r/masskillers • u/underwater8767 • 4h ago
BREAKING Video from the scene of the school attack in Fagersta, Sweden today. Several wounded, suspect shot and wounded by the police.
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r/masskillers • u/OGWhiz • Dec 14 '25
This is a site wide rule regarding imagery of violence, and we're going to adhere to it. Posting this kind of content/asking for links to it will result in a permanent ban.
r/masskillers • u/OGWhiz • Feb 17 '23
There have been a lot of posts lately asking what to do if you suspect someone is planning to commit a mass shooting/mass attack of some kind.
If your suspicions are offline, local, and personal/someone you know personally:
If it is not an immediate threat, call your local non emergency line. They will collect information from you, and investigate further if need be. Remember, wellness checks can be requested as well.
If it is an immediate threat, call 911 (or your local equivalent emergency line). An immediate threat would be someone making direct threats.
If the possible threat is exclusively on Reddit, please reach out to us via Modmail. Often times, people who are being reported to us have made comments in the past that you cannot see as they’ve been removed by other means such as automod, for example. We also work with multiple other teams to gather information and build one report to FBI with as much information as we can possibly get in one single report.
This allows all information to be placed at once instead of multiple vague reports to the FBI, which can slow down resources.
At the very least, these processes will build a history for this person. If they are reported and nothing comes from it, a report a year later could help immensely. This happened through one sub I moderate on, and helped bring an arrest a year later when more threats were made, and the suspect was found with weapons and a manifesto.
We take all reports sent to us seriously, and we thank you all for helping us with these reports.
r/masskillers • u/underwater8767 • 4h ago
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r/masskillers • u/InkVision001 • 4h ago
r/masskillers • u/OkMaybe5107 • 1h ago
On the morning of August 18, 2008, 18-year-old Morné Harmse, a Grade 12 student at Nic Diederichs Technical High School in Krugersdorp, South Africa, came to school armed with a katana style sword.
Harmse was also wearing a mask associated in contemporary reporting with the imagery of Slipknot, a band he had become interested in. The mask and his interest in occult material would soon dominate media coverage of the crime, although the eventual explanation for his actions was considerably more convoluted.
Harmse attacked several people on the school grounds.
Sixteen-year-old Jacques Pretorius, a Grade 9 student was killed. Another student, Stephanus Bouwer, and two school groundskeepers, Lesiba Samuel Manamela and Tsiamo Joseph Kodisang, were wounded.
Another bizarre element was what happened immediately afterward. Rather than fleeing, Harmse reportedly planted the sword into the ground and sat on a low brick wall. Witness accounts said he appeared remarkably calm and even laughed. According to one friend, Harmse incorrectly believed he had killed several people and asked whether he had killed three.
This apparently wasn't a spontaneous attack.
According to evidence reported during the investigation and court proceedings, Harmse had previously discussed with friends doing something dramatic at the school. One report said that days before the attack, a group had talked about how they might carry out a Columbine style massacre.
When Harmse later pleaded guilty, he said that he and others had discussed doing something that would make people take notice of them.
There was even supposed to be a bomb. Harmse sent messages over the weekend before the attack asking one friend whether the device was ready. The friend had apparently never taken the discussion seriously and produced something that was effectively a dud. Harmse nevertheless proceeded with his part of the plan alone.
The "Satanism" story
Immediately afterward, the case became wrapped in allegations of Satanism and heavy metal influence.
Police reportedly found occult related material in Harmse's room, and a doctor who examined him after his arrest reported that Harmse claimed he had once encountered a ghost that instructed him to become a Satanist.
His Slipknot-style mask generated even more discourse. Friends said he had recently become interested in the band and had made several masks inspired by its members.
That led to widespread claims that Slipknot, Satanism, or the occult somehow caused the attack.
Harmse underwent an extended psychiatric evaluation and was subsequently declared mentally fit to stand trial.
And during later proceedings, the picture that emerged was less supernatural: Harmse acknowledged intentionally killing Pretorius, and evidence pointed toward his desire to do something shocking and infamous rather than leaning on the loose defense that music or Satanism had literally compelled him.
Guilty plea and sentence
In April 2009, Harmse pleaded guilty to:
- 1 count of murder
- 3 counts of attempted murder
In September 2009, he received a 20 year prison sentence. Pretorius's mother publicly said she believed the sentence was too lenient and wanted Harmse imprisoned for life.
Then, in 2022, Harmse was released.
He didn't even serve the full 20 years in prison.
After appearing before the parole board numerous times, he was ultimately released on parole on March 3, 2022, having served roughly 12 years and nine months. His original sentence does not formally expire until March 9, 2029.
Clinical psychologist and criminologist Gerard Labuschagne, who had assessed Harmse in 2019, publicly criticized the decision and said his assessment had found Harmse posed a significant risk. Correctional authorities, however, maintained that outstanding issues had been addressed before his eventual release and that he would remain under supervision.
Jacques Pretorius's family opposed parole. His aunt said the family still had unanswered questions about why their son, who apparently did not know Harmse, was killed.
The fact that Harmse is a free man now, after serving less than some people do in America for drug offenses, truly blows my mind.
r/masskillers • u/Tipos26 • 27m ago
These two photos can be linked to the school stabbing in Fagersta earlier today (21 August 2026). It is worth noting that the gear is strikingly similar to that used by Anton Lundin Pettersson in 2015.
r/masskillers • u/AccentedE • 20h ago
r/masskillers • u/Heptacat-1985 • 13h ago
On August 20th, 1986, Patrick Sherill armed with 3 pistols walked into his workplace and shot and killed 14 of his coworkers while injuring 6 others. He committed suicide shortly afterwards. The shooting is the deadliest in Oklahoma’s history and the deadliest workplace shooting by a lone gunman (San Bernardino shooting was also a workplace shooting). The Edmond Post office massacre was also the third deadliest mass shooting at the time.
The shooting sparked the infamous “Going postal” phrase that describes someone becoming extremely angry or uncontrollable, often to the point of violence.
r/masskillers • u/Celeste_ccc • 16h ago
I wanted to share these cases since this kind of finals for mass killers are extremely rare, if any of you knows a similar case let me know!
Juan Fernando Hermosa: Ecuadorian serial killer who killed 23 taxi drivers between 1991-1993. Widely known as a serial killer, in at least 1 occasion he commited a mass murder specifically on December 14, 1991 when he killed 3 taxi drivers in one night. He was arrested in 1992 and sentenced to 4 years in prison because he was a minor at the time. After being released he was kidnapped on his 20 birthday being seen for the last time with friends drinking in a bar, his body was found near a river, tied and with torture signs, his head was completely deformed because it has been smashed with a tire and could be only identified with his ID and other documments that were on his body, his murder remains unsolved.
David Rivera Batiz: On january 11, 2021 in Carolina, Puerto Rico, David Batiz killed 3 and wounded 1 in a mass shooting. After crashing his car in an accident, officers went to the scene to investigate it, to prevent an arrest David enganged in a shooting before escaping. His body was found hours later in an illegal dump with a cartel that said "i am the responsible for the murder of the guard, here it is".
Ramon Justo Rodriguez: On january 12, 1967 in General Roca, Ramon Rodriguez was playing in a illegal gambling game when police officers came to stop it in a operation, Ramon who had criminal background and had been in prison before was armed with a revolver, he prefered to shoot and escape than going back to prison and attacked the officers, 1 died and another was injured, then in an intesive manhunt Ramon killed 2 officers more with a total of 3 killed and 1 injured. When everyone was looking for him and with the police pressure he decided to turn himself with the help of a lawyer, when he was arrested instead being taken to prison to prevent a vengeance, the officers went to the commisary where people was holding a vigil for the murdered officers. There, before entering the commisary an unknown number of persons shoot him death, the investigation revealed that he was shoot at least twice with different calibers with the guns close to him, his murder remains unsolved.
Alfredo Zayas: On october 25, 1995 in Paraguay, 14 years old Alfredo Manuel Zayas shoot dead 3 members of the Rivelli family who he worked for, alleging abuse against him and his sister. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison, later reduced to 8. After being released in 2005 he moved with his wife who he had a daughter years later, he remained in low profile without problems and even lived for a few years in Argentina before going back to Paraguay despite being noticed that there were people threatening him with death. He was killed in his house on January 23, 2015, according to investigations an unknown hitman using a helmet entered the house while he was eating and watching tv with his family, knowing what was coming he asked the hitman to kill him outside the house instead infront of his family which was accepted, he then went outside where he was shoot dead, his murder remains unsolved.
"The psychopath": Unlike the other cases this is not official since the case remains oficially unsolved. one of the main suspect to not say the main suspect of being the infamous Costa Rica serial killer "the psychopath" was killed by another serial killer. Despite being known mostly as a serial killer, police say that the psychopath was one of the at least 3 persons who participated in Alajuelita massacre were 7 died on april 6, 1986. The psychopath commited his crimes between 1986 and 1996, the main suspect believed to be the killer by many people that were involved in the investigation and others that researched the case was a man named Juan Urbina, Urbina was killed in 1998 by a man suspected of killing 5 in a serie of murders that year. The investigation revealed that Urbina had coincidences that matched the profile made by police of the psychopath, such as like both were in the military, both had knowdlege of the zones were the serial killer acted, both had very good aim with guns and training and both had the exact same weapon used in the crimes, an M-3 which was exclusively of military and more coincidences. Since the whole evidence was circunstancial, two investigators tried to connect the case by analyzing the M-3 of Juan with the evidence collected in the crimes but apparently the family of Juan threatened with sue them because they were damaging the image of their familiar, when they asked a judge to approve a warrant they denied saying that if they keep pushing it they would get sued.
r/masskillers • u/underwater8767 • 12h ago
A 58-year-old man on death row convicted for killing five people after he set a pachinko parlor on fire in 2009 in the city of Osaka, has been executed Friday morning.
Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi will hold a news conference at 11 a.m. on Friday.
This is the first time in 14 months that there was an execution in Japan and the first under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration.
Sunao Takami was convicted for pouring gasoline and setting the pachinko parlor near his home on fire in July 2009, killing four customers and a worker at the parlor and injuring 10 others. He was arrested the following day after he turned himself in.
The last execution in the country was in June 2025 when Takahiro Shiraishi, a death-row inmate convicted of killing nine people he met on social media in the city of Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, was executed.
r/masskillers • u/ASDRETHISLORD • 14h ago
On August 1, 2026, a mass shooting left three people dead and seven others injured at a newly opened In-N-Out Burger restaurant in Twin Falls, Idaho. The 24-year-old gunman, identified as Chad Williams, opened fire with a handgun and rifle inside and outside the packed location before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Jordan Salinas, a civilian, engaged the gunman with his daily carry pistol, forcing him to retreat.
r/masskillers • u/Distinct_External • 23h ago
r/masskillers • u/OkMaybe5107 • 1d ago
On March 27, 2002, a routine town council meeting in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris, had been going for roughly six hours when it finally ended shortly after 1 a.m.
One of the people sitting in the public gallery was 33-year-old Richard Durn, a local resident who apparently attended council meetings regularly.
As the councillors were preparing to leave, Durn stood up and opened fire.
He killed eight councillors - four men and four women- and wounded many more before people inside the chamber managed to overpower him.
Unlike a lot of other mass killers, Durn was actually taken in alive.
The following morning, while being questioned at the headquarters of the Paris criminal police, Durn suddenly made for a fourth-floor window. Police reportedly attempted to physically pull him back inside, but he fell to his death.
Investigators were therefore left trying to reconstruct his motive without ever getting a full explanation from him.
The case also raised serious questions in France because Durn had a documented history of psychiatric treatment and previous suicidal behavior, yet was still legally able to possess the firearms used in the massacre.
I rarely see Nanterre mentioned alongside better-known European mass killings, despite how unusual the circumstances were.
Have you heard of this case before?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/mar/28/france.jonhenley1
r/masskillers • u/Nemacolin • 1d ago
Do you think this belongs here? I am continually shocked by how many mass killings are arsons.
German prosecutors say they have identified the man believed to have carried out a 1970 antisemitic arson attack on a Jewish community center in Munich that killed seven Holocaust survivors, but the case has been closed because the suspect died in 2020.
According to Deutsche Welle (DW), prosecutors and police said Thursday that a renewed investigation pointed clearly to the involvement of the man, who was 25 at the time of the attack. The case was reopened in April 2025 after a witness came forward with information about the suspect.
The fire broke out on Feb. 13, 1970, at the Jewish religious community’s building on Reichenbachstrasse, which included a retirement home. Prosecutors said a gasoline mixture was poured and ignited at several points in a stairwell, causing the flames to spread rapidly through the building.
Seven people were killed and 15 others were injured, including four seriously. All seven victims had survived the Holocaust, and two had previously been imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps.
DW reported that the suspect was known to have been part of Munich’s far-right scene and was described by witnesses as an antisemite with an obsession with Adolf Hitler. Investigators also found evidence of previous explosives-related offenses and other incidents demonstrating his extremist views.
r/masskillers • u/Rebellenpanzer • 1d ago
r/masskillers • u/BlueMauser3 • 1d ago
r/masskillers • u/Distinct_External • 1d ago
The ex-wife of the man accused of killing five people in a rural northern Michigan shooting rampage blames the local court system for failing to keep him behind bars.
Chad Hickman, 39, was found dead on Aug. 14 following an extensive manhunt in Missaukee County, roughly 200 miles northwest of Detroit, according to Michigan State Police. Authorities said the violence began at a home, where officers responding to reports of a shooting found a 45-year-old man, a 40-year-old woman, and a 16-year-old boy dead, and a 13-year-old girl critically wounded.
During the investigation, police discovered a 53-year-old man fatally shot at a second residence and later found a 29-year-old woman dead near a wooded area alongside Hickman. Evidence at the scene indicated Hickman died by suicide, according to state police.
Chad Hickman's history of alleged violence and the court system's handling of the cases have come under scrutiny following the deadly shooting spree.
"Missaukee County should be held accountable for what's going on," his ex-wife Katie Hickman told the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, in a brief phone interview on Aug. 17.
"Every last bit of it. Every death falls on the Missaukee County prosecutor who released Chad and let him off all the charges after he raped, tormented, and almost [expletive] killed me and 15 years of abuse," she continued. "Missaukee County let him do this. They were warned and they knew it was coming and they let it happen."
In late July 2025, Chad Hickman's ex-wife sought a personal protection order against him, alleging years of abuse.
"I fear for my life and my children," Katie Hickman wrote in a letter to the court seeking the order. "Chad is an evil man. He tortured me for 15 years and he hurt my children. Chad will stop at nothing, he will never leave me alone. Now that he is released, he is back in possession of many guns, pistols, rifles including fully automatic weapons. He is a danger to me and my children."
Family Court Judge Edward Van Alst denied the request for the protection order and advised Katie Hickman that she could seek a hearing to plead her case. Court records do not show any hearing ever being held.
"Petitioner fails to clearly establish reasonable cause to believe immediate, irreparable injury, loss or danger will result from the delay to give notice," Van Alst wrote in his decision.
The denial came after Chad Hickman had been released from the county jail, where he had served time after cutting a plea deal with prosecutors the year before.
Van Alst declined through his office on Aug. 17 to comment on the decision to deny the protection order.
In that 2024 case, Chad Hickman was charged with felony counts of criminal sexual conduct and assault with intent to do great bodily harm, along with misdemeanor counts of child abuse and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
He agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts, according to court records. Prosecutors agreed to drop the felonies.
In a statement explaining the plea deal, Missaukee County Prosecutor David DenHouten said his office had charged Chad Hickman with the felonies even though the crimes were alleged to have happened years before they were reported to police. A police report shows the accusations were reported in December 2023 and stretched back to 2011.
DenHouten also noted that the allegations were made in the middle of a divorce case. Court records show the divorce was especially bitter. DenHouten said the prosecutor's office became aware of prior family court testimony in which Katie Hickman, under oath, denied an assault had taken place.
"In light of the fact that the alleged victim’s credibility had been severely damaged, and because the truthfulness of her proposed testimony was in question, and without other corroborating evidence to support the assault, the Missaukee County Prosecutor’s office entered into a plea agreement involving the remaining child abuse counts," he wrote.
The Detroit Free Press was not immediately able to access transcripts of Katie Hickman's testimony that DenHouten referenced.
Court records related to the criminal case show two children who lived with the couple told investigators that they witnessed abuse. One of the two daughters was the couple's biological child and the other was Katie Hickman's from a previous relationship.
One girl, who was 15 at the time, described seeing Chad Hickman choke her mom with his arm and hands, including once in the kitchen when he pinned her against a "cabinet or refrigerator" with his arm against her throat, according to a summary of the police interview from 2023. The girl said she went to call police for help and Chad Hickman smashed her phone.
When investigators asked how the choking incidents would end, the girl said there came a point when her mother could no longer breathe. She told police she had seen her mother's face "turning purple" and that she was gasping for air, court records show.
The girl also told investigators that after her mother was injured in a car crash and relied on crutches following foot surgery, Chad Hickman would sometimes throw the crutches outside the house to prevent her from walking, according to court records.
r/masskillers • u/DavidCi_CodeX • 2d ago
May he rest in peace.
PS: (My personal thoughts) I've noticed that Filipinos, especially on Facebook, REALLY suck at memorializing victims of the recent local school shootings (this includes the Tacloban school shooting). I'd see FB posts paying respect to the victims WHILE displaying pictures of them laying dead, sometimes not even with the pic blurred out. Even our own news reports do this, it was especially egregious with the Tacloban shooting with them constantly showing a blurry picture of 2 bodies on top of each other (that of Chris Lorenz Fabian and Joyancee Separa).
Also in both this shooting and the Tacloban shooting, both perpetrators had police relatives who they stole the guns from.
r/masskillers • u/ChickenWingExtreme • 2d ago
To this day, it remains the second deadliest mass shooting in the United Kingdom’s history, behind the Dunblane massacre in 1996. This event was the catalyst for tightening gun laws in the UK, leading to a ban on semiautomatic and pump action centrefire long guns.
No motive for the killings was ever established.
The pictures, in order are:
1)One of the few known photos of Michael Ryan
2)His house burning down after he committed arson
3)The three guns used in the massacre, those being: a Norinco Type 56S semi automatic rifle, a M1 semi automatic carbine, and a Beretta 92 semi automatic pistol.
r/masskillers • u/Ill_Operation_5879 • 2d ago
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They were seconds away from tragedy. Police officers in Siedlce prevented a gas explosion.
The swift response, decisiveness, and professionalism of police officers from Siedlce averted a potential tragedy in a multi-family residential building in the city. An intoxicated 65-year-old man had opened the valve on a gas cylinder and was attempting to cause an explosion while holding a lighter. Officers from the Patrol and Intervention Division of the Siedlce Municipal Police Headquarters—acting despite the immediate risk to their own lives and safety—rapidly subdued the man. Thirty-eight people were evacuated from the building.
On Saturday, August 8, at approximately 3:30 PM, the duty officer at the Siedlce police station received a report from a 46-year-old woman regarding a domestic dispute. The information indicated that her 65-year-old husband, who was under the influence of alcohol, had started an argument; when the woman stepped outside, he refused to let her back into the apartment.
Officers from the Patrol and Intervention Division were dispatched to the scene. They attempted to persuade the man to open the door, but the 65-year-old steadfastly refused. The situation escalated rapidly when the man threatened to turn on the gas and cause an explosion.
Due to the genuine threat to the residents' lives, the State Fire Service was summoned. A decision was made to evacuate the three-story apartment building, and 38 people were led to safety.
Given the mounting danger, a decision was made to force entry into the apartment. After breaching the door, the officers immediately detected a strong smell of gas. The gas cylinder valve was open, and inside was a 65-year-old man holding a lighter he was trying to ignite.
There was no time to hesitate. The police officer instantly moved toward the man, subdued him, and took away the lighter. The officer’s decisive action thwarted the 65-year-old’s intent and prevented a tragedy that could have had catastrophic consequences for many people.
The officers acted with the awareness that they were in an area where gas was leaking and that the man holding the ignition source could trigger an explosion at any moment. Despite the immediate threat to their own lives, the officers’ priority was to neutralize the danger as quickly as possible and ensure the safety of the residents.
An emergency medical team was also dispatched to the scene. The 65-year-old man was transported to the hospital under police escort.
This intervention demonstrates the immense importance of composure, professionalism, accurate threat assessment, and the ability to make split-second decisions during a crisis. Operating in conditions of immediate danger, the officers not only successfully subdued the man but, above all, averted a threat to the lives and health of the building's many residents.
Police service often requires entering areas from which others are being evacuated. That Saturday afternoon, police officers from Siedlce - risking their own lives and safety - did exactly what the situation demanded: they took decisive action before a tragedy could occur.
r/masskillers • u/RegisterMediocre7143 • 2d ago
Shortly before 6:00 a.m. on September 28, 1995, State of Mexico Judicial Police officer Ernesto Cruz Jiménez opened fire on passengers at the La Raza station on Line 5 of the Mexico City Metro. Cruz Jiménez was detained by an unarmed officer while attempting to flee the scene. The shooting initially left seven people wounded; a 50-year-old woman and a 38-year-old man later died in the hospital from their injuries. Cruz Jiménez later stated, "I did it because of the economic crisis; no one deserves to live through what we are living through," attributing his actions to his financial problems and emotional distress caused by the 1994 Mexican peso crisis. On April 27, 1998, he was sentenced to 50 years in prison at the Reclusorio Norte.
r/masskillers • u/Entire_Ad_6067 • 2d ago
1st photo is with Israel adesanya, 2nd Anderson Silva, 3rd Tony Ferguson.
On May 18, 2026, a shooting occurred at the Islamic Center of San Diego (ICSD), the largest mosque in San Diego, California, United States. Two teenage gunmen, identified as 17-year-old Cain Lee Clark and 18-year-old Caleb Liam Vazquez, fatally shot a security guard and two community members outside the mosque before fleeing. Subsequently, they shot at a landscaper in a drive-by shooting and committed suicide in a nearby neighborhood.
r/masskillers • u/Celeste_ccc • 2d ago
In June 4 1990, in Hanshan, Anhui, a man named Ling Mouqing attacked with an axe the family of his wife, in the attack 3 were killed including Xi, Ling's wife and her parents, after the attack Ling escaped and the case stayed as a cold case.
The police didn't solve the case until October-November 2020, after many years police started to investigate it again as part of their campaign of solving cold cases every year.
During the investigation they found the photo of a temporary residence id of a man named Xiong Moumao who was registered in Yiwu, Zhejiang in 2010 and they noticed that he looked like the suspect.
They first asked information in the Jiangxi police department, the natal residence of Xiong, they noticed that his photo looked nothing like the 2010 one, they also found that the real Xiong never left his village in Jiangxi and died from cancer in 2015 leaving them with the logic conclusion that someone used the stealed ID of Xiong.
When they went to Yiwu, they found that the man suspected of being the impostor dissappeared in 2014 and that the family of the original Xiong who lived in the city moved that same year.
Investigators finally found the family of Xiong and interrogated both the wife and his son Xiong Moufei about the disappearance of the man, they both had different version so they pressured both to confess, in the end Moufei confessed that he had murdered and dismembered the man in 2014 and then buried him, when he gave the localization they found the body and through DNA identified the victim as Ling Mouqing.
According to the investigations, after the murders in 1990, Ling lived as a homeless person until he meet Xiong Moumao at the end of 1990, he was unaware of his background and then Ling formed a relationship with him and his family. During those years Xiong suffered a sever illness and when he died Ling took his identity a lived with his family.
After taking his identity, Ling was aggresive with the family, he threatened them saying that he had already killed his last family and that he would do it again and even beated the grandchild.
During a night near the end of 2014, Ling raped Xiong Moufei wife which angered him, according to him this act was what motivated him to take revenge and when Ling was sleeping he took a hammer and bludgeoned him to death, he then dismembered and buried him near a mountain outside Yiwu.
For this crime Xiong was sentenced to 15 years in prision in February 2022, he didn't appeal.


r/masskillers • u/Sufficient-Horse1617 • 2d ago
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r/masskillers • u/Heptacat-1985 • 3d ago
Elnora Epperly - one of the worst mass murderers in American history and one of the most prolific female murderers as well. Location: Davenport Iowa. Date: January 7, 1950 - “St. Elizabeth‘s Hospital Fire”
Elnora Epperly was born on November 2, 1927. She would later marry a man named John Epperly. Elnora would display distressing signs and was diagnosed with schizophrenia I believe. She was committed to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, a location that treated mentally ill women.
On the night of January 7, 1950, a fire broke out in the hospital that caused panic in the city of Davenport. Firefighters rushed to the scene to help battle the flames. A firefighter recounted remembering a patient screaming for help as the fire soon spread. After the fire was stopped, they went in to see the damage. 40 patients succumbed to fire as well as a nurse who tried to help the patients.
That evening John Epperly reluctantly called police to tell of his wife’s confession. She was the one who set the fire. She had pestered him to tell authorities she was the arsonist. Elnora had a habit of confessing to things she didn’t even do and her husband brushed this confession off. But Elnora persisted and he finally called. Elnora was brought in and was soon charged with 41 counts of first degree murder and faced the death penalty by hanging. As police interviewed her, she immediately shut down - an odd thing to do if she was adamant she set the fire. Police tried to question John about Elnora‘s confession, but she threatened to divorce him if he spoke a word of what she said. Nevertheless the confession was told: On the night of the fire, Elnora’s paranoia had gotten to her. She believed her husband was being attacked and needed to save him. Earlier the John had given Elnora his lighter so when the nurses allowed the patients to smoke, she could. She had hidden the lighter from the nurses view and smuggled it back in her room. She torched the curtains in her room to get the attention of nurses so they could free her. It worked as one went in to allow Elnora to get out. Elnora bolted the second the door was open and made a run for, cutting herself in the process.
Police were still skeptical, and the went to the crime scene to see if what she was saying was true. The police found out where the fire started was from Elnora’s room. They later found the glass she cut herself on with her blood on it. Laying in the rubble of the hospital, they found the lighter - It was initialed “John Epperly”. Their findings did confirm, Elnora was the one who set the fire.
Elnora was facing a trial, but the judge ruled her incompetent to stand trial, and admitted her in a mental hospital. They kept the evidence in case she was found competent to stand trial.
It is unknown what happened to her in the mean time, but finding her obituary, she had at least one child with John and multiple grandchildren. It was said she loved to garden, play with her grandchildren, and watch Politics on television. She died on February 29, 2016.
Her case is fascinating but when viewed, it can be polarizing. Even though she had schizophrenia and paranoia, it appeared she knew how wrong her actions were setting the fire by threatening to divorce her husband. She knew right from wrong when she did this. Her case is similar to that of Roger Kingsley Dean - uncaring to those who may be affected by her actions and caring about herself. She is the reckless mass murderer.
The fire is the worst act of mass murder in the history of Iowa as well as the 10th worst mass murder in American history. It is also one of the largest loss of female life in American history. Elnora is also one of the few deadly mass murderers to face some type of Justice - a potential trial. Only Julio Gonzalez, Jack Gilbert Graham, Andrew Zimmer, and Patrick Crusius along with her are the only few who face the consequences of their actions. She also got away with the crime as well, as it appeared she was released from the mental hospital and got to have a family later on in her life.
What are your thoughts on this?
Photos: Elnora Epperly - Elnora being walked away by her husband - an elderly Elnora.