| Birth Date: | November 9, 1906 |
| Birth Place: | Bladworth, Saskatchewan, Canada |
| Death Place: | San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, California, U.S. |
| Cause: | strangulation due to botched execution by hanging |
| Conviction: | First degree murder (3 counts) |
| Sentence: | Death |
| Victims: | 3–20 |
| Beginyear: | 1926 |
| Endyear: | 1928 |
| States: | California |
| Apprehended: | September 19, 1928 |
| Criminal Status: | Executed |
| Known For: | Wineville Chicken Coop murders |
Gordon Stewart Northcott (November 9, 1906 – October 2, 1930) was a Canadian serial killer, child rapist, and child abductor who was convicted of the murders of three young boys in California, U.S., and confessed to the murders of nine in total.Sentenced to death, he was executed on October 2, 1930.
Gordon Stewart Northcott was born in Bladworth, Saskatchewan, and raised in British Columbia. He moved to Los Angeles with his parents in 1924.
Northcott asked his father to purchase a plot of land in Wineville, California. On this land, he built a chicken ranch and a house with the help of his father—who was in the construction business—and his nephew, Sanford Clark. It was under this pretext that Northcott brought Sanford from Bladworth to the United States.
See main article: Wineville Chicken Coop murders. While residing at his chicken ranch, Northcott abducted an undetermined number of boys and sexually abused them. Typically, after abusing a victim, he would drive the boy home and let him go. Four of them, however, he murdered at the ranch.
Canadian police arrested Northcott and his mother on September 19, 1928.[1] Due to errors in the extradition paperwork, they were not returned to Los Angeles until November 30.[2] [3] Northcott was implicated in the murder of Walter Collins, but because Northcott's mother had confessed to murdering Collins and had been sentenced for it, the state chose not to prosecute Northcott in that murder.[4]
It was speculated that Northcott may have killed as many as 20 boys, but the state of California could not produce evidence to support that speculation. Ultimately, the state only brought an indictment against Northcott for the murders of an unidentified underage Mexican national later to be identified as Alvin Gothea—known as the "Headless Mexican"—and the brothers Lewis and Nelson Winslow (aged 12 and 10, respectively).[5] The brothers had been reported missing from Pomona on May 16, 1928.[6]
In early 1929, Northcott's trial was held before Judge George R. Freeman in Riverside County, California. The jury heard that he kidnapped, molested, tortured, and murdered the Winslow brothers and the "Headless Mexican" in 1928. On February 8, the 27-day trial ended with Northcott being convicted of those murders. On February 13, Freeman sentenced him to death.[7] He was hanged on October 2, 1930, at San Quentin State Prison. The rope failed to break Northcott's neck, resulting in taking 13 minutes for him to die from strangulation.[8] [9]
Clint Eastwood directed Changeling in 2008, in which Gordon Northcott was portrayed by Jason Butler Harner.[10] [11]
American Horror Story referenced Northcott in season 5, Hotel. Maid Hazel Evers' (Mare Winningham) son is abducted and killed on the farm.