H H Holmes, along with Ben Pitezel, hatch a plan to defraud their life insurance
Procure a cadaver and stage a deadly accident with Pitezel's life insured
He follows Holmes expressed wishes and takes work in a patent office
Unbeknownst to him his fate is sealed
Doped with alcohol, Pitezel is overpowered by Holmes and subjected to chemical burns
Carbonized tissue, acid burns corrode the flesh, features burned with fire
Recognizable no longer, the corpse is left to be discovered
A victim of heartless betrayal
Holmes is not done, the Pitezel family's suffering persists
Fifteen year old Alice Pitezel is taken away to identity her father's burnt remains, in abject grief
Two more of the children are now collected
Younger siblings, Howard and Nellie join Alice, reunited by abduction
Carrie Pitezel, the wife of the deceased, is sent to meet Ben, supposedly in biding
She's unaware of his murder
The family members are now moved around like pawns
Holmes makes his plans, sharpens his knives, and locates a secluded house
Howard is killed, dismember and buried
His remains are discarded
The remaining Pitezel family are lead around, weakening with agitation
In a chilling, devious game of cat and mouse, stalked by a predator
After some aborted attempts, Holmes searches out another quiet location
He forces the girls inside his luggage trunk, now cruelly modified
A length of rubber tube attached to a gas pipe, so they asphyxiate
With the bodies stripped naked and laid on a mattress
Holmes then digs a grave, down in the cellar, under a trap door
The two sister buried three feet down, putrefying together in death
However, soon to be unearthed
The next plain fails to work, causing an explosion from nitroglycerin to kill the poor mother
His downfall now begins, a former accomplice betrays him to the police, aggrieved by non-payment
Holmes is arrested and the lies now unravel, his travels scrutinized
Suspicions of murder
Ben Pitezel's fate revealed, along with his children
After a length hunt, discovery of their remains
Attention now turns to Holme's killings
A dramatic court case results in Holmes sentenced to death
Hanging fails to snap his neck, finally leaving him to slowly strange
With his body writing, till the last twitch of the death nerve