Murder of Frank J. Lee

 On April 18, 1878, 33-year-old Frank J. Lee, a farmer, was driving his wagon home from the market in Chatham County, Georgia. A black youth, 18-year-old Frank Perry, would rob Frank Lee and in the process would shoot him. He would live a little bit after but passed away. 

Frank Perry would flee to North Carolina where he was caught. He would go on trial and would be found guilty and set to hang. He would be hanged in Savannah on June 26, 1878.

SOURCES:

Legal Executions in Georgia pg 26

Georgia Weekley Telegraph, Journal, and Messenger April 23, 1878

Georgia Weekley Telegraph, Journal, and Messenger May 7, 1878

Murder of Billy Stone

On December 11, 1914, 21-year-old Billy Stone was working at Whitby Junction in Whitby, Ontario, Canada. He was working as a telegraph operator. At 12:05 an accountant for the local asylum walking by. Billy had turned off the lights and the only one on was the one on his desk.

At 12:37 someone would enter Whitby Junction and shoot Billy in the chest. In his last moments, he would go to his desk and call the Bell Telephone Switchboard. Billy would tell them "I'm shot, I'm all done in". 

When law enforcement arrived Billy was dead. He had fallen backward onto the floor and the phone hung over the side. He had fallen from where he was standing and died. There was no gunshot powder on Billy's clothes meaning that he was shot from a distance. 

The scene was not displaced or anything. The killer did not seem to have stolen any money or objects from the station. There were no broken windows the only thing that was out of place was that the ticket window was closed and unlocked. It's believed that this was done after or during Billy's murder. It was also possible that since there was no struggle Billy was shot through the ticket window when it was open.

However, there was evidence that they had searched Billy's body as a bloody handprint was found on the side of a cabinet near the desk. The killer had used it to help stand up after getting Billy's blood on his hands. There was no way Billy made this print as there was almost no blood on his hands.  There was nothing in Billy's pockets and even his watch was missing. Strangely, Billy was robbed, but the station wasn't.

It's unknown who killed Billy, but there are a few motives. One was that Billy's father had killed him for money. His father was examined as a suspect. Feeling like he had become the main suspect in his son's murder he would end his life. He would lie on the tracks and be hit by a train.

A friend of  Billy's claimed that he thought that Italians had something to do with the murder. Another friend stated that he was not planning to marry and was talking to a woman at the time. It could be possible that it was because of a jealous lover.  It was also possible he was killed over a potential gambling debt. 

SOURCES:
Wikipedia

The Standard December 12, 1914

The Tronto Star December 14, 1914

The Province December 17, 1914

The Standard April 22, 1914

Murder of John "Henry" Bernard Nurre and attemped murder of Elizabeth Nurre

small typo on image it's 1814 not 1914

In 1890, 76-year-old John "Henry" Nurre and his third wife 57-year-old Elizabeth. The couple had been married for 20 years and lived in rural Clinton County near Brown’s Station, Iowa. The area that the couple were living in was mostly Catholic including them. They would seldom miss any meetings at the church.

Henry was also one of the richest men in their area of the state and was highly esteemed by many. He had more real estate mortgages in Jackson County than anyone else. For the last 4 years, he was a member of the Board of Supervisors of Clinton County. It was estimated that he was worth $250,000.

On March 12, 1890, Henry and Elizabeth did not show up to the 13-hour church meeting. This was concerning, however, it wasn't until they didn't show up to the Thursday meeting people got worried. Elizabeth's son-in-law Theo Hullman, and the Priest were worried because the two never showed up to the meeting. This was unusual for them. The two would go home and investigate to see why the two didn't show up.

When they went inside the house they would go into either the kitchen and find Henry dead near the table. He was in a large pool of blood and had a large gash on the back of his head and another which hit his jugular vein in his neck.

Elizabeth was found unconscious in their bedroom in the attic above the kitchen. She had been attacked with a hammer and she had nine deep scalp wounds. She would stay unconscious for several more weeks before regaining consciousness. However, she could not provide any information on what had happened.

It's believed that the attack happened on the evening of March 11th. Henry was sitting in the sitting room responding to a letter from his son. The letter was received on the 10th and the letter Henry was writing was dated the 11th. It seemed Henry was nearly finished with the letter when he was killed.

The murderer or murderers tried to clean up the pool of blood. There were clothes stained with the blood found on the teakettle. They then dragged Henry into the kitchen. It's unknown why they had done this, but maybe they were thinking of destroying the scene and never got to do it for some reason.

Elizabeth must have witnessed the murder as it seemed that she had run to their bedroom in the attic. She had tried to barricade the door, but they had broken it open with a poker. They would then attack her with the poker and then the hammer when they found it. The room was left a mess with the bestead broken to pieces, the bedding scattered and blood covered almost everything in the room. It was a miracle that she survived.

In another bedroom, a safe was found. It was unknown if the killer or killers were able to get it open, but the dial had been broken off. In the same room, there was a little satchel that Henry was known to carry money and papers. One of Elizabeth's skirts was lying over it and it wasn't seen by the killers. Inside was $1,105 and some papers indicating he was planning to go to Preston that night. Likely after he was done writing his letter and eating dinner.

Theo stated that it was not normal for Henry to have that much cash on him at once and usually only carried around $100 to $150. However, he himself had recently paid him the $1,000 on Sunday so it must have been that money in his satchel.

SOURCES:
Iowa Cold Cases

Find a Grave

Murder of Frances Levin

Photo of the Crime Scene

On the afternoon of July 19, 1933, 61-year-old Frances Levin was at home her home at Cheetham Hill Rd. in Manchester, England, with her maid Ms. Phillips. Frances was reading a novelette in the living room and her maid went to sew her bedroom around 2:30 p.m. Before going upstairs she opened the back door to let fresh air in. There was no one else in the home at the time. When the maid saw a man walking along the side passage of the house she figured it was the same man asking about the chickens Frances's brother kept behind the house. 

Ms. Phillips knew something was wrong when she came down around 4:20. She would go downstairs to the kitchen and see the poker on the hearthrug. There was blood on it and then she saw a bloodied cricket shirt on the table. Instead of staying investigating she left the home to an electrician, Samuel Woodcock, working on a car next door. He would find Frances in the living room on the settee. She had been bludgeoned but was still alive at the time. When Samuel tried to speak to her she would open her eyes and move her head, but nothing else. She would later die that evening.

Frances was a wealthy widow. Just before her death, she counted 9 shillings in her purse in front of her solicitor. Someone likely saw the door open and took the opportunity to rob the place. There was no evidence of a fight over her purse, but the money was gone. It could have been that she spooked the intruder and they killed her in surprise or fear of being caught. The man was described as of average height and weight. 

Hundreds of people were Police would come upon a suspect who matched the subscription that the maid had given. 47-year-old William Burtoft. He had one eye, a stocky build, and was white-haired. He was an unemployed seaman with no fixed address. He had a history of theft, in 1924 he attacked a woman during a robbery. He was an alcoholic and was addicted to meth. 

They detained him in Hyde a town about 7 miles away. William was questioned for many hours in the third degree. At one point police offer would allegedly offer a bottle of whisky to him in order to ease a confession. Police would deny that they had done this. William will give a confession as follows:

"I admit being the murderer of Mrs. Levin. Owing to drinking methylated spirit and also to the maid being where she was the old lady lost her life. I was cool, calm, and collected. Of course, when I got in the front room there the old lady got up and asked who was this. And I went back and get the poker off the fire range and struck her repeatedly.

I was not three minutes or so in the house. I was selling discharged soldiers' cards. Big Bertha will tell you I left her to sell some. I had no intention to do it, but—well I did it. I was sorry when I thought about it after. After I did it I took the poker back into the kitchen and wiped it on a shirt to remove any fingerprints""

There was an identification parade for her to pick out who she thought had done the crime. She had to do it by the way the walked because she did not see the man's face. She did not pick William and picked someone else.

On November 12, 1933, William went on trial and plead not guilty. The trial would last for two days and he was found guilty. The police used the "voluntary statement" from him in court, and William was never called up to give evidence to defend himself. This lonely and what today would be considered incompetent evidence condemned him. He was set to be executed by hanging. After he was convicted he protested from his cell that it was a false confession and even wrote to Home Security for help.  His appeal on December 4th was rejected. On December 19, 1933, William was hanged at the Strangeway Goals in Manchester.

It's unknown if William had done the crime, but it's known that he did not get a fair trial. On March 6, 2018, the show Murder, Mystery, and  My Family looked at the case. Using a present-day analysis the confession was deemed to have been manufactured by the police and was written in a style as if it was a story. It was unethical for William to be offered an alcohol incentive and unethical for the Judge to direct the jury and praise the police for the confession showing bias.

Photo of William Burtoft

SOURCES:

British Executions

Find a Grave

Midland Daily Telegraph July 19, 1933

Evening Dispatch August 3, 1933

Western Morning News  August 4, 1933

The Western Daily Press and Bristol Mirror August 4, 1933

The Guardian November 29, 1933

The Western Daily Press and Bristol Manor December 30, 1933

The Daily Mail

Murder of Julia Pratt

 On April 7, 1958 the body of 54-year-old Julia Pratt was found where she worked at Sally's Store in Ocklawaha, Florida. She had been hit over the head and killed. The store had been ransacked and robbed. 

SOURCES:

Marion County Sheriff's Office

The Miami Herald April 9, 1958

Murder of Catherine Didluke

 On April 9, 1959, the daughter of 63-year-old Catherine Didluke went to her home in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Catherine did not answer the door and her daughter worried about her contacting the police. Inside Catherine's body was found. Her home had been robbed and she had been beaten to death with at least 2 hammer blows to the head.

This case is still unsolved.

SOURCES:

Toronto Police Service

Edmonton Journal April 11, 1959

Toronto Sun April 5, 2021

Murder of Doris E. Baker

 

Doris E. Baker was a mother of two and wife of Leo Baker. She owned Floor Covering Store, Inc. with her husband in Barre, Vermont. On Wednesday, February 19, 1958, at 4:40 John A. Corrigan, a customer, came into the Baker's store in order to pick up his linoleum order. He at first saw nobody, but then spotted 45-year-old Doris E. Baker lying sprawled behind the counter. 

She had been beaten with a hammer and then her throat was sliced and other parts of her were also cut. It could have also been a sexual assault. It was believed that it was either done by a sexual deviant and or a robbery gone wrong.

$50 was stolen from the store which would be equal to $425.06 in today's money. But her purse which had $150 in it was left untouched at the scene. Later there was a bloodstained $10 bill found and it could be possible that it was part of the money that was stolen.

There have been many suspects involved in this case. One suspect was Parran Youngblood a deaf/mute man who was seen in Barre that day. He was later shot and killed in Georgia in 1958 for supposedly kidnapping a 7-year-old child. There was no solid evidence that it was him. There were other suspects also, but none were found to be prosecuted with the murder of Mrs. Baker.

As a result of Doris's death, many of the residents in Barre became paranoid and scared. Several stores commented that they had sold out or almost sold out on-chain latch door locks and other kinds of door locks. Many residents even were scared to even let political door-to-door campaign members enter their house thinking that it may be the murderer.


SOURCES:

Vermont

The Burlington Free Press Feb. 22, 1958

The Burlington Free Press Feb. 25, 1958 

Bennington Banner April 2, 1958

The Burlington Free Press April 9, 1958

Bennington Banner August 30, 1958

Murder of Jim and John Denningfield

 On Sunday, December 18, 1927, The bodies of 55-year-old Jim Dennifield, and his son 9-year-old John were found murdered in their Dacula, Georgia by a neighbor. When they were found the two hounds stayed with John laying with him as if trying to protect him from further harm. 

It's possible that this happened on the Friday night before being found. Jim had quartered and fed his stock. His son was already preparing to go to bed when they were attacked. Jim was known to be distrustful of banks and was likely hiding money in his home. This is possibly why the killers/robbers followed the farmer home and took a cracked door as an opportunity.

Jim would fight the intruders and his son would hide under a lint pile in the adjoining room. The killer would hit Jim with an ax or similar weapon under the chin almost decapitating him and then crushed his head. The killers would drag out the 9-year-old and make him tell them where the money was hidden. He told them that the money was hidden under planks. They left no witnesses after they got the $500 (equivalent to$7,358 today). They killed the boy hacking him with the ax on a cot. 

There were bloody fingerprints found at the scene. There was some on the mantle and on the door. Tracks lead to an abandoned sawmill near the home about 500 yards away. There was evidence of them leaving in a car. 

I could only find the initial articles on this case on December 19th. I couldn't find if this case was solved or not. 

SOURCES:

The Atlanta Constitution December 19, 1927 (Part 1) (Part 2)

The Orlando Sentinel December 19, 1927

The Knoxville Journal December 19, 1927

Johnson City Staff News December 19, 1927

Unsolved Murder of Donald Keyes

On March 8, 1955, 24-year-old Donald Keyes was working the night shift at the Checker Oil Station in Columbus, Ohio. It was believed that between 1:30 a.m. and 1:40 a.m. was when the robbery and murder occurred. He was forced to lie on the floor in the storage room with his head on a pillow and the murderer shot him in the side of the face.

Donald was going to college at the time and was studying to become a teacher. He left behind two young children and his wife.

SOURCES:
Dispatch
Ohio Attorney General