Henry Lee Moore

Serial Killer

Henry Lee Moore: Convicted Ax Murderer and Suspected Serial Killer

Overview

Henry Lee Moore was an American murderer whose name became connected to one of the most mysterious series of family killings in early twentieth-century America. Moore was convicted of murdering his mother and maternal grandmother in Columbia, Missouri, on December 17, 1912. Both women were killed with an ax inside the home they shared. After his conviction, a federal investigator suggested that Moore might also have been responsible for numerous unsolved ax murders committed across the Midwest between 1911 and 1912, including the eight killings known as the Villisca Ax Murders. Only the murders of Moore's mother and grandmother were legally proven against him. He was never charged with the other killings, and significant questions remain about whether he could have committed some of them. Henry Lee Moore is therefore more accurately described as a convicted double murderer and suspected serial killer rather than a man conclusively proven to have killed dozens of people.

Early Life and Criminal Background

Henry Lee Moore was born on November 1, 1874, in or near Columbia, Missouri. He was the eldest son of Enoch Moore and Georgia Ann Wilson Moore. His family lived in Boone County, and Moore later found employment as a laborer and blacksmith's helper around railroad facilities, including shops associated with the Wabash Railroad in Moberly, Missouri. His employment gave him experience traveling through communities connected by rail, a detail that later attracted the attention of investigators studying ax murders committed near railroad lines. Contemporary descriptions portrayed Moore as an unusual and sometimes unsettling man. Reports claimed that he collected newspaper articles about sensational crimes and visited morgues to look at bodies. These stories were repeated during the publicity surrounding his murder trial, although Moore denied some of the more disturbing allegations made about him. In May 1910, Moore was arrested in Wichita, Kansas, on a forgery charge. He was convicted and incarcerated at the Kansas State Reformatory in Hutchinson. He was released in April 1911. Several of the family ax murders later attributed to a traveling killer occurred after his release, causing investigators to examine his movements during that period. ...

Confirmed Victims: (2)

Georgia Ann Wilson Moore , Date of Death: 1912-12-17

Suspected Victims:

May Alice Burnham , Date of Death: 1911-09

Nellie Burnham , Date of Death: 1911-09

John Burnham , Date of Death: 1911-09

Henry F Wayne , Date of Death: 1911-09

Blanche Wayne , Date of Death: 1911-09

Lula Wayne , Date of Death: 1911-09

William E Dawson , Date of Death: 1911-09-30

Charity Dawson , Date of Death: 1911-09-30

Georgia Dawson , Date of Death: 1911-09-30

William Showman , Date of Death: 1911-10-15

Pauline Showman , Date of Death: 1911-10-15

Lester Showman , Date of Death: 1911-10-15

Fern Showman , Date of Death: 1911-10-15

Fenton Showman , Date of Death: 1911-10-15

Rollin David Hudson , Date of Death: 1912-06-05

Anna Hudson , Date of Death: 1912-06-05

Josiah Moore , Date of Death: 1912-06

Sarah Moore , Date of Death: 1912-06

Herman Moore , Date of Death: 1912-06

Katherine Moore , Date of Death: 1912-06

Boyd Moore , Date of Death: 1912-06

Paul Moore , Date of Death: 1912-06

Lena Stillinger , Date of Death: 1912-06

Ina Mae Stillinger , Date of Death: 1912-06

William Glenn Acreman , Date of Death: 1906-05-14

Amanda Sorrells Acreman , Date of Death: 1906-05-14

Seven Acreman Children , Date of Death: 1906-05-14

The Strange Saga of Henry Lee Moore - by Sha Cabral