We will probably never know what exactly happened to Beatrice Epler on the night of September 4, 1917. We do know for a fact that a young girl was tragically murdered that night but who murdered her is the true mystery.
What we do know is that Beatrice left her family’s farm in Alma, MI on the afternoon of the 4th to run some errands in town. She called her parents at around 6pm and said she was on her way and would be home in about 45 minutes. She never made it home. The next morning her father set out to look for her and came across a group of men standing by the side of the road. He discovered that the son of a neighboring farmer had found Beatrice’s body. She had been strangled and dumped in a ditch.
John Brennan, Albert Eichorn and Inez Johnson were arrested and charged in connection with Beatrice’s death. Two witnesses came forward and said that they had seen Beatrice with the accused that night. Anna Gilson testified that there was a party at her house that night and all four above named were there. She said that they had all been drinking and at some point Eichorn tried to come onto Beatrice and she turned him down. They went into another room and at some point, Gilson saw Eichorn with his hands around Beatrice’s throat. Later that evening, Eichorn and Brennan carried Beatrice from the house, but she was still alive at that time. Johnson left with them carrying Beatrice’s coat. David Beaudry claimed to have seen Beatrice with both Johnson and Eichorn at different times during the night.
John Brennan was tried but as he was able to produce an alibi, he was acquitted on all charges. Inez Johnson and Albert Eichorn were both convicted. Twelve years later, a group of people tried to have the case reopened as they did not believe Eichorn was guilty of this crime. They were able to track down Gilson, who was now remarried and named Anna Mimnaugh. She now admitted that she lied regarding what had happened at her home that night. She said she was threatened by Beaudry who was interested in getting a share of the $2000 reward that was being offered for information in this case. When asked, Beaudry denied Gilson’s claims. Even with this new information, the convictions stood.
Years later Ella Epler, Beatrice’s mother, added another mystery to this already convoluted case. She testified that Gilson had come to her and confessed to killing her own husband because he knew of her lies and she was afraid he would tell. There was no proof of this other than Mrs Epler’s tale and no charges were ever filed.
So who really killed Beatrice Epler? Did Eichorn kill her after she turned down his advances? Or did she run into some other danger on her walk back to the safety of her family farm? It seems as though we will never know.
The Casco Voice 