Serial Killer. Dubbed the "The Wineville Chicken Coop Murderer" by the press in 1928, he was convicted of kidnapping, molesting and killing three boys in California's Los Angeles and Riverside Counties. Much of the evidence was found at his isolated ranch in Wineville. The case received national attention and events related to it led to public hearings that exposed corruption in the Los Angeles Police Department. Northcott later claimed he was responsible for as many as 20 murders, but toyed with investigators by giving them false leads as to where the victims were buried. He was sentenced to death and hanged at San Quentin Prison on October 2, 1930. Immediately afterwards the people of Wineville changed the town's name to Mira Loma in an effort to put the negative publicity behind them. The movie "Changeling" (2008) was based on this story.
Serial Killer. Dubbed the "The Wineville Chicken Coop Murderer" by the press in 1928, he was convicted of kidnapping, molesting and killing three boys in California's Los Angeles and Riverside Counties. Much of the evidence was found at his isolated ranch in Wineville. The case received national attention and events related to it led to public hearings that exposed corruption in the Los Angeles Police Department. Northcott later claimed he was responsible for as many as 20 murders, but toyed with investigators by giving them false leads as to where the victims were buried. He was sentenced to death and hanged at San Quentin Prison on October 2, 1930. Immediately afterwards the people of Wineville changed the town's name to Mira Loma in an effort to put the negative publicity behind them. The movie "Changeling" (2008) was based on this story.
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