Cold Case #4, The Hall-Hills Murders
Even though I try to write about cold cases near Pennsylvania, this one was too scandalous not to share.
On September 16th, 1922, in a small town in New Jersey called New Brunswick, a young couple going on a walk found two bodies at about 10 am. The bodies were Edward Wheeler Hall, a minister at a nearby church, and Eleanor Mills, a member of the church choir.
Elanor was married to James E. Mills and had two children with him, Charlotte and Daniel Mills. They were more of a poor family and were barely getting by at the time. Edward Hall was also married, he was married to Frances Noel Stevens and they had no children together. Francis was an heiress of the Johnson & Johnson Surgical Supply fortune and her and her two brothers were very wealthy. They both were very happy in their relationships according to the spouses but there was a secret affair going on between Elanor and the minister. It seemed that the entire town knew about the affair but the spouses.
The bodies were quickly identified when found because Mr. Hall had his business card propped up against his leg and multiple love letters between the two were ripped up and scattered around the bodies.
They were found lying underneath a crab apple tree, as if they were placed there. They were placed side by side, sort of romantic like, facing the tree with Mrs. Mills legs crossed and her head lying on Mr. Hall’s outstretched right arm and her hand on his knee. He had a hat covering his whole face and she has a large scarf covering her neck. After the young couple that found them looked at the bodies, they saw that Mrs. Mills was shot; they immediately went to a nearby house and called police. Police found that Mr. Hall was shot once, Mrs. Mills was shot three times and her neck was so slashed that they could see the backbone. Her tongue and larynx were cut out and missing as well.
Obviously, the main suspect in your mind right now would be the spouses. The ripped up love letters, the spouses not knowing about the affair, and the one witness to the scene believed this as well.
There was only witness to the scene. A woman named Jane Gibson, who was nicknamed “pig lady” by the press because she owned a hog farm that was nearby from the location that the bodies were found at. She claimed that she woke up thinking someone was in her field stealing her crops, as she was a farmer, and went out on a mule to go check it out. She claimed to see four people far away and she heard a woman scream “Henry” right before hearing gunshots. Henry was one of Francis, The minister’s wife, brothers and her and the two brothers were immediately suspects.
Although Frances Stevens Hall, and her brothers were suspected of the murders, there was never enough evidence to convict them and they were released in 1922. And Frances and her family being loaded probably helped her case as well.
Four years later another trial was held and Mrs. Gibson had to attend on her hospital bed because she was dying of cancer. She had the same testimony as before and no one seemed to believe her. Not even her own mother who sat in the front row screaming “she’s a liar, she’s a liar.”
The Middlesex County Bar Association hosts a play of the murder trial every year and you can buy walking tours through the trail that the bodies were found. It is quite a tourist attraction to people wanting to know more.
While many people through the years have had multiple theories and suspicions, the case is still left unsolved and left a mystery for the town.
If you would like to know more about his case or understand it in further detail feel free to check out the links I have below!
https://yalereview.yale.edu/hall-mills-murder-trial-1926
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall%E2%80%93Mills_murder_case
https://www.nbfpl.org/archives/hall-mills-murder-radio-broadcast
