True Life Tuesday: The St. Aubin Street Massacre

This is one of the oldest unsolved cases in Detroit history. It has been almost 93 years and the case is as cold as ice.

On July 3, 1929 the Evangelist family was murdered in the house on St. Aubin Street and Mack. The victims were Benny, 43, his wife Santina, 36 and their four children - Angeline (8), Matilda (5), Jay (3) and Morrio (18 months). It appeared that they had been killed with an axe. Santina and the children were found in their beds while Benny was found at his desk and nearly decapitated. 

Benny Evangelist came to America from Italy in 1904. In 10906 he claimed that he was seeing visions and hearing the voice of God. He actually published his own 4 volume version of the Bible He was also a cult leader who created a very weird sanctuary in his basement. He would charge $10 for a reading or healing. He was also a carpenter. The night before the murders he spoke with a watchman at a house that was being demolished. He was going to come back in the morning to buy the useable lumber but he never showed. 

The bodies were discovered by a neighbor. Police never found a weapon and strangely they never found any cash at the house which they should have since he was planning on buying the lumber that day. On July 4th every police squad in the city was required to join in a city-wide search for the killer. That day a man named Angelo Depoli was arrested for the murder. He was never connected to the family even though he had a bloody knife and neighbors had seen him with the family. Three years after the murder Robert Harris the "rear axe murderer" confessed to the crime but it was later determined that he was lying. Eventually the police offer a $1000 reward for information but nothing ever came of it.

The house has long since been torn down. Right how where it used to stand is just an empty lot. But of course there are stories of the lot being haunted. People have reported seeing a headless man walking around along with disembodies voices and screams. Unfortunately, after so long this case will probably remain a mystery.