In 1940, a burning car in rural South Dakota held a terrible secret. One man would serve as a connection between it and one of the worst mass murders in Iowa history.
Sources
S.D. Mother Kills Children, Suicides. The Daily Argus-Leader, 8/10/1940
Doland Farm Woman Kills Two Children, Takes Her Own Life. Rapid City Journal, 8/12/1940
Iowa town rocked by suicide, murders. Lead Daily Call, 1/5/1981
Gilbert death ruled suicide; family shootings being investigated. Rapid City Journal, 1/6/1981
Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
South Dakota Department of Health; Pierre, South Dakota; South Dakota Marriage Records, 1905-2016
South Dakota Department of Health; Pierre, South Dakota; South Dakota Marriage Records, 1905-2016
Witt, Thomas. Corbett, Kathleen. Norton, Holly. Steely James. The History of Agriculture in South Dakota: Components for a Fully Developed Historic Context. Colorado; SWCA Environmental Consultants, 2013.
Collinger, Zachary. How to play Blind Man’s Bluff. 5/17/2017 http://www.considerable.com