June 9th, 1912, was a night described by a reporter as “The Darkest Night in Villisca’s History” :

Joe Moore, wife Sarah attended church with their 4 children and after church, two preteen girls, friends of their daughter, accompanied the Moore family to their home. The next morning, everyone was found dead, victims of a brutal axe murder that baffled authorities then and remains unsolved today.

Sources:
Villisca, Roy Marshall
The Man from the Train, Bill James and  Rachel McCarthy James