Shirley Stuart 1964 Family Murder

[Obi Wan]

I hope this forum is the right one for this new thread/post.

I have been searching the net for the last three days for any articles concerning this 1964 family murder. I am hoping someone knows about it and can post more information than I have which is the video outlining this terrible crime. I would also be appreciative of any links to articles where I can find more information. Thank you in advance.

In 1964 a mother (Shirley Stuart) murdered her husband and 7 children. Each murder was done in a different horrific fashion. I won't go into detail on this as it is to disturbing and bizarre. After the murders Shirley Stuart vanished. She was the only suspect. In my opinion the murderer may have kidnapped, murdered and buried her never to be found. It is also possible she is the perpetrator. I would call it unsolved as she has never been found or anyone arrested. She would be over 84 years old now. I find it unusual that there has never been a trace of her if she killed her family and was able to disappear forever. Things were different in 1964. LE did not have the technology they have today.

Does anyone know of this case?

[TracyLynnS]

I've never heard of it, but it sounds very odd for a mother to choose a different, horrific, manner of death for each of her children.

In fact, it's odd for any murderer to do that. Usually, killers use the same method in all their murders.

I recall Henry Lee Lucas saying "I done shootins, I done stabbins, I done drownins, I done stranglins". But, imo, he was just bragging to get attention and hadn't murdered nearly as many people as he was trying to claim.

In Shirley Stuart's case, I'd have to guess that, unless she was crazy, it's nearly 100% certain that the whole family, including Shirley herself, were victims.

And even if she was crazy, it's still unusual to kill all the family members by a different method. I have to think that this was done by a type of person who enjoyed the deaths of each of the victims and chose the manner of death specifically for each person for that purpose. Right now, BTK is the only killer I can think of who acted in a similar manner.

Do you know what state the murders ocurred in? (Was it in the US?) Is there any info on the condition of the marriage between Shirley and her husband? What's the source for your video outline? Ages of the children? Were they in school? Were any other details provided, such as names of the family members, dates, cities, etc?

[TracyLynnS]

Obi Wan, I just found your "source".

Dude, it's a joke.

The husband's manner of death was "eyeballs pulled out with a spoon". Okay, that's gross, but not fatal.

The baby's manner of death was "dismembered with a Fisher Price hacksaw".

Debbie's manner of death was "impaled through the heart with the leg of a Barbie doll".

Luckily, "Shirley's brother Arthur was not home at the time" of the murders, because "ingrown toenails sent him to the hospital on that horrible day."

I will refrain from listing the manner of death suffered by the rest of the family, since it is boring, mundane, and DID NOT HAPPEN.

I'm sure the Stuart family all lived happily ever after.

[Obi Wan]

See how gullible I am. I guess that is why I could not find any articles. It has been driving me crazy. I guess it was because they showed actual people on the video I believed it. Duh to me.
Thanks

[TracyLynnS]

After I saw the video, I thought you were pulling our legs.

I just re-read my post to you. I sound so rude in it. I don't mean to direct my bad mood at you. It's been like hell week here. It started out with me in the emergency room and ended with my basement flooded. Long story...

The gist of it is that I have the flu and I'm grouchy. I'm sorry if I sounded like the wicked witch of the west in my previous post. Just because I'm starting to look like her doesn't give me the right to act like her. lol

I'm glad to find out that the whole thing was a bad joke. It would have been terrible for a whole family to be murdered, and for that crime to remain unsolved for so long.

[Obi Wan]

TL, gosh I found nothing rude in your post. It was helpful to me because I thought the story was true and it sickened me. I am very glad you watched the video and let me know it was not. I would have posted the link but it is a YouTube video. I did not see your post as anything but a reply to mine. I certainly did not take offense to it.

I hope you are feeling better. The flu can really get you down. When I am sick and can eat I find Chicken noodle soup is a cure all. Homemade of course.

[TracyLynnS]

I'm glad you weren't offended. Thanks for the good wishes.

[silvertongue]

Obi Wan and TraciLynnS,

I have come across the same video regarding the Shirley Stuart Murder case and I have been trying to find more information on the murders as well.

The only thing I found, was the question you posted here Obi Wan...which by the way, is a very odd choice for trying to find out info on a murder (sitcoms online.com?).

Anyhow, I am glad you are satisfied with the easy "it's fake" answer. I am not, and I am wondering how TraciLynnS manages to support and refute her own argument all at the same time. Really, it's fascinating.

You say Traci, that "killers" generally use the same method to commit multiple murders, and then in next breath you say that these murders seemed like they were this was done "by a type of person who enjoyed the deaths of each of the victims and chose the manner of death specifically for each person for that purpose".

Firstly, I am sure that generally speaking "killers", i.e. serial killers, do generally use the same method to murder their victims. But if it was the mother, which it most certainly seems to be, she would of course have to be CRAZY (duh! to quote you) and most likely had not killed anyone before.

Secondly, it makes perfect sense that a mother who has completely lost her mind, would grab whatever was near by, (an iron, baseball glove, barbie doll, etc.) to kill whoever was in her path. It is awful and tragic, and even more so if she actually thought it through her crazy mind in order to make them suffer for some specific reason (Debbie will never pick up those damn barbie dolls...). Not all mothers love their children. Some of them resent their own children horribly, or may love them, but are totally insane. If you look at the footage, the woman looks deranged, or drugged. That could also be a partial explanation, drugs.

As for me, I will keep looking for the details, and you both can go back to "happyland" and pretend that horrible things like this don't happen. You can lay your heads down at night and sleep soundly. Clearly, you don't know, and most certainly are not related to, any crazy people. Good for you.

Sorry if I sound angry, but gullible lazy people put me in that kind of mood.

[TracyLynnS]

LOL @ me being called gullible and lazy.

[MegtheEgg86]

Originally Posted by silvertongue

Anyhow, I am glad you are satisfied with the easy "it's fake" answer.

And you're satisfied with a single internet video, hosted by an internet site that literally millions of people use to upload unimaginably nonsensical personal creations every single day, that there's a strong likelihood that the murders are real?

"Dismembered with a Fisher Price hacksaw"? "Impaled through the heart with the leg of a Barbie doll"? Not only are those things completely and utterly ridiculous, but are simply implausible given the supposed conditions.

If the Son of Sam shootings, Zodiac killings, and Black Dahalia murders are decidedly infamous, certainly a mother murdering her entire family by means of toys and eating utensils should be equally as well known. That's a lot more beguiling than anything that happened in those aforementioned cases, after all.

As for me, I will keep looking for the details, and you both can go back to "happyland" and pretend that horrible things like this don't happen. You can lay your heads down at night and sleep soundly. Clearly, you don't know, and most certainly are not related to, any crazy people. Good for you.

Sorry if I sound angry, but gullible lazy people put me in that kind of mood.

I'm sure you'll be looking for details for quite a long while. Frankly, your "gullible, lazy people" quip did little to endear anyone to you, and since you've made the assertion that this board is a "very odd choice" to find out information about a murder, perhaps you should try other outlets instead of attempting to start a random, emotional flame because someone may have disputed something you obviously desire to believe in, despite evidence to the contrary.

[TracyLynnS]

Meg, thanks for sticking up for Obi Wan and me.

I wish we could have an exception to the "no link" rule just for this one case. I think a lot of the folks on the board here would enjoy it.

For anyone who hasn't seen it, in the beginning it shows the happy family and their small dog. It states that the home movie film shown was taken just six days before the murders.

Now that we know that everyone is "dead" and Shirley is "missing", I'm wondering about the fate of the family's poor pug! Was he spared? Or did Shirley also force feed him alpo until he exploded, similar to the way she murdered Kathy? Very disturging stuff, to be sure.

And poor Nancy, she was strangled with a Swing Wing toy. I don't know what that is, but it sounds like a maddening device that could definitely have incited the mother's murderous rage.

We can't forget Julie. This unfortunate young lady was beaten to death with a frozen Swanson turkey dinner. This particular murder weapon even included peas, whipped potatoes, and cranberry sauce! Oh, the humanity!

After the murders, all the evidence pointed to the mother. She disappeared at the time of these killings! I no longer believe that she could have also been a victim. I suspect that she later enjoyed a lucrative career in the sub-specialty of designing glamorous 1960s housecoats. Brilliant cover, in more ways than one, imo.

Upon further perusal of the poster's "channel" (featuring the Shirley Stuart case) on the site, I noticed that he has generously provided many other videos of happy families just prior to them suffering the most ironic fates.

Can you believe that a department store santa murdered one poor child with a candy cane! OMG! Who know those sweet treats were such deadly weapons? And then, horror of horrors, body parts were then wrapped in festive christmas gift packages. Talk about your evil santas....

Gah! Okay, I can't watch anymore of that stuff..... On a serious note, it just looks like some guy is taking old home movies and then making a horror spoof type entertainment out of it. After all, who would watch his 40 year old home movies, without sound even!, if they just showed santa walking into the family house to distribute toys to the kids, or showed the mundane "cooking of the family thanksgiving meal"?

The vids are set to music and captioned for the purposes of dark humor. That's it.

[MegtheEgg86]

Originally Posted by TracyLynnS

Upon further perusal of the poster's "channel" (featuring the Shirley Stuart case) on the site, I noticed that he has generously provided many other videos of happy families just prior to them suffering the most ironic fates...

Gah! Okay, I can't watch anymore of that stuff..... On a serious note, it just looks like some guy is taking old home movies and then making a horror spoof type entertainment out of it. After all, who would watch his 40 year old home movies, without sound even!, if they just showed santa walking into the family house to distribute toys to the kids, or showed the mundane "cooking of the family thanksgiving meal"?

The vids are set to music and captioned for the purposes of dark humor. That's it.

My personal favorite is the "LSD grandmas" who baked and ate the baby they were supposed to be sitting with peas and carrots while under the influence, only to have the entire family come home to an unspeakable dinner scene.

[TracyLynnS]

lol Oh lordy... Grannies on a bad trip? I think we need further investigation.

[Eire]

[QUOTE=TracyLynnS]
Upon further perusal of the poster's "channel" (featuring the Shirley Stuart case) on the site, I noticed that he has generously provided many other videos of happy families just prior to them suffering the most ironic fates.
/QUOTE]

Oh no! Clearly you're missing the bigger picture here. The poster IS the killer. He worked in the lab where the home movies were processed. That's how has access to the movies and knows about the murders. He did it and now he's taunting people with the videos! There, I solved it. You can all thank me later.

On a side note, why do I have the distinct impression that oh so kind and wonderful one post wonder is in fact the owner of the channel just trying to get move views?

[TracyLynnS]

[QUOTE=Eire]

Originally Posted by TracyLynnS

On a side note, why do I have the distinct impression that oh so kind and wonderful one post wonder is in fact the owner of the channel just trying to get move views?

lol yep, I get the same feeling....