Walter Collins
The case exposed corruption in the Los Angeles Police Department and received nationwide attention. The 2008 film Changeling is based upon events related to this case.
The Murders
In September 1928, the Los Angeles Police Department, acting on a tip as to the whereabouts of a missing Canadian boy in the area, went to the Northcott Ranch, a small chicken farm located in present day Mira Loma, California. Under questioning, Clark claimed that he had been kidnapped by his uncle, Gordon Stewart Northcott, the son of the owner of the farm.
Northcott had apparently kept Clark prisoner on the ranch, physically abusing him and threatening to kill the boy if he fled. Clark claimed that Northcott had abducted and murdered as many as twenty children between the ages of nine and twelve.
Clark was able to lead police to the graves of some of the victims. Northcott was arrested near Vernon, British Columbia, after having fled to his native Canada.
Case and trial
Gordon Northcott.
Among the boys who disappeared were 9-year-old Walter Collins, who vanished on March 10, 1928, and 12-year-old Lewis Winslow and his brother Nelson, 10, who went missing from Pomona on May 16, 1928.
After a 27-day trial in Riverside County, California, before Judge George R.
Freeman, on February 8, 1929, Gordon Stewart Northcott was found guilty of killing Lewis and Nelson Winslow and an unidentified Mexican boy. The jury heard that he kidnapped, molested, tortured, killed, and dismembered these and other boys throughout 1928. On February 13, 1929, Judge Freeman sentenced Northcott to be hanged and the sentence was carried out on October 2, 1930.
Sarah Louise "Louisa" Northcott, Northcott's mother, admitted to killing Walter Collins, but then recanted her confession. She was sentenced to life and served her sentence at Tehachapi State Prison. She was paroled after serving less than 12 years in prison.
During the trial Gordon Stewart Northcott learned that the woman he thought was his mother was actually his grandmother. Louisa stated that Gordon was the result of incest that her husband, Cyruss George Northcott, committed against their daughter Winifred.
Police corruption
The Los Angeles Police Department was also involved in a scandal as a result of this case.
Arthur Hutchens, Jr., a runaway from Illinois but who was originally from Iowa, claimed he was the missing Walter Collins so he could get a free trip to California. The police considered the case closed and tried to convince Walter's mother, Christine Collins, that Hutchins was her son. When she refused to believe it, she was placed in the psychiatric ward of the Los Angeles County General Hospital. Only after Hutchins admitted he was not Christine Collins' son, ten days later, was she released. It is this aspect of the case depicted in the 2008 film Changeling.
Because Walter Collins' body was never found at the Northcott's chicken ranch, Christine Collins believed that he was still alive.
Collins, saying that he had lied when he said that Walter was not one of his victims. He said that he would tell her the truth if she came to visit him, but when Ms.
Collins arrived and confronted him, he claimed that he did not know anything about it and was innocent.
Five years after Northcott's execution, one of the boys that Northcott allegedly killed was found alive and well. She continued to search for him all her life unsuccessfully, until she faded into obscurity without ever knowing her son's fate. The last public record of Christine Collins is from 1941, when she attempted to collect a $15,562 judgment against Capt.
Jones, retired police officer, in Superior Court.
Aftermath
Investigators found an axe and bones, hair and fingers from three of the victims buried in lime near the chicken house at the Northcott ranch near Wineville, hence the name "Wineville Chicken Coop Murders." Wineville changed its name to “Mira Loma” on November 1, 1930, due in large part to the negative publicity surrounding this case. Wineville Avenue, Wineville Road, Wineville Park and other geographic references provide reminders of the community's former name.
Popular Culture
"The Big Imposter," an episode of the radio series Dragnet, which aired on June 7, 1951, was based on this case. When the show moved to television, the radio script was adapted into a teleplay and broadcast on December 4, 1952.
The film primarily depicts the plight of Christine Collins, the mother of Walter Collins, and her search for her real son after Arthur Hutchins' masquerade was uncovered.
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