Bizarre Murder Mysteries- The Fourth Case

The Axed victims.

The mystery of the murders of the Moore family and two guests in Villisca, Iowa on June 10, 1912, were published in the form of a book, The Man From the Train, in 2017 by Bill James and his daughter Rachel McCarthy James. They claimed that they solved the mystery. They apparently identified a man named Paul Mueller and laid out a case for Mueller having ranged across the US and into Canada, killing up to 100.

Although the authors made quite a convincing and believable case, rather the truth in their version, the reality remains that even after one hundred and seven years, this case still remains unsolved and there is hardly a chance in the future that this case will be solved.

The details of the Moore murders are horrific and strange, and perhaps appear more bizarre because of the place where they occurred. These murders occurred in a sleepy town in the southwest corner of Iowa with a population of just over 1100.

On the night of June 9, the 43-year-old Josiah Moore, along with wife Sarah and their children Herman, Mary Katherine, Arthur, and Paul, headed home from Children's' Day events at their church. With them were Mary Katherine's friends Ina Mae and Lena Stillinger. Someone, as the reports suggest, was waiting for the group in the attic of the Moore home at 508 E 2nd St. He apparently smoked a couple of cigarettes while he waited. Then, after some time, maybe between midnight and 5 a.m. in the morning, he killed everyone in the house. His murder weapon? It was Josiah's own ax. He used the blunt edge on everyone except for Josiah, who received more blows than anyone. How brutal can one be? A slab of the uncooked pork was found lying beside the ax in the guest room where the Stillingers were killed. Surprisingly, all the curtains in the house were drawn.

What do you think actually happened? Was the killer a stranger? Or someone who knew them? If it was so, then who was behind it? And more importantly what was his motive?