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The Trail Went Cold - Episode 500 - The Lauterbach Hardware Axe Attacks and the West Coast Video Murders

March 18, 1981. Springfield, Illinois. An unknown assailant walks into the Lauterbach Cottage Hardware Store to commit a robbery and grabs an axe from the shelf to bludgeon three victims: the 48-year old co-owner, Yvonne Lauterbach; a 37-year old sewing machine repair shop owner, Floyd Giddings; and a 64-year old customer, John Ewing. While John is pronounced dead at the scene, Yvonne and Floyd manage to survive, but are left with debilitating injuries. Numerous witnesses describe seeing a light-skinned man leaving the store right before the bodies were discovered, but even though a psychiatric patient and a convicted robber are each looked at as potential suspects, there is not enough evidence to implicate anyone and the Lauterbach Hardware Axe Attacks remain unsolved.

November 10, 1993. Warminster, Pennsylvania. 20-year old Seann Campbell and his 20-year old friend, Bryan Benson, show up to work the closing shift together at a West Coast Video store, but when the owner arrives the following morning, he discovers that the front door is unlocked and Seann and Bryan have been murdered. Their bodies are found in the adult films section at the back of the store, as both victims were stabbed numerous times and have defensive wounds to indicate that they put up a violent struggle against one or more attackers. While money is stolen from the register, there is debate about whether robbery was the actual motive, but even though an earring is found on the floor at the crime scene, there is not enough evidence to determine who was responsible for the murders.

On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore the “Lauterbach Hardware Axe Attacks” and the “West Coast Video Murders”, a pair of cold cases in which multiple victims were violently attacked inside a place of business.

If you have information about the Lauterbach Hardware Axe Attacks, please contact the Springfield Police Department at (217) 788-8311. If you have information about the West Coast Video Murders, please contact the Warminster Township Police Department at (215) 443-5000 or the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office at (215) 348-6354.

Additional Reading:

https://sangamoncountyhistory.org/lauterbach-cottage-hardware-ax-attacks-1981/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1307541603/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1306795519/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1307544293/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1306795538/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1307559975/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1307727598/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1318645104/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1319129351/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1301177798/

https://www.sj-r.com/story/news/2011/01/16/first-in-print-30-years/44237723007/