The true story the movie is based on

The Wineville Chicken Coop Murder

Gordon Stewart Northcott

Gordon Stewart Northcott was born in 1906 in Saskatchewan (Canada). He is known as „The Wineville Chicken Coop Murder“.

When he was 18, he and his parents moved to California. It was the pretext, building a chicken ranch, that Gordon used to bring his nephew (Sanford) from Canada to California. His father and nephew helped building the ranch. When they were finished Gordon started to kidnap an unknown number of boys and molested them at the ranch. After that, he drove them home.

There was a rumor, that Gordon gave some of his victims to rich south -californian pedophiles. But there aren't enough proves, so we don't know if this is true or not.

08.Febraur 1928 Gordon Northcott was convicted of the murder of four boys.

His first victim was an unknown mexican boy.

His second victim was Walter Collins. He kidnapped him and a few days after he sexually abused him, he received a phone call from his mother. He told him that she was immediatly on her way visiting him. And she told him that she would stay a couple of days at his ranch. During his mothers visit, Walter was kept in the Chicken Coops. Gordons mother, Sarah, knew that her son were abusing boys. One day she discovered Walter in the Chicken Coops and she asked Sanford: „How could Gordon have been so stupid as to kidnap and molest a boy who could identify him?“.

Walter Collins and Christine Collins had once been in the supermarket where Gordon used to work. So Walter knew Gordon. Some people assume, that Gordon said to Walter: „Would you like to come out to my ranch and ride the ponies?“

Sarah told Gordon that Walter would knew too much and he needed to be killed. She suggested that the three of them (Sarah, Gordon and Sanford) should kill Walter together, so none of them could go to the police and betray the others without betraying himself.

In the movie they are giving us hope that Walter might return someday, but in reality he didn't alived, he was killed by Sarah, Gordon and Sanford.

Some day Sanfords older sister came to visit Sanford and Gordon, but she left early because she was afraid of Gordon. When she was back home she went to the police and told them about the crimes, which were occured in Wineville.

Sanford confessed everything.

Gordon Stewart Northcott was sentenced to death, because of the four prooved (their body parts were found) children and they assumed there had been up to twenty and more victims.

Sanford was never charged for murder, but he had to visit the Whittier Boys School, where an experimental program for delinquent youths was under way.

The ranch in Wineville

Christine and Walter Collins

Christine and Walter Collins. 

The disappearing of Walter Collins received a lot of public attention. Because of the negativ publicity the police claimed that they found Walter. They arranged a big reunion (with a lot of journalists) at the trainstation. When Christine saw this boy, she told the police, that this isn't Walter, but they persuaded her to take him home and see how it works.

Three weeks later she went to the police department and she kept telling them, that this boy wasn't Walter. She had proves from the dentest, but nevertheless they put her into a psychiatric clinic. During this time the boy admitted, that his name was Arthur Hutchins and he was a runaway from Illinois. The police caiptan told him to pretend being Walter. He agreed, because he always wanted to live in Hollywood, so he could meet his favourite actor. Ten days after Arthurs confession, Christine was released. 1930 she won a lawsuit against the police captain, but he never paid the 147,000 $ she should have received.

After his conviction, Gordon Northcott got insane. Christine Collins asked him about Walter, first he told her that he never had seen him, then he confessed killing him, but then again he denied it. In October 1930 he wrote her, that he lied and he would tell her the truth, if she would come visiting him in the prison.

But when she confronted him, he said: „I don't want to see you, I don't know anything about it. I'm innocent!“

He was hanged on October 2, 1930.