Member-only story
Death Bed Confessions: The Horrific Murder of Christine Kett
A death-bed murder confession by a mother.
Dayton, Ohio, in the afternoon, of Jan 12, 1966, Christine Kett was bludgeoned to death with an ax on the head.
She was seventeen, bright, beautiful, and well-liked.
Upon entering their home, Christine’s brother saw his sister lying on the kitchen floor. Her blood and pieces of her skull scattered throughout the kitchen.
The police questioned the brother who found the body. He told them he had come home from his job, and there was no one in the house when he entered. He went to the kitchen, where he found his sister’s brutalized body.
A short time later, the girl’s mother, also named Christine, arrived at the house. She noticed the crowd and immediately knew something horrible had happened. She ran into the house and saw her dead daughter’s body on the floor.
Later the investigators questioned her whereabouts that day. She told them she had not seen her daughter since early morning and had spent the rest of her day running errands.
The Staged Murder and the Witness
To detectives, the murder seemed a bit odd. Possibly even staged.
Upon interviewing the brother, detectives learned that the side door, leading to the kitchen, was wide open. In addition, a pistol was found directly in Christine’s hand. It seemed as if someone had placed it there to make it seem like a suicide rather than a murder.
Upon further investigation, detectives ruled that this case was a murder. When talking to a local neighbor, they learned that the neighbor saw a suspicious stranger in the neighborhood in the morning.
The suggestion was that the girl had been attacked while alone in the house and beaten to death.
The Random Pistol
Detectives found a pistol beside Christine’s body.
The son explained it was his gun, but he had no idea how he got there. He kept it in his trunk in his bedroom and had not used it for a while. The police released him for lack of evidence. He was at work all day, and his alibi checked out.
