Gordon Stewart Northcott

Gordon Stewart Northcott (November 9, 1906 – October 2, 1930) was a Canadian child abductor and murderer known for killing three children in Wineville.

Gordon Stewart Northcott
Northcott c. 1928
BornNovember 9, 1906
Bladworth, Saskatchewan, Canada
Died (aged 23)
San Quentin, California, U.S.
Cause of deathExecution by hanging
NationalityCanadian
Conviction(s)Child abductions, child rapes and molestations, torture, child murders in (February 8, 1929)
Criminal penaltyDeath sentence (February 13, 1929)
Details
Victims3 (confirmed), 1 (implicated)
Span of crimes
1926–1928
CountryUnited States
State(s)California
Date apprehended
September 19, 1928

Biography

Gordon Stewart Northcott was born in Bladworth, Saskatchewan, Canada and raised in British Columbia. He moved to Los Angeles, California with his parents in 1924. Northcott asked his father to purchase a plot of land in Wineville, California. On this land, Gordon built a chicken ranch and a house with the help of his father (who was in the construction business) and his nephew, Sanford.[1] It was this pretext (building a chicken ranch at Wineville) that Northcott used to bring Sanford from Bladworth to the United States.

Wineville Chicken Coop murders
1928 Northcott Farm Site
1928 Northcott Farm Site
Los Angeles county vicinity
Coordinates: 33°58′24″N 117°32′24″W

While residing at his chicken ranch, Northcott abducted an undetermined number of boys and molested them. Typically, after molesting them, he would drive the victims home and let them go. Four of them, however, he murdered at the ranch.

Ultimately, Northcott was tried and convicted of murdering the two Winslow boys and a Hispanic teen, Alvin Gothea. He had shot and then decapitated Gothea, who was his first murder victim.

Allegedly, Northcott also participated in the murder of a boy named Walter Collins.[2] A few days after abducting Walter Collins, Northcott received a phone call from his mother, Sarah Louise Northcott, informing him that she was on her way to see him at the ranch in Wineville and that she was going to stay for a few days. The drive from her home in Los Angeles to Wineville was only about an hour. By then, Northcott had held and molested Walter for several days. During his mother's visit, Walter was kept in a chicken coop.[2]

Sarah Louise became suspicious of the chicken coop and of Northcott's desire to keep her away from it. At some time during her visit to the ranch, she discovered Walter in the chicken coop. According to Sanford Clark's testimony, she told her son that Walter could identify him (Northcott had worked at a supermarket where Walter had shopped for his mother Christine Collins).

Because Walter could identify him, she told her son that Walter knew too much and would have to be silenced permanently. Sanford Clark testified that Sarah Louise decided that all three of them should participate in murdering Walter. That way, none of them could implicate the two others without placing themselves at risk. Northcott suggested using a gun, but Sarah Louise feared that a gunshot would alert the neighbors. Sarah Louise chose the blunt end of an ax to bludgeon Walter in the head as he lay sleeping on a cot in one of the chicken coops. After striking the few first blows, Northcott and Clark joined.

The two Winslow brothers were killed in the same way.[2]

Imprisonment and hanging

Canadian police arrested Gordon Stewart Northcott and his mother on September 19, 1928.[3] Due to errors in the extradition paperwork, they were not returned to Los Angeles until November 30, 1928.[4][5]

Gordon Northcott was implicated in the murder of Walter Collins, but because his mother had confessed to murdering Collins and had been sentenced for it, the state chose not to prosecute Gordon Northcott in that murder.[6]

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 (known as the "Headless Mexican") and the brothers Lewis and Nelson Winslow (aged 12 and 10, respectively).[7] The brothers had been reported missing from Pomona on May 16, 1928.[8]

In early 1929, Gordon Northcott's trial was held before Judge George R. Freeman in Riverside County, California. The jury heard that he kidnapped, molested, tortured, and murdered the Winslow brothers and the "Headless Mexican" in 1928. On February 8, 1929, the 27-day trial ended with Gordon being convicted of those murders.

On February 13, 1929, Freeman sentenced him to death[9] and he was hanged on October 2, 1930 at San Quentin State Prison. He was 23 years old.[10][11]

Family tree
Sarah Louise Northcott née Cawthrope[12]Cyrus George Northcott[13]
John ClarkWinifred Clark née Northcott [14]Gordon Stewart Northcott[15]
(November 9, 1906 – October 2, 1930)
Jessie Clark[16]June Clark née McInnesSanford Wesley Clark[17]
(March 1, 1913 – June 20, 1991)		Kenneth ClarkEddie Clark
Jerry ClarkRobert Clark

Clint Eastwood directed Changeling in 2008, and Gordon Northcott was portrayed by Jason Butler Harner.[18][19]

See also

References
  1. Psychopedia: The Wikipedia Serial Killer Files. Blackhous Applications. 22 April 2014. p. 1539.
  2. Flacco, Anthony, The Road Out of Hell
  3. "Murder Farm' Fugitive Held: Young Northcott Arrested by Canadian Police Mother Also Believed to be in Their Custody Blood Found on Suspects' Ranch Called Human". Los Angeles Times. 1928-09-20. Retrieved 2010-04-24.
  4. "Error in Extradition Papers to Delay Northcott's Return: Officers Go On To See Suspect State Aides Discover Flaws in Legal Documents Burying Alive Charge Laid to Sanford Clark Examination Continues of "Death Farm" Clews". Los Angeles Times. 1928-09-26. Retrieved 2010-04-24.
  5. "Youth's Nerves At High Tension: Northcott Embarrassed on Debarking from Train Request for Picture Brings Defiant Refusal Prisoner Lodged in Cell That Housed Hickman". Los Angeles Times. 1928-11-30. Retrieved 2010-04-24.
  6. Paul, James Jeffrey, Nothing Is Strange with You, p. 141
  7. "Northcott Convicted of Slaying Three Boys; His Last Dramatic Plea Fails to Move Jury". New York Times. 1929-02-07. Retrieved 2008-01-16.
  8. Wetsch, Elisabeth (1995). "Chicken Murders". Serial Killer Crime Index. Archived from the original on 2012-01-31. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
  9. "Northcott put in Doomed Row: Slayer Becomes No. 46,597 at San Quentin Meeting With "Mother" May be Arranged Later Youth "Wisecracks" About Forthcoming Hanging". Los Angeles Times. 1929-02-13. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
  10. Kurz, John (1988-12-15). "Mira Loma History, Riverside County, California: Wineville Chicken Murders". Rubidoux Historical Society. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
  11. Gribben, Mark (2007-02-27). "Poetic Justice". The Malefactor's Register. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
  12. "Sarah Northcott" (1 photograph: b&w jpeg). Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection. 1928. Retrieved 2010-05-09. "Sarah Northcott, Gordon's mother, held in Canada and jointly accused with her son of murder."
  13. "Cyrus G. Northcott" (1 photograph: b&w jpeg). Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection. 1928. Retrieved 2010-05-09. "Cyrus G. Northcott, father of the suspect and asserted owner of the farm, was grilled by police in September, 1928 and denied any knowledge of the crimes."
  14. "Winifred Clark" (1 photograph: b&w jpeg). Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection. 1928. Retrieved 2010-05-09. "Gordon Stewart Northcott's older sister, Mrs. Winifred Clark, who had arrived at the farm and discovered the truth. She returned safely to Calgary."
  15. "Northcott leaving jail" (1 photograph: b&w jpeg). Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection. 1929. Retrieved 2010-05-09. "Northcott signing out in the 'big book' at the Los Angeles County Jail as he departed for Riverside to go on trial as the slayer of the Winslow brothers. Soon after, his mother revealed that he is actually the son of her daughter, Mrs. Winifred Clark."
  16. "Jessie Clark" (1 photograph: b&w jpeg). Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection. 1928. Retrieved 2010-05-09. "Jessie Clark, 19-year-old Saskatoon, Canada girl who said, 'Gordon said he burned four boys on a pyre.'"
  17. "Sanford Clark" (1 photograph: b&w jpeg). Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection. 1928. Retrieved 2010-05-09. "Sanford Clark, 15, who asserted four boys were slain on a 'murder farm' by Gordon Northcott, 21. He is shown looking over photos of missing boys. He claimed Walter Collins was a victim and picked his photo out of 30, but could not identify a boy found and returned as Walter Collins."
  18. "Changeling". Universal Studios official website. Archived from the original on 2 February 2008. Retrieved 30 January 2008.
  19. King, Susan (7 September 2008). "Changeling actor reveres his boss: Clint Eastwood". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 11 October 2008. Retrieved 5 September 2008.
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