Another unlikely suspect in the Villisca Axe Murders was the Reverend Lyn George Jacklin Kelly, often described as a queer, strange, little man—he stood only five foot two and weighed 120 pounds. An article in Smithsonian Magazine said Kelly was well known as a sexual pervert. Just days before the murders, he was observed peeping into windows in Villisca.
Detectives arrested Kelly in 1917 and charged him with the killings,
and for a while, it seemed they had the case wrapped up.
Kelly made a written confession. He said he saw a shadow by the
Moore house while he was out walking. “Something prompted him to follow it. He
saw an ax. He picked it up. Then came a voice saying: ‘Go in. Slay utterly.’”
He crept up the stairs and into the children’s bedroom. The
voice came back. “Slay utterly. Suffer little children to come unto me.” He
replied, “Yes, Lord, they’re coming quick.” Chop—went the ax.
From there, he went into Josiah and Sarah’s room. “More work
yet. There must be sacrifices of blood.” Again, the ax did its work.
Downstairs, he discovered the Stillinger girls. “More work
still.” The ax resumed its work.
Eight people were dead. The voice was satisfied.
The next day, Kelly repudiated the confession, saying he did not
remember making it.
The court acquitted Kelly on November 26, 1917.
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