Wineville Chicken Coop Murders
- The murders were a series of kidnappings and muders of young boys occuring in Los Angeles in 1928.
- In 1926, Gordon Stewart Northcutt took his nephew, Stephen Cook, beat him and sexually abused him. Sanford's sister, Jessie Clark, visited him in Wineville concerned for his welfare. Once in Wineville, Sanford told her that he feared for his own life, and Jessie learned from Sanford about the horrors and murders that had taken place at Wineville. Jessie later returned back to Canada. Once in Canada, she informed the American Council in Canada about the horrors in Wineville. The American council then wrote a letter to the Los Angeles Police Department, detailing Jessie Clark's sworn complaint.
- In addition to three young boys being murdered, Sanford stated that Northcott had also killed a Mexican youth (never identified, but referred to the "Headless Mexican"), without the involvement of his mother or Sanford. Gordon Northcott had forced Sanford to help dispose of the "head" by burning it in a firepit and then crushing the skull into pieces with a fence post. Gordon stated that "he had left the headless body by the side of the road near Puente, California because he had no other place to put it." The Northcotts fled to Canada and were arrested near Vernon, British Columbia.
- Police found no complete bodies, but they discovered personal effects of the three missing children, a blood-stained axe, and partial body parts, including bones, hair and fingers, from the three victims buried in lime near the chicken house at the Northcott ranch near Wineville.