Join us for an engaging, lighthearted discussion of this fascinating, yet disturbing genre. We focus our discussion around uplifting and empathizing with the victims of these crimes. 

We will be reading The Road Out of Hell: Sanford Clark and the True Story of the Wineville Murders by Anthony Flacco as our main source of information, but feel free to research this topic however you choose! You can borrow a copy here using your library card.

From 1926 to 1928, Gordon Stewart Northcott committed at least twenty murders on a chicken ranch outside of Los Angeles. He held his nephew, Sanford Clark, captive there from the age of thirteen to fifteen. Sanford would be Northcott’s sole surviving victim. Forced by Northcott to take part in the murders, he carried tremendous guilt all his life. Yet despite his youth and the trauma he endured, Sanford helped gain justice for the dead and their families by testifying at the trial that led to Northcott’s execution.
 
These shocking events inspired Clint Eastwood’s film The Changeling. But in The Road Out of Hell, acclaimed crime writer Anthony Flacco uses revelatory new accounts from Sanford’s son to tell the complete, true story. Going beyond the film’s narrative, Flacco recounts not only Sanford’s nightmarish captivity, but also the inspiring life he led afterward.

Further reading and links to exciting resources on this case can be found via this PDF document:

• Chicken Coup Murders Evidence.pdf

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