Lets find Rev. Lyn George Jacklin Kelly,1912 Murders still unsolvedWinner, South Dakota has an intriguing, if innocent, connection to a famous mass murder case in Iowa. In 1912, six members of a household and two visiting children were murdered in the middle of the night in the small town of Villisca, Iowa.
The crime received national attention (not unlike the Jon Benet Ramsey case of more cent times) and created a frenzy of theories, rumors, and suspects.
One of the more plausible suspects was the Reverend Lyn George Jacklin Kelly. This character was the focus of several investigations by several agencies for at least two years; he confessed (then recanted); he was tried twice, but never convicted. Present day researchers and Villisca enthusiasts consider him to be just one of several suspects who may have committed the murder, but his zany biography also lead many to regard him as simply a publicity-seeking crackpot.
And crackpot he was. His behavior while preaching in Winner, South Dakota makes for a curious and somewhat amusing adjunct to the main Villisca story.
It seems that the Reverend had a passion for naked ladies. While preaching in Winner, he decided he needed a secretary—a naked secretary. In 1913, the Reverend Kelly placed an ad in the Omaha World Herald.. He received an application from a young woman living in Council Bluffs, Iowa. He replied that she certainly fit the bill, and, if she agreed to type in the nude, she was hired. The young woman notified the police, and postal authorities began a “sting” operation by sending him fake letters and leading him to believe that he was corresponding with an eager eighteen-year-old girl. His return letters became increasingly salacious and pornographic. He was arrested for sending obscene material through the mail and violating a number of Federal laws.
Years later, in 1917, the Reverend Kelly was arrested and charged with the murder in the Villisca murders.His presence in Villisca on the night of the murders and his sudden departure early the next morning made him a possible suspect in the case.
Kelly’s “confession” was an obvious attempt to create a celebrity status for himself.
He withdrew the confession before the trial began. Kelly’s first trial resulted in a hung jury and he was acquitted in the second. Tradition has it that Kelly moved to Kansas City, Connecticut, and later to New York City. The final years of his life remain a mystery
Mainstreetmoments would like to recruit some would-be detectives and history buffs and try to fill in the missing pages of this guy’s story. A lot of “snooping” can be done on line, particularly genealogy research. Also, anyone out there in Winner, South Dakota got any stories?
Author: EVM STAFF on 05/31 2008
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