The Bloody Benders — A Family of Killers
The Bender family was responsible for at least ten murders in the 19th century, with several believing the number far higher. While rumors circulated about where they ended up after their disappearance, the truth will likely never come to light.
This article will cover the background of the period, the crime spree of the feral four, and the theories about where they ended up. As a reminder, a good portion of the original sources did a fair bit of guesswork, and very little is actually confirmed.
The one thing that is unquestionably true about the Benders is that they were savage serial killers that terrorized Labette County, Kansas.
A Frontier Family
John Bender Sr. purchased a massive stretch of land that measured somewhere around 160 acres in 1870. There is absolutely no documentation on their origin, though it was widely believed they came from Germany.
They were an industrious group, quickly settling the land with a quickly constructed cabin. The home doubled as a general store that folks could stay in overnight. The family's home was in the back of the building, separated by the fabric of a wagon that hung between the room and the shop.
They were initially largely ignored by the surrounding community. On the surface, they came across as an introverted, hardworking family that was doing their best to carve a life out for themselves. Though the more people got to know them, the stranger they appeared.
The Benders
The family patriarch was an intimidating, broadly built man that was likely around 60 when he moved into the area. John Bender Sr. stood a fair bit over six feet, barely spoke the language, and had a haunting gaze that did little to soften his cold expression.
Reports say that the little bit of English he did speak was so harsh and low that few could understand it.
Elvira Bender was the matriarch of the home and was widely regarded as a vicious “she-devil” of a woman with a malevolent stare. The fact that she was a self-professed witch only added to her terror, which could be felt by everyone, including the rest of the Bender family.
Senior may have been the largest of the four, though Elvira was without question the authority in the home. Like her husband, many considered her English poor and her accent hard to understand.
John Bender Jr was of a stature similar to his father. Contrarily, he was regarded as both social and handsome. This was undermined by his pension to fall into fits of laughter that seemed random and often, making locals think he was either insane or insanely stupid.
Katie was easily the most sociable of the bunch, considered beautiful, affable, and well-spoken. Her accent was very light, and like her mother — she regularly discussed her abilities as a conduit of the paranormal. Unlike Elvira, however, she would bring in sizable audiences through flyers she would hand out.
This led several folks in and proved to be a good source of income initially. In time, however, rumors circulated that she worshipped the devil and practiced satanic rituals.
Katie regularly spoke about her beliefs in “free love,” which advocated for loving whom you will. This went as far as justifying incest, which she found no issue with.
Jr. and Katie’s relationship is often a topic of debate, with some arguing that they weren’t brother or sister — but husband and wife. Due to Katie’s subject matter in her spiritual events, it is possible that both are true.
Like most things in this article, it's impossible to confirm.
The Bender Motel
Just a year after the family had settled, they opened up their store. They sold a wide range of goods, including food, drink, ammo, and more. The modest inn was conveniently located, with several travelers needing a place to stay for the evening.
There was a large migration west at this time. Several of the passing patrons were carrying far more than pocket change — they had their entire fortune on their backs. Thankfully, they had a cozy cabin to keep warm for the night.
Until they went cold.
The trail west was a dangerous one that presented several life-threatening obstacles. Because of this, several people would go missing without reason, and little would be done about it.
The problem was several concerned family members began to notice an alarming coincidence of disappearances near or around a certain stretch of Kansas. You could find signs of travel all the way into Labette County, where trail marks became suspiciously absent.
It didn’t help that bodies were being discovered with caved-in skulls and slit throats.
By 1873, the midwestern stretch had an infamous boogeyman that kept most travelers moving in a semicircle around the area. A meeting over the events took place in the local schoolhouse. It brought in a sizable portion of the community, including both John Sr. and Jr.
They were equally as concerned as anyone else in the schoolhouse, though for far sinister reasons.
The Search for Dr. York
The Benders found themselves in deep water when Colonel Ed York came onto their property asking about his brother, Doctor William Henry York. The physician had another brother, a member of the Kansas Senate who was very concerned about the doctor's whereabouts.
The family informed the Colonel that the doctor had indeed stayed at the hotel and may have encountered trouble somewhere around Drum Creek. John Jr. informed them that he had been attacked near the area, and it was likely that Indians had gotten to Dr. York.
Katie was kind enough to join in on the search. Considering her psychic abilities, it was surprising that she was unable to locate him. This may have been because Katie, Junior, Elvira, and Senior were already aware of what had become of the Doctor.
Colonel York was nothing if not suspicious, though there was nothing substantial to pin on the family. He left the cabin and continued searching around the area until a local woman informed him that Elvira had nearly attacked her with a knife.
He would return on April 3rd with a large posse of men, all carrying weapons.
When they asked Elvira about the incident, Elvira struggled to understand the men and responded in very broken, unintelligible English. Colonel York continued on about what had transpired, which caused Elvira to spin into a wild rage. She screamed (in very good English) about how the woman had cast a spell on her coffee.
As it turned out, Elvira had a pretty good grasp of the language.
Katie Bender, thinking quickly, assured Colonel York that she would help locate his brother with her psychic abilities. She only asked that he return later in the week with a smaller group of gun-wielding associates. In a moment of indefensible idiocy, the colonel agreed.
Days later, a neighbor noticed that the Bender residence had cattle that were clearly underfed, with several already dead. When people came to investigate, the house had been completely looted of all belongings save for a bible with some notes. The most prominent thing still in the residence was an awful, lingering smell that turned the stomachs of anyone close enough to take it in.
It seemed to be coming from underneath the floor.
Bender Victims Discovered
A group of locals returned to the former inn with spades in hand and began unearthing ten different bodies in various states of decay. This included Dr. York, a small girl no more than eight, a few women, and a number of men.
More concerning was the fact that so many limbs were discovered the search parties could hardly tell if they were from the identified victims or new ones. Further digging would reveal another four bodies in and around the property.
All but one had been killed from a crushed skull and slit throat. This matched up to previous murders in the area that had gone unsolved.
If the investigation is to be believed, the Bender family had a routine when it came to murder. They would put a patron at the far seat of the table, with the sheet that separated the cabin behind the guest.
As Katie and Elvira would keep them busy with idle chatter, the son or father would come behind with a hammer and bludgeon the guest.
Once they had struck the victim, the women would slice their throats open to avoid any possibility of self-defense. This plan seemed to not always work, with a number of bullet-sized vents decorating the interior of the home.
It's important to note that all four members were complicit in these murders to some degree. Even Katie, who was widely seen as sociable and charming — was not opposed to threatening and attacking unwilling visitors.
The few people that did escape from the clutches of the Benders all agreed on one thing; don’t sit in that fuckin’ chair. Whenever people declined to sit, Katie or Elvira would grow cruel. Another potential victim cut a quick exit after seeing one of the men walking around with a hammer and a dark expression.
The Mystery of the Benders
A cloud of fog surrounds the Benders, with very little visibility concerning their origins. First, they were not likely a family at all. Katie and Elvira were mother and daughter, but both Johns had different last names and (probably) no blood relation.
John Sr. was probably John Flickinger, though there is no documentation on him prior to Labette County. Junior had the last name Gebhardt, and it is likely that he was romantically involved with Katie and not blood-related. With that said, we will never have a definitive answer.
The infrequent, spastic laughter of John Jr. was reportedly a facade he put on to throw people off. The notes in his bible hinted at a keen intelligence that betrayed his reputation. It’s probable he played the fool intentionally to disarm locals.
The women are quite a bit more interesting, as they have some history. Elvira, who was thought to be Almira Mark, was suspected of having killed several of her own kids and husbands before the Bender Inn. Some theories even say that her familial victims died of dented skulls.
You can start to understand how she became the iron fist of the inn.
The one family member we know she didn’t kill was Katie, who seemed to take after “Elvira” quite a bit. Katie was born Eliza Griffith and was the fifth child of Almira Mark. There are some people that say Katie worked as a prostitute at the inn to bring in more money, though I haven’t found enough substantial evidence to support this.
Then again, there is very little evidence of these people existing outside of their victims and newspaper clippings.
The Aftermath
Countless rumors circulated about what became of the family, with a few holding some weight. What is true is that they took a wagon about twelve miles North before abandoning it, horses and all.
From there, many believe they took separate paths. John Sr. and Elvira headed toward St. Louis, while John Jr. and Katie headed to outlaw territory where the law wouldn’t pursue them.
An investigator who had the backbone to go after the younger couple said that he had discovered John Jr. had passed away from Apoplexy. There are almost no mentions of John Jr. after this (save for bold claims), so it is the most likely scenario.
Some of the less believable stories speak to renegade bounty hunters pursuing the family, only to bravely kill them and dump their bodies nearby. One also claimed to kill all save for Katie, who they burned alive, likely for being a witch.
To put it plainly, I believe these to be bullshit. The family had a sizable reward to the tune of 2,000 dollars. This is somewhere between 50 to 60 thousand in 2023. It makes little sense to bury or toss the bodies into a river with that much money on the line.
Katie and Elvira likely reconnected, with numerous reports of people seeing them traveling together. Two women even got charged and quickly sold the other out, though they were never convicted. Many believe they were the knife-wielding murderers of Bender inn.
John Sr. has three believable theories regarding his remaining years. The first is that Elvira (and possibly Katie) killed him after he had run off with a large sum of money. The second is that he killed himself in 1884 near Lake Michigan.
I tend to believe the third.
A man was arrested in Montana for a murder he committed in Idaho around 1884. The murder was done by hitting the victim in the head with a hammer. The man was very old, exceptionally tall, gaunt in the face, and held an exceptionally dead stare.
They reached out to Labette County to see if the man was John Sr. Bender. While this arduous process was happening, the old man amputated his leg to escape his shackles and bled to death. By the time they tried to identify his remains, he was far too decayed to make heads or tails of his identity.
Conclusion
While it may be frustrating that we don’t have credible evidence of their whereabouts after the murders, the mystery has also added to the fraudulent family's infamy. Wherever they ended up, they never were convicted. The only exception is possibly John Sr.
The events surrounding the murder motel attracted several people to the residence over the following years. There was even a Bender museum that was open for a while, which is a peculiar choice.
The plot of land (now called the Bender Mounds) no longer holds the compact cabin, though stories abound about the area being haunted by the victims of the family.
Whatever the case, the county had a very real evil that stands as one of the darkest tales of how depraved the frontier could be.
Till next time,
Jack
Sources:
