HAPPY EASTER EVERYBODY!!!
On Easter Sunday, we (my family) do what millions of other people do on Easter. We color the eggs the night before and make a BIG mess in the process....we get dye on our clothes, dye on the table and chairs and yes sometimes we stick the tip of our fingers in the dye to see if we can dye each finger a different color (ok, I know all families don't do that, but hey...what the heck...it's fun! Not so fun to get off though. lol). Then Easter morning, we go to church, come home and put on our "comfy" clothes, have a nice lunch and then it's EGG HUNTING TIME!!!!! The adults hide a THOUSAND eggs and the kids grab their baskets just waiting to hear that one little word.....GO!!!!!!!!!
On Easter Monday, March 31, 1975 the Ruppert family was doing just the same thing. The family gathered together to enjoy a beautiful Easter day. But this would be an Easter that the entire country would NEVER FORGET!
James Ruppert, then 41, shot 11 members of his family, including his mother, Charity; his brother, Leonard Jr.; his sister-in-law, Alma; and their eight children — Leonard III, 17; Michael, 16; Thomas, 15; Carol, 13; Ann, 12; David, 11; Teresa, 9; and John, 4 — in his mother’s home on 635 Minor Avenue in Lindenwald. Ruppert was convicted of two counts of murder and received a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity for the other nine killings. He was sentenced to 11 life sentences, and is currently in the Allen Correctional Institute in Lima.
James Ruppert's early life was troubled. His mother Charity said that she would have rather had a daughter, and his father Leonard had a violent temper and little affection for his two sons. Leonard died in 1947 when James and his brother Leonard Jr. were 12 and 14, respectively.
Leonard Jr. became the father figure of the family and constantly picked on James during their upbringing. At 16, James was so dissatisfied with his home life that he ran away and attempted to commit suicide by hanging himself with a sheet. He was unsuccessful and returned home.
At the age of 41 James had moved back in with his 65-year-old mother Charity Ruppert in Hamilton, Ohio. Charity was frustrated with her son's inability to hold a steady job and his constant drinking; she threatened to evict him. James also owed his mother and brother money, having lost what little he had in the stock market crash of 1973-4.
On Easter Sunday, the eight children of James' older brother Leonard, were enjoying an Easter egg hunt in the front yard, while the adults were making lunch in the kitchen. At 4:00PM James woke from his hangover, loaded a .357 magnum, two .22 caliber handguns and a rifle. He killed his brother, sister-in-law/ex-girlfriend, and mother. Then he killed his nephew David, and nieces Teresa and Carol in the kitchen. He then went to the living room and killed his niece Ann and four nephews, Leonard, Michael, Thomas and John.
He killed his victims by shooting them with a disabling shot and finishing them off with a shot to the head or through the heart. The whole massacre took 5 minutes. James sat in the house for three hours before calling the police. County prosecutor John Holcomb viewed the crime scene and stated that there was so much blood on the first floor, it was dripping through the floorboards into the basement, which to this day can still be seen on the wood. A total of 35 shots had been fired by Ruppert and all 4 weapons were recovered at the scene.
The night before the murders James went out as he did nearly every night. At the 19th Hole Cocktail Lounge he talked with employee Wanda Bishop, a 28-year-old mother of 5. She would later state that James told her he was frustrated with his mother's demands on him and his impending eviction and that he needed to solve the problem. He left the bar at 11:00 PM that night and later returned. When Bishop asked him if he had solved the problem, he replied "No, not yet." James stayed at the bar until it closed at 2:30 AM.
James reportedly told authorities who arrived on scene: "My mother drove me crazy by always combing my hair, talked to me like I was a baby, and tried to make me into a homosexual". As for motive, it was believed James was looking for an inheritance of $300,000. He would plead insanity, then become "cured" after getting a "Not Guilty" verdict, with all that cash just waiting for him. Unfortunately for James, it didn't turn out that way.
All contents of the home were auctioned off a year later. The first family to live in the house after the murders were unaware of the crime that had taken place. They sold the house after hearing voices and other unexplained noises. Over the years other families have moved in and out.
Even though this weeks post was sad, I hope you can now put it behind you and go and have a wonderful EASTER!!!
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