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July 7, 2025 29 mins

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Between 1870 and 1873, a Kansas family now known as the “Bloody Benders” ran a small inn and store- the Bender Inn- for travelers along the Osage Mission Trail in Labette County, Kansas. The Bender family comprised of John Sr., his wife Elvira, their son John Jr., and daughter Kate, murdered travelers who stopped at their inn looking for rest before heading back out in their search for land. After abandoning their inn suddenly in 1873, bodies of people who had gone missing, turned up buried on their property. Despite a nationwide manhunt, the Bender family was nowhere to be found. These killings were the first documented mass murders in United States history. So, why did the Bender family go on such a sinister killing spree and where did they disappear too.
References:

The Bloody Benders: What Happened to this Family of Killers? - Historic Mysteries

The Truth About The Bloody Benders Serial Killer Family

The Kansas Homestead Where America's First Serial Killer Family Committed Its Crimes Is Up for Sale

Bender Family Serial Killers Welcomed Weary Travelers — Then Butchered Them

The Bloody Benders: Homestead of Horrors | Headlines & Heroes

'The Bloody Benders': America's First Serial-Killer Family

The Bloody Benders: The Serial Killer Family Of 1870s Kansas

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