Skip to content

UNSOLVED: Villisca Axe Murders Pt. 2

October 29, 2026 · 48 min

Show notes

In Part 2 of Murder: True Crime Stories, host Carter Roy follows the decades of suspects, theories and trials that never produced a conviction for the Villisca axe murders. The investigation started with a crime scene hundreds of people had already walked through, and it never recovered from that. Private detectives, grand juries, a state senator and a traveling minister all became part of the case. The minister, Lyn George Jacklin Kelly, was tried twice for the murders: the first jury hung and the second acquitted him, and no one has been charged in the years since. Researchers have pointed to a run of axe killings along Midwestern rail lines in the same era as a possible connection, though nothing has ever tied any of them to the house on East Second Street. More than a century later, the Villisca axe murders remain officially unsolved, no one has been convicted, and eight people, six of them children, have never had an answer. Please note, this episode contains descriptions of extreme violence and may not be suitable for all audiences.

Head over to our YouTube channel to WATCH our video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@crimehousestudios 

If you’re new here, don’t forget to follow Murder: True Crime Stories to never miss a case! Want all 2 parts of every case all at once? Join Crime House+ and get both parts of each case dropped at once ad-free. Join at crimehouseplus.com or if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts, tap “Try Free” at the top of this show’s page. Murder: True Crime Stories is a Crime House Original Podcast, powered by PAVE Studios.

🎧 Need More to Binge? 

Listen to other Crime House Originals Clues, Crimes Of Reddit, Serial Killers & Murderous Minds, Crime House 24/7, and more wherever you get your podcasts!

Follow me on Social

All episodes of Murder: True Crime Stories

Settings

Display

Language

Decides which stations you see first on the home page.

History

Recently played stations and episodes and your latest searches are only stored in this browser.

Notifications

A short notice when a podcast you follow has a new episode. Turn off single podcasts with the bell on their page.

Account

Save favorites – in the app and on the website.

Keyboard shortcuts

/
Open search
Space
Play or pause
← →
In the player: back 15 s, forward 30 s (episodes) · in a row: next tile
↑ ↓
In a row: target within the tile
Home / End
In a row: first or last tile
Esc
Close window or menu
?
This overview
Now playing

Go to station page

Play next

    Add episodes with “Play next” – they play after the current episode.