Gordon Northcott
Myah Mason period 6
Basic Background
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Canadian born in 1908
Claimed to be molested by his father at age ten
Uncle served life term for murder
Father died in an insane asylum
By age 21, lived with his mother and 15 year old nephew on a farm in Wineville,
California
Beat and assaulted his nephew sexually
Kidnapped and rented young boys to pedophiles to make money
The kidnapping of Walter Collins was his most famous crime and the one that
gave way to all of his other crimes being investigated.
Regarded as a homosexual sadist
Kidnapped, raped and killed what is to believed to be up to 20 little boys
Dismembered bodies and used quicklime to get rid of the flesh so that the bones
alone would be easy to bury.
Crime
Date
Victim(s)
Punishment
Murder
Specific date not
known
A young Mexican
Teen
Death by Hanging
Murder
Specific date not
known
The Winslow Brothers Death Penalty
Kidnapping
Between 1926-1928
Between 3-20 boys
Implicated Murder
March 1928
Walter Collins
Death by Hanging
Span of killings: 1226-1928. Caught on September
19, 1928. Thought to had killed many more then 3
victims and confessed to killing at least five, but only
convicted of three.
Evidence of the Crimes
•
•
•
•
•
Gordon’s Nephew, Sanford Clark identified the boys he killed from photos
Bones were found and dug up from where Sanford told Detectives the bodies were
buried
Bloodstained axes and hatchets on Gordon’s property
Gordon’s mother was convicted of his earlier crimes, and it was always suspected
that maybe her son was forcing her to take the blame. It made him look
suspicious.
Gordon fled to Canada when police were looking for him. Why try to run and hide
if you aren’t guilty?
Sanford Identifying the boys Gordon killed.
Gordon’s Sentence
Gordon was to hang for
his crimes, and received
his death sentence on
nd
October 2 , 1930
When he realized he
was going to Hell for his
crimes, Gordon’s final
words before he hanged
were
"A prayer!
Please, say
a prayer
for me!"
Nicknamed the “Chicken Coop Murderer”
The Wineville Chicken Coop Murders
• Walter Collins is Gordon’s most famous victim, because it
was not until Walter’s determined and stubborn mother,
Christine Collins, pushed relentlessly for detectives to bring
her kidnapped son back, that they actually took the time to
find out what had been happening to all of these missing
boys, and it led them right to Gordon Northcott. Christine
was a hero, who suffered through much, even being put in
a mental asylum because police thought she was crazy over
losing her son, but she made it out and would not rest until
she saw Gordon hang. A movie was made in 2008 staring
Anglina Jolie title “Changeling”, reenacting the gruesome
and sad events leading up to Gordon’s death and Christine’s
acceptance that her son was gone forever.
“Changeling” (2008)
The Real Walter
Collins
“Changeling” (2008)
Christine
Collins played
by Angelina
Jolie
Changeling Scene
Jason Butler Harner as Gordon Northcott
Theory of Deviant Behavior
I believe that Gordon Northcott was affected by the Psychological “Behavioral Theory.”
The other theories did not work. He did not have friends or a gang that he wanted to
fit in with and participate in crime with, in fact he was kind of socially inept and kept
to himself and close family, so the Differential-Association Theory doesn’t apply here.
He never caused enough public crime and wasn’t caught at first in order to earn the
label of “Murderer” and live up to it, so the Labelling Theory does not work. The
Anomie theory doesn’t apply because Gordon didn’t have a goal to reach. He didn’t
need food or money or a way to get it with limited resources or opportunities. He did
what he did out of sadism, lust, and selfishness. Behavioral theory is what I choose to
use for Gordon, because it is psychological, dealing with his past. His father molested
him sexually when he was ten, so who did he go after when he grew up? That’s right,
little boys around the age of ten. His past affected him mentally and psychologically. It
scarred him and what his dad did to him, he wanted to do to others and got a rush
and pleasure out of doing it. He saw that his dead did not get the death penalty or
imprisonment for his crime, only life in an asylum, so perhaps Gordon wanted to try
his luck or get revenge by dishing out the same molestation and pain he felt as a boy.