Prime Crime: Solved Murders - The Smuttynose Murders Pt. 2

Episode Date: February 15, 2023

Prosecuting attorney George Yeaton was certain who committed the gruesome murders on Smuttynose Island. To him, the evidence pointed to a robbery gone wrong. But what motivated the suspect to kill the only friends he had? A follow-up conversation with the lone survivor would give him the answer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Due to the graphic nature of this murder case, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes descriptions of assault, murder, and gore. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. 28-year-old Louis Wagner sat on his narrow jail bed, humming a tune. Outside his barred window, a small crowd had gathered, demanding his execution. Lewis was desperate to drown them out. He swore he didn't commit the murders on Smutty Nose Island,

but no one believed him. Everyone, it seemed, had made up their mind. In their eyes, he had blood on his hands. Lewis was desperate. He had to convince them of his innocence, but he didn't know how. Mr. Wagner? Yes? Have you come from my neck like all the others?

No, sir. I'm from the local church. I'm here to give you something. A gift from our congregation. A Bible? Thank you, miss. I'll cherish it. You're not alone, Lewis.

If you're faithful, God will not abandon you. I hope you put your trust in the Lord. I always did, ma'am. And I always shall. Suddenly, Lewis knew what to do. Perhaps the public wouldn't believe the innocence of a crude fisherman, but maybe they'd believe a man of God. Welcome to Solved Murder's True Crime Mysteries, a Spotify original from Parcast.

I'm your host, Carter Roy. And I'm your host, Wendy McKenzie. Every Wednesday, we step into the world of true crimes' most fascinating murder cases and tell the tale of how real. real-life detectives close the case. You can find episodes of solved murders and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free exclusively on Spotify. This is our final episode on the Smuddy Nose Murders of 1873.

Last week, we covered the discovery of a brutal double homicide on a small New England Island and the arrest of the case's prime suspect. This week, we'll follow the prosecution. as they learn more about the suspected killer and his victims, and recount the events of that tragic night. We have all that and more coming up. Stay with us. Own it all. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari.

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Canva, the thing that makes anything a thing. On March 8, 1873, only two days after the double homicide of sisters-in-law, Annette and Karen Christensen, on Smutty-Nose Island, prosecuting attorney George Yeaton was already building his case. The investigation had moved quickly. Just hours after Karen and Annette were found murdered, police apprehended their only suspect. A young Prussian fisherman named Lewis Wagner. All evidence seemed to point to Lewis.

His timeline, the night of the murders, the blood on his clothes, and most damning of all, the testimony of the night's only survivor, Maron Hauntvet. But there was one glaring question. why would he do it? Lewis Wagner was a friend of the haunt vets.

George could understand if Lewis had robbed them, but he'd taken just $16. And if money was all he was after, it didn't explain why he'd kill Karen and Annette. But to the attorney, there was no question. Lewis had killed those two women. In order to cement his case, George had to know why it happened.

he had to know more about Lewis. Ironically, those who seemed to know him the best were the family he'd hurt the most. So George sat down with Lewis's former friend and employer, John Huntford. I met Lewis in Boston. We were both working on the docks and had both come to America alone.

And later, we both ended up in Portsmouth. It seems like the two of you had a lot in common. Well, the similarities, What do you mean by that? Lewis struggled here. Meanwhile, I got my bearings. I found steady work until I could bring my family to America. We settled on Smutty Nose, and I bought my own boat and was ready to build my own crew, too.

And that meant bringing on Lewis? A decision I'll regret for the rest of my life. But at the time, it made sense. Lewis is a strong man, and he has experience. experience. I needed help, but also Lewis needed ours. Because he was struggling, like you said. Yes, but also he was alone. I know what that's like. I came here by myself and worked the war in a new country. It's a lonely life. I thank God that I have my family now. What's left of it? Lewis Wagner moved in with the haunt vets in April of 1872

and live with John, his wife, Marron, and John's brother Matthew haunt vet until the following autumn. But though he'd been brought on to work on the haunt vet's boat, John explained that Lewis was often too ill to participate, or at least that's what he claimed. He complained all summer of rheumatism. His joints were so pained. And that many days he couldn't join us.

So he stayed on land with the women, and Maure intended to him. She treated him like a brother. Makes me sick to think about. Do you think he was lying? I certainly began to suspect it, but he was always so grateful. I didn't want to believe he'd take advantage of us like that. Besides, Yvonne and Annette were coming. Lewis would be leaving soon enough.

For months, John. Martin Maron, Matthew, and Lewis lived under the same roof in the Hauntvettes' small home on Smuddy Nose. But in October of 1872, Maron's younger half-brother, Yvonne Christensen, arrived from Norway with his new bride, 25-year-old Annette. Suddenly, the cottage was very crowded, but Lewis managed to stay another few weeks before finally leaving Smutty Nose and the Haunt Vets. With Yvonne here, I no longer needed Lewis's help. Not that he'd provided much. He left us that November. Do you think there could have been hard feelings after Yvonne and Annette arrived?

After all, they were the reason Lewis had to leave. No. Like I said, he was always grateful, and he especially enjoyed the company of the women. And they enjoyed his. Lewis could be charming in his way. I didn't sense any bitterness until the day we saw him. on the docks. The day of the killings. That's right. On the afternoon of March 5th, 1873, just hours before the murders, John, Yvonne, and Matthew had arrived in Portsmouth. As John told authorities before,

all three men had come to pick up a shipment of bait. When they arrived, Lewis Wagner met them on the docks. John recalled that Lewis had been happy to see them, but his Demeter changed when he saw Yvonne on the boat. Lewis became sullen. Still, the conversation was normal. Lewis inquired about how much fish they'd hauled that day. According to John, this was a question Lewis often asked when he saw them. John didn't think much of it at the time, but Lewis was clearly interested in how well John's business was doing. Later, Lewis was there when the haunt vets learned their bait shipment was delayed and that they'd be stuck in Portsmouth until morning.

To make matters worse, all three men realized they'd left their wallets on smutty nose. John had offered Lewis a job, helping them bait hooks. But when the bait finally arrived that night, Lewis was nowhere to be found. As John told George the events of that night, the lawyer began to piece things together. Not only did Lewis know the women were alone back on Smutty Nose, he knew the men's wallets were there too. And if John's booming business was any indication, there'd be plenty of money stowed away at the house. All Lewis had to do was rob it before morning. All of this supported George's theory that Lewis intended to steep.

from the haunt vets, but it still didn't explain why he killed Annette and Karen. After interviewing John, George found himself mulling over one specific detail. The way John described Lewis, there seemed to be a clear change in his behavior between when he moved out of the haunt vet home on Smutty Nose and when John spoke to him on the docks the day of the murders. George figured something must have happened in that period of time. Now he just had to figure out exactly what it was. So the lawyer made his way to the wharves of Portsmouth.

There, local sailors helped piece together what happened to Lewis in those months after he'd left Smutney Nose. Sure, I knew Lewis. I was a shipmate last winter, but I was not his friend. And why is that? He wasn't exactly popular on the docks, always sulking and gloomy, but put a girl in front of him. him and he was all charm.

The man's got no qualms about lying to get what he wants. I didn't trust him as far as I could throw him. But I have to admit, I did feel bad for him. At least before, I knew what he did to those poor women on the shoals. I've heard he was a lonely figure, always struggling to make ends meet. We're all trying to make a buck. But Lewis was in real bad shape. He couldn't find work, was behind on rent, even his clothes were torn to rags.

He'd go on and on about it. His story was so pitiful, even I gave him some coins for tobacco. What was his story, the cause of all his bad luck? You didn't hear? He was a crewman on the Addison Gilbert. Lewis lost everything. Apparently not long after leaving the haunt vets on Smuddy nose, Lewis had found work on a fishing schooner.

It was a decent job. He worked and lived on the ship. So not only was he getting a wage, he didn't have to worry about rent. But in January, just two months before the murders, the Addison Gilbert collided with another boat and sank. Luckily, the crew was rescued, but their belongings went down with the ship.

So while Lewis survived, he was left with nothing. but the clothes on his back. This was the detail George was looking for. Now everything seemed to click into place. At the haunt vets, Lewis had comfort, security, and friendship. But after the shipwreck, he was sleeping in Portsmouth's crowded flop houses, where he was weeks behind on rent and begging for tobacco money. The way that George saw it, the singing of the Addison Gilbert was Lewis's break.

point. Suddenly, he'd lost every semblance of security. He had no home, no job, and no money. And not just that. While Lewis had hit a new low, John Hauntvet and his family were thriving, and Lewis resented that. It was all so easy for George to imagine. Lewis had spent two months struggling on the wharves, stewing with jealousy. But then on March 5, but then on March 5, 5th, John Hontvet and his brothers landed in Portsmouth. The men were busy on the mainland till dawn, and the women were alone and everyone's wallets were left at the house. A golden opportunity had fallen into Lewis's lap.

All he had to do was take it. Everything lined up so neatly each circumstance leading to the next, but it still didn't explain how petty theft had graduated. to murder. If money really was what Lewis was after, he could have easily robbed the haunt vet house without bloodshed. But George had a theory. He felt strongly Lewis hadn't intended to kill anyone, at least not at first.

Something must have happened that night that Lewis didn't anticipate. Something had turned Lewis from a burglar to a murderer. George couldn't convict him until he knew what it was. Coming up, Lewis Wagner builds his defense. In a world of deep fake technology, fake news, and revisionist history, how do we know the difference between what's official and what's just fishy? That's where we come in. Hi, it's Molly and Carter from the Spotify original from Parkast conspiracy theories.

Every Monday and Wednesday, We examine the most controversial events in history, because maybe there's so much more to the truth than we've been led to believe. From the mysteries of outer space to the secrets, lies, and possible cover-ups occurring right under our noses. We explore every angle in search of the actual truth. We're not skeptics or theorists. We're curious, rigorous, and in the end, we let you decide.

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With select games streaming with ESPN on Disney Plus. Let's go! U.S. residents, 18 plus only. Select Banana Ball Games available to all Disney Plus subscribers. Terms apply. And now, back to our story. Prosecuting attorney George Yeaton was zeroing in on Lewis Wagner's motive for murder. But while George knew he was a killer,

Lewis was on a one-man mission to make himself a saint. On March 8, 1873, Lewis had narrowly survived a raging mob in Portsmouth, as authorities transferred him to Maine's jurisdiction. But now after being transferred from Maine, Lewis noticed the mob was thinning. Each day, they seemed to get quieter, and soon a new kind of crowd began to gather. Supporters!

In the few days since the Smutty-Nose murders made headlines, curiosity had grown about the handsome young Prussian. On the streets, photographs of him began selling for a quarter-eat, and his people read about his purported crimes, they couldn't believe such a nice-looking man was capable of something so obscene. The public began showing up by the hundreds, hoping to see the axe murderer for themselves.

But sure enough, Lewis looked just like his portrait. He had a kind face and captivating blue eyes. Even the papers began commenting on his incongruous looks. Everyone seemed to agree. Lewis Wagner didn't look like a killer. And soon they found he didn't act like one either. He wasn't known to be a religious man, at least not before the murders, but suddenly, while he sat in jail, Lewis found faith.

He often had a Bible in hand and took to singing hymns in his jail cell. When he spoke to his visitors, Lewis often got emotional. crying in front of the crowds who swarmed around his jail cell. These sudden bursts of emotion struck a chord. Lewis successfully found sympathy from both the public and the press. For months, local newspapers cast doubt on his guilt, and he continued to get visitors. Women would even send Lewis their handkerchiefs as a sign of their support.

But none of this saved him from facing the court. On March 12, 1873, a week after the crime, Lewis attended a preliminary hearing for Annette and Karen's murders. Lewis had only three months until the trial began. He desperately needed a lawyer, a good one. Lewis got two. The leading attorney for the defense was Colonel Rufus Prescott Tapley, a former judge and veteran of America's recent civil war. Assisting him was Max Fischker.

Max was a younger Harvard-educated lawyer and a German Jew. As an immigrant himself, he took special interest in Lewis's case. In fact, Max was a legal advocate for many poor immigrants who, more often than not, faced prejudice in the American judicial system. If Lewis so vehemently swore his innocence, Max and Colonel Tapley would defend him with just as much passion. Luckily for the defense, the case against Lewis was largely circumstantial. It relied heavily on conversations with people who knew him and Lewis's strange behavior following the murders.

While the investigation strongly suggested he was the killer, there was little to prove it was actually him. Though George Eaton was about to change that, unbeknownst to the defense, the lawyer had just added a lethal piece of evidence to his arsenal. Forensic evidence. Just two days before Lewis's hearing, authorities in Portsmouth uncovered something strange. Back at the sailor's boarding house where Lewis was staying before his arrest, a bundle of cloth was found hidden behind the building's outhouse. Soon they realized it was a blood-stained shirt torn into strips. George had reason to believe the shirt belonged to Lewis Wagner, but he had to be certain,

so he called on the only person besides Lewis who'd be able to identify it, 19-year-old Mary Johnson. I've been told you do the washing here at the boarding house. Do you think you'd be able to identify your tenant's clothes? Yes, sir. I believe so. Do you recognize this? Yes. Yes, that's Louis Wagner's shirt. Miss Johnson, your word could be essential to this case. You're absolutely certain?

I'd know Lewis is closed anywhere. I probably know them better than he does. Look, you see that? There was a hole there he was complaining about, so I fixed it for him. That's my stitching. Mary explained that Lewis wore the same shirt on March 5th the evening before the murders, but she never saw it after that. However, the next morning, when Lewis returned, Mary noticed him carrying a suspicious bundle to the privy.

She realized now that this was what he'd been hiding all along. The shirt was soaked with blood. Lewis had previously said that his other less soiled clothes were only spattered with fish blood, a plausible claim for a fisherman. But George Eaton planned to use the shirt to prove that Lewis was lying. In the Victorian era, forensics was still a very new science. So even though the crime scene on Smutty Nose was covered in human DNA, none of it could be used in the investigation.

Lewis's clothes, however, were a different story. George enlisted the help of a scientist and blood expert to analyze the shirt. By soaking the cloth in liquid and examining it under a microscope, they were able to see the original size and shape of the dried blood. cells. The scientists determined that the cells weren't from a fish, but a mammal, and in their opinion, that mammal was very likely human. According to historian Jay Dennis Robinson, author of Mystery on the Isles of Shoals, George's decision to consult a blood expert was unorthodox for the time. Presenting such cutting-edge science in court ran the risk of being misunderstood by the

jury or dismissed entirely. But George was desperate to bolster his case. Before, the button and coins belonging to Karen found in Lewis's pockets had been his strongest physical evidence. Now, actual science linked Lewis to the crime. Even so, there was still the problem of motive. George could present as much proof as he wanted, but nothing explained why Lewis would have killed Annette and Karen. and the jury would want to know that. Frankly, George wanted to know. In the weeks after the murders,

he sat up late in his office, turning the question over in his mind. Sure, Lewis was jealous and desperate, but George was still certain Lewis only intended to rob the haunt vets. The way George saw it, the killings were clearly unplanned. If they'd been calculated,

Lewis would have surely brought a weapon. Instead, he killed Annette and Karen with the haunt vet's own axe and left it behind. Something must have gone horribly wrong, but as George scoured his notes again and again, he couldn't understand what it was. Everything that night seemed handcrafted to work in Lewis's favor. The haunt vet men rarely left the women alone on smutty nose, and yet that night they did, along with their wallets and hundreds of dollars. of John's savings.

And when the haunt vets' bait delivery was delayed, Lewis was given a wide window. Even the cap and door was left unlocked. Lewis was familiar with the house, and he would know exactly where the haunt vets might keep their money. It should have been the simplest robbery in the world. But somehow, it became a massacre. As the trial loomed closer,

George poured over countless notes and spoke to dozens of witnesses to prepare them for the stand. Maron Hauntvet included. The murder's lone survivor had overcome the shock of that harrowing night, but Maron's trauma was still fresh, and George coached her as best he could through her testimony. All right, let's go back to the break-in. Tell me, why would Karen have believed that your husband was the intruder? Well, we were expecting the men to return that night. When Karen woke up, she would have thought she was seeing John standing in the kitchen.

Remember to establish that it was dark inside the house. Karen wouldn't have been able to identify Lewis when it was so dim. Well, yes, but I'd hardly expect Karen to identify Lewis during the daytime, either. What do you mean? Lewis lived with you for months. He'd spent significant time with your family. Yes, but... not Karen. She worked as a hotel

maid on a different island. She lived there too. She couldn't have met Lewis more than a handful of times. She didn't usually stay at the house? No. The only reason she was there that night is because she had lost her job. She'd still be alive if she hadn't.

George sat stunned. That was it. The answer to the question he couldn't solve. The thing that had turned a simple robbery, into rabid murder was Karen. Lewis hadn't known she was there. He probably expected the only women inside were Maron and Annette, exactly as it had been when he lived there.

But by pure chance, Maron's older sister was sleeping in the kitchen as he walked in the door. Lewis was confronted with a woman he hadn't been expecting. Then everything descended into chaos. Finally, George had what he needed. Lewis Wagner was undoubtedly guilty, and he was prepared to prove it. Coming up, the court seals Lewis's fate. Today's lesson is on the Arco Rewards app. Try to stay with me.

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At participating locations, terms and conditions apply. And now, back to our story. The trial for the Smutty Nose murders began on June 9, 1873 in the small farming community of Alfred Maine. Papers were already dubbing it as the trial of the century. The public arrived in Alfred in droves, overwhelming the small town. The first day of the hearing, a reporter for the New York Times, wrote that the courtroom was crowded to suffocation. George Eaton had prepared for weeks, painstakingly constructing his case down to the smallest details. And so, as he said, in the packed courtroom that first day, he didn't feel nervous.

He felt ready. Your Honor, gentlemen of the jury, I stand before you today to prove that Mr. Lewis Wagner murdered Annette and Karen Christensen in the midnight hours of March 6th. But to do so, I ask you to disregard notions of original intent or purported piety, all of which the defense will surely use to persuade you. Instead, I implore you to look at the proof I will lay plainly before this court, and I promise you'll find that no matter how much Mr. Wagner, attempts to wash himself clean, his hands are forever bled.

After his opening statement, George proceeded to introduce a seemingly endless stream of witnesses. Over 40 people were poised to take the stand for the prosecution. Among them were John Hauntvet, who detailed his conversation with Lewis on the dock, Yvonne Christensen, who recounted his discovery of his wife Annette's battered body, and Lewis's landlady at the boarding house, Anne Johnson, who spoke about his strange behavior the morning after the murders. Together, their testimonies constructed a clear timeline of Lewis's movements. And though the evidence was largely circumstantial,

it was impossible to deny the staggering amount of connections linking Lewis to the murders. On top of that, the physical evidence helped cement the prosecutions, argument. George presented the silver coins and distinct white button found in Lewis's pockets, the same items in Karen's possession earlier that day. He also invited Mary Johnson to the stand. Like her mother, Mary testified about Lewis's odd behavior after the murders. She also identified for the court his blood-soaked shirt that had been hidden behind the privy at the boarding house. To follow up her statement, the prosecution then called the blood expert to testify. The scientist explained to the jury that Lewis's clothes weren't covered in fish gore like the young man claimed, but human blood.

So far, George Eaton had presented a compelling case for Lewis's guilt. Disputing the extensive evidence would be a struggle, so instead the defense appealed to the jury's emotions. On June 13, 1873, five days into the proceedings, defense attorney Max Fischer addressed the court in a booming voice. I am not here to throw dust in your eyes, gentlemen. I am here but for one reason to show that Louis Wagner is not the man who committed this fearful crime and that he is guilty of nothing

but being a foreigner in an inhospitable land. But his new home has made him. a scapegoat to explain the intersection of a hundred different circumstances, which the prosecution would like you to think are as good as proof. But I assure you, they are far from it. Max criticized George Eaton's collection of circumstantial evidence. He also introduced the theory that police pinned the murders on Lewis because they needed a suspect. And as an immigrant, he was an easy target. And if he had committed to murders, Max argued, why hadn't Lewis fled town? Not to mention Lewis apparently had an alibi. Despite his

suspicious timeline, the defense claimed that Lewis could account for every hour of the crime. This was a compelling counter-argument, but of the 19 witnesses that took the stand for the defense, there was only one who could corroborate Lewis's story. It was a bartender who served him a drink, at roughly 7.30 p.m. the evening of the murders, but after that, no one else knew where he was. And as everyone saw in the press, Lewis had a way of swaying opinions. They just hoped he would do the same in court. The defense had backed themselves into a corner and their only hope was Lewis himself. Soon, Max called him to the stand, where the young fisherman recounted his first lonely years in America and his struggle to scrape by.

Then he asked Lewis about his relationship with the haunt vets. Did you have any difficulty with any of the haunt vet family? No, sir. Like I said, they all treated me kindly, took me in like one of their own. Would you say that they were your personal friends? Yes. The only friends I had. The crowded courtroom sat mesmerized.

Lewis had drawn them in with his earnestness and strapping good looks, and for some, his emotional display over the loss of his, quote, only friends, was proof enough of his innocence. But the trial wasn't over. The prosecution called to the stand their star witness, the murder's sole survivor. Maron Hauntvet stood in the court. courtroom hushed. Though it was summer she wore a long black dress, as if in morning,

she walked to the stand without a word as George Yeaton took the floor. For the first time since the start of the trial, Lewis Wagner looked worried. Marin, where were you on March 5th? I was at my home on Smutty Nose the whole day and that night. And who was with you at that time? Karen, Annette, and myself. It was the three of us alone on the island at first. Maron began to recount that day.

John, Yvonne, and Matthew left early in the morning to fish. But as the sun began to set and they hadn't returned, Maron began to worry. She knew they planned to go to the mainland to pick up bait, but they always came home first so one of the men could stay behind. After hours of concern, the women received word from another sailor that the men had caught a headwind and went straight to Portsmouth. They'd be back later that night. Relieved, the women settled in for the evening.

They sat at the fire as the ocean gale howled outside, just the three sisters and Maron's little dog, Ringey. It's getting late and they're still not back. Annette, don't worry. They're probably just fighting the wind. Do you think they worry about us all alone out here? Not at all. They're probably at the pub as we speak. Karen, whatever they're doing, I'm sure they're safe, just as we are here, except from the ghosts.

Uh, what ghosts? Oh, yeah, the shoals are full of ghosts. Pirates used to pass through the aisles a ways back. Folks say they left treasure and even died here. And every island has its own spirits. Smutty Nose is haunted by the ghosts of 14 shipwrecked sailors. They say, if you listen carefully, you can still hear their screams in the wind. Tell me that, and now you expect me to go to bed alone?

You can sleep in my room if you'd like. Ringa will protect us from the ghosts. The three prepared to sleep. Maron made up a bed in the kitchen for Karen but left the curtains open, and the front door which had been broken for months was left unlocked. Annette and Maron fell asleep in the connecting bedroom with Maron's dog, Ringey. When Maron woke up next, Renge was growling. In the next room, Karen was speaking to someone.

Morin sat up. She assumed that John was finally home. But when she asked Karen what was going on, Karen said that John had scared her. Confused, Maron got out of bed. Then she heard her sister scream. Karen cried out that John was killing her. Maron rushed to the door, but it wouldn't open. On the other side, the intruder had picked up a chair and was beating Karen.

Maron pounded on the door with everything she had, desperate to get to a door. her sister. Behind her, Annette had woken up to the chaos. Neither woman knew what was happening, only that someone had snuck into the house and that Karen was in danger. Luckily, in the other room, Karen had managed to stumble into the door, knocking a stick that had been used to lock it from the outside. The door fell open and Maron rushed into the kitchen to grab her sister. As she did, she saw a large man silhouetted in the moonlit window. He stood like a phantom, featureless, and silent. Maron started pulling Karen into the bedroom when the intruder leapt forward and brought the chair down on Maron's back. He struck

her again before she managed to slam the door. Maron held it shut as the man attempted to pound it down. They were trapped. Maron turned to her sister-in-law and told her to climb out the window and run. Annette obliged, climbing out of the first floor window, but once her feet hit the ground, she didn't move. Maron goaded Annette on from inside the house, telling her to go. But in a quiet voice, Annette said she couldn't move. As terror rose in her, Maron told her to scream for help instead. But even that seemed impossible for Annette. It was as if she was frozen to the spot. Just then, the pounding on the door stopped, and Maran paused, confused. The house felt too quiet.

Suddenly, Maron heard Annette scream. In a few moments of silence, the killer had slipped out of the house and found Annette outside, standing just outside the window. Maron gasped as she saw the figure rush at Annette and swing an axe down on her head. Then he swung again and again. Maron dropped to the floor and put her hands on Karen's shoulders. They had to go now, but Karen refused to move. She was too injured. Just then, Maron heard Lewis come back into the house.

She knew that Karen couldn't escape with her and that this was her last chance to save herself. So Marne grabbed the first piece of clothing within reach, a skirt, pulled it around her shoulders and climbed out the window. She landed barefoot in the snow and ran. She sprinted past Annette's body and into the night, and soon she realized that Renge was following her. But the dog got under her feet, sending her stumbling to the ground.

Maron could hear Karen screaming back at the house, and when she whipped back to follow the sound, Maron could see that the dark cottage was now flooded by light. It seemed like now Lewis didn't care about hiding in the dark anymore, and Maron knew he was killing Karen. There was no way to save her sister. So Maron turned around and kept running. In the courtroom, Maron recounted to the jury

how she'd hid behind a rock at the water's edge until sunrise. Then she flagged down Jorgas Ingebretzen's family on the neighboring Island. As she concluded her testimony, the courtroom sat gripped in silence. The defense attempted a cross-examination, but Maron stood strong. Soon, the prosecution took the floor for their closing statement. The prosecution explained that the night of the murders had been a perfect storm, one catalyzed by a vicious combination of desperation, resentment, panic, and most importantly, pure chance. When Lewis encountered Karen in the kitchen that night,

he was faced with a choice. He could have run, given up on his plan, and fled Portsmouth. Instead, he struck Karen with a chair and a net with an axe, setting a nightmare into motion. Now two women were dead, and if it were not for Maron Hauntvettes, quick actions, there would be three. The prosecution rested their case and the defense took the floor. Again, they tried to appeal to the jury's emotions, but it was too little too late.

For many in the courtroom, Morin's testimony still rang in their ears. Ultimately, it was her word against Lewis Wagner's. On June 18, 1873, After nine relentless days, the trial had come to an end, and the jury delivered their verdict. Lewis Wagner was guilty. For many of the spectators, this was the final act of justice. But even after the trial ended, Lewis still didn't confess. For over two years, he maintained his innocence up to the moment he swung from the gallows.

He was hanged on June 25, 1875. As for the Hontvets, Lewis's execution offered little consolation to them. Whether he lived or died, their lives had been irrevocably changed. Unable to bear Annette's death, Yvonne went back to Norway. Years later, Marn and John divorced, and she also left for Scandinavia. after only a few happy months together, their family was torn apart and once again separated across the sea. 150 years have passed since the infamous Smuddy Nose murders on the Isles of Shoals. To this day, visitors still make their passage to the lonely island to catch a glimpse of the place where Lewis Wagner struck down his victims.

They're drawn there by the gruesome tale of blood and betrayal, but looking closer, it's the tragedy that's most memorable. Nothing is more haunting than the culmination of fate and desperation that led a man to kill the only friends he had. Thanks again for tuning into solved murders. We'll be back next Wednesday with a new episode. For more information on this case, amongst them, many sources we used, we found a mystery on the aisles of shoals, closing the case on the

Smutty Nose Axe Murders of 1873 by Jay Dennis Robinson extremely helpful to our research. You can find all episodes of Solved Murders and all other Spotify originals from Parcast. For free on Spotify, we'll see you next time. Solve Murders True Crime Mysteries is a Spotify original from Parcast. executive produced by Max Cutler. Our head of programming is Julian Bois row. Our supervising sound designer is Russell Nash, with Nick Johnson as our head of production

and quality control by Lisa Marie Gallegos. Stacey Nemick is our supervising editor, and Derek Jennings is our writing lead. This episode of Solve Murders is written by Alex Garland, edited by Georgia Hampton and Maggie Admiere, fact-checked by Claire Cronin, researched by Mickey Taylor, produced by Joshua Kern and sound design by Brian Gullab. It stars Cameron Nicar, Melissa Medina, Julian Smith, Brian Green, Rebecca Thomas, and Samia Mounce. Our hosts are Wendy McKenzie and me, Carter Roy.

Hi, it's Carter and Molly from Conspiracy Theory's. This February, join us for two standout specials. celebrate Super Bowl Sunday with a two-parter on one of the most dominant and dubious teams in history, the New England Patriots. Then a two-part Valentine special on the mysterious murder of Charles Walton. Journey back with us nearly 80 years as we comb through the details and rumors surrounding his death, pitchfork, witchcraft, and all. Catch new episodes of conspiracy theories every Monday and Wednesday.

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