10 Bone-chilling Facts About The Wineville Chicken Coop Murders

10 Bone-chilling Facts About The Wineville Chicken Coop Murders

Sadly between 1926 and 1928, several young boys were kidnapped and killed in the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, also known as the Wineville Chicken Murders. The incident took place near the Californian cities of Los Angeles and Riverside.

The killings were committed by Gordon Stewart Northcott, a farmer who was 19 years old and had just arrived in California from Canada two years earlier. However, he didn’t commit the murders alone. He killed the boys together with his mother, Sarah Louise Northcott, and his nephew, Sanford Clark.

Although he may have been accountable for many more deaths, Northcott claimed the lives of at least three victims. In an attempt to elude the law, the Northcotts fled the nation but were apprehended in Canada. Northcott was put to death by hanging in 1930 at the age of 23 after the state of California declared him guilty.

1. The Victims Were Kept In Northcott’s Chicken Coop

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Gordon Stewart was born in Canada. However, he was raised in British Columbia. In 1924, he located to Los Angeles with his parents. Two years later, when he was 19 years old, Northcott urged his father to buy a piece of property in the Riverside County neighborhood of Wineville.  He later constructed a home and a chicken ranch with the aid of his father and his nephew Sanford Clark, then 11 years old. In his chicken coop on the Northcott family property in Wineville, California, he kept his victims.

2. Northcott Assaulted his Nephew both Physically and Sexually

Clark was introduced to the US by Northcott from Bladworth. He was subjected to physical and sexual abuse by Northcott as soon as the boy arrived at the Wineville property. Concerned for his well-being, Clark’s mother, Jessie, paid him a visit at the Wineville property in August 1928. Clark admitted to her that he was afraid for his life at the time.

Jessie discovered from Clark one night while Northcott slept that he had murdered four lads at his property. A week later, when she got back to Canada, Jessie told the American consul about Northcott’s misdeeds. The consul afterward sent a letter with details of Jessie’s sworn complaint to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). The United States Immigration Service was contacted by the Los Angeles Police Department to get information about the complaint since there was initially some worry concerning an immigration issue.

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3. Northcott Fled to Canada with his Mother

The authorities paid a visit to the ranch on August 31, 1928. After spotting the agents approaching his ranch on the long road, Northcott went into the treeline at the edge of his land. He ordered Clark to block them and threatened to shoot Clark from the treeline with a rifle if he didn’t. Northcott continued to escape for the following two hours as Clark halted. At some point, when Clark felt the agents could protect him, he informed them that Northcott had left. Northcott and his mother, Sarah Louise, attempted to immigrate to Canada on September 19, 1928 but were stopped not far from Vernon, British Columbia.

4. The Northcotts Murdered At Least Three Boys

In his testimony, Clark said that with the assistance of his mother and himself, Northcott had abducted, abused, battered, and killed three young boys. Gordon Northcott and Sarah Louise Northcott jointly acknowledged the murders of three boys. Northcott later claimed to have killed 20 or more boys. Lewis Winslow, 12, and Nelson Winslow, 10, together with Walter Collins, 9, were among the victims whose deaths were linked to Northcott.

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5. Clark Testified about the Murder of Fourth Young Man

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An unnamed Mexican youngster whose decapitated body prevented a definite identification was the fourth victim linked to Northcott. Clark claimed that Northcott ordered him to burn the boy’s decapitated head before crushing the skull. For lack of a better location, according to Northcott, he left the decapitated body by the side of the road. The bodies were buried on the property, according to him, and the remains were disposed of using quicklime.

6. The Victims’ Complete Bodies were Never Recovered

Exactly where Clark claimed there were three shallow graves, authorities discovered them at the ranch. A few weeks before Clark was placed in protective custody, Northcott and his mother excavated the bodies on the evening of August 4, 1928, according to Clark and his sister Jessie’s testimony. The corpses had been transported to a desolate location, where they were almost certainly burned overnight. Moreover, the entire bodies were never found. The graves contained 51 pieces of human anatomy that served as evidence.

With the help of this evidence, the police were able to conclude that the unnamed fourth victim, two brothers called Lewis and Nelson Winslow, and Walter Collins had all been murdered.

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7. The Winslow Brothers Wrote their Parents a Strange Letter

Herald-Examiner, publisher, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Nelson Winslow, Sr. And his wife had two sons: Lewis, age 12, and Nelson, age 10. On May 16, 1928, as they were returning home from a yacht club meeting in Pomona, California, the boys were kidnapped. They were abducted and murdered, and Northcott was found guilty. Northcott addressed a letter to the brothers’ parents to cover up their abduction. The letter indicated they had fled but they were okay. The note was penned on paper torn from a book’s flyleaf that was discovered on the Northcott farm.

8. Northcott’s Mother Assisted Him in Axing Walter Collins

During the period when her son was in Wineville, Sarah Louise Northcott resided in Los Angeles. According to reports, she went to see her son while he had 9-year-old Walter Collins confined in his chicken coop. She claimed that Walter was frequently struck by Northcott and his 13-year-old nephew Sanford Clark. She gave evidence of her involvement. The body was later dismembered and interred in quicklime.

9. A Fake Walter Collins Returned Home to visit his mother

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On March 10, 1928, Walter Collins, then 9 years old, vanished from his Los Angeles home. He appeared to have been recovered in DeKalb, Illinois, five months after his mother, Christine Collins, began a manhunt for her son. Collins recognized the boy as not being her son right away. She was instructed to take him home and test him out by the cops, though. The authorities put her in an institution for a nervous breakdown after she objected and even brought her son’s dental documents to show that the youngster was a forger. Arthur Hutchins Jr., a runaway 12-year-old, was the imposter. Walter Collins’ corpse was never discovered.

10. Sarah made an Attempt to Commit Suicide

Herald-Examiner, publisher, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Sarah made an effort to end her life and pleaded with the authorities to spare her son from being put to death. Sarah asked the authorities to hang her too after finding out that her son will be executed. In fewer than twelve years, Sarah was granted parole after serving her time at Tehachapi State Prison. 1944 saw her death.

Gordon Northcott’s trial took place at the start of 1929. Gordon was found guilty of those killings on February 8, 1929, following the conclusion of the 27-day trial. On October 2, 1930, in San Quentin State Prison, he was hanged after receiving a death sentence.

National journalists swarmed the small community of Wineville, California as soon as word spread about Northcott and the deaths buried in and around his chicken coop. Northcott’s very hairy arms and back earned him the moniker “ape-man.”