The Villisca Axe Murders (Iowa, 1912)

On June 10, 1912, the Moore family and two visiting friends were found brutally murdered in the Moore house in Villisca, Iowa. All six family members and two guests (two young girls) had been bludgeoned to death with an axe. No suspect was definitively charged, though authorities considered local enemies, a transient minister, and other drifters. The crime scene was compromised early due to local curiosity-seekers roaming through the house.