How Renowed Serial Killer H.H. Holmes Was Caught?

During the summer of 1886, a man names Herman Webster Mudgett settles into Chicago. He was a charming conman, and though some did find him off putting, most took a quick liking to him. Mudgett's relocation wouldn't be the only change he'd make, it is here where Mudgett 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 keeps his dastardly designs under wraps, he would frequently fire his construction workers or force them to quite 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 on 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.

Hidden passageways and trap doors, notably a shoot that allowed Holmes to move bodies quickly and inconspicuously from the second floor directly to the basement,

among other horrifying designs. Holmes also made use of the backdrop of the 1893 World Columbian Exposition which reportedly drew over 25 million visitors to Chicago. During this time, Holmes turned the extra rooms in his building into a hotel. Many of his victims were young women who he charmed to became engaged to before murdering them, then taking control of their finances.

Throughout his time in Chicago, Holmes racked up several debts. And around the time the fair came to an end, Holmes made plans to leave Chicago. At this point, some of the families of the women who had gone missing, killed by Holmes, 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 $6,000 in damages, filing the paperwork under another pseudonym, Hiram S. Campbell. The insurance company believed the fire was suspicious and agreed to play out the claim if Mr. Campbell came to collect the money in person. While in the past, Holmes likely would of found a way to retrieve this money, he was growing more worried as these investigations closed in on him. Furthermore, the countless creditors Holmes owed money to banded together and hired attorney George B. Chamberlain to collect for them. Chamberlain set up a meeting with Holmes in late 1893 and surprised him with a room full of people he owed money to, along with more lawyers. Holmes turned on his charm and made a case for himself that many in the room fell for. But instead of being arrested that day, as had been the plan, Holmes disappeared while the creditors were deciding what to do. Along with Pitezel, Holmes moved to Fort Worth, Texas. Holmes had land there that had previous belonged to one of the woman he had seduced and killed named Minnie Williams.

Shortly before the duo went to Texas, Holmes secured a $10,000 life insurance policy on Pitezel. 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 there Holmes met an accomplice in Marion Hedgepeth, a train robber with whom he made a plan to collect on Pitezel's life insurance policy.

Meanwhile, Pitezel was in Philadelphia, posing as a patent salesman by the name of B.F. Perry. Eventually Homes 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 note his theory that the man had died from coralliform poisoning as a considerable amount of it was found in the man's stomach. And while the death was due to asphyxiation, 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 Pitezel's life insurance policy. Holmes wrote to a Fidelity Mutual Life Association agentproviding his description of Pitezel, noting various physical descriptions. "I do not know who did his dental work "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 six feet high, at least five feet, 10 inches. "Always thin in flesh and weighing 145 to 155 pounds. "Having very black and somewhat course hair, "very thick and 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 Pitezel still owed him $180 and asked that 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 request that a family member also take a look. It is believe that Holmes coached Pitezel's 15-year-old daughter beforehand and the pair identified the body as Benjamin Pitezel.

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 Pitezel's or that the death was an accident. To add to the matter, former accomplish, 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 Pitezel's. With Hedgepeth's 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 that the fraud and claimed he had found a cadaver that looked enough like Ben Pitezel, had rented the house, put the cadaver on the second floor, and set the body in a fire so that it would not be recognizable and that Pitezel was still alive.

Meanwhile, three of Pitezel's children, Alice, Nelly, and Howard, were now missing and Philadelphia detective Frank F.P. Geyer was on the case. According to Geyer, Benjamin Pitezel's wife Carrie had known about her husband's plan to scam the life insurance company along with Holmes beforehand. Although she was against it, she needed the money. At one point, Holmes had told Mrs. Pitezel 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 Nelly who is 11, and Howard who was eight.

After Holmes was arrested, letters written by Alice and Nelly to their mother, which were never sent, were found in Holmes' possession. But according to Holmes' story, the children were fine, they were with a friend of his, Minnie Williams, an early victim of Holmes, who was allegedly bringing them to Pitezel's 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 to try to retrace their steps. In Toronto, he found the bodies of Alice and Nelly 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 Minnie Williams must have killed the children. This led Chicago police to raid Holmes' old home where they found various human bones and other body parts. Among the evidence, authorities believed they had found the body of Minnie Williams.

Geyer's search would eventually lead him to yet another home Holmes' had rented in Indianapolis where the body of Pitezel's young son, Howard, was uncovered.

It became clear that while Holmes had committed insurance fraud, in collecting money on Ben Pitezel's life insurance, the men had not staged Ben Pitezel's death.

Holmes had actually murdered his long-time accomplice. It is believed he killed the Pitezel children out of sport, convenience, and to keep his insurance scam a secret. Holmes was put on trial and was convicted of killing Ben Pitezel. 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, H.H. Holmes wore a black suit to his execution. The notorious murderer, conman, and liar would craft these final words.

"I am not guilty of taking the lives "of any of the Pitezel 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 finally breath to unsuccessfully con his way out of death.