The Wineville Chicken Coop Murderer

Gordon Stewart Northcott- Born in Bladworth, Saskatchewan, and raised in British Columbia. He moved to Los Angeles with his parents in 1924. The jury heard that he kidnapped, molested, tortured, and murdered the Winslow brothers and the "Headless Mexican" in 1928. On February 8, the 27-day trial ended with Northcott being convicted of those murders. On February 13, Freeman sentenced him to death. He was hanged on October 2, 1930, at San Quentin State Prison. He was 23 years old. It was speculated that Northcott may have killed as many as 20 boys, but the state of California could not produce evidence to support that speculation. Ultimately, the state only brought an indictment against Northcott for the murders of an unidentified underage Mexican national later to be identified as Alvin Gothea—known as the "Headless Mexican"—and the brothers Lewis and Nelson Winslow (aged 12 and 10, respectively). The brothers had been reported missing from Pomona on May 16, 1928.

A farmhouse near Wineville, where Gordon Stewart Northcott killed his victims.

Prosecutors say Gordon Stewart Northcott carried bodies of his victims into this chicken house for burial. In the foreground is what officers say was the Winslow brothers' grave. The photo is taken from a grave said to be Walter Collins'. The farm is located near Mira Loma

Gordon Stewart Northcott points with a pencil to a chicken house at his ranch where the state contends one of his alleged boy victims was slain. Undersheriff Rayburn, left, and Deputy Brown, right, keep him closely guarded as the trial jury inspects the ranch.

Boy Scout hat and uniform, along with other clothing found in the Northcott farm house. Lewie Winslow was a Boy Scout.

Detective Lieutenants Chester Lloyd and E. M. Hamren examining two hatchets and a blood-stained chopping block found in the basement of the Northcott family house at 1239 Brittania Street.

Sanford Clark shows officials the chair from the "murder farm" in which he says the Winslow brothers and Walter Collins sat when they were killed, struck from behind by a hammer and hatchet wielded by Gordon Stewart Northcott. This chair was brought from the Wineville ranch to the Northcotts' Los Angeles home with other furniture, Clark informed Deputy Sheriffs A. B. Mendoza, left, and L. G. Ybarra, for whom he re-enacted the alleged killings

Human skull bone found in lime on the "murder farm," with a blonde hair embedded in it.

Collection of bones unearthed at the "murder farm" and declared to be human bones by three scientists who examined them closely.

Clark Sellers, criminologist, classified these bones as being from the second finger of a boy's right hand.

Murdered boys were buried inside this chicken house, according to Sanford Clark, a resident on the ranch. He said Lewis and Nelson Winslow were buried there with quicklime to destroy their bodies. Authorities found a shallow grave and in the dirt about it traces of lime.

The Northcott ranch. Notice the stop sign used as a precursor to crime scene tape.