Mills, Eleanor (1888–1922)

American murder victim whose sensational case remains unsolved. Murdered on September 16, 1922; married to the church sexton.

In September 1922, the bodies of Eleanor Mills, an Episcopal choir singer, and her pastor, Reverend Edward Wheeler Hall, were discovered in De Russey's Lane, reputedly a "lover's lane," located in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The slayings had two key ingredients needed to attract the attention of the world press; scandal (both victims were connected with a church and married, but not to each other) and sensation (the slayings were particularly brutal). Hall had been shot in the head; Mills had been shot three times in the forehead, and her throat was slashed, her tongue cut out. Their love letters had been tossed around their bodies for a final touch. At the time, there were no suspects, but four years later the New York Daily Mirror began to run a series of articles claiming evidence that Frances Hall , wife of the reverend, had killed the couple with the help of two brothers and a male cousin.

The trial in Somerville, New Jersey, was the big event of 1926, attended by 300 reporters. Jane Gibson , whom the press quickly dubbed the "Pig Woman" because she raised pigs on a farm near the lane, testified from a hospital bed rolled into the courtroom that she had seen the killings and could identify Frances Hall and her relatives. But Gibson's testimony was inconsistent with her deposition before a grand jury four years previous, and Frances Hall's lawyers pounced. Nor did it help Gibson's credibility when her mother sat in the front row muttering, "She's a liar, a liar, a liar. That's what she is and what she's always been." Then Frances Hall testified, cool and composed, and the press named her the "Iron Widow." When all four defendants were found not guilty, Frances Hall promptly sued the Daily Mirror. The case remains unsolved.