At the bottom of this article is a link to a 1905 newspaper story that is quite long and detailed, but was published before Hoch was executed in 1906.   Article: “Bigamist Blue Beard Johann Otto Hoch: 50 Possible Murdered Wives,” Celebrated Criminal Cases of America, Thomas A Duke, 1910. Johann Hoch was born […]

  True Crime podcast presenter, Mike Boudet, of SwordandScale.com is a big fan of HistoricalCrimeDetective.com and enthusiastically sought an interview with yours truly, HCD founder Jason L Morrow. He allowed me to choose one of my self-written stories for presentation and discussion on his podcast. The story I chose for what will be our first […]

. July 1, 1934 Jefferson & Jefferson County, Wisconsin Earl Gentry was dead. It looked like he had been “taken for a ride” and polished off with typical gangland efficiency. Not a soul mourned the passing of this self-styled gangster with the itching trigger finger, brass knuckles and concealed stiletto. He had won the sobriquet […]

The Mammoth Book of Murder: True Stories of Violent Death This book contains 200 gripping accounts of homicide, criminal investigation, forensic science, criminology, and courtroom drama by veteran true crime writer Jim Fisher. The collection features murder-for-hire, arson murder, historic and celebrated murders, junk science, strange cause and manner of death cases, women who kill, […]

. Originally Published: “Torture House,” by Detective Lieutenant William Oeltjen, as told to Frederic Lord, True Detective Mysteries, Feb., 1930.   Recently, while in my office in Louisville I was pondering on the dullness of life–in particular, of a detective’s life—when’ a question was put to me by a friend who had dropped in for […]

The following case has been a “repeater” for many years and is now in the penitentiary. She is sixty-eight years of age and has served sentences in the penitentiaries of Blackwell’s Island, Sing Sing, Jolie t, and probably elsewhere. This is her third term in Joliet. She has also served several sentences in the Cook […]

The following story was made into a movie in 1984 entitled, Mrs. Soffel, and starred Diane Keaton and Mel Gibson.   Story by Thomas A. Duke, for his book, Celebrated Criminal Cases of America, 1910. . During the early months of 1901, twenty-seven burglaries were committed in Pittsburgh, and the modus operandi of these bold […]

Matt Rollinger is a Luxemberger, thirty-four years of age, married, three children, and a cabinet-maker by occupation. Boarding at his house was a man whose intimacy with Mrs. Rollinger gave rise to rumors which reached his ears, and finally he became convinced of their truth. One morning after witnessing more than he could withstand, he […]