Ida Leckwold, Minneapolis Serial Killer & Family Annihilator - 1913

FULL TEXT (Article 1 of 2): Minneapolis, Oct. 1. – According to the police, Mrs. Ida Leckwold, 32 years old, arrested last night, confessed to having murdered six of her children by poison. Mrs. Leckwold was arrested on a charge of having caused the death of her daughter, Viola, aged 9, who died September 8 and Laura, 11 months old who died July 8.

The police declare that she not only admitted the slaying of these children but also confessed that she had caused the death of four others all under one fear at different times between 1905 and 1911.

According to the police, Mrs. Leckwold declared she had poisoned the children by giving them a large quantities of liquid fly poison. she refused to say how she succeeded in getting them to swallow the liquid.

Ole Leckwold, her husband, declared that all six children died under almost identical conditions. The physician who treated the last two declared that when called in each case he did not consider the child he attended seriously ill and when they died he believed they had succumbed to natural causes.

He named cholera morous as the cause of death in each instance. The police are looking for a man whom they believe to have been implicated with Mrs Leckwold in the deaths of the children. They refuse to disclose his name. [Godfrey Norman, her boarder and lover]

[“Woman Admits To Killing Six Children – Liquid Fly Poison Used, She Says; Police Seek Man. – Revolting Details of Crime in Hands of Minneapolis Officers.” Oakland Tribune (Ca.), Oct. 1, 1913, p. 7]

[She also poisoned Willie, 12, and her husband, both of whom survived.]

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FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 2): Minneapolis, Nov. 7.—Mrs. Ida Leckwold was tonight found not guilty of murdering her nine year old daughter, Viola. Mrs. Leckwold was declared to have been insane at the time of the murder and at the time of her confession.

Mrs. Leckwold, was arrested September 30, soon after the death of her daughter and subsequently made a confession of the crime. She blamed her husband’s alleged cruelty for her acts.

[“Mrs. Leckwold Not Guilty.” The Waterloo Times-Tribune (Io.), Nov. 8, 1913, p. 3]