Home » Society Crime » Murder Crime » Serial Murder Crime » Serial Killers and Murderers » Gunness Belle Serial Killer » Legend Of Belle Gunness Legend Of Belle Gunness in Crimes Prevention & Resource Directory

The county sheriff, Albert Smutzer, began investigating the fire. The day before the fire Mrs. Gunness had been into town to see her lawyer. She had asked him to make out a will leaving everything she owned first to her children and then to an orphanage in Chicago. At the time of the meeting she is quoted as telling her lawyer, M.E. Leliter, that she was deathly afraid of her exhandyman, Ray Lamphere. Specifically she was quoted as saying Im afraid hes going to kill me and burn the house. Upon learning of this statement, Sheriff Smutzer picked up Ray Lamphere for questioning.Lampheres first reaction was to deny any knowledge of the fire and he wanted to know if Bell and the kids had gotten out. The sheriff, however, also had an eyewitness who claimed to have seen Lamphere fleeing the scene of the fire. Lamphere was charged with four counts of murder and arson.A new and bizarre twist was added to the story when, on May 2, a man by the name of Asle Helgelein showed up in La Porte looking for his brother Andrew. Andrew had come to La Porte to visit and, he hoped, marry Bell. He had answered a lovelorn advertisement which had been placed in a Norwegian newspaper by Bell. They had corresponded for several months and Bell had invited Andrew to come and visit. Andrew had sold his property, liquidated his assets and had come to La Porte with approximately $3000. After not hearing from his brother for several months, Asle contacted Bell about the whereabouts of his brother and was told that Andrew had left La Porte and gone to Norway. Not believing this story, Asle came to La Porte to talk to Bell personally. He contacted Sheriff Smutzer on May 4, explained the situation and his suspicions that Andrew might have met with foul play. He asked the sheriff for permission to search the Gunness farm and possibly do some digging.There are two different stories about how the sheriff reacted to Asles request. The first is that the sheriff refused to give him permission and Asle searched the farm anyway. The second is that Asles accusations aroused the sheriffs suspicions and he gave his permission. Either way, the search began. Joe Maxson, Belle hired hand at the time of the fire, pointed out a likely place for the men to start digging for bodies. On May 5, four feet below ground level, the first body was discovered. Unfortunately for Asle, it was his brother. Twelve bodies and several miscellaneous body parts were eventually discovered.Questions began to arise about the identity of the adult body discovered in the fire ruins. If Bell had killed all those people, could she have set the fire to cover her escape from La Porte? The adult body discovered in the fire was missing its head. With no head there would be no chance of checking Belle dental records to identify the body. Also, the body appeared to be too small to be Bell. Bell was a large woman, approximately 5 9 tall and weighing in at between 210 and 225 pounds. The body discovered in the fire was approximately 5 3 tall and the remains, minus one foot and the head, weighed approximately 75 pounds. Several prominent doctors felt that the remains of the body would have been too small to be that of Bell.Dr. Ira P. Norton, Belle dentist, said that if the teeth and dental work of the corpse could be located he would be able to tell if it was Belle. Sheriff Smutzer decided to sift through the ruins again in an attempt to locate the head. Louis Klondike Schultz, a former miner, was hired to build a sluice and began sifting the debris. On May 19 a piece of bridgework was found consisting of two human teeth, porcelain teeth and gold crown work in between. Dr. Norton identified them as work he did for Bell. Based on this evidence, the coroners inquest found that the adult female body discovered in the fire ruins was that of Belle Gunness.

 

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