In 2017 , the last chapter of '' The Man from the Train '' by Bill James and his daughter Rachel McCarthy James , briefly discusses the murders at Hinterkaifeck . The authors explain the possibility that the German crimes might have been committed by Paul Mueller , the titular serial killer the authors believe killed several families in the US under similar circumstances between 1898 and 1912 . The murders attributed to Mueller , including the Villisca axe murders , were apparently random nighttime home invasions in or near small railroad towns that left entire families bludgeoned to death with the blunt end of an axe , and were probably motivated by a sadistic and necrophilic attraction to prepubescent girls . The authors rate the chances of Mueller as the Hinterkaifeck killer as " more or less a toss-up " but conclude " there 's no real reason to believe that it 's not him "
Villisca axe murders
Villisca axe murders
Hinterkaifeck murders