Welcome to the first installation of Cold Cases with Rohith Koneru. In these blogs, I will review the most creepy and mysterious cold cases ever, and to start off, we will look at the Axeman of New Orleans, one of the most terrifying serial killers cases I’ve ever read about which involves Jazz, Italian Immigrants, and “A demon from the hottest hell”. Let’s get started.

From May 1918 to October 1919, the city of New Orleans, Louisiana would fall victim to a serial killer called “The Axeman”. The Axeman would only kill people with an axe as they slept and is suspected of 12 attacks and 6 deaths. To add on to that, he would only kill people with their own axe. Creepy. With introductions out of the way, let’s move on to the attacks.

On May 23, 1918, Joseph Maggio, an Italian grocer, and his wife Catherine were attacked while they were sleeping in their suburban home, the attacker first slit the couple’s throats with a straight razor before bashing their heads in with an axe. Catherine was nearly decapitated while Joseph survived the attack before dying a couple minutes after his brothers discovered his body. The only things left at the crime scene were a set of bloody clothes and an axe, no valuables were taken from the house.

A month later on June 28, 1918, Louis Besumer, also a grocer, and his mistress Anna Lowe fell victim to the Axeman. They were both struck in their sleep and once again, only a bloody axe was left at the scene of the crime. Miraculously, Louis would actually survive the attack and Anna would survive for 7 weeks before dying. Quick question, if you’re a serial killer and you have two people in front of you ALSEEP, how do let both of them live? You must either be really weak or have really bad aim. Also, the name “Axeman”’ is too cool for a guy with a 50% success rate, he should be called “Hatchet Boy” or something like that.

A month later, Anna Schneider, a woman 8 months pregnant, awoke to a large dark figure looming over her as she was repeatedly struck with an axe. Anna was found by her husband Ed after returning home late from work. Upon further investigation, it was found that the Schneider’s axe was missing from their shed. And once again, the Axeman did not do his job correctly as Anna survived the attack and miraculously gave birth to a healthy baby a couple days later. What a trooper.

The next attack would happen a mere five days later as Joseph Romano, an elderly Italian man, was found by his two nieces after they heard him struggling. The two girls walked in as the attacker was fleeing the scene and described him as “Dark, Tall, Heavy-set, wearing a dark suit, and a black slouch hat. Joseph would survive the initial attack but later died in the hospital as a result of his head injuries. Once again, a bloody axe was found in the yard outside. I’m seeing a pattern here, WHY DONT PEOPLE JUST THROW OUT THEIR AXES? It’s really not that hard

The Axeman would then go on a hiatus, perhaps due to his horrendous aim, before striking the Cortomiglia’s seven months later. On the night of March 10, 1919, Rose Cortimiglia woke up to her husband Charles fighting the Axeman, a fight he lost. Rose, Charles, and their 2-year-old daughter were attacked and while Rose and Charles survived, their daughter tragically passed away. To nobody’s surprise, the Cortomiglia’s axe was the weapon of choice for the attacker, and once again, the victims were Italian. I have a problem with this, if you’re a serial killer, don’t be racist on top of that, at least kill at random. Not very respectable if you ask me.

Five days later, a letter was sent to a New Orleans newspaper from the apparent Axeman, it read “Esteemed Mortal: They have never caught me and they never will. They have never seen me, for I am invisible, even as the ether that surrounds your earth. I am not a human being, but a spirit and a demon from the hottest hell. I am what you Orleanians and your foolish police call the Axeman.” He goes on to make fun of the police, saying “I take no offense at the way they have conducted their investigations in the past. In fact, they have been so utterly stupid as to not only amuse me, but His Satanic Majesty, Francis Josef, etc. But tell them to beware. Let them not try to discover what I am, for it were better that they were never born than to incur the wrath of the Axeman.” Okay, I think this guy is way too overconfident in his abilities, he claims he is a “demon from the hottest hell” but he has only gone 4 for 7 on his attacks, and his victims are ALSEEP, he should be batting a thousand.

However the most important part of the letter is yet to come, it reads “Now, to be exact, at 12:15 (earthly time) on next Tuesday night, I am going to pass over New Orleans. In my infinite mercy, I am going to make a little proposition to you people. Here it is: I am very fond of jazz music, and I swear by all the devils in the nether regions that every person shall be spared in whose home a jazz band is in full swing at the time I have just mentioned. If everyone has a jazz band going, well, then, so much the better for you people. One thing is certain and that is that some of your people who do not jazz it on that specific Tuesday night (if there be any) will get the axe.”

It is said that on that Tuesday night, the city was more alive than ever. People blasted jazz music in their homes and if people didn’t have a record player, they would go to a local jazz club to stay away from the Axeman. It is safe to say that this worked as nobody was killed that night.

On August 10, 1919, Steve Boca, a grocer, was attacked by a large man wielding an axe. Upon waking up, Boca stumbled to a friend’s house where he called the police. Boca survived the attack and in typical axeman fashion, a bloody axe was left at the scene. Boca’s memories of the attack are lost, likely due to the repeated blows to the head.

The 11th victim, a 19-year-old woman named Sarah Laumann was attacked by someone who entered through an open window. She was found unconscious with severe head injuries when her neighbors had come to check on her. A bloody axe was found on the front lawn and Laumann could not recall any memories from the attack.

A couple months later, the axeman would attack his final victim, a man named Mike Pepitone. His wife Esther woke to the sound of Mike screaming and upon running to the bedroom, she saw two large figures fleeing the scene. Mike’s head was struck 18 times and died two hours later.

Now that we have looked at all the victims, let’s look at some theories.

One theory is that not all of the killings were the work of the Axeman. Some of the attacks under scrutiny include the last attack on Mike Pepitone, which is believed to be a mafia attack as Mike’s father killed someone in the past. Also, in the second attack involving Louis Besumer and Anna Lowe, Louis Besumer was arrested for the attack in shocking fashion. The police found that Besumer had been writing letters back and forth in Yiddish and Russian and came to the conclusion that Besumer was a spy. On top of this, Anna Lowe claimed that Besumer was a Nazi spy before she died. However, upon further investigation, police found no evidence that Besumer was a spy and he was released.

Another theory is that the Axeman is a man named Joseph Mumfre. As you recall in the last killing, Mike Pepitone’s wife Esther survived the attacks. After the attacks, Esther moved to Los Angeles where she remarried a man named Angelo Albano. However, on the second anniversary of Mike Pepitone’s death, Esther’s current husband, Angelo Albano, disappeared and was never found again. Weird. However, it doesn’t end there, Esther recalled that before their marriage, Angelo Albano severed business with a suspicious man named Joseph Mumfre and on December 5th, 1921, Mumfre visited Esther at her home. He demand $500 and her jewelry and threatened to, “Kill [her] the same way he killed [her] husband.” Shockingly, instead of giving him what he wanted, Esther shot Mumfre right on her doorstep, killing him. Later, when Esther was arrested for killing Mumfre, she said that Mumfre looked exactly like the axeman she saw two years ago when her first husband was killed. On top of that, upon further investigation, it was found that Mumfre led a blackmailing gang in New Orleans that targeted Italians and as you remember, the Axeman killed mostly Italians.

Today, Joseph Mumfre is dead and there is not enough evidence to label Joseph Mumfre as the Axeman so this mystery remains unsolved.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axeman_of_New_Orleans

https://www.unsolvedcasebook.com/the-axeman-of-new-orleans-the-jazz-loving-serial-killer/