| Wineville Chicken Coop murders | |
|---|---|
 Northcott's ranch | |
 Location in Riverside County and the state of California | |
| Location | 6330 Wineville Ave Jurupa Valley, California 91752 |
| Date | 1926–1928 |
Attack type | Child murder by bludgeoning, serial murder, child abduction |
| Weapons | Axe |
| Deaths | 3 confirmed, 10 confessed[a] |
| Injured | 1 (Sanford Clark) |
| Perpetrators |
|
No. of participants | 3 |
| Defenders |
|
| Verdict | Gordon: Guilty on all counts Sarah: Pleaded guilty |
| Convictions | First-degree murder (3 counts for Gordon, 1 count for Sarah) |
| Sentence | Gordon: Death Sarah: Life imprisonment |
The Wineville Chicken Coop murders,[2] also known as the Wineville Chicken murders,[3] were a series of abductions and murders of young boys that occurred in the city of Los Angeles and in Riverside County, California, United States between 1926 and 1928. The murders were perpetrated by Gordon Stewart Northcott, a 19-year-old farmer who had moved to the U.S. from Canada two years earlier, as well as his mother, Sarah Louise Northcott, and his nephew, Sanford Clark.
Northcott was arrested while visiting his sister in Canada in November 1928. The case received national attention because one of the assumed victims was Walter Collins, the nine-year-old son of Christine Collins, who had gone missing in March 1928. While authorities initially considered the possibility that the total number of boys killed might have been as high as 20, this theory was eliminated as the investigation began to unfold. Northcott was found guilty of three of the murders in February 1929 and was executed at San Quentin State Prison in October 1930.
- ^ "During the 1920s, Boys Became the Prey of a Brutal Killer". Los Angeles Times. 31 October 2004. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
- ^ Johnson, Kim Jarrell (2006). Jurupa. Arcadia Publishing. p. 67. ISBN 0-7385-3082-4.
- ^ Kurz, John (1988-12-15). "Mira Loma History, Riverside County, California: Wineville Chicken Murders". Rubidoux Historical Society. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
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