John Jr. Bender: The Crimes of the Bloody Benders
Background
In the early 1870s, the Bender family—John Bender Sr., his wife Elvira, their son John Jr., and daughter Kate—settled in Labette County, Kansas. They established a small inn and general store near the Great Osage Trail, a popular route for westward travelers. While they presented themselves as a family, some contemporary reports suggested that John Jr. and Kate were, in fact, a married couple.
Modus Operandi
The Benders' inn served as a facade for their gruesome activities. They would invite travelers to dine with them, seating guests at a table positioned over a trapdoor and backing a canvas curtain. During the meal, one of the male Benders, often John Jr., would strike the unsuspecting guest on the head with a hammer from behind the curtain. The victim's body would then be dropped through the trapdoor into the cellar, where one of the women would slit their throat to ensure death. The bodies were subsequently stripped of valuables and buried in the property’s orchard or garden.
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