Image: little Howard Pitezel’s teeth which were found in the ashes of a furnace long after Holmes murdered him.
H.H. Holmes managed to have one long-term “friend” throughout most of his crime spree and that was Benjamin Pitezel. Pitezel was with Holmes in Fort Worth to oversee the building of the new hotel and was with him for the horse swindle that alerted Texas authorities to the pair – chasing them to St. Louis. “Friend” is in quotes because Benjamin Pitezel, and several members of his family, are not going to make it out of this relationship alive.
H. H. Holmes killed three of Pitezel’s children – two daughters and a son. Holmes was traveling with the three children and quickly grew tired of the small son – who was then stuffed in to a furnace after Holmes separated him from his older sisters. Later, tthe two girls were put, alive, in to a large shipping box. He left them there for hours, fearing in the dark. Holmes then attached a gas hose to the box and flooded them with carbon monoxide. Their bodies were found buried in the earthen basement floor of a house he had rented briefly. Some of the boy’s remains were found in the flue of the furnace of a different rented home.
Holmes’ reign of terror is coming to an end – although not quickly enough.
