Ep. 16 - Walkup Family Murders

The Flagstaff of 1937 was quite different from the sleepy little railroad town it had once been. Emigrants from Boston had passed through this pine forest near the mountains in 1876 and marked their camp with a pine tree stripped of its bark and branches and crowned with an American flag in honor of the country's centennial. Their flag staff became a landmark and eventually the name of the town. By the 1930s, Flagstaff had become a thriving small town thanks to the local university, the Lowell Observatory and tourists coming to see the Grand Canyon. The wealthy side of town was on Leroux Street. And it was here on North Leroux Street that the Walkup family home was located.

In our modern era, its sad to say, but family annihilators are not as shocking as they had once been. While not common, a family member slaughtering several members of their own family happens far too often. The Amityville Horror occurred in the aftermath of Ronald Defeo Jr. killing his parents and four of his siblings. Familicide is predominantly a male phenomenon. The thought of a mother killing her children is nearly unfathomable for many of us. There was Susan Smith who killed her two sons in 1994 by drowning them in her car. Andrea Yates drowned her five children in 2001. The podcast "Broken Harts" featured the Hart family whose two mothers drove the family off a cliff in their family car in 2018. Mothers killing the family doesn't happen often, but it does happen and in many cases the mother also commits suicide. In 1937, Marie Walkup would join the list of women committing maternal filicide.

James Douglas Walkup, or JD as everyone called him, was a prominent member of the Flagstaff community. JD was born in 1899 and he came to Flagstaff from Nashville, Tennessee after World War I in which he had fought in six major battles Belgium and France. JD's wife, Thelma Marie Green, had come here from Nebraska where she was born in 1905. The two met while working at Babbitt Brothers, fell in love and married in 1925. Shortly thereafter, they started a family and by 1937, they had four children. The family lived on a large corner lot on Leroux Street in a two-story 1,500 square foot house with a detached garage and small guesthouse. JD was the chairman of the County Board of Supervisors and part of the Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce and very active in the community. It was a rare week that passed when the local paper didn't have his name in their pages. Unfortunately, the most prominent story about JD Walkup that would go on to international infamy would be about the murder of all of his children at the hand of his wife.

The Walkups first child, Daniel, was born on January 5, 1927. Their second child, Rose Marie, was born on August 24, 1929. Baby number three was John Samuel who was born on January 6, 1933. The final child was Eilzabeth - whom everyone called phoebe - and she was born on November 26, 1935. The family continued to prosper through the years, but while JD made the society pages often, not much was ever written about Marie. She was clearly busy raising four children, but she seemed to be a bit of a recluse, not getting involved in functions.

In July of 1937, there was a meeting of county supervisors in Phoenix, Arizona and JD attended. At the same time, there was a women's baseball tournament being hosted in Phoenix. Several women from Flagstaff were going to compete in that tournament and since this would be a long drive, JD offered to drive some of the women. So JD was off to his meeting leaving Marie back at the house with the children. Marie hadn't been feeling well for at least a month. She had some kind of stomach ailment that the local doctor, Dr. Fronske, was treating, but with little success. The Walkups had just come through a busy time with Flagstaff hosting the eighth annual All-Indian Powwow, which was a three day event that was actually broadcast over NBC. JD and turned most of his attention to that and now he was off for this meeting out of town. The day before JD left, July 21st, Marie had again called the doctor complaining that nothing seemed to be helping her stomach and now she was worried that the children may be dealing with the same thing. This didn't deter JD who left bright and early on July 22nd. 

The Walkup children were seen playing in their front yard that morning. Not much else is known about that day, but Marie called Dr. Fronske's house again that evening. The doctor was away attending a picnic in his honor, but he had left his son Robert home to take messages. Robert wrote down Marie's message, which was "Please have Dr. Fronske call at the house on his early round of visits. Be sure to tell him not tonight, but tomorrow morning." The doctor returned home after midnight, read the message and then headed to bed. 

A twenty-nine year old sawmill worker named Ed Conrad was out taking a drive with his girlfriend Mariam Moore, his sister Rose and her boyfriend Mark Yates on the evening of July 22nd. They parked at the Flagstaff Country Club and trespassed through the wooded area of the golf course there, taking swigs of whiskey from Ed's flask. The four young people came to a stop when they spotted a car sitting halfway off the frontage road near the golf course. This was an unusual sight, especially at night, so the group approached the car slowly. They could see the driver's side door was open and then Rose gasped when she saw a bare foot. Ed ran over and saw a woman lying on her back outside the driver side door. Her nightgown was soaked in blood and a German army rifle was propped beside her, the muzzle pointing away. There was a huge wound in her chest. The group ran to their car to get help.

It was after midnight when Ed beat on the door of the sheriff's office. He stammered about seeing a dead woman and the two deputy sheriffs on duty, Forrest Willis and Perry Francis quickly flew into action and drove back out to the scene with Ed. Deputy Francis immediately recognized the Walkups car. When the deputy sheriffs looked at the woman, they had no doubt it was Marie. Deputy Francis headed back to town to organize a coroner's jury. He roused the county health officer, Dr. Schermann and the coroner, Max Miller. The three men decided they better check out the Walkup home to make sure the children were okay. When they arrived, they found the house quiet and dark with a note nailed to the front door that read, "To Dr. Fronske, look inside the bedrooms."

What the men would find shocked the small town. The house was quiet. They stepped into the first bedroom on the right and found a crib and a bed inside. Ninetten-month old baby Elizabeth was in her crib on her back and appeared sound asleep. Her ten-year-old brother Daniel appeared to be aslepp in the bed next to her crib. But they were not asleep. The men pulled the sheets back and saw ugly bruises around their throats and clearly, neither child was alive. The men went back outside and awaited the arrival of Dr. Fronske. Dr. Fronske arrived around 1:30 am and he headed upstairs first thing and found the other two Walkup children dead in their beds. All the beds had been made with fresh sheets and the children were in clean pajamas. The small bodies were taken to the county morgue for autopsies. The Daily Sun reported on July 23, 1937, "After four o'clock this morning, at Flagstaff Undertaking parlors, it was discovered that the three younger children were stabbed directly over the heart area with a fine instrument...A strange circumstance, that delayed the finding of the stab wounds, was that there was no blood on the beds, the nightclothes, or the children's bodies...There was a man's handkerchief knotted at two corners and twisted that is believed may have been used as a tourniquet."

When the exams were complete, it was revealed that all four children had been stabbed at least once, but Rose's puncture deflected off a rib. The other three children had two puncture marks. It was believed an ice pick was used. All four children were strangled. Rose Marie appeared to have resisted a bit. The authorities deduced that Marie Walkup had dispatched her children quickly and effectively, grabbed the Army rifle, drove the family car to the golf course and used her foot to fire the shotgun, killing herself. JD was informed by the night clerk at his hotel that the police needed to speak with him and he was told that Marie was dead, but the children weren't mentioned. JD hurried home. When he arrived at the sheriff's office, he was told the full extent of his loss and one can only imagine how he must have felt. Marie had left JD a note that read, "Because of my lack of discipline - the children are happier to go this way. Only grief would come to them. You are strong in faith, never doubting - mercy to my people. I love you and I have failed. Let La La help you and the service be private. She will find what things we need." Another note was written to Marie's mother and sister that detailed how the memorial service should be conducted and what to do with some household items. Within days, most national papers were carrying the story and even a few internationally.

The four Walkup children were buried in a large plot, side by side, at the Citizens Cemetery in the Masonic section. Marie was buried in the same plot at the head of and at a right angle to the graves of her children. Interestingly, through the years, a tree took root in the middle of the plot and it separated Marie from the children. This tree was eventually cut down, but the stump remains. JD's family did the best they could to comfort him. His sister and her daughter rented an apartment in Flagstaff and lived there with JD as he got his life back together. By September, he was back to his civic duties. One has to find a way to go on. Flagstaff certainly did. After 1938, the Walkup murders were given no more attention and most people had no idea they had even happened a couple of decades later. By August of 1939, JD had remarried. Once America entered World War II, JD decided to reenlist. He was divorced by this time and eventually came home in 1943 after being wounded in battle. He found love for a third time with a young woman from Flagstaff named Doris and they married in 1948. They had a son together named James. So JD did find happiness again. The human spirit is resilient.

Susan Johnson wrote the book "Flagstaff's Walkup Family Murders, A Shocking 1937 Tragedy" and she shared some details about hauntings connected to the Walkup home with me. Johnson had been walking past the house when she saw a man sitting outside and she decided to ask him if he realized what had happened in the house. She was surprised when he told her that there had been a murder there and that his grandparents had actually bought the house from JD for a song and a dance because nobody wanted to live in a house where four children had been killed. Here is what Johnson told me.

We'll never really know why Marie felt as though she had no choice but to kill her children. We don't know if there was some mental illness she was suffering from or perhaps even post-partum depression. It's not surprising that there would be some spiritual residue left behind on the former Walkup property. Is there a haunting connected to the Walkup Family Murders? That is for you to decide!