The people who worked for Holmes soon got used to his quirky ways. He once invited a worker to step inside the safe and started yelling when Holmes closed the door to test if it was sound proof. His housekeeper would regularly catch him tip toeing round at night and the janitor who worked at the pharmacy recalled a time when Holmes showed him a collection of fake beards and other disguises. In 1890, Holmes decided to sell the drugstore business in order to focus on real estate. Unsurprisingly, the sale turned into another swindle. After the new owner took possession, he was shocked to find that much of the floor stock had not been paid for, with repossession agents claiming them back. Still Holmes managed to talk his way out of trouble. In fact, even though he no longer owned the drugstore he still spent a lot of time there. He happened to be on hand one day when one of the new investors turned up with important information to share. The man inexplicably collapsed right outside the drugstore. Holmes was the first one to his side, pouring a dark liquid down the man's throat. Within minutes he was dead... This was the likely the first person to die at the hands of Dr. Holmes, killed likely because he knew too much about the mad medic, although we'll never know what that information really was...

In July of 1889, Holmes employed a young couple, Ned and Julia Connor, who worked in the pharmacy and lived on the second floor of the recently completed Englewood building. Within a month, Holmes and Julia were engaged in a torrid affair, even as Myrtle lived under the same roof. This, understandably drove a wedge between the couple, with Ned filing for divorce and quitting Holmes' employ. Julia now started to entangle herself in Holmes' financial web. He listed her as the co-founder of a number of businesses and took out numerous debts in her name. Then, on July 4th 1891, Julia and her eight-year old daughter Pearl disappeared off the face of the earth. The bodies were never discovered and Holmes never confessed to murdering them, but it seems quite likely that they were the next victims of the deadly doctor. Around this time, Holmes started a completely new business, the Warner Glass-bending Company. Though he actually knew nothing about glass bending, he convinced those who would listen that he had invented a unique glass bending technique. To perfect it he'd built a furnace in the basement of his two story building and made a great show of setting to work, though no one actually saw him bend any glass.

Serial Killer

After the establishment of his basement furnace, the disappearance of young women who came into Holmes' circle became more frequent. First there was Emeline Cigrand, who came to Chicago looking for work in May, 1892. Holmes employed her as a typewriter girl and was soon getting much more for his money... When the girl disappeared around Christmas time, Holmes dismissed it with what was to become a common explanation: "She's gone to Europe to get married." By the end of 1892, the whole city of Chicago was abuzz with the prospect of the approaching World's Fair in celebration of the 400th anniversary of Columbus' landing on the Americas. Never one to pass up an opportunity, Holmes quickly had a third story put onto his building to serve as a hotel. However, he never really intended to use the floor as a hotel...

The amount Holmes could make renting out rooms was small potatoes compared with what he could make by convincing others that he was opening a hotel. With such a venture in the works, he could raise money from investors who'd never see a penny back. He could also buy up innumerable goods on credit to sell without paying for them and, as a final windfall, make thousands in insurance money by setting fire to the building. Despite the popular notion that the Holmes hotel was flourishing during the World's Fair, luring countless women to their death, there are no records that he even took in a single paying customer. When he set the structure ablaze on August 13th, 1893, to claim the insurance, the only people on site were long term residents. The resulting claim would spend years going through the courts, by which time the claimant would be behind bars...

With mounting lawsuits, Holmes decided that it was time to quit Chicago. His travels took him to Denver, Fort Worth, Texas, St. Louis and, finally Philadelphia. Along the way he got married once more, this time to a 23-year old with a two-thousand dollar inheritance. He also fell in with a like minded swindler by the name of Benjamin Pietzel. Pietzel got himself thrown in jail for passing bad checks and while he was inside, Holmes began paying the premiums on his life insurance policy. When he got out, the two joined forces and purchased a vacant lot in Fort Worth. Here they set about building a replica of the complex that Holmes had built then burnt to the ground in Chicago. Just like the original building, the Texas hotel featured a number of strange passages and twists. But just what Holmes planned to do with the building is unclear.

He didn't hang around long enough to use it. What he and Pietzel did do was to take out tens of thousands of dollars in mortgages on it, and then disappear without making more than a couple of token payments. The two moved on to St. Louis where Holmes bought a drug store for a down payment of $50 and promissory notes that were completely worthless. Pietzel then approached a drugstore supplier and convinced them that he was interested in buying the drugstore from Holmes. If they lent him the money, he would use them as his main supplier. They agreed. This swindle came unstuck when the drugstore's rep called in the next day, only to find the place shuttered up. He got suspicious and called in the authorities. Holmes was arrested and spent three days in jail.

Downfall

On his release, Holmes headed for Philadelphia and the swindle that would prove his undoing. Here he planned to make good on those insurance premiums he'd paid for Pietzel a few months back. The two men had long been scheming to defraud the Fidelity Mutual Insurance Company by faking Pietzel's death and splitting the proceeds. In early September, however, Peitzel got cold feet and wanted to back out. An unhappy Holmes agreed to meet up the next day to further discuss the issue. When he turned up at Pietzel's address, Holmes proceeded to get him drunk.

Then he knocked him out with a choloroform handkerchief, increasing the dosage until his old friend was dead. Holmes then attempted to stage the scene to make it look like an accident. Then, with his 23-year old wife in tow, he jumped on a train for Indianapolis, intent on securing the $10,000 insurance payout. In the end the payout was made to Pietzel's widow but Holmes convinced her that her husband had died owing him $7,500 for the Texas building. She handed the money over. As an act of graciousness, Holmes agreed to accompany the three Pietzel children to Indianapolis where they were to stay with their aunt. Before he could deliver them, however, he discovered that he was a wanted man. Authorities from a number of states, including Philadelphia, were keen to talk to him...

Manhunt and Death

Now officially on the run, he moved the children all over the countryside. At some point, he decided that the children would have to die. The youngest, eight-year old Howard, was poisoned with cyanide, while the two girls were likely gassed to death. The bodies were buried in a cellar. By now detectives were hot on Holmes' trail. They finally caught up with him in Boston and, of all things, arrested him for horse theft. A raft of further charges followed and in October, 1895, he was convicted of murdering Benjamin Pietzel. Holmes subsequently confessed to 27 murders and was hanged on May 7, 1896. His dying wish was for his body to be buried under ten feet of concrete to prevent grave robbers from stealing and dissecting his body – a luxury he denied many of his victims.

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