Mystery Monday: A Vile Visitation
A seemingly ordinary Georgia couple meets a grisly and undeserved end at the hand of an unannounced visitor in this 1879 unsolved murder.
Very little has been written about the life of Martin and Susan Defoor, residents of DeKalb County, Georgia from 1853 until their tragic death in 1879.
Originally a native of Franklin County, Georgia, Martin Defoor lived a rather ordinary life. In 1830, he met and married Susan Tabor. Eventually, the two had children and moved their family to Bolton, Georgia, located just six miles from Atlanta.
Taking over a local ferryboat business known as Montgomery’s Ferry, Martin Defoor worked most of his life as a ferryboat operator, renaming the business Defoor’s Ferry and taking up residence with his family in the Montgomery family’s old home, located on the west side of what is now known as Chattahoochee Avenue.
Front page clipped from The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia originally published on Aug 12 1879.
By the summer of 1879, Martin (73) and his wife Susan (81) lived a quiet life in their home for over 20 years, and were well-known and respected members of the community. It was this sense of mundane but satisfying living that would contrast so heavily with their macabre murder on Friday night, July 25, 1879.
The Defoors were discovered dead by their grandson, Martin Walker, on Saturday morning, July 26. Walker regularly checked on the wellbeing of his grandparents, but on this morning, he found the Defoors in bed, nearly beheaded. The axe used in the murder was Walker’s (he had left the axe at the house the previous day).
What motive could there be for the brutal slaying of an elderely, and seemingly innocent couple? That’s where the trail runs cold. The couple had no known enemies in the area, and burglary was ruled out by virtue of almost all objects of value (including an $18 pack of silver which had clearly been noticed and ignored by the perpetrator) remaining undisturbed.
Investigators did find evidence that someone had been living in the home’s attic for at least one night prior to the Defoor’s murder. A bed in the rarely used attic was unkempt, and what appeared to be human waste was on the floor nearby. It wouldn’t have been hard for an uninvited visitor to enter the Defoor residence Most of the doors to the house were unlocked, and the lock on the back door wasn’t even functional.
The murder weapon was then discovered in the chimney. While no valuables were stolen, Mr. Defoor's wallet and work boots were taken and later discarded a short distance away from home. Investigators also discovered muddy footprints throughout the home, assumed to be from the barefoot perpetrator.
A few theories persist as to who was responsible for the murder of the Defoors. Most scholars and criminologists conclude it is likely that the unannounced visitor was an escaped convict or other ward of the state. Others point the finger at Martin Smith, the grandson, who inherited a significant portion of the Defoors assets and demolished their home soon after the murder (He used the wood from their home to build his own nearby). Still, 140 years later, the case remains officially “cold”.
Want to learn more about the Defoor family and the events surrounding their demise?
Check out this post, which provides a more localized narrative of the murder and its effect on the area.
Also, be sure to check out our blog and@my_dear_holmes every Monday for new content to scratch that mysterious itch while you wait for your next Dear Holmes letter!
Sources & Additional Resources:
“Defoor .” DeFoor. Accessed October 23, 2020. http://atlantasupperwestside.com/Site/DeFoor.html.
Grey, Orrin. “The Unsolved DeFoor Family Murder of 1879.” line, April 22, 2016. https://the-line-up.com/defoor-family-murder-1879.
“The Unsolved DeFoor Family Murder of 1879.” HuffPost. HuffPost, December 7, 2017. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-unsolved-defoor-famil_b_9828688.