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The three trappers were missing for months before their bodies were found in the water beneath a rough hole chopped into the ice of a remote lake. Killed in an ambush, their mutilated bodies wove a tale of furious violence: two had been shot execution-style, one was beaten to death with a hammer, and all three had been raked with shotgun blasts. Committed 99 years ago this past January, and though a likely culprit has been identified, these murders, unfortunately, remain officially unsolved. Today, I'll tell you about Oregon's Lava Lake Trapper Murders, one of the most infamous killings in the history of the Pacific Northwest.
Photos from That Oregon Life
Photos from Bend Bulletin
Charles Hyde Kimzey, photos from Findagrave.com
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Sources
Missing trapper’s mom suspected foul play | Offbeat Oregon History | Lava Lake murders are still officially unsolved, but… | Grisly 1924 Lava Lake murders still “unsolved” | Deschutes Pioneers' Gazette |Unsolved Mysteries: Slaughter in the Wilderness - The Lava Lake Murders | by Michael East | True Crime Detective | Lava Lake murders - Wikipedia | The Lava Lake Murders Mystery In Oregon Still Baffles People Today | The Birth of Ballistics - St. Valentine's Day Massacre | TEITELBAUM’S COLUMN ON FORENSIC SCIENCE — HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE — The Bureau of Forensic Ballistics | Charles Hyde Kimzey (1885-1976) - Find a Grave Memorial | Obituary| Charles H. Kimzey | Stokoe Checks Driver's Story | Lava Lake Trappers Vanish Leaving Guns Behind Them; Gone Weeks Ago, Indication | Trappers In Lava Lake Region Meet Foul Play | Trail of Evidence Leads South in Lava Lake Mystery; Furs Sold in Klamath Falls and Portland | Comb Woods For Slayers | Slayer Suspect Held at Colfax | Deschutes County News Items Of Oregon State | Murder at Lava Lake: The Unsolved Crime That | Still Haunts Central Oregon | Mental Floss | Stolen Auto Is Recovered in North Dakota | Hope To Clear Up Lava Lake Murder | Kimzey Alibi Being Checked | Kimzey Is Back In Bend After 9 Year Search | Bend Desperado Taken In Salem | After 37 years, Lava Lake case unsolved | High Points of Long Career Recalled by Claude McCauley | McCauley | Triple Murder At Lava Lake Decades Ago Unsolved; Trails Leads Into Blind Alleys | Triple Murder | Deschutes National Forest - Wikipedia| ODFW History | A Brief History of the Oregon State Game Commission | Deschutes County Historical Society Newsletter—October 2020 | Deschutes River: Lava Lake to Crane Prairie | Crane Prairie Reservoir | Atlas of Oregon Lakes | Crane Prairie Reservoir - Wikipedia | Little Lava Lake-Tumalo Creek-Bend | Oregon Route 126 - Wikipedia | Challenging trek to Trappers Butte | Was Kimzey Who Escaped | Tent Dweller Held On Serious Charges | Charles Kimzey Idaho Penitentiary Prison Record | Skeleton Found On Road Near Las Vegas | Oregon Seeking Alleged Killer | Identify Hermit As Long Sought Bandit Slayer | Hermit Taken As Suspect In Utahn's Death