Infamous America - HH HOLMES Ep. 5 | “Buried Secrets”

Episode Date: December 24, 2025

After six months on the run, law enforcement arrests HH Holmes for insurance fraud. Holmes believes he has secured a sweetheart deal which will allow him to face minimal punishment, but then he learns he is being investigated for murder. While Holmes sits in jail, Inspector Frank Geyer travels the country retracing Holmes' steps and searching for the missing Pitezel children. Thanks to our sponsor, Quince! Use this link for Free Shipping and 365-day returns: ⁠Quince.com/infamousamerica Thanks to our sponsor, Rocket Money! Use this link to start saving today: RocketMoney.com/InfamousA Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join   Apple users join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes, bingeable seasons and bonus episodes. Click the Black Barrel+ banner on Apple to get started with a 3-day free trial.   On YouTube, subscribe to INFAMOUS+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: hit “Join” on the Legends YouTube homepage.   For more details, please visit www.blackbarrelmedia.com. Our social media pages are: @blackbarrelmedia on Facebook and Instagram, and @bbarrelmedia on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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By November 1894, H.H. Holmes had been on the run for nearly six months. He had jumped bail in St. Louis, where he had been arrested for mortgage fraud. Before that, he was wanted for horse theft in Fort Worth and a whole host of fraud-related crimes in Chicago. Since St. Louis, he had murdered his sometime fraud partner, Benjamin Pitzel, and three of Pitesal's children, 8-year-old Howard, 12-year-old Nellie, and 15-year-old Alice. He had also committed life insurance fraud in Philadelphia, which was why he was on the run from insurance agents and Pinkerton detectives. For weeks, he had moved members of the Piedzel family and his third wife Georgiana,

around the U.S. and Canada like pieces on a chessboard. Despite the confusing web of lies which he told to keep the travelers from going to the police and the extraordinary logistics of moving three separate groups of people from place to place without them knowing about each other, he had managed to stay ahead of the detectives, until now. He had Ben Pitzel's wife, Carrie, and her two remaining children, stashed in a house in Burlington, Vermont. Georgiana was also in Burlington. But Holmes had left them while he traveled to his hometown of Gilminton, New Hampshire.

There, he had briefly reunited with his parents and his first wife, Clara. Most people in town had assumed Holmes, whom they knew by his given name, Herman Muddget, had died. He explained his long absence through an absurd story of a train accident and amnesia. But as soon as it sounded like he was planning to return to his old life, he told his wife, Clara, that he had to leave. He said he had to attend to outstanding business, but in reality he had organized a rendezvous with Georgiana in Boston. When he boarded a train for Boston, the Pinkerton's followed. Pinkerton agents, working for Fidelity Mutual Insurance, had picked up his trail and followed him

to Gilminton and then to Boston, where he checked into a boarding house on November 13th. Georgiana met him there, and he told her the trip was a romantic getaway. But several acquaintances had heard him discuss the possibility of fleeing to Europe. Boston Harbor was an excellent place to explore that prospect. While Holmes romanced Georgiana and possibly scouted an international exit plan, the Pinkerton agents eagerly awaited a local arrest warrant. Holmes hadn't committed any crimes in Boston, as far as anyone knew, so it took some wrangling to convince the Boston police to issue a warrant for his arrest in their jurisdiction.

In the end, it was the out of the out-of-the-office. outstanding warrant for horse theft in Texas, which convinced the Boston police to act. On November 17, 1894, Holmes went for an evening walk. He had barely stepped out of his boarding house when he was cornered by Pinkertons and Boston police officers. They arrested him, took him to a police station, and told him that he was about to be sent to Fort Worth. He was terrified at the prospect of facing the Texas judicial system. At the time, stealing a horse was punishable by five to 15 years in prison. And it being Texas, he was worried that hanging was always a possibility. So, the lesser of two evils was to volunteer to return to Philadelphia to

face the insurance fraud warrant. He readily admitted to most of the plot, and the Pinkertons were happy to deliver him to their employer, Fidelity Mutual, instead of taking him to Texas. The Texas warrant had been a means to an end, and now Holmes had played right into their hands. Unfortunately, when Holmes admitted to the life insurance scam, Benjamin Pitesle's wife Carrie was arrested too. Her name had been on the check when Fidelity Mutual paid out the policy, so the authorities believed she had been part of the conspiracy. Carrie Pitesle fainted when the police showed up to arrest her. Holmes, on the other hand, was in a fantastic mood when he boarded the train to Philadelphia. Holmes thought he had outsmarted the detectives. At

best, insurance fraud was an easy charge to beat with skilled lawyers. And at worst, it would only cost him a short stint in prison. But in his arrogance, he was blind to the fact that he had just delivered himself into a situation from which he would never escape. From Black Barrel Media, this is Infamous America. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer, and this season we're telling the story of H.H. Holmes, the con artist and murderer whose crimes during the Chicago World's Fair became the stuff of legend. This is episode 5, Buried Secrets. H.H. Holmes and Kerry Pytzel arrived under guard in Philadelphia on November 20, 1894.

They were sent to the same county jail to await trial. Carrie Pytzel's cell was on the second floor and Holmes cell was on the sixth. At the moment, Holmes was correct to believe that he was only facing a charge of life insurance fraud, not a murder charge. So he kept weaving his web of lies. Holmes' first official statement was similar to stories he had told Kerry Pytzel during their travels. He said to police officers and Pinkerton detectives that he and Benjamin Pytzel had faked Pytzell's death by using a substitute cadaver. The dead body had been provided by a doctor friend of Holmes rather than Holmes himself, of course.

Next, Holmes claimed Ben Pytzel was alive and well in South America. And Alice, Nellie and Howard Pytzell were on their way to be. to meet him in San Salvador. Rather than writing letters, Holmes said he planned to communicate with Pytel using the personal ads section of the Chicago Tribune or the New York Herald. Conveniently, Holmes explained that no such communication had taken place. Holmes went on to say that the entire cross-country journey he'd forced upon Kerry Pytzel was at Benjamin Pytzell's direction.

Pytzel was the real mastermind, not the ever-helpful Dr. H. H. H. H. Holmes. Carrie Pytzel initially corroborated parts of Holmes' story. She still believed her husband was alive, and she had only lied to protect him and her children. But her health was rapidly deteriorating as a result of the exhausting travels, the relentless anxiety about her family, and now the shock of her arrest and incarceration. Desperately clinging to hope, Carrie Pytzel finally asked the officers if they knew where her children were. The question sparked the first real suspicion that Ben Pytzel and the children might have been murdered. But there wasn't enough hard evidence to prove it.

So Holmes, Benjamin and Kerry Pytzel, and Jep The Howe, the lawyer who had helped finish the fraud at the end, were indicted for conspiracy to defraud Fidelity Mutual Insurance Company. Alice Pytzl had correctly identified her father's body at the Philadelphia morgue two months earlier. But the authorities couldn't ignore Holmes' stories. As the search for Ben Pytzel and his three children began in earnest, Holmes passed his time in jail by working on his autobiography. Telling his life's story seemed an excellent way to sustain public interest in his case and to profit financially. Three weeks after he began working on his memoir, he gave a new confession. Maybe he noticed weak spots in his previous confession, or maybe he just wanted to tell a better story.

but now he admitted he had lied in his original statement to the police. On December 27th, he said Benjamin Pytzel was, in fact, dead. Holmes claimed they had plotted the fraud together, but Pitesl committed suicide before the plan could be executed. Holmes offered a detailed description of the crime scene, and he said he believed Pizel had poisoned himself with chloroform. Then Holmes had simply proceeded with the rest of their plan and manipulated the scene to make it look like an accidental explosion had killed Ben Pytzel.

For all intents and purposes, that cleared up the possible mystery about Ben Pytzel. He was not in South America or Canada or anywhere else. The body Alice Pytzel had identified was her father. Benjamin Pytzel was dead. And now the focus of the investigation was on the three missing children. In Holmes' new statement, he said the children were willing. with Minnie Williams in Europe. He claimed they could easily be contacted in London. And while the case of the missing children lingered in the background, the case of life

insurance fraud moved forward. In advance of his trial, Holmes quietly attempted damage control. He reached out to his multiple wives to enlist their help and to make sure they would corroborate his stories. While he had Georgiana settle some of his debts, he assured his second wife, Murta in Chicago, that the murder allegations were false and that he regretted deceiving her. Clara was more circumspect, and she stayed away from the growing hubbub as the trial date loomed. The trial was set for May 27, 1895. Holmes' primary defense attorney, William Shoemaker, was in his early 20s and only two years out of law school. He was eager to make a name for himself, and this would be his first major case.

but the budding lawyer would soon realize that he was in way over his head with H.H. Holmes. From the Philadelphia jail, Holmes was enjoying the spectacle around him. Newspapers all over the country feasted on his case. A journalist for the Chicago Herald found Holmes' second wife, Murta, and their five-year-old daughter. Murta claimed Holmes had been a great husband for nine years. He provided their apartment and living expenses. He'd been in touch mostly by letter for much of the past two years, and she didn't believe any of the negative stories about Holmes,

especially that he might have other wives. Chicago Papers discovered Holmes' affair with Minnie Williams and her subsequent disappearance along with her sister. Holmes played with the story. At one point, he said Minnie was a volatile woman who had accidentally killed her sister during a physical argument. He said he had helped Minnie cover up the murder by sinking her sister's body in Lake Michigan.

Later, he retracted the confession. Despite the growing whispers of multiple murders, William Shoemaker remained a faithful lawyer and went along with Holmes' ever-changing stories. In the end, the fraud trial turned out to be uneventful. Holmes pleaded not guilty on day one. But after consulting with his defense team the next day, Holmes changed his plea to guilty.

Apparently, he had learned that the man maximum sentence for insurance fraud was two years. Moreover, if he were acquitted in Philadelphia, there was a chance he'd be taken to Texas to stand trial for horse theft. He wanted to make sure he served his time in Pennsylvania. The judge accepted his guilty plea and the case was closed. A sentencing date was set and Holmes would remain in the county jail until then. Holmes was elated. He left the courtroom believing he had gamed the system once again. But his release, was short-lived. Immediately after the trial ended in early June, Holmes was called into the office of George Graham, the Philadelphia District Attorney. Graham informed Holmes that they were now

building a murder case against him for killing Benjamin Pitzel and his children. Holmes insisted he could never hurt innocent children, and Graham urged him to disclose the children's locations. If they were alive, they needed to be found immediately. And Carrie Pitzel was a lot of the children. And Carrie Pitzel was about to lose her mind from grief and anxiety. She had been released from jail after police determined she was not part of the life insurance fraud, and her health was failing fast. In response, Holmes gave Graham an address in London where Minnie Williams and the children could be found. The address, of course, did not exist, and when Holmes heard that Carrie Pitzel had been released from jail, he sensed an opportunity to bolster his alibi. On June 19th, he sent her a

a long list full of lies. He told her that Benjamin Pitzel had married a disreputable woman in Fort Worth and had lost a lot of money. After Pitesal eventually took his own life out of despair, Holmes took care of the children like they were his own. He reiterated that they were with Minnie Williams. At that point, Kerry Pitesle reached her limit. She gave a damning interview to the Philadelphia Inquirer. She accurately described Holmes as an unscrupulous life. She stated unequivocally that her three children were missing. She feared they were dead, and she suspected Holmes had killed them.

The newspapers went ballistic. Tabloids and reputable newspapers alike used gallons of ink, printing speculative stories about the children's possible murders. In the court of public opinion, Holmes was now known as a multiple murderer. About 80 years in the future, when the FBI's behavioral science unit coined the term serial killer, killer, the public would call him that too. No one had seen the missing Piedzel children since October of 1894. It was now eight months later, June 1895, and chances were slim that the children

would be found alive. But Philadelphia District Attorney George Graham made it his personal mission to help Kerry Pitzel find her children after everything she had endured. Graham ordered an extensive search of many of the cities where Holmes had spent time after he left Chicago. Funded by Fidelity Mutual, which spared no expense on the investigation, Graham hired a trusted friend to lead the search. Inspector Frank Geier.

Inspector Frank Geier had worked at the Philadelphia Detective Bureau for 20 years and had extensive experience with murder cases. Holmes became the biggest case of his career. It later inspired him to write a best-selling book which detailed his cross-country pursuit of the missing Pitesle children. Before leaving Philadelphia to start his search, Geyer interviewed Holmes in jail. In another attempt at distraction, Holmes introduced a new character to his story. He now claimed the children were with a man named Edward Hatch, who was a Chicago bricklayer.

Geyer was certain Holmes was lying, but he had to check it out anyway. The effort to locate Edward Hatch only briefly threw him off course, and then Geyer hit the road to retrace Holmes' steps. Geyer was armed with photos of Holmes and the Pitezel children, as well as nearly a dozen unsent letters which Alice and Nellie had written during their time on the road with Holmes. Holmes had inexplicably kept them, and now they provided a roadmap for Inspector Geyer. Based on the letters, Geyer's first stop was Cincinnati. Geyer went from hotel to hotel and examined the registers to see if a man with three children had stayed there in late September. He happened upon the

upon the Atlantic House, where a man with three children had registered on September 28, 1894. Geyer was on the right track. Geyer knew, probably through information from Kerry Pytzel, that Holmes liked to rent houses for short-term stays. Geyer contacted local real estate agents, and one of them recognized Holmes and eight-year-old Howard Pytzel from their photos. Geyer went to a house at 305 Poplar Street.

Geyer heard from a neighbor that a wood-burning stove had been delivered on the first day of the rental, but the renter, Holmes, had left the property in a hurry and never returned. In Indianapolis, Geyer found the hotel where Holmes, Georgiana, and the three Pitesell kids stayed for 10 days. Geyer grew increasingly suspicious that Howard Pitesle never left Indianapolis, but he had no leads beyond the hotel. Reluctantly, he kept moving. When he reached Toronto in July, he had been traveling for more than two weeks. By then, Geyer had become a national celebrity.

People across the country eagerly awaited the morning newspaper in hopes that Geyer's search would be successful. After a week of following false leads, it seemed time to leave Toronto. But Geyer wasn't ready. On July 15th, he received a tip from a tenant on St. Vincent Street, who claimed that a man who could have been Holmes had rented the house next door the previous October. The tenant only remembered Holmes

because the tenant had loaned Holmes a shovel. Geyer borrowed the man's shovel and entered the house next door with a local detective. They started digging in the basement of 16 St. Vincent Street, and within minutes, they uncovered the decaying bodies of two female children. On the morning of July 16, 1895, Frank Geier's discovery of the bodies of 15-year-old Alice Pitzel and 12-year-old Nellie Pytzel was front-page news.

To clear any remaining doubts, Kerry Pytzell traveled to Toronto to identify her children at the morgue. She immediately recognized the girls, but between sobs and shrieks, she could barely get the words out. The body sparked a new case against Holmes, who was still in jail awaiting his sentence for life insurance fraud. Holmes would never receive that sentence because he was about to go to trial again, this time for murder. When Philadelphia District Attorney George Graham brought Holmes in for questioning about the murders, Holmes was calm and prepared. While supposedly shocked to hear the news, he reasoned that Minnie Williams must have killed the girls.

In a statement from lawyer William Shoemaker, Holmes explained that he believed Minnie Williams had paid her associate Edward Hatch to murder the children. And while Holmes spun more lies in Philadelphia, Frank Geyer went back on the road. He had made progress, but his work wasn't done. He left Kerry Pytzel in Toronto and took a train to Detroit to try to find Howard Pitesle. And while Geyer followed clues in Detroit,

unexpected and shocking news came out of Chicago, where the authorities finally tore apart Holmes Castle in order to find leads on the elusive figure of Minnie Williams. In Chicago, news about Holmes sparked a wealth of rumors about his criminal and questionable activities in town during the World's Fair. Former neighbors and acquaintances spoke to the press with theories that Holmes was behind dozens of mysterious disappearances. The Chicago Tribune claimed Holmes had had affairs with 200 women,

married six times, and fathered 25 children. Countless articles were published about Minnie Williams, but they contained no real information about her location. Naturally, the Chicago press set its sights on Holmes' strange building on 63rd Street. Chicago police followed the lead of the media and searched the building, known as Holmes Castle. The castle was dilapidated and had seen little care in the two years since Holmes had tried to burn the top floor and then fled the city. windows were broken or missing, the roof sagged, and the charred brick walls remained exposed to the elements. The first floor still lent the impression of a regular operational building with several shops, including a jewelry store and a drug store, but the second and third floors were vacant.

On the first day of the investigation, the owner of the jewelry store pointed detectives to a large stove on the third story. He claimed a watch chain that belonged to Minnie Williams had been found burned in the stove. He also claimed some charred chunks of bone had been found. According to him, there was no doubt Minnie Williams was killed, and her dismembered remains were burned in the stove. Though still unproven, the theory came to fit Holmes' pattern. The press soon called the building Holmes' murder castle, but investigators still hadn't found anything of substance to support the nickname.

Some items were found in the third floor stove, but medical examiners declared none of them were bones. Still, newspapers churned out stories about all the horrible things which might have happened, or could have happened, or probably happened. Reporters delivered daily updates and had wide-ranging access to the building as they tailed detectives through the investigation. On the morning of July 20, 1895, Chicago's newspapers announced the murder of Minnie Williams, based solely on the discovery of the third floor stove and the jeweler's testimony. Minnie Williams' death was never sufficiently proven, but the newspapers largely ignored that fact.

While they breathlessly speculated about the gruesome scenes which may have played out in the oddly shaped rooms and small spaces, they didn't have to wait long for the real substance they craved. The first floor store owners had reported a terrible smell which had risen up from the bowels of the building during Holmes' reign at the castle. Now, detectives gathered their tools and descended into the unfinished basement. The eerie basement was black as night and rank with mold and dust. The police, probably working by lantern light, began to dig up the dirt floor.

About 30 inches down, they struck something solid. As they scraped back the dirt, they uncovered a number of bones, about 18 in total. Among them were several ribs and parts which were likely a pelvis and a jaw. They were later attributed to a child of between six and eight years in age. The age would have been right for Pearl Connor, the daughter of Holmes' former employee and mistress Julia Connor. Pearl and Julia were last seen alive at Christmas time 1891, three and a half years earlier.

But because the state of decomposition did not match up with what was expected after three years, the bones were never positively identified as Pearl Connor, though the strong speculation would soon harden into fact for most people. More bones were found in the basement in the following days, possibly those of Julia Connor. The discovery led the press, as well as Fidelity Mutual, which paid for the investigation, to confidently declare that Holmes was likely guilty of eight murders. Benjamin Pitzel, three of his children, Minnie Williams and her younger sister Nanny, and Julia and Pearl Connor. For the newspaper, those eight potential or probable murders were just the tip of the iceberg.

In jail in Philadelphia, Holmes was unfazed. In a statement, his lawyer William Shoemaker explained that, as a medical man, Holmes had every right to obtain cadavers to dissect for research purposes. Naturally, Holmes Holmes had buried the remains in the basement to dispose of them. While Holmes' explanation seemed dubious at best, it made sense to many readers and investigators at the time. But the Chicago Papers continued to fuel the lore, which portrayed Holmes as an American killer on par with the infamous Jack the Ripper, whose brutal murders in London had shocked and captivated the world seven years earlier.

The most notorious article about the Holmes' murder castle was published in the New York World on August 11, 1895. The newspaper proclaimed the building a murder factory, describing airtight rooms, deathly elevator shafts, hidden trap doors, and a crematory in the basement. Despite the fact that none of that was true, the article established the lasting myth that Holmes built the castle specifically to commit fiendish torture and murder. It soon became legend that Holmes lured unsuspecting women to the hotel. subjected them to ghastly crimes, and then made them disappear, usually by burning their bodies in his huge furnace.

The castle's reputation was almost as notorious as Holmes' reputation. Thus it came as a shock to many that on the same day as the New York World article was reprinted in the Chicago Tribune, the Holmes' murder castle went up in flames. At around 140 in the morning on August 18th, an explosion on the first floor sparked a fire which quickly burned through the rest of the building. Any remaining evidence was destroyed. The cause of the explosion was never determined, but nearly everyone suspected arson.

By dawn, the building, which almost certainly saw the murders of four women and maybe more, was a hollow shell. The crimes which may have been committed inside were now permanently in the hands of storytellers. The fire put a stop to the Chicago investigation, which had become an embarrassment, for the Chicago Police Force.

The bones in the basement were compelling for the newspapers, but they did little for detectives. With no way to determine the cause of death or the identities of the dead, or who buried them, investigators couldn't even say a crime had been committed, much less prosecute homes for murder. And since investigators had uncovered nothing related to the Pitesel murders, the search in Chicago was abandoned.

The castle was condemned and eventually torn. down. And although Holmes would soon face a homicide charge for Ben Pytzel, he would boast that his murder count was much, much higher than even the newspapers speculated. It probably was, but one more discovery would solidify his fate, regardless of the true number. Philadelphia Inspector Frank Geyer was still searching for Howard Pytzel. A month after the murder castle burned, Geyer found him. Next time on Infamous America, Inspector Frank Geyer, makes good on his promise to carry Pytzel to find her children, no matter how painful it might be. H.H. Holmes goes to trial, and after a rough start, Holmes receives a shocking and unexpected gift,

which seems to turn the proceeding in his favor. In the end, it all comes down to the case of Benjamin Pitzel. That's next week on the season finale of the H.H. Holmes story here on Infamous America. Members of our Black Barrel Plus program received the entire season to binge all at once with no commercials, and they also receive exclusive bonus episodes. Sign up now through the link in the show notes or on our website, blackbarrelmedia.com. This series was researched and written by Andrew Messer, original music by Rob Valier. I'm Chris Wimmer. Thanks for listening.