In the quiet farming community of Kearney, Missouri, a sinister plot unfolded on January 30, 1880, forever altering the Soper family. John Lewis Soper, a local farmer, was a man whose life was abruptly and violently ended by a betrayal of the deepest kind. Unbeknownst to him, his own son, Edward Bates Soper, harbored a deep-seated resentment that would curdle into a murderous rage.
On that fateful day, Edward, a man in his mid-twenties, orchestrated a chillingly calculated plan. He established a literary society near the family home and extended an invitation to his unsuspecting father. As John Soper made his way to the gathering, Edward lay in wait in a feeding lot. Ambushing his father, he discharged his pistol four times, the shots echoing through the rural landscape. After committing the patricide, Edward disposed of the murder weapon in a nearby creek and, with unnerving composure, returned to the literary society to participate in the evening's activities as if nothing had transpired.
In the immediate aftermath of John Soper's murder, the wheels of justice turned, but in the wrong direction. The investigation led to the arrest and conviction of another man, Thomas Maib, who was imprisoned based on circumstantial evidence. For a time, it seemed the true killer of John Soper would remain a secret, cloaked by a gross miscarriage of justice. Edward Soper, meanwhile, continued his life, his dark secret festering beneath the surface. His path would be one of escalating depravity, marked by further heinous acts.
Years later, the full, horrifying scope of Edward Bates Soper's criminality came to light. Following the brutal ax murders of his wife, Ardela, and their two young children in Archie, Missouri, in 1891, he became a fugitive. His life on the run eventually led him to Oregon, where he remarried and had another child, a son he would also murder. It was his eventual capture in 1897 that unraveled the entirety of his violent history. While being extradited back to Missouri to face trial for the murder of his wife, Edward began to confess to his litany of crimes. Among these confessions was the shocking admission that he, not Thomas Maib, had murdered his father, John Soper, nearly two decades earlier. Edward Bates Soper was ultimately convicted for the murder of his wife and was executed by hanging in Harrisonville, Missouri, on March 30, 1899. His confession brought a belated and tragic resolution to the long-unsolved murder of his father.
