In the early morning hours of April 28, 1908, a farm house on the outskirts of La Porte, Indiana burned to the ground. The home, located on McClung Rd., belonged to Belle Gunness who had lived in La Porte since 1901. Later that day, while workers sifted through the ruins, four bodies were discovered — one adult female and three young children. At first these bodies were believed to be those of Belle Gunness and her three children Myrtle (age 11), Lucy (age 9), and Phillip (age 5). It was soon noted, however, that the family's piano, which had been located in the parlor on the first floor of the home, had been discovered on top of the bodies. This would have been impossible had the victims been in bed, on the second floor, at the time of the fire which occurred at approximately 4 a.m. It quickly became evident that the four victims had been killed and their bodies placed in the basement before the fire, which had probably been set to cover up the crime.

The county sheriff, Albert Smutzer, began investigating the fire. The day before the fire Mrs. Gunness had been into town to see her lawyer. She had asked him to make out a will leaving everything she owned first to her children and then to an orphanage in Chicago. At the time of the meeting she is quoted as telling her lawyer, M.E. Leliter, that she was deathly afraid of her ex-handyman, Ray Lamphere. Specifically she was quoted as saying "I'm afraid he's going to kill me and burn the house." Upon learning of this statement, Sheriff Smutzer picked up Ray Lamphere for questioning.

Lamphere's first reaction was to deny any knowledge of the fire and he wanted to know if "Belle and the kids" had gotten out. The sheriff, however, also had an eyewitness who claimed to have seen Lamphere fleeing the scene of the fire. Lamphere was charged with four counts of murder and arson.

A new and bizarre twist was added to the story when, on May 2, a man by the name of Asle Helgelein showed up in La Porte looking for his brother Andrew. Andrew had come to La Porte to visit and, he hoped, marry Belle. He had answered a lovelorn advertisement which had been placed in a Norwegian newspaper by Belle. They had corresponded for several months and Belle had invited Andrew to come and visit. Andrew had sold his property, liquidated his assets and had come to La Porte with approximately $3000. After not hearing from his brother for several months, Asle contacted Belle about the whereabouts of his brother and was told that Andrew had left La Porte and gone to Norway. Not believing this story, Asle came to La Porte to talk to Belle personally. He contacted Sheriff Smutzer on May 4, explained the situation and his suspicions that Andrew might have met with foul play. He asked the sheriff for permission to search the Gunness farm and possibly do some digging.

There are two different stories about how the sheriff reacted to Asle's request. The first is that the sheriff refused to give him permission and Asle searched the farm anyway. The second is that Asle's accusations aroused the sheriff's suspicions and he gave his permission. Either way, the search began. Joe Maxson, Belle's hired hand at the time of the fire, pointed out a likely place for the men to start digging for bodies. On May 5, four feet below ground level, the first body was discovered. Unfortunately for Asle, it was his brother. Twelve bodies and several miscellaneous body parts were eventually discovered.

Questions began to arise about the identity of the adult body discovered in the fire ruins. If Belle had killed all those people, could she have set the fire to cover her escape from La Porte? The adult body discovered in the fire was missing its head. With no head there would be no chance of checking Belle's dental records to identify the body. Also, the body appeared to be too small to be Belle. Belle was a large woman, approximately 5' 9" tall and weighing in at between 210 and 225 pounds. The body discovered in the fire was approximately 5' 3" tall and the remains, minus one foot and the head, weighed approximately 75 pounds. Several prominent doctors felt that the remains of the body would have been too small to be that of Belle.

Dr. Ira P. Norton, Belle's dentist, said that if the teeth and dental work of the corpse could be located he would be able to tell if it was Belle's. Sheriff Smutzer decided to sift through the ruins again in an attempt to locate the head. Louis "Klondike" Schultz, a former miner, was hired to build a sluice and began sifting the debris. On May 19 a piece of bridgework was found consisting of two human teeth, porcelain teeth and gold crown work in between. Dr. Norton identified them as work he did for Belle. Based on this evidence, the coroner's inquest found that the adult female body discovered in the fire ruins was that of Belle Gunness.

Ray Lamphere was brought to trial in November of 1908. Although the coroner's inquest had declared the body found in the fire to be that of Belle Gunness, the main defense was that the body was not Belle's. If this were the case, then Lamphere could not be guilty of murdering her. Lamphere's lawyer, Wirt Worden, brought forward evidence that contradicted Dr. Norton's identification of the teeth and bridgework. A local jeweler testified that while the gold in the bridgework had come through the fire almost completely unscathed, the gold plating on several pieces of gold jewelry and watches was melted away.

In a rather spectacular experiment, two local doctors produced a human jaw bone, attached a similar piece of bridgework to it, placed it in a blacksmith's forge and burned it until the bone could easily be crushed. Remember, the head was never found, just the teeth and bridgework. The results of the experiment??? The teeth, being bone, crumbled, the porcelain bridgework was pitted and checked and the gold crowns were "somewhat melted". The condition of the original bridgework, discovered in the fire, was much better. The defense also produced Belle's hired hand, Joe Maxson, who testified that he had seen the person in charge of the sluicing, Klondike Schultz, pull the bridgework out of his pocket shortly before its "discovery" This testimony was corroborated by another witness, who saw much the same thing.

On November 26, 1908 the jury found Ray Lamphere guilty on the charge of arson and sentenced him to 2 to 21 years at the State Prison in Michigan City. On the charges of murder, however, he was acquitted. At this point, Belle's background might shed further light on the case. Belle Gunness was born Brynhild Paulsdatter Storset on November 22, 1859 in the small village of Selbu, Norway to Paul Pedersen Storset and Berit Olsdatter. The family was extremely poor and at an early age Brynhild hired out to surrounding farmers to work as a cattle girl/dairy maid. Not much is known of Brynhild's early life. Sometime after 1881 she immigrated to the United States to live with her sister Nellie Larson in Chicago. It was at this time that she Americanized her name to Belle. Belle was soon employed as a house servant. It probably didn't take Belle long to discover that the streets were not paved with gold and that there wasn't money to be made around every corner. Her work as a servant would have been grueling. The work was hard, the hours long, the pay not very good and, of course, there were no other benefits such as vacation, sick leave, insurance, etc. Most immigrants at this time worked hard and hoped for better for their children. Not Belle. She saw the lifestyle of her employers and wanted it. As her sister was to say later, "Belle was crazy for money. It was her great weakness."

In 1884, she married a man by the name of Max "Mads" Sorenson, a department store detective. He later got a job working for the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad for $12- 15 per week - hardly enough to keep Belle in the lifestyle she wanted. In 1896 Belle and Mads opened a confectioner's shop in downtown Chicago. It was not a very successful enterprise and within a year the building the business was in burned down. Belle told the insurance investigators that a kerosene lamp had exploded and set the fire. Despite the fact that no lamp was ever found in the ruins, insurance money was paid. It was probably with this money that the Sorensons bought their first home in the suburb of Austin. This home was also destroyed by fire in 1898. Insurance was collected once again and another home was purchased.

Belle and Mads had four children, Caroline, Axel, Myrtle and Lucy. Caroline and Axel died in infancy. They were said to have died of acute colitis. The symptoms of acute colitis, nausea, fever, diarrhea, lower abdomen pain and cramping are also symptoms of poisoning. Both were insured and the insurance paid off. Caroline died in 1896 and Axel in 1898, the same years as the fires.

It seems that Belle had discovered her own way of making the American dream come true. Nellie, Belle's sister, had said that Belle was crazy for money. After the 1908 fire which supposedly killed Belle, Nellie told reporters that Belle had lots of money and property but she had no idea where Belle had gotten all her money.

Mads died on July 30, 1900. This happened to be the only day that two life insurance policies on him overlapped. Mads' symptoms were those of strychnine poisoning, as diagnosed by the first doctor to see him, but since the Sorenson's family doctor had been treating him for an enlarged heart, no autopsy was deemed necessary. Belle had even told the doctor that she had been giving him "powders" because he had not been feeling well. The insurance companies awarded her $8500, a large sum of money in those days. It was with this money that she bought the farm on the outskirts of La Porte. She moved in with her two young daughters and a young ward, Jennie Olsen.

The house itself had a colorful history. It was built in 1846 by one of the original founders of La Porte, John Walker, for his daughter Harriet Holcomb. The Holcombs moved to New York in 1864 because they were Southern sympathizers. La Porte was a pro-Union town during the American Civil War and the Holcomb family was not well liked. Twenty-eight years and six owners later, Mattie Altic, a madam from Chicago, bought the property in 1892. She built a fancy carriage house and boat pavilion. Most of her clientele came in from Chicago. When Mattie died, the house again went up for sale. Eight years and another four owners later it came into Belle's possession. Shortly after Belle bought the property both the carriage house and the boat pavilion burned down. One wonders if they were insured.

Belle married a man by the name of Peter Gunness on April 1, 1902. One week after the marriage, Peter's infant daughter died while alone in the house with Belle. Peter lasted less that a year with Belle. He died in December of 1902. Belle told the coroner at the inquest that an auger from a sausage grinder fell from a shelf and struck Peter on the head. One of Belle's young daughters, however, was said to have told a friend that "Momma brained Papa with a meat cleaver." This aside, authorities ruled Peter's death accidental and Belle collected $3000 insurance. Phillip, Belle's last child, was born in the spring of 1903. She continued to run the farm with a succession of hired farm hands. Lamphere was hired for this position in 1906.

After Peter's death, Belle began placing lovelorn ads in Scandinavian newspapers around the country looking for a husband. Her ads would read something like this

Neighbors recall seeing several middle-aged male visitors come to visit but never leave. When questioned Belle would reply that the man had to leave unexpectedly and late at night. It seems that Belle would strike up a correspondence with the men who answered her ads, eventually pledging her undying love, begging them to sell all they had and come to marry her. One of her last letters to Andrew Helgelein said this, "But, my dear, do not say anything about coming here... Now sell all that you can get cash for, and if you have much left you can easily bring it with you as we will soon sell it here and get a good price for everything. Leave neither money or stock up there but make yourself practically free from Dakota." Many of her corespondents appear to have done just that.

Belle's young ward, Jennie Olsen disappeared in late 1906. When friends asked after her, they were told that she had been sent to a Lutheran College in California. Her body was the second one discovered during the digging. Perhaps she had discovered Belle's activities and threatened to talk. It also appears that about this time Belle had begun getting inquiries about her missing suitors.

Ray Lamphere, Belle's hired hand (and perhaps lover), was fired. He seems to have been madly in love with Belle and was probably very jealous of the many male visitors she received. He began making scenes. Belle went to the courthouse and declared that Lamphere was "not in his right mind" and requested that authorities hold a sanity hearing. He was declared sane and sent on his way. He was arrested a few days later for trespassing on the Gunness property. Lamphere began making thinly veiled threats and wouldn't leave Belle alone. It appears to have gotten so bad that Belle told her lawyer the day before the fire that she was afraid of him, hence his arrest.

It seems apparent that Belle had discovered ways to make large amounts of money fairly easily but could she have been responsible for the deaths of her three children and the fire that destroyed her home?? There were two people that were believed to be able to answer that question. One of them was a woman named Elizabeth "Liz" Smith and the other was Ray Lamphere.

Liz was probably Belle's closest friend in La Porte. She came to the area shortly after the end of the Civil War and is believed to have been a mistress to several prominent La Porteans and, rumor has it, had a daughter by a local attorney. She and Belle often exchanged visits. Wirt Worden, Ray Lamphere's lawyer, believed Liz knew more about the murders than she was telling. Liz promised Worden that she would tell him the whole story before she died. Unfortunately, Worden was on a trip out west when Liz became ill and she died before he got back to La Porte. Her secrets, if there were any, died with her.

Lamphere, on the other hand, gave a detailed deathbed confession before he passed away on December 30, 1909 of tuberculosis. He insisted that Belle Gunness was not dead. He claimed to have assisted in her escape the night of the fire by taking her to Stillwell, a small town about nine miles east of La Porte, where she caught a train to Chicago. He then returned to the farm and set the house on fire to cover her escape. The headless body in the fire, according to Lamphere, was a woman from Chicago whom Belle had hired just a few days earlier to be her housekeeper. According to Lamphere, Belle had killed the housekeeper and the three children. She then planted the bodies in the house to make it look as if it were an accidental fire which killed them.

Lamphere admitted to helping Belle bury and otherwise get rid of her victims but denied that he was involved in the extortion or murders. Belle's modus operandi was to get her victims to La Porte and make them feel comfortable. They would visit the bank, store or wherever she might have needed to pay bills and then go home. Belle would then poison her victims and then often hit them over the head with a meat cleaver, just to be sure they were dead. The bodies would then be dismembered, covered with lye to help them decompose and disposed of, often buried in the chicken yard or hog pen.

There have been two different scenarios for the events which have been mentioned so far. The first is that Belle Gunness and her children were the victims of the fire and were murdered by Lamphere in a jealous rage. The second is that Belle murdered her three children and an unknown woman and had Ray set the fire while she escaped.

There is a third, lesser known, possibility. It is possible that Belle had accomplices in La Porte, other than Ray Lamphere. These other accomplices, perhaps highly placed, could have helped Belle cover up her crimes, which might explain why she was able to get away with her activities for so long. When the inquires about her victims became more persistent, Belle and her accomplices might have decided to cut their losses and planned the fire to get Belle out of town. Instead of Belle escaping, however, it is possible that her partners decided to kill Belle as well, to get rid of her so she wouldn't be able to name them if she were caught. Ray claimed that there was at least one other accomplice but wouldn't give his/her name. Perhaps someone other than Belle got away with all the money.

There were many "Belle" sighting in the twenty or so years after the fire, actually starting before it was thought that she might not have died in the fire. Train workers claim to have seen her board trains going to Chicago on April 29 and on May 8, a woman who fit Belle's description was pulled off a train and detained until her identity was proven. Most of these "sightings" have been investigated and discounted. There is one sighting, however, that seems more likely than the rest to be Belle, if she did indeed escape the fire. In 1931, in Los Angeles, a woman going by the name of Esther Carlson, was arrested for the murder of a man she was caring for, August Lindstrom, for his $2000 bank account. Mrs. Carlson died in prison before her trial and before her identity could be proven. Two former La Porteans, who had moved to California, viewed the body in the morgue and came away convinced that they had just seen the body of Belle Gunness.

Did Belle Gunness die in the early morning hours of April 28, 1908 in the fire which destroyed her home and killed her three young children or did she live another 23 years, continuing to kill only to die in a prison in Los Angeles or did she truly get away with her crimes and never get caught???? It will probably never be known what really happened to Belle Gunness and so it is up to you to decide for yourself what happened that night so long ago.