Death House: The Life & Crimes of George Hassell

Texas authorities arrested George Hassell on Christmas Day of 1926 after his wife and her eight children went missing. George cried, “I did it,” then confessed to the murder of another family ten years prior in California. This is his story.

Sources:

Churchill, Marlowe J. “Hassell offered detailed confession.” The Eastern New Mexico News. 3 September, 2019. https://www.easternnewmexiconews.com/story/2019/09/04/news/hassell-offered-detailed-confession/162888.html

“George J Hassell’s Murderous Ways.” Texas Genealogy Trails. https://genealogytrails.com/tex/panhandle/parmer/news_crime_hassell_murders_story.htm

Guy, Fiona. “Family Annihilation: The Crimes and Psychology of Familicide.” Crime Traveller. 13 May, 2019. https://www.crimetraveller.org/2019/05/family-annihilation-crimes-psychology-familicide/

Hanlon, R.E., Brook, M., Demery, J.A. and Cunningham, M.D. (2016), Domestic Homicide: Neuropsychological Profiles of Murderers Who Kill Family Members and Intimate Partners. J Forensic Sci, 61: S163-S170. https://doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.12908

Ortlieb, Tracy Collins. “Inside the Mind of ‘Family Annihilators.’” 19 January 2023. https://www.parents.com/parenting/dynamics/inside-the-mind-of-family-annihilators/

Roth, Mitchel P. Man with the Killer Smile: The Life & Crimes of a Serial Mass Murderer (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2022).

Wight, Pam. “‘Death House’ Slayings gain attention.”24, February, 2007. https://www.whittierdailynews.com/2007/02/24/death-house-slayings-gain-attention/

Newspapers:

Douglas Daily Dispatch

Los Angeles Times

Music: Credits to Holizna, Fesilyan Studios & Virginia Liston

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