Unsolved Axe Murder Documentary to Air on KPTS
Summary
Viewers will find out when KPTS airs the award-winning and critically-acclaimed documentary feature film "Villisca: Living with a Mystery.” When an entire family was murdered on a June evening in 1912, a small Midwestern town spiraled into chaos and division.The still-unsolved axe murder mystery made national headlines, built and ruined political careers, created a lasting community split over the guilt or innocence of a local State Senator, and produced three sensational trials.Viewers will find out when KPTS airs the award-winning and critically-acclaimed documentary feature film "Villisca: Living with a Mystery.”When an entire family was murdered on a June evening in 1912, a small Midwestern town spiraled into chaos and division.The still-unsolved axe murder mystery made national headlines, built and ruined political careers, created a lasting community split over the guilt or innocence of a local State Senator, and produced three sensational trials.The town of Villisca is divided on how to recognize this aspect of their history.The Rundles collected hundreds of previously unseen period photographs, unearthed a forgotten Bureau of Criminal Investigation case file, successfully petitioned a judge for access to 5,000-pages of secret grand jury testimony, reviewed dusty Attorney Generals files, and traveled to the sites of similar unsolved murders, including Ellsworth, Kansas where the five-member William Showman family was murdered with an axe in October 1911.