UNSOLVED ND - Niagara, Six nude bodies buried in crawlspace, c. 1906

[Sailor Haumea]

Can we compile a ruleout list?

 

[Xdeano]

Anything new on this case?
Thank
Xdeano

 

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

Public may hold key to solving 100-year-old ND murder mystery

According to newspaper clippings at the time, townspeople who caught wind of the serial killings flocked to the farmstead to collect bones belonging to the victims and took them as souvenirs.

(...)

Scientists say the bigger the bone, like a skull or femur, the more useful it would be.

Stubblefield would not be surprised if skulls from this event still exist, as they are often kept as trophies.

“If there is a story attached to that skull, you just keep it, especially the family members will maintain possession, just keep passing it down and pass the story down,” said Stubblefield.

Those last sentences made me think of this case from last year Identified! - MT - Missoula, Skeletal remains of 3 children in box, Sep'17 - Historic remains

 

[MadMcGoo]

This is really fascinating. And it doesn’t seem completely unsolvable. Previous posters have really put in good work here!

 

[MadMcGoo]

Here are several articles, some referenced previously, and all of them conflicting. One mentions the victims possibly being relatives of Butler’s that had come to visit. I don’t remember seeing that before.

8 Jul 1915, 2 - Courier Democrat at Newspapers.com



29 Jun 1915, 6 - Buffalo Courier at Newspapers.com


31 Dec 1912, 8 - Grand Forks Herald at Newspapers.com


1 Jul 1915, 2 - Courier Democrat at Newspapers.com

 

[Jayne Doe]

Bump

 

[RememberingRyan]

I do not see it mentioned in the thread yet, but it looks like more updated information on Augusta Hanke (maiden name of Frank) and her family has been added to ancestry sites indicating that she and her children lived well beyond Butler's death, so they can probably be excluded. Names and birth years for this record match the census image:

Frederick Charles Hanke 1863-1900 - Ancestry®