Stater Brothers/Wineville Murders Connection

Southern Californians are familiar with the Stater Brothers grocery store chain, which is known for its comparitively low prices and “down home” family image.  Based in Colton, California, it is the largest privately owned supermarket chain in Southern Cal and the largest employer in the Inland Empire (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties).  The chairman and CEO Jack H. Brown has been named America’s Retailer of the Year twice and is well known for his community involvement and strong company leadership.

He may be less known for being the son of Jack H. Brown Sr. , a San Bernardino County lawman who investigated the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders.  Brown Sr. was recruited and cross-deputized in 1928 by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department to assist with the investigation of a serial child murderer.

Brown Sr. searched the perimeter of Gordon Stewart Northcott’s ranch after parents notified authorities that their children had not returned home after working for Northcott.  Northcott had placed help wanted ads in newspapers and hired the depression-era boys to work on his ranch.  Brown Sr. discovered a broken ukelele while searching Northcott’s ranch and tied it to the disappearance of brothers Nelson and Lewis Winslow, whose parents reported that the younger Winslow boy had a ukelele with him when he disappeared.

Brown and other investigators began digging up the ranch and found evidence of the murders, although no bodies were ever found.  During this time, Northcott and his mother fled to Canada and were arrested.  It was Brown Sr. who drove in his patrol car to Canada to interrogate Northcott and brought him back to Riverside County to face charges.  Brown Sr. also accompanied Northcott to San Quentin where he was executed.

According to a San Bernardino Sun article, Brown Jr. provided a copy of “The Badge”, a 16 page book detailing his father’s role in the Northcott case, to Clint Eastwood’s production company a few years back, hoping that it would inspire a movie about his father.  Eastwood instead made the film about Christine Collins and the LAPD.

Flickr photo of Jack H. Brown Sr.’s grave.

I was not able to locate a copy of “The Badge”.  Can anyone help?

Local History Lesson: The Wineville Chicken Coop Murders

** New book to be released November 2009 on Sanford Clark.  Pre order from Amazon: The Road Out of Hell: Sanford Clark and the True Story of the Wineville Murders**

There is so much buzz surrounding the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, due to the recent release of “Changeling“.  I first heard about this part of my local history from my oldest daughter.  We were transplants into the area from Long Beach originally, so we didn’t know the area too well.  She came home from school one day and said that the area we lived in at the time  used to be called Wineville.  What a cool name for a city or area – Wineville.  Then she told me why it was changed and I have been fascinated by the subject ever since.

The story in a nutshell:  In September 1928, the LAPD descended upon the Northcott Ranch in what is present day Mira Loma, to investigate a tip on a missing boy.  They did discover the missing boy, Sanford Clark, at the ranch, and began to uncover information on the disappearances of many other boys.  Clark was the nephew of Gordon Stewart Northcott, the owner of a chicken farm who had kept Clark at the farm and abused him and threatened to kill him if he ran away.  Clark told the police that his uncle had kidnapped several other boys and led them to graves on the farm.  Eventually, Northcott was arrested (in Canada) and tried and found guilty in a Riverside County court.  He was sentenced to death and hung October 2, 1929.  During the trial, it was discovered that Northcott’s mother, Louisa Northcott, was really his grandmother and he was actually the result of incest between his grandmother’s husband and her daughter.  Louisa also admitted to killing Walter Collins, one of the victims, but later recanted her confession.

Walter Collins and his mother Christine Collins are the subject of the moving “Changeling”, starring Angelia Jolie.  Another remarkable story in itself.  Walter was reported missing and was thought to be a victim of Northcott, but his body was never found.  Because of this, his mother believed he was still alive.  When a boy from Illinois, Arthur Hutchens, claimed to be Walter Collins in order to get a free trip to California, his story was believed, the case closed and he was “returned” to his mother.  Christine Collins claimed he was not her child and was placed in an LA General Hospital psych ward until Hutchens admitted he lied.  Collins never stopped looking for her son.

Here are some links so you can read about it on your own:

Wineville Chicken Murders [Rubidoux Historical Society]

Wineville Chicken Murders Blog [Blogspot blog with lots of pictures]

The Boy Who Vanished – And His Imposter [L.A. Times]

Books on the subject:

Jurupa by Kim J. Johnson

Nothing Is Strange With You by Jeffrey J. Paul

The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue

Changeling DVD

** New book to be released November 2009 **

The Road Out of Hell: Sanford Clark and the True Story of the Wineville Murders

Author to Discuss Wineville Murders

This Sunday at 1;30, at the Riverside Main library, author Jeff Paul will be discussing the notorious “chicken coop murders” that occurred in the Mira Loma area 80 years ago. The movie “The Changeling” is related to this part of local history.