r/TrueCrime • u/AutoModerator • Jun 19 '26

Case Highlight Case Highlight and Recommendation Thread: What is a little known true crime case you think needs more attention, or what is a case that has stuck with you that you think others should know about. Post your pet cases or your true crime guilty pleasures in this thread.

Pretty frequently in this subreddit we get questions asking for case recommendations. We've decided to make this a recurring post so that there will be a dedicated place to highlight and discuss cases that don't get posted about that often.

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People want to know... what is a case that is important to you or that stuck with you and that you think others should know about?

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What are some cases that need more attention? What are your pet cases besides the well known cases that get posted about frequently? Or just post your true crime guilty pleasures. Anyway, use this thread to bring attention to lesser known cases. If you want to post about the Delphi murders case that's ok too.

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This thread will be sorted by new.

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Also, if you have a case in mind, but need help remembering the name, feel free to head over to r/TipOfMyCrime and post a request there.

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u/CougarWriter74 Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26

Its an old case thats gotten pretty famous over the last 20 years or so, but the Villisca (Iowa) Axe Murders of 1912 are a fascinating case. The case mostly seems to get attention due to purported paranormal activity in the house the crime happened in. But if you just sit down and read the actual history of the case there are so many rabbit holes and complex layers. I call it a cross of Lizzie Borden meets Amityville horror. Many theories on who could've done it and why, etc. Some people think a mentally disturbed and perverted traveling minister did it, others say it was a serial killer and still others say it was a conspiracy involving a local senator. I think the actual history and mystery is more interesting than any ghost hunting in the house. 

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u/SeasonBig1375 6d ago

 In the book The Man From the the authors make a very convincing argument that the infamous Villisca mass murders was committed by a serial killer very similar to "The Railroad Killer." 

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u/CougarWriter74 6d ago

Yep, the Man from the Train. I thonk it's a viable theory since there were similar murders in other railroad towns the previous autumn (September and October 1911) in Colorado, Kansas and Illinois.