How They Were Caught: H.H. Holmes

during the summer of 1886 a man named Herman Webster Mudgett settles in to Chicago he was a charming con man and though some didn't find him off-putting most took a quick liking to him budgets relocation wouldn't be the only change he'd make it is here where budget takes the name dr. H H Holmes and begins to run a pharmacy over the years Holmes the man widely referred to as the nation's first known serial killer had a building of his design constructed in the Englewood area of Chicago to keep his dastardly designs under wraps he would frequently fire his construction workers or force him to quit by refusing to pay them through a conning act of rebuke he would maintain that he wasn't happy with the work so many worked in the construction of the building over the years that they could not truly understand the horrors of what they were helping to create exactly as Holmes had intended he would eventually hire a carpenter named Benjamin height so who became a loyal assistant to Holmes Petzl and his wife Carrie had five children desi Alice Nellie Howard and a son who died in infancy the first floor had space for shops where he hired women to work for him his own apartment and office were on the second floor along with additional rooms that he could rent out up to the third floor but it was the secret features of the building that would allow Holmes to turn the place into a nightmarish murder castle hidden passageways and trap doors notably a shoot that allowed Holmes to move bodies quickly in inconspicuously from the second-floor directly to the basement among other horrifying designs Holmes also made use of the backdrop of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition which reportedly drew over 25 million visitors to Chicago during this time Holmes turned the extra rooms in his building into hotel many of his victims were young women who we charm to became engaged to before murdering them then taking control of their finances throughout his time in Chicago homes racked up several debts and around the time the fair came to an end homes made plans to leave Chicago at this point some of the families of the woman who had gone missing killed by homes had started investigating inching closer and closer to the truth before leaving he tried to make some fast money by committing insurance fraud after a small fire in his building the conman claimed six thousand dollars in damages filing the paperwork under another pseudonym Hiram s gamble the insurance company believed the fire was suspicious and agreed to pay out the claim if mr. Campbell came to collect the money in person while in the past homes likely would have found a way to retrieve this money he was growing more worried as these investigations closed in on him furthermore the countless creditors homes owed money to banded together and hired attorney George B Chamberlain to collect for them Chamberlin set up a meeting with homes in late 1893 and surprised him with a roomful of people he owed money to along with more lawyers Holmes turned on his charm and made a case for himself than many in the room fell for but instead of being arrested that day as had been the plan Holmes disappeared what the creditors were deciding what to do along with Petzl Holmes moved to Fort Worth Texas Holmes had land there that had previously belonged to one of the woman he had seduced in kilt named Minnie Williams shortly before the duo went to Texas home security Lehighton George policy on Petzl the pair continued to work various schemes in Texas Missouri Colorado New York and Tennessee Holmes ended up in prison in Texas for a short time after one of his defrauding scams was uncovered while their homes met an accomplice in Marion Hedgepeth a train robber with whom he made a plan to collect on titles life-insurance policy meanwhile Pizza was in Philadelphia posing as a patent salesman by the name of bf Perry eventually Holmes went free and journeyed to Philadelphia in August 1894 one of B F Perry's clients found him on the second floor of his business dead the body was badly burned the head and upper body in particular which was disfigured beyond recognition the man had apparently died in an explosion although he appeared to have been resting peacefully the coroner would know his theory that the man had died from chloroform poisoning as a considerable amount of it was found in the men's stomach and while the death was due to his fixie ation it wasn't clear whether that was due to smoke inhalation or another poison at this point the identification of the body had not been settled soon after Holmes made a claim on pencils life-insurance policy Holmes wrote to a fidelity mutual Life Association agent providing his description of Petzl noting various physical descriptions though I do not think he took very good care of his teeth and may have had none done in a general way I should describe him a man nearly 6 feet high at least 5 feet 10 inches always thin in flesh and weighing 145 to 155 pounds having very black and somewhat coarse hair very thick with no tendency towards baldness he also had some sort of warty growth on the back or side of his neck in the same letter Holmes noted that pipes will still owed him a hundred and eighty dollars in astha if the body was indeed his that the amount be taken out of his insurance payout and sent to him in a second letter to the insurance agent Holmes offered to come in to try and identify the body the coroner requested that a family member also take a look it is believed that Holmes coach pied CIL's 15 year old daughter beforehand and the pair identified the body as Benjamin pestle the $10,000 claim was paid out immediately despite the payout the insurance company believed Holmes was committing fraud they weren't convinced that the body was even pixels or that the death is an accident to add to the matter former accomplice Marion Hedgepeth had told the insurance company to look into Holmes claim when the apparent $500 he was promised for his part in the scheme had not been paid Hedgepeth stated his belief that the body wasn't actually pencils with hedge pets allegations backed by their own suspicions the insurance company hired the legendary Pinkerton Detective Agency to investigate leading to Holmes arrest in Boston for the insurance fraud in 1894 once behind bars Holmes admitted to the fraud and claimed he had found a cadaver that looked enough like Ben weitzel had rented a house put the cadaver on the second floor and set the body on fire so that it would not be recognizable and that Petzl was still alive meanwhile three of petals children Alice Nelly and Howard were now missing in Philadelphia detective Frank F P Geyer was on the case according to guy Benjamin pencils wife Carrie had known about her husband's plan to scan the life insurance company along with homes beforehand although she was against it she needed the money at one point Holmes had told mrs. pencil that he knew where her husband was hiding out and that he now wanted to see their children so Holmes left with Alice as well as Nellie who is 11 and Howard who was 8 after Holmes was arrested letters written by Allison le tooth her mother which were never sent were found in Holmes's possession but according to Holmes's story the children were fine there with the friend of his Minnie Williams an early victim of Holmes who was allegedly bringing them to PI tools hideout in England Scotland Yard was contacted and asked to search for the children to no avail detective Geyer was able to use the children's letters who tried to retrace their steps in Toronto he found the bodies of Alice and Nellie buried in the basement of a home Holmes had rented Holmes was brought in from prison for questioning upon the discovery but he swore that many Williams must have killed the children this led Chicago police to raid Holmes's old home where they found various human bones and other body parts among the evidence authorities believe they had found the body of Minnie Williams gyres search would eventually lead him to yet another home Holmes had rented an Indianapolis where the body of petals young son Howard was uncovered it became clear that while Holmes had committed insurance fraud into collecting money on Ben pencils life insurance the men had not staged and Hudson's death Holmes had actually murdered his longtime accomplice it is believed he killed the Petzl children out of sport convenience and to keep his insurance scam a secret Holmes was put on trial and was convicted of killing Ben Petzl he was sentenced to death in one of his confessions he claimed to have killed a total of 27 victims over the years although some estimate that he killed many more on may 7th 1896 HH Holmes wore a black suit to his execution the notorious murderer conman and liar woodcraft to these final words I am not guilty of taking the lives of any of the Petzl family and just before he was hanged he said I have never committed murder that is all I have to say Holmes would use his final breath to unsuccessfully con his way out of death [Music]

Channel: BuzzFeed Unsolved Network

Views: 1,244,860

Keywords: Dr. Henry Howard Holmes, Herman Webster Mudgett, Moyamensing Prison, PL-HowTheyWereCaught, SffZ, america's first serial killer, american swindler, buzzfeed, buzzfeed unsolved, buzzfeed unsolved network, creepy, crime, criminal, hh holmes, hh holmes buzzfeed, how they were caught, how they were caught hh holmes, investigation, mystery, serial, serial killer, true crime, unsolved

Id: yIIGg9HloWQ

Length: 9min 3sec (543 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 14 2019