Walter Collins

Walter Collins (1918-1928) was a nine-year-old boy who was murdered in Wineville Chicken Coop Murders led by a Canadian man named Gordon Stewart Northcott. The series of kidnappings and murders took place in Los Angeles, California from 1926 to 1928; Collins had disappeared on March 10, 1928. The culprit, Northcott, was executed at San Quentin State Prison in 1930.

The case exposed corruption in the Los Angeles Police Department to the general public and received national attention.

Walter Collins was born in Wineville, California, in September 1918. His mother, Christine Collins, was a telephone operator. His father, Walter J. Collins, was a criminal and died in Folsom jail in 1932. 

Walter disappeared on March 10, 1928, after his mother gave him some money to go to the cinema. At the time of his disappearance, his father was in prison, and both the police and Christine Collins hypothesized that his father had kidnapped him in revenge. Another speculation was that an enemy of his father abducted the boy, or that he might have run away.

The disappearance received nationwide attention, and the Los Angeles Police Department followed up on hundreds of leads in vain. 

The police faced negative publicity and increasing public pressure to solve the case. After around five months of Walter's disappearance, they found a runaway boy claiming to be Walter Collins in DeKalb, Illinois. The runway boy, Arthur Hutchins Jr., from Illinois and originally from Iowa, posed as the missing Walter Collins to get a free trip to California to meet his favorite movie star, Tom Mix. He got the idea at an Illinois roadside cafe after a diner told him how much he resembled the kidnapped boy from Los Angeles, whose picture had appeared in newspapers nationwide.

The police then told Christine Collins in a phone call that they have found her son alive and well in DeKalb, Illinois. Collins was relieved and paid $70 in travel expenses for the child's return to their home in Los Angeles. On the other hand, LAPD was also relieved to have solved the case.

However, Collins upon seeing the boy soon realized that the boy was not her son. The boy regularly called her "Ma", whereas Walter called her “Mother.” Walter’s teacher at the school also agreed that it was not him. She returned to the police with proof (including dental records) that the boy was not her son Walter. 

However, by then the police had considered the case closed and the office-in-charge, Captain J. J. Jones tried to convince Christine Collins that Hutchins was indeed her son. When she refused, she was admitted against her will to the psychiatric ward at Los Angeles County General Hospital under a "Code Twelve" internment — a term used to jail or commit someone who was deemed difficult or an inconvenience. Allegedly, officer Jones even told her, "What are you trying to do, make fools out of us all? Or are you trying to shirk your duty as a mother and have the state provide for your son? You are the most cruel-hearted woman I've ever known. You are a . . . fool!"

Ten days later, the runaway boy admitted the truth and Christine Collins was released. She filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department and won the lawsuit against Jones and was awarded $10,800; however, Jones never paid the amount to Collins.

Walter was not the only one to vanish during this time; also missing were 12-year-old Lewis Winslow and his 10-year-old brother Nelson Winslow, who disappeared after visiting the Pomona Valley Model Airplane and Yacht Club.

Eventually, on September 19, 1928, the police arrested the culprit — 23-year-old Gordon Stewart Northcott from Canada (born 1906 in Bladworth, Saskatchewan, Canada). Northcott was found guilty of abducting, molesting, and killing three young boys in what became known as the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders. After 27 days of trial, on February 7, 1929, Northcott was convicted of killing Walter Collins, Lewis and Nelson Winslow, and a Hispanic teen, Alvin Gothea. 

On February 13, 1929, Judge George R. Freeman sentenced Gordon Northcott to be hanged in the San Quentin State Prison, a sentence that was carried out on October 2, 1930. 

Investigators found an ax and the remains of bones, hair and fingers from three of the victims buried in lime near the Northcott ranch chicken coop.

Clint Eastwood directed and produced a film in 2008 based on these events, titled Changeling. Walter Collins was portrayed by Gattlin Griffith, Angelina Jolie portrayed his mother Christine Collins, and Gordon Northcott was portrayed by Jason Butler Harner.

The film won many awards and Jolie was nominated for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role" award at the 2009 Academy Awards and "Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama" award at the 2009 Golden Globes.