Texas and Louisiana.

He noticed a number of similarities, such as whole families were killed in the middle of the night, typically by blows with the blunt side of an axe, and many crimes scenes being in close proximity to railroads.

They propose that more murders should be expected given that even the earliest crimes that are usually considered already show a mature modus operandi, suggesting an experienced serial killer behind them.

He would typically enter the house through an unlocked door or a rear window, by removing the screen and placing it against the wall.

First, they observe how often one of the female victims, typically a prepubescent girl, would be found pulled down toward the end of the bed and exposed in a sexually explicit manner.

One is the proximity of many of the crime scenes to logging and mining operations, where someone experienced with handling an axe or pickaxe could find work.

[9] Aaron Mahnke of the Lore podcast has also speculated whether the killer had wiped his fingerprints due to them being on record from a previous incarceration.

However, a series of six family murders that happened on five different occasion between September 1911 and June 1912 in the Midwest are always discussed within the context of these killings.

In Colorado Springs, Ellsworth and Paola, the crime scene was directly next to the railway, whereas in Monmouth and Villisca, it was a couple of blocks away.

However, authorities concluded that a gas pipe, which was found by blood hounds who followed the trail of the killer to a pond near a rail road, was the likely murder weapon.

In addition, a pocket flashlight was found several weeks later, when a fence was removed that stood along the path the blood hounds had identified earlier.

It had some writing being carved into it, containing the words "Loving", "Lovey" or a variant thereof, as well as the place name "Colorado Springs" and the date "Sept. 4, '11".

While Lovey Mitchell was ultimately acquitted after a series of trials, John Wesley Knight was sentenced to 19 years in prison.

[citation needed] This murder was the first time the press began to connect the different crimes and labeled the suspected killer as Billy the Axman.

Despite this second attempt, the public soon focused on the alleged infidelity of Anna Hudson suspecting local suitors as responsible for the murders.

The Sheriff, however, did connect the murder with the earlier killings citing the similarities in the MO and apparent sophistication of the killer.

The last family murder in the Midwestern series occurred less than a week later on the night of June 9 to 10, 1912 in Villisca, Iowa.

She notified Josiah Moore's brother, who, after having made entry into the house, found that all inside had been killed by blows to the head with the blunt side of an axe.

[25] When the murders of the Moore family and their two visitors were discovered the morning of June 10, the police deployed bloodhounds that followed a trail to a junction of two railway lines.

The main suspect was the only surviving member of the family, Ray Pfannschmidt, who, as his defense, blamed the murders on Billy the Axeman.

[27] The main difference to the northern crimes was the fact that all the killings involved families with black or mixed race members.

They cite Klingensmith as a source but believe the crimes of early 1911 show a mature modus operandi, which may indicate an experienced serial killer active by that date.

Depending on how well the additional details in each case agree with the modus operandi established for the Midwestern axe murders, they then try to judge whether the same serial killer could have committed them.

Henry Lee Moore was convicted in Missouri in 1913 for the axe murder of his mother and grandmother and sentenced to life in prison.

In a review article on historical serial killers, Philip Jenkins again named Mitchell as being responsible for the Midwest axe murders.

[5] Paul Müller (or Mueller) was a German-born farmhand who became the main suspect in the 1898 slaying of the Newton family near West Brookfield, Massachusetts[31] and the object of an extended manhunt afterwards.