For decades, the 1912 Villisca, Iowa axe slaughter of the Moore family has been one of the greatest unsolved family massacres in American history. Many believe that it was a local townsperson, but others believe it was the work of a transient serial killer.

From the late 1890s until possibly as late as the 1920s, Paul Mueller, a German sailor, rode the American rails, murdering entire families with the blunt edge of an axe, according to my guest, Rachel McCarthy James. She, along with her co-author and father, baseball historian and statistician Bill James, make a convincing case in their book, "The Man From the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery", that they have discovered the slayer of potentially a hundred or more people across the United States, Canada, and even Germany.

More information about the book can be found here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Man-from-the-Train/Bill-James/9781476796260

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104: "The Man From the Train" Serial Killer w/ Rachel McCarthy James - A True Crime History Podcast 01:03:30 Share

Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast

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104: "The Man From the Train" Serial Killer w/ Rachel McCarthy James - A True Crime History Podcast