PAS5: The Unsolved Villisca Axe House Murder

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PAS5: The Unsolved Villisca Axe House Murder

Trigger Warning: Death

     Villisca is a city in Iowa, and in the early 1900s the town only held around 2,500 people. The town thrived pretty well and in 1912, it opened the first publicly funded armory in the state of Iowa which was used for storing ammunition, related parts, and held trainings. The people housed here participated in World War I, II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. A lot of these accomplishments were overshadowed by the deaths that occurred on June 10, 1912.

Josiah Moore was one of the town’s most prominent businessman and he had 4 kids with his wife, Sarah; ages ranged from 5-11. The moved to Villisca in 1903 and it was a simple home they moved into. The stairs in the home would lead one to Mr. and Mrs. Moore’s room, a door on the first floor would lead you to one bed room, and across from the parents’ room was where the kids slept. On June 9, 1912, the Moore family planned to attend children’s day service. The neighbor’s daughters asked their parents if they could go with the Moore’s for the service and stay the night at their house after. The parents agreed and the sisters went with the Moore family. When the service ended, people who attended talked up until about 9:30pm and the Moore’s took the kids (including the neighbor’s kids) home and they went to bed.

On June 10th at 7:30am, another close neighbor of the Moore’s became concerned about the Moore house because typically it would be more commotion going on around that time, it was just typical of the family. This neighbor knocks on the door and she gets no answer, so she goes around the back and sees that the farm animals haven’t been tended to yet. She then calls Josiah’s brother, Ross to ask about the family’s whereabouts. Ross comes to the house around 8:00am and finds a spare key to get into the home, he goes into the bedroom on the first floor and finds two figures covered with a sheet and blood on the bed frame. Ross later discovers through a man named Ed (he worked for the Moore family) that someone was killed in every bedroom. Ed also said he believes he found the murder weapon, which was a partially clean axe leaned against the wall of the downstairs bedroom.

The attacks were so bad that the physician who first arrived on scene could not identify one body (their heads were beaten in 20-30 times with the blunt end of the axe). The murderer left a four pound piece of slab bacon next to the axe, he/she searched through the drawers for clothing to cover all forms of glass in the house, an unfinished plate of food, and a bowl of bloody water. The strangest thing was that all of the doors were locked when you can only lock the doors from the inside. There were no broken windows or signs of forced entry.

There were several different suspects for several different reasons, but this murder still goes unsolved. If you want to learn more about the potential suspects in this case, a link is attached below that has information on why these people were looked at.

https://www.villiscaiowa.com/the-suspects.php

CI5: Wrapping It Up

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As our blog posts come to an end, I just wanted to thank everyone for taking the time to read over my passions, civic issues, and more. I appreciate all of your meaningful comments and respectful views. For my last civic issues post, I wanted to slightly discuss the conclusion I came to for my Advocacy Project, and how I plan to incorporate all of my hard work in RCL to my life outside of academics.

My advocacy project will discuss the individual actions one can take to help minimize the rates of infant mortality within the black community. After having Professor Freymiller review my RCL5 post, he acknowledged the fact that IMR is perhaps the lesser-known of the two issues I was stuck between. Due to this, I felt it as my duty to be an advocate for this issue. I hope that the results of my project are highly impressive and they hit every component of a successful “advocacy project”, because this topic is one I am very passionate about.

Since RCL was a year-long course, I was able to experience many things and learn valuable material that I can, and hope to, implement into my future plans. The aspects of public speaking can be incorporated into my future profession: becoming a lawyer. This skill can be most beneficial when working on advocacy related projects, such as defending my client and getting them the justice they deserve. The intense writing we have done this semester has taught me howe to better articulate ideas and ultimately become an even better writer than I was before. All of our unit projects have taught me how to deeply analyze, understand, and apply given information to real world problems. My problem solving skills have been enhanced as a result, and this will help me thrive as a leader socially, personally, and more.

I want to end this blog by thanking you guys again, as well as both of my wonderful RCL professors. You guys have made this experience a great one and I am so glad I was able to work with and get to know you all. I hope all of you achieve you goals and reach all of your endeavors prosperously. Take care!

RCL5

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Though we were asked to have a solidified topic for this blog, I am still torn between doing either wrongful conviction or my Persuasive Essay topic regarding infant mortality rates (IMR) in the African American community. I am hoping you guys can help me choose a topic to pick based on the information presented in this blog post. Wrongful conviction is important to address because it invalidates the validity of our criminal justice system, and severely affects the lives of those wrongfully accused. A lot of the wrongfully accused serve lengthy prison sentences for crimes they did not commit. Some people are even held on death row and executed, even though they are 100% innocent. This in and of itself should be an issue that everyone believes should be advocated for. This topic is also particularly important to me because I want to become a lawyer who works with the wrongfully accused and give them the adequate justice they deserve.

IMRs are important because within the black community, the lives of mother’s and babies are negatively affected due to the racial and socioeconomic disparities which impact these rates. These disparities lead to a lack of healthcare services such as prenatal care, lack of insurance coverage, and lower quality of care, all predetermining the baby’s (and potentially the mother’s) fate. Both of these topics are very important because we, as individuals, need to speak up and advocate for the things that could/do impact the people we know and communities we live within. I consider myself a strong advocate for the African American community, and as you can see the topics I chose can all be correlated back to my people and the struggles we face on a day-to-day.

If I discussed the topic of IMRs in my Advocacy Project, it would differ because we are now shifting the focus to individual action rather than larger scale action. I would focus more on the things that mothers of these children can do to prevent the rates from increasing, as well as what health care providers could do in order to save an infant’s life. Doctors are a “persuadable” group of individuals because they are supposed to value their occupation, and if one values their workspace, they should value those who inhabit it. Mothers value the life of the child, so they are persuadable in that sense. I believe if I took this approach, I would focus on both bringing awareness as well as targeting a specific audience to take action, because IMRs are not only high due to these disparities.

If I discussed wrongful conviction, I would mainly spread awareness. If I did choose to have a specific target audience, it would be victims of crimes, lawyers, jurors, and judges. Victims of crime are persuadable because a lot of wrongful convictions stem from misidentification of a suspect. If we change the typical ways a victim identifies a suspect, rates of wrongful conviction could greatly decrease. Lawyers, judges, and jurors will be persuaded by ensuring they evaluate all pieces of evidence and are acting in accordance with the law as well as the ethics and morals surrounding the law. Values for this group may be targeted simply by asking “If your mother, daughter, sister, brother, or father was wrongfully accused/convicted of a crime, wouldn’t you want the best and most adequate evaluation of their case?”. A majority of these wrongful conviction cases occur due to missed evidence, faulty evidence, or both.

I hope you guys can help me narrow in on a topic so I can begin to advocate for either of these dearly important topics.

RCL4

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Give

The website I chose above is an organization named Americans United for Life that advocates for pro-life beliefs, which I do not support. I believe that every woman should have the right to decide what to do with her body without the input of rich, white, old lawmakers telling her otherwise. Their mission statement put in simple terms is: We advance the human right to life in culture, law, and policy. The website states that since their creation in 1971, they have been advocating for the protection of human life within all court systems. They claim to be involved in every abortion-related case decided by the Supreme Court. The website includes a list of Supreme Court cases as evidence to support their pro-life arguments/beliefs; these include Dobbs v. Jackson and Roe v. Wade. This group advocates for the reversal of Roe V. Wade in order to “uphold life saving law” in Mississippi. They have a group of lawyers who defend the Hyde amendment which states that federal and state governments do not have to fund elective abortions. There are also a list of briefs they say have played a major role in maintaining “common-sense health and safety regulations of abortion providers, protecting the conscience rights of health care professionals, and preventing the judicial recognition of suicide by physician.”

They have developed a report titled Unsafe that highlights America’s abortion industry conditions. The report has been endorsed by several politicians and even The Washington Post. This report is evidence offered to support their arguments that abortion does not uphold health and safety regulations. Lastly, the Americans United for Life organization took the words of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and twisted them in a way to show she supports pro-life beliefs. She made points made during her opening statement that emphasized the importance of family ties and unity based on her own experiences. The AUL says that even though she seems to take a neutral stance, she is hinting at the fact that all human life should be preserved. To ass, they are trying to endorse her in a sense because they end the article with, “Here’s hoping that if confirmed, Justice Jackson will have ears to hear the wisdom of more senior members of the Court, and that there will be many more lunchtime conversations that turn on lived experience.” This shows that they want Judge Jackson to be persuaded by these older members who share these egregious beliefs since they think her life story supports pro-life beliefs.

RCL3

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The American Medical Association should increase the amount of healthcare programs within lower income communities because this is a discriminatory inequity that causes an increase in infant mortality rates.

As previously noted, the American medical system has been around since as early as 1735 and it is a system that is vital to the lives of all individuals no matter your age, race, gender, religion, creed, etc. This system has a long history of mistreatment amongst African American individuals, dating as early as slavery. I will be focusing on the topic of infant mortality in my essay, and a major way that we can decrease the amount of infant deaths in the black community is by placing more vital institutions in needy communities. It is important to educate ourselves on the current impacts of such systemic issues and their significance to our lives, our ancestors lives, and the lives of those to follow. I think it is important to reference the racial and socioeconomic disparities that black Americans face. These disparities were instilled in the foundations of America has been actively placed into vital institutions, such as the healthcare system, affecting the development and growth of minority populations. 

I am motivated enough to discuss this topic because as a black woman who has encountered numerous eye-changing experiences, I always felt as though my duty and purpose in life was to advocate for those who face similar struggles that I do. Being “woke” about these important civic issues is a major part of my identity and I love sharing the knowledge I obtain when researching these topics. These issues drive me to be an advocate for change and be the support system not many of my African American counterparts have. Black Americans lack a lot in the United States, and I feel as though bringing awareness to issues such as this is the first step to major change. The most common misconceptions that many people hold about the subject include: black people (in this case women) are less sensitive to pain, white people are default humans, and race has no role in determining the rates of infant mortality.

My 3 specific research questions are:

  1. What is infant mortality and why is the rate so high in AA babies compared to other races?
  2. What impact does this high mortality rate have?
  3. How can an increase in healthcare programs benefit rates, inhabitants of lower income communities and society as a whole?

The library book source I found is titled Eliminating Healthcare Disparities in America. This book promises to be a very useful source for this project because it highlights ways we can eliminate the disparities in order to ensure that people get equal access to these vital systems. The first section discusses the underlying causes of disparities which ties into my first research question, the second section discusses current disparities in health care which ties into my second question, and the last three sections discuss approaches and recommendations for correcting the problem which ties into my last question. I believe that this book will be very informative in terms of policy since it outputs suggestions to eliminate disparities in healthcare.

CI4: How Can We Improve Trust?

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Building trust within someone or something involves many components. Entities such as policy makers, employees, and children all have to work together in order to build trust. Racism is ultimately the root cause of this mistrust which led to the development of a model titled “Racism as a Root Cause” that was created by the American Academy of Pediatrics. This model (RRC) is an approach for pediatric healthcare specifically that serves to develop strategies, policies, and mechanisms to address the root causes of health disparities. The authors of this article state that there are four components that are critical to advancing population health, and these include: precise impacts for racially marginalized communities, system changes in regards to policies and environments, long-term sustainable impact, and reparations regarding historical injustices within these systems.

The author of the article also provides a list of ways that one can check if they are dealing with a population of individuals that experience racism, which I will discuss more in my last CI post. The 1934 establishment of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is a prime example of how the white community was uplifted using the four components of the RRC approach. If the white community can be uplifted through these techniques, the same can apply for marginalized groups of people as well. Lastly, the author provides four ways that we, as a nation, can integrate the RRC into the field of pediatric health which I will also include in my last post. This approach targets racism at any level, and since we have the resources to address racism as a root cause at the childhood spectrum, we can prevent the increase of racial health disparities in America.

It is a known fact that people of color receive less and worse care compared to white Americans and according to an article I have read, African American men have it the worst. At age 45, their life expectancy is 3+ years less than that of non-Hispanic caucasian men. Notably, black patients are tended to more when they are seen by black doctors/health care providers. There seems to be an increase in communication and empathy on both ends when these groups of people are racially matched. In order to limit the amount of mistrust between health care providers and patients, we must improve communication, increase transparency, create welcoming communities, and attend to access barriers. It is recognized that this lack of trust can have positive and negative effects on the black community. On the positive side, it can empower one to fight for change, on the negative side, it can cause individuals to avoid the proper care they need. If we strengthen these vital relationships and get rid of the social and racial disparities within America, it can build trust and cause great benefits for our nation as a whole.

PAS4: Genesee River Monster

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PAS4: Genesee River Monster

Trigger Warning: Death, Rape, Cannibalism

Arthur Shawcross was born June 6, 1945 in Maine and he was the oldest of 4 children. Many people who knew Arthur growing up said he has the sociopathic characteristics of a serial killer. When he was super young, his family moved to Watertown, New York and more problems began to arise in Arthur. In school, he was very introverted and it was hard for him to be accepted by his fellow classmates. He eventually changed from the introverted student to the class bully who had very random aggressive outbursts. Arthur stated in his interview that his mother and aunt would perform oral sex on him as a kid and in junior high, he had sexual relations with his sister. His family objects these claims. Arthur had a very low IQ, which is somewhat common within serial killers. Arthur enlisted in the army at 19 and was eventually drafted to Vietnam. His sadistic behaviors caught up to him here: he claims to have rape, killed, and ate two Vietnamese girls. This is not documented to be true.

Arthur married 4 times in his civilian life and he also had kids. All of his marriages ended due to his anger issues and distance from his children. During his third marriage, he moved back to New York and in 1972 he abducted his neighbor’s son. He ended up suffocating the young boy until he passed and he sexually assaulted his corpse. His body was not found for 5 months and when it was found, his genitals were bitten off. 4 months later, the body of an 8 year old girl was found under a bridge. She was raped and murdered and her insides, as well as her clothing were stuffed with debris such as leaves, grass, mud, and dirt. Arthur was brought in for questioning about this murder because he was last seen with this girl before he died and he was last seen with the boy before he died. During questioning, he confessed but since there was lack of evidence, his lawyers plea bargained the first boy’s case. In October of 1972, he pled guilty to manslaughter of the young girl, avoiding a first degree murder charge. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison but he only served 15 due to good behavior.

In March of 1978 he moved to another area of New York and was publicly shamed by his neighbors. He informed his parole officers which led them to smuggle him into Rochester and seal his prior criminal record all so he could fit in. This allowed Arthur’s murderous behavior to continue yet again. He went under the name ‘Mitch’ and he would attract sex workers in the area, rape, and murder them as well as dismember their bodies and toss them into the Genesee River. One odd thing he liked to do was revisit the crime scene in order to regain pleasure; he would masturbate at the scene. He confessed after scare tactics by police. His confession was about 80 pages long, and he admitted to revising some of the bodies to eat pieces of skin from the body, including genital areas. He was charged with 10 counts of second degree murder and was sentenced to 25 years for each murder. Arthur passed in November of 2008 due to cardiac arrest.

The link to his interview: https://youtu.be/NQNwjEkszvg

RCL2

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I do not believe that film and/or television producers have an obligation to present diversity in the casts of films and programs, but I do believe that it should be highly encouraged. In order to answer this question, you have to understand what the word obligation means. According to Oxford Dictionary, obligation is “an act or course of action to which a person is morally or legally bound; a duty or commitment”. Morally, I believe an individual should want to recognize and showcase diversity as much as possible, considering today’s climate and how underrepresented some communities are in all aspects of life. On the other side of the definition, it is not illegal to prevent the display of diversity in the media.

I believe that the way some ethnicities, socioeconomic classes, and sexual identities are represented in the media make a mockery of real life situations. A lot of shows try to put out an “inclusive” project, and do it in a very foolish and sometimes backhanded way. There are also many TV streaming services that are increasing the amount of inclusivity in their media and content, but there are still some underrepresented groups left out. For example, an article by Yahoo Finance highlights how Netflix is progressing in diversity and inclusion, yet Latinos, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and disabled individuals are still minimally recognized in projects.

A lack of diversity in the media can lead to many detrimental effects including a decrease in self-confidence, outreach, and power in social and political settings. If all one is exposed to is people who look nothing like them, this can force someone to re-evaluate their own identities, and question why people who resemble them are not being exhibited. Imagine if you were alienated because of something you cannot change, regardless if it is genetic or a plain belief. You would begin to question the validity of your own existence and thoughts, you would feel hindered, unvalued, and under appreciated. This is one of the main reasons why it is especially important to showcase diversity, even though it is not an obligation. Two possible discussion prompts could be:

  1. What is “obligation”, and how does it apply in terms of the media?
  2. How can we persuade those who do not represent different populations in their content to begin to do so?

I believe that if we can generate meaningful discussion around these two topics, we will have a better understanding on the topic at hand and its significance in today’s world.

My two articles:

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/inclusive-netflix-shows-movies-now-140046992.html

Why diversity in media matters

RCL1

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This tweet above discusses one of my favorite shows right now: Euphoria. The lady above tweeted her personal opinion on the overall purpose of the show, and the comment section is full of opposing and similar ideas and beliefs. I believe that the comment thread is fairly deliberative. I say so because there are reasonably distributed speaking opportunities since it is on a social media platform, there is a mutual comprehension about the opinion at hand, the author of the tweet and other repliers to the tweet are open to and consider the different ideas/experiences of others, and there was mutual respect among the commentators.

There were some people in the comment section who agreed and disagreed that Euphoria is somewhat similar and/or different to their personal lives. Many of the comments came from people of all ages, different backgrounds, and different lifestyles, and the majority agree that Euphoria is a drag on real life experiences. Most high school students are not doing crazy psychedelic drugs and putting themselves in life-threatening experiences. Many of the people who commented and said their life was actually more like the lives of characters in Euphoria had mutual support from complete strangers on the internet. Many people also provide other outlooks on the show of Euphoria and what its overall purpose/message is.

In terms of furthering understanding, I find the discussion very useful. Though this discussion is mainly opinion-based, many people understand and respect the take Katherine had on the show, and there were people who replied to her tweet that helped others understanding what Katherine meant by her message. I do believe that the comment thread is close to a deliberation. This deliberation is not as fact based as the ones we will do are, but it is clear to see that this thread follows the social aspects of a good deliberation.

CI3: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study

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CI3: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study

The Tuskegee Study was funded in 1929 by the Julius Oswald Foundation in order to observe and determine the natural course of untreated, latent syphilis in black men. The experiment took place in the city of Tuskegee since that city had the highest syphilis rate in the 6 counties studied. The two main conductors of this study were Dr. Taliaferro Clark and Raymond A. Vonderlehr. The experiment was eventually launched in 1932, initiated by the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) and included 400 syphilitic men and 200 uninfected men, which represented the control group in the experiment. The study had a lot of racial influences, rather than it being an ethical and science-based study. Darwinism had a heavy influence on the structure of and unethical behaviors that occurred in the medical field, which eventually swayed the operation of this study. Physicians believed that lust, immorality, unstable families, and reversion to barbaric tendencies made black people especially prone to venereal diseases such as syphilis. High syphilis rates were also linked to insanity and crime. Doctors at the time were set on the idea that better medical care for black people could not alter the “evolutionary scheme” they are a part of.

The experiment occurred during a time where major publications advocated for treatment, no matter the stage of sickness. Studies also showed that untreated syphilis could lead to  health complications such as cardiovascular disease, insanity, and premature death. In the year the study was conducted, the USPHS sponsored and published a paper by 7 syphilis experts whom advocated for the treatment of syphilis, but they also had unethical roles in this study. The main conductors of this study promised syphilis treatment to the infected persons if they did become test subjects, but Dr. Clark found it only valuable to observe the consequences of untreated syphilis. The subjects were given mercurial ointment and inadequate doses of neoarsphenamine, which were both non-effective. Conductors were able to get away with these false treatments for so long due to the lack of knowledge Negros had at this time.

The study was supposed to initially last for 6 months, but it lasted for about 40 years. Besides the false promises of treatment, USPHS promised to cover burial expenses once certain men decided to leave the study after they realized the “treatments” were not working. Since funerals were important to blacks who inhabited rural areas, many decided to continue and they were given $50 up front to gain the “trust” of these organizations and doctors. Throughout the course of this study, penicillin was discovered as a treatment for syphilis, yet it was not administered to any subject. To add to the numerous unethical behaviors, those who were not infected that eventually became effected were transferred to the experimental group, which is an inept violation of standard research procedure. Latent syphilis cases were increasing, more deaths were occurring due to untreated syphilis, and the USPHS began to influence the “no treatment” policy on infected drafts in the army. To end on a lighter note, by 1952, 30% of test subjects received some penicillin, but it was through their own actions.

The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare ended the study after it continuously appeared in the national press in 1972. This same year, the department formed the Tuskegee Syphilis Study Ad Hoc Advisory Panel on August 28. This panel focused on the justification of the study and if penicillin should have been provided when first available. The panel consisted on 9 members, 5 of which are black. The final report they developed is questionable because it failed to incorporate many issues caused by USPHS. The members of the panel were afraid to be viewed as a critique on human experimentation, which may be why the information included in the report was limited.

All in all, this experiment was never meant to observe and determine the natural course of untreated, latent syphilis in black men; it was used as a tool to undermine the African American race. Doctors, physicians, government officials, and more (both black and white) worked together to “accomplish what man cannot do”. Blacks, sex, and disease were the main focus of why black people were the way they were in the early 20th century. This is a prominent example of why minorities, especially black people, unfortunately do not trust the medical system.