In the spring of 1907, Ole Budsberg, a widowed farmer from Iola, Wisconsin, traveled to La Porte, Indiana, with a considerable amount of cash. He was last seen alive on April 6, 1907, at the La Porte Savings Bank where he mortgaged his land, securing several thousand dollars. From there, he made his way to the farm of Belle Gunness, a widow who had placed advertisements in Norwegian-language newspapers seeking a partner to join her on her farm.
Budsberg, a man in his early 50s, was one of many men who answered these ads, drawn by the prospect of companionship and a shared future.
Back in Wisconsin, Ole's sons, Oscar and Mathew, grew concerned when they did not hear from their father. After discovering his destination, they wrote to Belle Gunness to inquire about his whereabouts. She promptly replied, claiming she had never seen their father. This was a lie. Ole Budsberg had arrived at the farm, and like many men before him, he would never leave.
It wasn't until a fire destroyed the Gunness farmhouse on April 28, 1908, that the horrifying truth began to emerge. In the ashes, investigators found the bodies of a woman believed to be Belle and her three children. However, as authorities began to dig on the property, they unearthed a gruesome burial ground. Numerous dismembered bodies were discovered in shallow graves, revealing the extent of Belle Gunness's monstrous crimes. Among the remains identified were those of Ole Budsberg.
The investigation revealed that Gunness had a pattern of luring men to her farm with promises of marriage, only to murder them and steal their money. The exact number of her victims is unknown, but it is believed to be at least thirteen. A farmhand named Ray Lamphere, who had a tumultuous relationship with Gunness, was arrested and charged with arson and murder in connection with the fire. While he was found guilty of arson, he was acquitted of murder, as the true identity of the headless woman in the fire could not be definitively proven to be Belle Gunness, leading to speculation that she may have faked her own death. Lamphere later confessed to helping Gunness bury her victims but denied his involvement in their murders.
