In Part 2 of Murder: True Crime Stories, host Carter Roy follows the decades of suspects, theories and trials that never produced a conviction for the Villisca axe murders. The investigation started with a crime scene hundreds of people had already walked through, and it never recovered from that. Private detectives, grand juries, a state senator and a traveling minister all became part of the case. The minister, Lyn George Jacklin Kelly, was tried twice for the murders: the first jury hung and the second acquitted him, and no one has been charged in the years since. Researchers have pointed to a run of axe killings along Midwestern rail lines in the same era as a possible connection, though nothing has ever tied any of them to the house on East Second Street. More than a century later, the Villisca axe murders remain officially unsolved, no one has been convicted, and eight people, six of them children, have never had an answer. Please note, this episode contains descriptions of extreme violence and may not be suitable for all audiences.

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If you’re new here, don’t forget to follow Murder: True Crime Stories to never miss a case! Want all 2 parts of every case all at once? Join Crime House+ and get both parts of each case dropped at once ad-free. Join at crimehouseplus.com or if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts, tap “Try Free” at the top of this show’s page. Murder: True Crime Stories is a Crime House Original Podcast, powered by PAVE Studios.

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On the evening of June 9th, 1912, Josiah and Sarah Moore walked their four children home from a Children's Day program at the Presbyterian church in Villisca, Iowa. Two young sisters, Lena and Ina Stillinger, had been invited to stay the night. By the next morning all eight of them had been murdered with an axe in their beds while the small southwestern Iowa town slept, in what became known as the Villisca axe murders. Josiah ran the local farm implement dealership and Sarah had organized the church program that evening; the Moore children were 11, 10, 7 and 5. There was no forced entry, nothing of value taken, and no one who heard a sound. In Part 1 of Murder: True Crime Stories, host Carter Roy introduces the Moore family and the town where they were among the best known names, the night eight people were killed behind unlocked doors, and the crime scene that curious neighbors walked through for more than a day before the bodies were removed. Please note, this episode contains descriptions of extreme violence and may not be suitable for all audiences.

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If you’re new here, don’t forget to follow Murder: True Crime Stories to never miss a case! Want all 2 parts of every case all at once? Join Crime House+ and get both parts of each case dropped at once ad-free. Join at crimehouseplus.com or if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts, tap “Try Free” at the top of this show’s page. Murder: True Crime Stories is a Crime House Original Podcast, powered by PAVE Studios.

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Beware...for Halloween, Carter Roy is haunting this feed with an episode of another show he hosts, The First 48.

Adapted from the hit A&E true crime series The First 48, Crime House Studios brings you the podcast that drops you inside that critical window: the interrogations, the dead ends, and the breakthroughs that crack a case wide open. Each week, we revisit a landmark investigation from the franchise, pairing its signature investigative depth with immersive, long-form storytelling built for your ears.

Real detectives. Real cases. Real stakes. Presented by Crime House Studios, A&E Global Media, and ITV America.

In this episode, two brothers are shot down after checking on their night cleaning crew. Detectives struggle to find a motive before the killers strike again.

Follow The First 48 for more: https://pod.link/6786011424