Who Was The Axeman Of New Orleans?

🪓From May 22nd, 1918 to October 27th, 1919 a serial killer unleashed his reign of terror over the citizens of New Orleans. They were enthralled in the shear panic caused by this murderer called The Axeman. He lurked in the shadows at night and advanced on his prey while they slept in their beds. The Axeman used whatever he could find in the victim's homes to execute his villainous intentions. Most of the time it was an axe he found, which he would always leave behind when he was finished with his grisly deeds. The Axeman would never steal anything from his victim's homes. And most of those victims were female, Italian immigrants or Italian-Americans. He is responsible for 6 murders and attacked 12 people.

🪓It all started on May 22nd, 1918. 41-year-old Italian grocer Joseph Maggio, and his wife, 36-year-old Catherine, were sleeping at their home at 4901 Magnolia Street. The killer broke in and slashed their throats with a straight razor. Catherine was cut with such anger that she was nearly decapitated. Upon leaving the Axeman bashed their heads with an axe. Joseph survived the attack and held on for nearly two hours. 

🪓It was 4 a.m. when Jake woke up at the sounds of groaning coming from the wall he shared with his older brother Joseph and his sister-in-law Catherine's bedroom. Jake's other brother Andrew was a sleep in the bed next to his, passed out drunk from his night of celebration. Jake went to check what the sound was and was shocked by the carnage that he saw. Joseph and Catherine were lying on their bed surrounded by blood. Catherine had already passed, but Joseph was still clinging to life with a big hole in his head. Jake called the police and the ambulance. Within minutes, Corporal Arthur Hatener arrived to help Joseph, but it was too late, Joseph stopped breathing.

🪓When investigators surveilled the scene, they noticed that bloody clothes of the murderer, the axe that was used kill the couple, along with the chisel, that the killer used to remove the bottom paneling of the kitchen door, were left behind. Andrew told investigators that he saw an unknown man supposedly lurking near the residence prior to the murders.

🪓Andrew became the prime suspect in the crime as the razor blade, that was used in the murders were from his barber shop. Andrew confessed that he did not remember much because he was drunk. He did say, however, that he noticed someone entering their house at around 1:30 a.m. Later he was released because there was no real proof that Andrew was related with the crime.

🪓In front of Joseph and Catherine’s grocery store, there was a message written on a small chalkboard that read,“Mrs. Maggio will sit up tonight just like Mrs. Toney.” Investigators started digging into prior incidents parallel with the crime. It turned out that in 1911, there were around four similar ax murder cases. All four cases the victims were grocers. One of the victims was named Tony and the coroner thought that it was related with “Toney” in the mysterious chalkboard message.

🪓In the early morning hours of June 28th, 1918, Louis Besumer was asleep with his mistress, Ann Harriet Lowe, in the quarters at the back of his grocery store on corner of Dorgenois and Laharpe Street.  Louis was struck in the head with an axe, which caused a skull fracture. Ann was hacked over the left ear. Louis opened the door for John Zanca, a driver of a bakery wagon who was coming to make his daily routine delivery. 

🪓About 7 a.m., John found both Louis and Ann in a puddle of their own blood, both bleeding from their heads. John quickly contacted the police and paramedics, even though Louis didn’t want anyone to find out that he had a mistress. 

🪓By the time police and paramedics arrived, Ann was unconscious. Louis later recovered but one side of Ann's face was partially paralyzed due to the severity of the attack. While at the hospital, Ann claimed that a large white man with a hatchet attacked them. Since she gave out may statements while she was in a delusional state, the investigators didn't site them as credible.  

🪓Investigators discovered that the bottom panel of the door, to the quarters that they were sleeping in, was missing. The ax that the murder used in this hideous crime, belonged to Louis and was found in the bathroom.

🪓At first, police suspected John, but then they moved on to a 41-year-old African American man named Lewis Oubicon. Lewis had been employed at Louis' store just a week before the attacks. Even though there was no evidence of Lewis' guilt, he was arrested anyway. Robbery was theorized as the motive, despite nothing being taken in this case either. Lewis was eventually released, since they couldn't gather any evidence.

🪓Louis also became a suspect after a series of letters written in German, Russian, and Yiddish were discovered in a trunk in his home. After one of Ann's claims stated that Louis was a German spy, he was arrested. However, he was released two days later, and two lead investigators of the case were demoted due to unacceptable police work. 

🪓In August 1918, Louis was arrested again after Ann, who lay dying in Charity Hospital after a failed surgery, stated that it was really he who had attacked her with his hatchet. Ann had survived for 7 weeks, but passed away two days after doctors performed the surgery. Louis was charged with murder, and served nine months in prison before being acquitted on May 1, 1919, after a ten-minute jury deliberation.

🪓On August 5th, 1918, 28-year-old Anna Schneider  was 8 months pregnant and sleeping in her home on Elmira Street.  She woke up to see a man bash a lamp into her face repeatedly and cut open her scalp. She was discovered by her sister. Anna's face was covered in blood and she was rushed to the hospital where she gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Anna's husband, Ed, was at work at the time she was attacked.

🪓When investigators looked at the scene, it was discovered that the Schneider's axe was missing from their shed. There was no signs of forced entry. Ex-convict James Gleason was arrested shortly after, but was later released due to a complete lack of evidence. He originally ran from authorities because he had so often been arrested. 

🪓On August 10th, 1918,  80-year-old barber Joseph Romano was sleeping in his room when he was attacked by the Axeman. His two nieces, Pauline and Mary Bruno, lived next to Joseph. They heard him struggling and went to see what was going on. They found their uncle lying on the floor with a blow to the head as the Axeman was fleeing the scene. Joseph was seriously injured but he was able to walk to the ambulance once it arrived. The home had been ransacked, but appeared that nothing was stolen. Authorities found a bloody ax in the back yard and discovered that a panel on the back door had been chiseled away. Authorities found a bloody ax in the backyard and discovered the back door to be missing a panel. 

🪓Joseph's nieces were able to give a description of the Axeman to authorities. He was a dark-skinned, heavy-set man, who wore a dark suit and slouched hat. 

🪓Joseph died two days after the attack.

🪓It seemed like the Axeman took a break for 6 months.

🪓On the night of March 10th, 1919, immigrant laborer Charles Cortimiglia, his wife, Rosie, and their 2-year-old daughter, Mary,  were in their home sleeping when the Axeman came calling. Rosie woke up to see her husband, Charles, fighting the Axeman. When Charles lost the fight, the Axeman then attacked Rosie and little, innocent Mary who was sleeping in her mother's arms.

🪓Screams were heard coming from the Cortimiglia residence. Grocer Iorlando Jordano rushed across the street to investigate and found Rosie with a severe head wound, standing in the doorway with her dead baby girl in her arms. Charles was on the ground bleeding profusely. The couple was rushed to the hospital, where it was discovered that both had suffered skull fractures. 

🪓Nothing was stolen from the house, but a panel on the back door had been chiseled away and a bloody axe was found on the back porch of the home. 

🪓Charles was released after the brutal assault on his family. Rosie remained in the care of doctors. Upon gaining full consciousness, Rosie made claims that Iorlando Jordano and his 18-year-old son, Frank, were responsible for the attacks. Iorlando was a 69-year-old man and in too poor of health to have committed the crimes. Frank Jordano, more than six feet tall and weighing over 200 pounds and would have been too large to have fit through the hole in the back door. 

🪓Charles denied that Frank and Iorlando were responsible, but police unjustly arrested the two and charged them with the murder. The men would later be found guilty. Frank was sentenced to hang, and his father to life in prison. Charles divorced Rosie after the trial. Almost a year later, Rosie announced that she had falsely accused the two out of jealousy and spite. Her statement was the only evidence against the Jordanos, and they were released from jail shortly after.

🪓Five days later, a New Orleans newspaper named The Times Picayune received a letter from someone calling himself the Axeman.

🪓The Tuesday that the Axeman claimed he was going to unleash his fury on those not listening to Jazz was March 19th, 1919. Most citizens didn't want to take any chances and the city of New Orleans was blasted with Jazz. Those people whom did not have anything to play jazz on, poured into local clubs to escape the wrath of the Axeman. There was known victims of the Axeman being killed on that date.

🪓On August 10th, 1919, the Axeman was at it again. Grocer Steve Boca was sleeping at his home when he awoke during the night to find a dark figure with an axe looming over his bed. Suddenly, Steve lost consciousness.  When Steven woke up again, he ran to the street to investigate the intrusion, and found that his head had been cracked open. He then ran to the home of his neighbor, Frank Genusa, where he lost consciousness again and collapsed. Frank called the police. Again, nothing had been taken from the home and a panel on the back door of the home had been chiseled away. Steve recovered from his injuries, but could not remember any details of the trauma.

🪓19-year-old Sarah Laumann moved by herself into a house on 2128 second street.  On September 3rd, 1919, at 3:30 a.m. she was sleeping when she was attacked. Sarah was found after neighbors busted into her home when she didn’t answer. Sarah had a severe head injury and was missing teeth. The Axeman had entered through a window and attacked her with his axe which was later found on the front lawn. Sarah recovered from her injuries but doesn’t recall any of it.

🪓On the night of October 27, 1919, at the corner of South Scott and Ulloa street, Mike Pepitone's wife, Esther awakened by a noise and arrived at the door of his bedroom just as two dark figures were fleeing the scene.

To Esther's horror, she discovered that Mike had been struck 18 times in the head, and was covered in his own blood. Blood splatter covered the majority of the room, including a painting of the Virgin Mary. A bolt with a heavy nut, like something to secure a circus tent, was alleged to be one of the weapons used.  There was a circus nearby that weekend. Mike died two hours later. Esther, the mother of six children, was unable to describe the killers.  Mike murder was the last of the alleged the Axeman attacks.

🪓Where all the murders the act of the Axeman? Or maybe some of the murders were that of a copy cat?  Was the Axeman really two people working together? Maybe some of the murders was committed by the mob? Some people think that the Axeman is a man named Joseph Momfre.

🪓Joseph Momfre was shot to death in Los Angeles in December 1920 by Esther Pepitone. 

🪓Esther had moved to Los Angeles after Mike's death. She remarried a man named Angelo Albano. Strangely, on the second anniversary of Mike's death, Angelo disappeared and was never seen again. 

🪓Before Esther married Angelo, he ended a business relationship with a man that went by many names, one of those names was Joseph Momfre.

🪓On December 5th, 1921, Joseph visited Esther's Los Angeles' home at 5554 east, 36th street. He demanded $500 and Esther's jewelry. And when he threatened to kill her the way he killed her husband, Esther shot and killed him.

🪓When Esther was arrested for killing Joseph, she claimed that he was the Axeman. The LAPD noted that their was evidence linking Joseph to Mike's murder. Ester was acquitted for Joseph's death.

🪓Joseph supposedly had ties to New Orleans. He allegedly lead a blackmailing gang in New Orleans that targeted Italians.

🪓The Axeman was never identified, and the murders remain unsolved.