Murder & Mayhem in Jefferson County, Missouri
Jefferson County, Missouri is located just a few miles south of St. Louis. Yet, beneath its sleepy rural small town history lie the stories of over 200 years of murder, mystery, and intrigue. Each Tuesday, at 5:00 pm, Central Time, the Jefferson County Library Genealogy Department will share the details of the more sinister events of the county's history.
Episodes
27 episodes
The Cold Case Murder: Margaret Lowery (1958)
On a hot August morning in 1958, Harry Stoll made a grisly discovery--the bludgeoned body of a woman lying on the side of a back road in Dittmer, Missouri. Did someone get away with murder?Be sure to visit our sister site: Old Fashioned...
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Season 2
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Episode 11
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11:25
The Hitchhiker Murder: Louis Otto (1954)
Crystal City High School graduate Louis Otto was celebrating his 19th birthday when he picked up a hitchhiker. That decision cost the young man his life. Be sure to visit our sister site: Old Fashioned Murder and Mayhemhttps://...
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Season 2
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Episode 10
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10:39
The Christmas Murder: Jacob Ringer (1840)
Jimmie Toy and Jacob Ringer were only teens when violence broke out on Christmas Day in 1840 at N. B. Franklin's general store in Little Rock Township. The hot-headed youths' teasing quickly turned into murder setting off a legacy of trag...
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Season 2
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Episode 9
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15:52
Deals and Duels: The Legend of John Smith T (1770-1836)
The Missouri Territory held the promise of untold wealth for pioneers who were as enterprising as they were fierce. Few today have heard of John Smith T; however, his legendary exploits included a mixture of Southern gentleman and savage opport...
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Season 2
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Episode 8
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32:14
The Blues Highway Robbery: Earl Snodgrass and Opal Stacy (1931)
Highway 61 is also known as the Blues Highway. In 1931, it was also a corridor for would-be gangsters and bootleggers to make a quick buck. Young lovers, Earl Snodgrass and Opal Stacy formed a pre-Bonnie and Clyde duo which foreshadowed the mor...
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Season 2
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Episode 7
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13:40
Prohibition and Patricide: William "Big Bill" Zaruba (1929)
Petite, but scrappy, Helen Vachuda proved she could take care of herself when she shot and killed her abusive stepfather in 1929 in Barnhart, Missouri.
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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12:30
Murder in the Family: Russell Becker (1929)
Was it murder or was it an accident? Ora and Russell Becker were having marital difficulties when her brother Clarence Cook stepped in to chase his wayward brother-in-law off the property. What happened next left behind a young widow and a fath...
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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11:25
Murder of a Sweet Young Thing: Pearl Potoskey (1928)
Successful DeSoto, Missouri businessman Sol Hohenthal had no trouble finding pretty, young ladies willing to overlook his violent temper to be seen draped on his arm at the fashionable restaurants and clubs in Prohibition-era St. Louis. When 25...
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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20:32
Murder of the Innocent: Louis Merrill Taylor (1872)
The aftermath of the Civil War in America left thousands of children in need of homes. By the 1870s, various societies had formed to seek families willing to take in orphans. While there were obviously successful adoptions, there were also thos...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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29:54
The Great Festus Bank Heist: (1926)
Booze, broads, bootleggers, and bank robbers were all part of the "roaring twenties" in the U. S. A. and even in Jefferson County, Missouri. Before Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, or Baby Face Nelson, there was the sensational bank heist of...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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25:56
The Mistaken Identity Murder: Virgil Romine (1929)
Season Two of Murder and Mayhem in Jefferson County, Missouri begins with the tale of the murder of Virgil Romine in 1929. As he lay dying, he identified the killers as a couple of local troublemakers, but could he have been wrong?Disco...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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23:58
The Witch of Victoria, MO: The Story of Prudence Bevis (Queen Beavers) (1784-1858)
Prudence Marrs Bevis was not your typical witch. When Thomas Bevis, founder of Victoria, Missouri, brought his young bride home, the local residents were convinced she was a witch. Every bad thing that happened in the community was blamed on he...
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Season 1
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Episode 16
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22:16
Florence Nightingale Murders: The Bertha Gifford Story- Part Two (1872-1951)
Bertha Gifford, the attractive wife of Eugene Gifford, was born and raised in Morse Mill, Jefferson County, Missouri. After the death of her first husband, Henry Graham, she and Eugene married and moved to Catawissa, Franklin County, Missouri w...
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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38:42
Florence Nightingale Murders: The Bertha Gifford Story- Part One (1872-1951)
Bertha Gifford is remembered as one of the first alleged female serial killers in Missouri history. Born in Morse Mill, Jefferson County, Missouri, her beauty and strong personality made her one of the most popular young women in the small comm...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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21:31
The Labor Czar Murder: Joseph "Buck" Newell (1943)
Joseph "Buck' Newell was one of St. Louis's most notorious labor bosses. He ruled the AFL Hoisters Union with an iron fist, and controversy and violence followed in his wake. In 1927, he married an exotic beauty, Juanita Jeraldine Grasswick, a ...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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29:00
The Jaded Love Murders: Meloy & Greenhill-Uren (1901)
Mrs. Sadie Greenhill Uren was a pretty, young divorcee' whose newfound freedom also brought the attentions of several eligible young men to her door. Her delight about this turn of events was not shared by her brothers, Will and Dan Green...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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22:32
The Bootlegger Murder: Andrew Deck (1921)
When Andrew Deck decided to help Prohibition agents in Herculaneum, Missouri by informing on local bootleggers, he was gunned down in front of his young son. It is a story filled with twists and turns, and quite a few shocking surprises!
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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32:13
Moonshine and Mobsters: The Biltmore Club (1929-1979)
When the Prohibition law went into effect in 1920, production, sell, and transportation of alcohol went underground and the birth of the mobster era followed. Private Supper Clubs, Speakeasies, and hidden rooms in soda shops continued to supply...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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25:43
The Frisco Hill Murders: Marsden and Hensley (1883)
Mack Marsden and Allen Hensley were members of well-respected pioneer Jefferson County families, but they were also suspects in a notorious hog-stealing gang that were also responsible for arson and murder. When they met their fate on Fri...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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21:50
The Bushwhacker Murder: Sam Hildebrand (1872)
Missouri, the Compromise State, was overrun with vigilante justice during and after the period of Civil War. Whether sympathies lay with the Union or Rebel causes, no one was safe from becoming the victim of mob rule. Sam Hildebrand, great-grea...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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20:00
The Vigilante Murders: Bickford and Quick (1869)
The 1860s brought war and lawlessness to Jefferson County, Missouri. On February 15, 1869, law abiding citizens had grown weary of waiting for justice. When two murder suspects were held in the local jail, several men from Jefferson and W...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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22:39
The Family Affair Murders: Eoff (1862)
The small river community of Morse Mill, Missouri was caught up in the drama of unrest in 1862, when civil unrest within the country boiled over into neighborhoods and family relationships. That year claimed the lives of three members of the Sa...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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21:13
The Pioneer Murders: Hildebrand/House (circa 1800)
Missouri was the ancestral home of several native tribes, among them the Osage who were one of the most revered and feared tribes in the Midwest. The early nineteenth century brought the arrival of the European pioneers whose hunger for land an...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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20:39
The Love Triangle Murder: Martin Hunning (1911)
Martin Hunning was shot in the head as he answered the telephone he'd just had installed in his home in Murphy, Missouri early December 1911. His wife Annie heard the shattering glass and ran into the room to find her husband dead on the floor....
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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32:42
Newlywed Murders - Bonackers (1884)
Newlyweds Louis Bonacker and Josephine Glatt had barely started their lives when they made the mistake of allowing someone to stay overnight in their little rented cabin. Their kindness was repaid with a brutal double murder. Who would do such ...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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28:08