Mira Loma's "Murder Ranch"

'Murder ranch' mania
Joe Blackstock, Staff Writer
Article Created: 05/05/2008 06:26:26 PM PDT


There's not much left of Wineville these days - it's mostly known today as Mira Loma - but almost 80 years ago it was the scene of one of the Inland Empire's most bizarre crimes.

Children were missing in 1928, and word spread that their remains were found at a chicken ranch on Etiwanda Avenue just south of the San Bernardino-Riverside county line.

It was there investigators found evidence that 22-year-old Canadian Gordon Stuart Northcott had killed at least four boys.

For these deeds, Northcott was later hanged at San Quentin.

At least part of this story is the basis of a new motion picture, "The Changeling," directed by Clint Eastwood, due for release on Nov. 7.

In October 1928, local newspapers were full of details of the investigation of Northcott's "murder ranch." His 15-year-old nephew, Sanford Clark, had told his sister he was forced to assist Northcott in his deadly activities. She later alerted authorities.

The exact number of victims is not known. He was convicted of three - Pomona brothers Louis and Nelson Winslow, 12 and 10, and Walter Collins, 9, of Los Angeles.

Prosecutors also believed he killed a "Mexican" youth whose headless corpse was found in what is now La Puente.

The death of young Walter also ended a bizarre nationwide search for the boy, for whose death Northcott's mother Louise was convicted as an accessory.

Walter disappeared from his home just north of downtown Los Angeles

in March 1928 but was miraculously "found" in Illinois in August.
Upon Walter's return by train on what should have been a joyous reunion, his mother Christine Collins shocked everyone by announcing it was not her son.

Police, under pressure to solve the case, insisted she was wrong and even forced her to take the boy home. When she wouldn't change her opinion, police sent her for an psychiatric evaluation.

"Walter" ultimately admitted he made up his story to get a free train trip to Hollywood. The real Walter was never found.

(The story of the experiences of Christine Collins and her missing son is the main focus of the Eastwood motion picture.)

Sanford Clark told authorities that Northcott had burned most of the remains of the boys on the ranch.

Although no bodies were found, a cap and Boy Scout whistle that could have belonged to the Pomona brothers were located.

Investigators did recover some traces of human bones and soil with blood on the ranch.

Louise Northcott was quickly convicted of the death of young Walter and was sentenced to San Quentin. She was paroled in 1940.

Northcott told police wild and varying tales about what went on at the ranch. While he admitted nine young boys had been killed there, he said he personally participated in only five deaths.

He dismissed his attorney in the midst of his trial in Riverside so he could interrogate his nephew on the stand. Throughout he maintained he has been framed by family members who were actually the guilty parties.

A jury unanimously convicted him after less than four hours of deliberations in February 1929.

In the days before he was sentenced, Northcott was closely guarded after a mob of 200 men, led by the Pomona brothers' father, N.H. Winslow, demanded Riverside jailers turn him over to them.

Just before he was executed in October 1930, he sent police a map of the place where he claimed the boys' bodies had been buried.

A search turned up nothing.

Then Northcott offered to meet with Christine Collins and tell her the truth about her son. When she arrived at San Quentin, he said to her that he had nothing to do with the death.

On Oct. 2, 1930, Northcott was hanged about 10:10 a.m., after he was carried to the gallows "in a state of collapse" by three guards.

Christine Collins and the mother of the Winslow brothers watched the execution, while not far away, in her cell, sat Northcott's own mother.

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