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The Axeman of New Orleans was an unidentified American serial killer who was active in and around New Orleans, Louisiana between May 1918 and October 1919.

Press reports during the height of public panic over the killings mentioned similar crimes as early as 1911, but recent researchers have called these reports into question. The attacker was never identified, and the murders remain unsolved.

As the killer's epithet implies, the victims usually were attacked with an axe, which often belonged to the victims themselves. In most cases, a panel on the back door of a home was removed by a chisel, which, along with the panel, was left on the floor near the door. The intruder then attacked one or more of the inhabitants with either an axe or a straight razor. The crimes were not motivated by robbery, and the perpetrator never removed items from his victims' homes. The majority of the Axeman's victims were Italian immigrants or Italian-Americans, leading many to believe that the crimes were ethnically motivated. Criminologists Colin and Damon Wilson hypothesize that the Axeman killed male victims only when they obstructed his attempts to murder women, supported by cases in which the woman of the household was murdered but not the man. A less plausible theory is that the Axeman committed the murders in an attempt to promote jazz music, suggested by written correspondence attributed to the killer in which he stated that he would spare the lives of those who played jazz in their homes. On March 13, 1919, a letter purporting to be from the Axeman was published in newspapers, saying that he would kill again at fifteen minutes past midnight on the night of March 19 but would spare the occupants of any place where a jazz band was playing.

On May 23, 1918, Joseph Maggio, an Italian grocer, and his wife Catherine were attacked while sleeping inside their apartment on the corner of Upperline and Magnolia Streets. The killer then struck both victims with an axe.

During the early morning hours of June 27, 1918, Louis Besumer and his mistress Harriet Lowe were attacked in private quarters at the back of Besumer's grocery, located at the corner of Dorgenois and Laharpe Streets. Almost immediately, police arrested Lewis Oubicon, a 41-year-old African American man who had been employed in the grocery just a week before the attacks.

Authorities found a bloody axe in the backyard and discovered that a panel on the back door had been chiseled away. The murder created a state of extreme chaos in New Orleans, with residents living in constant fear of an Axeman attack. John Dantonio, a then-retired Italian detective, made public statements in which he hypothesized that the man who had committed the recent murders was the same who had killed several individuals in 1911.

On the night of March 10, 1919, Italian immigrant Charles Cortimiglia and his family – wife Rosie and infant daughter Mary – were attacked in their residence on the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Second Street in Gretna, Louisiana, a New Orleans suburb. He discovered that Cortimiglia's family had all been attacked by the Axeman. Nothing was stolen from the house, but a panel on the back door had been chiseled away.

Nothing had been taken from the home yet, once again, a panel on the back door of the home had been chiseled away.

On the night of October 27, 1919, the wife of Mike Pepitone was awakened by a noise and arrived at the door of her husband's bedroom just as a large, axe-wielding man was fleeing the scene. The Pepitone murder was the last of the alleged Axeman attacks.

1919: A serial killer had New Orleans on edge Times-Picayune

Quick Facts

• The murder created a state of extreme chaos in New Orleans, with residents living in constant fear of an Axeman attack.
• Press reports during the height of public panic over the killings mentioned similar crimes as early as 1911, but recent researchers have called these reports into question.
• 1919: A serial killer had New Orleans on edge Times-Picayune
• In most cases, a panel on the back door of a home was removed by a chisel, which, along with the panel, was left on the floor near the door.
• The crimes were not motivated by robbery, and the perpetrator never removed items from his victims' homes.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Axeman of New Orleans". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.