Nancy Staffleback

Serial Killer

Nancy Staffleback and the Staffleback Family Murders

Overview

Nancy Staffleback, also known after her second marriage as Nancy Wilson, was the matriarch of a notorious criminal family that operated in southwestern Missouri and southeastern Kansas during the late nineteenth century. She was born Nancy Chase on August 16, 1832, in Allegany County, New York. Although she is frequently described in later accounts as a serial killer, the surviving historical record firmly connects her conviction to one murder. Additional killings were attributed to members of her household through witness statements and sensational newspaper reports, but the names and exact death dates of most alleged victims were never reliably documented. Nancy married Michael Staffleback and raised a large family that included several sons who later became involved in serious crimes. After the marriage deteriorated, Nancy and some of her children lived in the Joplin, Missouri, area. The family was associated with Swindle Hill, a rough district known during the mining boom for theft, violence, gambling and other unlawful activities. Nancy later moved with several family members to Galena, Kansas, a mining community near the Missouri border.

The Staffleback House in Galena

By the middle of the 1890s, the Stafflebacks occupied a crude house near Galena's mining district. Contemporary reports described the property as a disorderly house or brothel frequented by miners, laborers and travelers. Nancy lived there with relatives and associates, including her sons Edward, George and Michael Staffleback, her second husband Charles Wilson, and several women connected to the household. The house acquired a reputation as a dangerous place where visitors could be robbed, assaulted or threatened. Because abandoned mine shafts surrounded Galena, the region provided numerous concealed places where evidence or bodies could be discarded. Later testimony suggested that members of the household used this isolated environment to intimidate witnesses and hide their crimes. ...

Confirmed Victims: (1)

Francis Marian "Frank" Galbreath , Date of Death: 1897

Suspected Victims:

Unidentified Woman , Date of Death: 1895

Unidentified Woman , Date of Death: 1895

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