St. Johns, Arizona

Episode 7 / 1 March 2017 / 59 min / full

A Young, Budding Serial Killer

"the town first of St. John's, Arizona. It's a tiny town." about 0:06:33

The case: The covered name murders (April 2007 to August 2009). Read the case file.

The figures, as told in 2017

Population

3,483

Median age

46.7

Median household income

$31,000

Median home value

$82,000

Two-bedroom rent

$865

Cost of living

85

Religious

49.67%

Property crime

exactly average

Violent crime

▲ about 25% higher than the average

Murders committed by someone the victim knows

85%

History, in brief

• The town was originally called San Juan by its first settlers. about 0:13:42
• In 1879 a Mormon land agent bought land and water rights from Solomon Barth, a freight hauler who had built a bridge across the Little Colorado River and settled some workers' families there. about 0:13:48
• The Mormons discovered that Barth had already sold much of the same land to 17 Mexican families who had been settled there for a long time. about 0:14:00
• The Mormons and the Mexican settlers resented each other for years and fought with each other. about 0:14:17
• On June 24, 1882 there was a large shootout, like the OK Corral, between cattle ranchers from the nearby Greer Ranch and the Spanish settlers. about 0:14:24
• The ranchers hated the Mormons even more than the Mexicans and ran an anti-Mormon newspaper. about 0:14:41
• In May 1884 the anti-Mormon newspaper wrote: 'Desperate diseases need desperate remedies. The Mormon disease is a desperate one, and the rope and the shotgun are the only cure.' about 0:14:50
• The Salt River Project built a massive power plant near the town and needed workers to build and run it, which explains the 155% population growth between 1970 and 1980. about 0:09:15

Open the episode file