Wineville Chicken coop Murders 1928

            Gordon Northcott, originally from Canada, moved to Los Angeles, Riverside County California. He came with his mother Sarah Louise Northcott. Gordon Northcott went back to visit his sister, Jessie Clark, and his 13 year old nephew,  Sanford Clark, in Canada. Gordon asked his sister if he could take Sanford on a trip, but his plans were not to take him on a trip, but to kidnap him and take him back to Riverside County with him. Northcott beat and abused Sanford and forced him help go through with the murder he was about to commit. 

            Gordon Northcott murdered many people, but the first known victim was in 1928, a Mexican worker who was accused of stealing from him. The Mexican was found headless in a burlap bag with a serial number on it in La Puente ditch. The next murder was Walter Collins. Gordon Northcott didn’t actually murder him, but he molested and beat him. Gordon’s mother, Sarah Louise Northcott, murdered him with an ax because she thought he was “seeing too much.” Gordon Northcott kidnapped the Winslow brothers next. He held them captive for a little over a week, while continually beating them, then he killed them.

            Jessie, Sanford’s sister, became worried about him and thought he wasn’t going to school. She made her way to Wineville. Sanford told his sister about all the things that were happening in Wineville, including the beatings and the murders. When Jessie returned to Canada, she made a complaint and said that Sanford was kidnapped, and she told the authorities about the murders that had been happening. The U.S.immigration services was sent to the farm, but Northcott had already left to go to Canada along with his mother. The authorities took Sanford into custody for further questioning.

            On September 14 1928, Sanford told the police everything. He said that Gordon Northcott had kidnapped, molested, beat and killed three boys with the help of Louise Northcott and Sanford himself. A few days after this, Northcott and his mother were found and expedited back to the United States. Cyrus Northcott (Gordon’s father) was brought in and he told the police that he moved away from the farm and his family because he was in fear of his life, and no longer wanted to live there with what was going on.  Next, Sanford told where the bodies were buried, and when examined, the spots he said were in fact where bodies had been buried. The bodies were no longer there, however, and Jessie Clark testified that the bodies had been dug up and burned in the desert by Sarah Louise Northcott and Gordon Northcott a few weeks earlier.

            The bodies of the victims were never found, but the State of California concluded that the victims were Walter Collins, the Winslow brothers (Lewis and Nelson), and the Mexican worker. Northcott was executed on October 2, 1930 for three murders at San Quentin and Sarah Louise Northcott served four and a half years at San Quentin then was moved to the Institution for Women. These murders had a heavy impact on the Wineville area because the area was being bombed for news about the murders. Many news papers printed articles about this including the New York Times, which shows how it made national attention. The Wineville residents eventually changed the name to Mira Loma. 

This picture is of Sanford Clark who was beaten, molested and forced to help commit murders until his sister Jessie called the immigration services. 

This picture shows investigators looking at the land. The entire bodies were never found, but bloody axes were found.

This picture shows the authorities who found a gun and an ax in the chicken coops.

Gordon Northcott uses a pencil to show the chicken coop where one boy was allegedly killed as the jury looks at the coop.  

This picture shows authorities looking in the desert for the bodies of the Northcott’s victims, where Jessie said they were moved to. 

This picture is of Sarah Louise Northcott, Gordon Northcott’s mother.


The Road Out of Hell is a book written by Anthony Flacco with the help of Jerry Clark, Sanford's son, about the terrible things that happened. Click here to watch a video about the book.