Gustav briegleb biography

Series of abductions and murders of young boys

The Wineville Chicken Coop murders,^[2] also known as the Wineville Chicken murders,^[3] were a series of abductions and murders of young boys that occurred in the city of Los Angeles and in Riverside County, California, United States between 1926 and 1928.

The murders were perpetrated by Gordon Stewart Northcott, a 19-year-old farmer who had moved to the U.S. from Canada two years earlier, as well as his mother, Sarah Louise Northcott, and his nephew, Sanford Clark.

Northcott was arrested while visiting his sister in Canada in November 1928.

The case received national attention because one of the assumed victims was Walter Collins, the nine-year-old son of Christine Collins, who had gone missing in March 1928. While authorities initially considered the possibility that the total number of boys killed might have been as high as 20, this theory was eliminated as the investigation