 According to contemporary news reports, Wilkerson believed Mansfield was responsible for the axe murders of his wife, infant child, father-in law, and mother in law in Blue Island, Illinois, on July 5, 1914 (two years after the Villisca murders), the axe murders committed in Paola, Kansas, four days before the Villisca murders, and the murders of Jennie Peterson and Jennie Miller in Aurora, Illinois.According to Wilkerson's investigation, all of the murders were committed in precisely the same manner, indicating that the same man probably committed them.Wilkerson stated that he could prove that Mansfield was present in each of the differing crime scenes on the night of the murders.