Drinking The Cool Aid

James Ruppert // 207 // Easter Sunday Massacre

• Megan and Hanna Hawkins • Season 1 • Episode 207

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On March 30th, 1975, Easter Sunday in Hamilton, Ohio started as a happy day for the Ruppert family. They worshipped together at an early service, then they gathered at 635 Minor Avenue. This should have been a beautiful day, full of family memories, but unfortunately, it went down in history as a family massacre.  It was one of the deadliest shootings by a lone perpetrator in the state of Ohio. 

 

James Urban Ruppert was born on March 29th, 1934, and from everything I read, his upbringing was pretty rough.  His mother, Charity, would often call her son a mistake, and she openly told him she wanted a daughter instead. 

-I think it’s safe to say that a lot of parents may hope for a boy or girl when they’re having a baby, but everyone I know, is just happy to have a healthy child. 

-What do you think that does to a child when they’re basically told that they aren’t the gender you hoped for?   

-You’re doomed.  You can never live up to those expectations.  That’s not going to make you feel wanted. 

 

Jame had an older brother.  I didn’t find anything that said Charity had an issue with her son, Leonard Jr. Being a boy.  So, maybe she decided she wanted one boy, and one girl?  The family lived in a small house that didn’t have any running water.  James was a very sickly child and he had extreme allergies.  His father, Leonard, raised chickens in the back of the house, which only made his asthma worse.  He had respiratory reactions to the feathers and dust.  According to several articles, James even walked hunched over, and this prohibited him from doing things that other kids were doing.  He couldn’t play all the games or sports like the others, and he couldn’t help on the farm.  You know who could easily play sports and help on the farm?  His brother Leonard. 

-Maybe James felt inadequate? 

-Maybe he felt like a loner? 

James’ father, Leonard, was violent, had a bad temper, and didn’t have much time for his two sons.  Leonard died from Tuberculosis, in 1947 when James was 12 and his brother, Leonard Jr., was 14.  At just 14 years old, Leonard Jr. Took on the role as head of the family, and according to James, he relentlessly picked on him.  After the father had died, James’ mother started beating James and she encouraged Leonard Jr to beat and torture him as well. 

-If this is true, that’s going to create some complex issues. 

-James already feels unwanted by his mother, his father dies, and she starts beating him, and allowing his older brother to beat him.  The sibling rivalry really increased over the years and the boys could not have been more different.  When James was 16, he was extremely unhappy at home and he attempted to end his life with a sheet, but it didn’t work. 

Leonard Jr excelled in school, had many friends, earned a degree in electrical engineering, did great in sports, and dated several women.  James, on the other hand, did terrible in school, didn’t have many friends, was always smaller than his brother, barely dated, and flunked out of college after two years.  The resentment only grew as they got older, and it certainly didn’t help things when Leonard Jr married one of the few girlfriends that James ever had.   

 

James was unemployed and living with his mother at age 41.  He also owed a bunch of money to his mother and brother.  He had borrowed large sums of money after losing what he had in the stock market crash of 1973 to 1974.  His mother, Charity, was fed up.  James couldn’t seem to keep a job and he was constantly drinking, so she threatened to evict him.  He hated that his mom was trying to push him out, but here’s the thing. 

-He was a grown ass adult 

-It’s her damn house, she can do what she wants 

-He wasn’t paying her any rent, and he owed her money 

-She was very sick and didn’t need the extra stress he was bringing her 

So, things weren’t going well for James, but his brother Leonard got a really good job at General Electric, and he had 8 children with his wife who was James’ old girlfriend.  For James, he already felt like the black sheep, his brother is the one that has everything, and he didn’t have anything.   

 

March 29th was James’ birthday and witnesses later reported seeing him shooting at cans with a .357 Magnum along the banks of the Great Miami River in Hamilton.  Later that night, he showed up at the 19th Hole Cocktail Lounge and he talked to an employee named Wanda Bishop while he had a few drinks.  Wanda later recalled that James seemed very depressed, and he talked about how his mother threatened to evict him.  He said that he “needed to solve the problem.”  He left the bar at 11 PM, but he later returned.  He was asked if he had solved the problem and he said, “no, not yet.”  He stayed at the bar until it closed at 2:30 AM.   

 

On the morning of Easter Sunday, Leonard and his wife, Alma, brought their 8 children, ages 4 to 17, to see their grandmother at the house on Minor Avenue.   

What feelings or thoughts come to mind when you think about going to Grandma’s house? 

-Safety 

-Happiness 

-Love 

-Food 

-Family 

 

James stayed upstairs, in bed, sleeping off his hangover from the night before.  The kids all participated in an Easter egg hunt in the front yard, then they headed inside to play in the living room while the adults prepared lunch. 

 

Around 4 PM, James woke up, loaded his .357 Magnum, two .22 caliber handguns, and a rifle, then he headed downstairs.  It was Easter Sunday, what do you think he could hear when he emerged from his room? 

-His nieces and nephews playing and laughing 

-The family talking 

-Food being cooked 

-He most likely heard happiness 

-The smell of Sloppy Joes was wafting in 

James entered the kitchen, and shot and killed Leonard, Alma, and Charity.  His nephew, David, and his nieces, Teresa and Carol, were in the kitchen, and he killed them as well.  James rushed to the living room.  His niece, Ann, and his four remaining nephews, Leonard III, Michael, Thomas, and John were there, and he murdered them.  He started with a disabling shot and then finished them all off.  It took him less than five minutes to complete the massacre. 

 

Afterwards, James sat in the house for about 3 hours.  He changed his clothes and straightened up before he called the police and according to True Crime All The Time podcast, he said: He’s dead, she’s dead, they’re dead, then he hung up.  When they arrived, he was just waiting inside the front door, and he didn’t struggle at all.  The police described the scene as a “slaughterhouse.”  When they entered the home, they saw five bodies in the living room and six in the kitchen and dining room.  Ten of them had been shot in the head and one of them was shot in the chest.  This will ruin your day, 4-year-old John was wearing blue overalls, lying on the couch, clutching a chocolate easter egg with the tinfoil partially off.  There was so much blood that it was dripping through the floorboards into the basement. To this day, the stains can still be seen on the wood. 

 

The most baffling part of the scene was that the investigators could only find one single sign of a possible struggle in the house and that was a wastebasket that was tipped over.  The police hoped that the path the bullets travelled, and the point of entry would determine if the victims tried to dodge the bullets.  They counted 31 to 35 spent cartridges depending on the article you read.  Three pistols were found in the living room and a rifle was propped against the refrigerator door in the kitchen.  With there being 31 to 35 shots, somehow none of the neighbors heard anything.  They didn’t hear one shot and you have to assume that many of them were home and had their families over for Easter.  The houses are extremely close together, which just adds to the mystery. 

 

So, there were 11 victims, and no sign of a struggle.  It’s hard to understand how this is possible. 

-Perhaps your guard is down more when you’re at a family event?   

-James murdered the adults first, the kids might not have known how to react 

 

James told the police when they arrived, “My mother drove me crazy by always combing my hair, talked to me like I was a baby, and tried to make me into a homosexual.” 

 

James Ruppert never had a police record.  He had nothing on his record prior to this massacre.  People that knew him said he was a quiet, unassuming man.  They said he was the perfect neighbor, and they couldn’t believe he was capable of something so horrific.   

 

 

James Ruppert was arrested and charged with 11 counts of aggravated homicide.  He absolutely refused to answer any questions.  He wouldn’t cooperate and he made it very clear from the jump that he planned to use an insanity defense.  Prosecutors believed that he planned to plead insanity, then after being “cured,” he would be released, and he could collect his $300k inheritance. 

 

Hamilton Police Chief George McNally said, “We can’t seem to find a motive for this. This kind of murder usually has a motive like sex, greed, or jealousy. We can’t find any of those things here. Some aspects of this case just leave us puzzled.”  The Butler County coroner, Garret Boone, believed it was possible that some of the victims had been shot once, then shot again to make sure they were dead. He felt that it was unlikely that 11 people would have been shot and killed unless they were held in some way or were in a position where they couldn’t escape, it just didn’t make sense. 

 

He’s saying that it doesn’t make sense that 11 people were murdered and no one was able to run away, or get out of the house.  No one fought back.  But, he thinks that James fired a shot at all of the victims that would have injured or disabled them, then he went back and shot them all again to make sure they were dead.  I did find ONE article with conflicting information regarding the family fighting back. 

 

Butler County Sheriff’s Specialist Mike Grimes was a detective in the summer of 1975, and he spent hours guarding James Ruppert in jail and sitting beside him in court. 

Reports say that James hated his brother and had a strained relationship with his mother. 

Then-County Prosecutor John F. Holcomb and Gmoser prosecuted Ruppert in the first trial. Gmoser (Mow-Zer) said, “We spent three weeks trying that case.” He said that one of his duties was to sit at the crime scene and “inventory every piece of paper; every nook and cranny of that house and I want to tell you....it was horrifying.” He said you can’t un-see the bloody house and the struggles of the children. According to everything else I read, there wasn’t a sign of a struggle, but this one article from Journal-News, says that there was an immense struggle. 

 

I’m inclined to believe this account since it’s coming from someone who worked the crime scene. I’ll warn you, this next part is extremely graphic, but paints a picture of what actually happened in the house on the day of the massacre. Gmoser explained that one child almost got away and was found near the back door. “In the living room, the children were literally climbing the walls. Their fingernails were broken off in the walls. I can still see it as clearly as I can see my wife’s picture here in my office.” 

 

Gmoser said he sat in that house and tried to reconstruct things in his mind. What did the children go through as they were trying to escape? Easter candy from the family’s celebration was spattered with blood. He also said that he found a book in the upstairs bedroom about “how to commit a perfect murder.”  

-I’m not sure how this was the only article with this information 

-Also, hold onto this for later, but how does this not prove premeditation?  

Gmoser said financial documentation taken from the house indicated that James was, “floundering in the stock market and his brother refused to give him any more money, that was part of the motive.” 

 

James was jailed at the Hamilton city jail for one night after his arrest, then he was moved to a larger facility. When they brought James to the window, he said, “Oh, good morning! How are you?” Deniz Hard, a now-retired lawyer who worked as an intern with the Hamilton Police Department said that James was very perky and smiling, upbeat, and unconcerned. James asked for the cash in his wallet to be counted to make sure no money had been stolen from him during his one-night stay.  He just murdered his entire family, and he’s worried about a little money in his wallet? 

 

 

The trial was held in Hamilton.  In the first trial, James admitted to killing his family, but pleaded innocent by reason of insanity.  Prosecutors claimed he killed his family for the money. The estates of his brother and mother were an estimated $300k. With the entire family dead, all of the money would go to James, and he clearly had financial issues.  The defense claimed that he was going out target shooting, he had the guns loaded for that reason, he wasn’t planning on killing his family. They said he was beaten and taunted by his older brother after his father died when he was 12. I want to point out that he was 40 at the time of the murders.  Between the ages of 12 and 40, he wasn’t able to come up with a way to heal?  He had to resort to murder? 

 

A three-judge panel found James guilty of 11 counts of murder and he was sentenced to life in prison. The conviction was later overturned by the Ohio Supreme Court on a technicality.  James opted to have his case tried by a panel of three judges instead of facing a jury. He was under the belief that all judges had to unanimously agree, but that’s not true.  

 

A second trial was held in Findlay, Ohio, which was about 125 miles North. This happened because it was decided that James couldn't get a fair trial in his hometown.  It got delayed two years while an appeals court and Ohio Supreme Court considered his claim that he was facing double jeopardy. In 1982, it was determined that this was not double jeopardy and the new trial proceeded. This time, he opted for a jury. Prosecutors had new evidence regarding James’ target shooting and his statements at the bar about “solving his problem.”  He had admitted that his mother’s expectations were the problem that needed to be solved.   

 

Defense attorney Hugh D. Holbrock, was convinced that his client was insane, so he used his personal money to hire expert psychiatrists from all over the country.  He told a psychiatrist that on the day of the murders, he slept most of the day. In the afternoon, he decided to go to a shooting range. On his way out, his brother asked him about his car. His brother said, “How’s the Volkswagen?” He took this as an insult, like his brother was judging him, so he murdered everyone.  This is where he’s trying to say that this wasn’t pre-meditation.  The night before, he literally talked to the bartender about his mom trying to evict him and he needed to take care of the problem.  What else could that mean?  

-Maybe he was planning to stop drinking like his mom asked 

-Maybe he was going to move out, even though he didn’t have a job or any money? 

-Why would he head to the shooting range instead of being with his family on Easter?  They were making food when he came down the stairs. 

 

A psychiatrist testified that James was lying on the couch for two hours after the massacre, trying to decide if he should end his own life, but suicide was a mortal sin and he decided that shouldn’t be his last act, so he decided to call the police instead.  A family massacre wasn’t a mortal sin? And on EASTER of all days? 

 

Two psychiatrists testified that he suffered from paranoia and delusions of persecution. They both said he was unable to control his actions at the time of the shooting.  

 

James was described in an article as a loner. He was intelligent and traveled a lot and the milkman said he knew both Leonard and James and James was known as the quiet one. One neighbor said that when the two of them were 10 and 12 years old, after their father died, their mother would talk about how her sons were never allowed to be children. They were forced to grow up, be responsible, and act like the men of the house at a very early age. 

Defense psychiatrists testified that James was obsessed with the belief that family members, the police, and the FBI were involved in a long-standing conspiracy to persecute him. Dr. Philip Meehanick mentioned that, “His ability to evaluate is impaired, his view of others is warped, he sees virtually no one in a kind light.” 

 

Harvard psychiatrist Dr. Lester Grinspoon testified that his deadly reaction may have been uncontrollable: “His ego was just completely overwhelmed by this rage, this supressed rage which had been accumulating over some ten years or more, actually since childhood, that there was no way in which he could avoid doing the act. In fact, if there had been more people in the house, they might have been killed also.” 

 

The prosecution called 29 witnesses and presented 200 exhibits to attempt to show that James wasn’t a victim of self-delusion. He had carefully formulated a plan to kill his entire family to collect the inheritance. They argued that he turned himself in, with the idea of entering a plea of not guilty by reason of temporary insanity. He knew he would be sent to a state hospital, eventually he would be declared sane, and he could collect the $300k when he was released.  

Under Ohio law, James Ruppert could not inherit his victims’ estate if he was found guilty of murder, BUT if he was declared innocent by reason of insanity, he could get everything. He was the sole heir of his brother’s life insurance, his mother’s estate, and half of the property of his brother’s children. 

 

Leonard’s home was valued at $40k, property belonging to Leonard’s family was $19,500, and his mother’s home was $14k. Leonard’s life insurance at General Electric was $62k and he had his own personal policy for $100k. He also invested in savings bonds, stocks, and mutual funds. His family held savings accounts that equaled almost $30k. 

 

The defense tried to show that James acted spontaneously, this wasn’t premeditated. Two psychiatrists and a psychologist testified that he was aware of what he was doing, he knew right from wrong at the time of the murders, and he had the ability to resist his aggressive impulses. 

 

James felt like a failure, and he saw his brother as a success. He remembered his brother locking him in closets, tying him up with rope, beating him with a hose, and sitting on his head when they were younger. In 1965, the Hamilton Police Department determined that James made an obscene call to an employee of the local public library where he spent a lot of time at. He began to believe that his mother and brother reported this call to the FBI to discredit him and he also believed the FBI was tapping his phone at home, and in the restaurants and bars that he went to. In 1975, he told psychiatrists that he was being followed by the State Highway Patrol, local sheriffs, private detectives, and the Hamilton police. 

-He was severely paranoid 

-He believed that everyone was against him, they were sabotaging him 

-This FBI thing went on for years, where he believed they were tracking him 

 

James collected guns and would often walk alone along the banks of the river, shooting tin cans on the ground. A gun store employee said that a month or two before the murders, James asked where he could get a silencer.  If that’s true, it sounds like premeditation. 

Saying he had a “problem” to me, seems like premeditation. He said he needed to take care of it. His mother told him that if he could drink seven days a week, he could help pay rent. If not, he needed to find somewhere else to live. His mother was ill, and she couldn’t take care of him anymore.  

 

According to psychiatrists at the trial, James believed that his brother had been trying for several months to sabotage his Volkswagen. He was convinced that Leonard had gotten into the crankcase, destroyed the carburetor and the distributor, sabotaged the windshield wipers, loosened the bumper, and had blown holes in the muffler. So, when his brother asked him about the Volkswagen, he felt that he was mocking him.  He took this as proof that Leonard really was sabotaging his car. 

 

The jury deliberated, and James was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder for his mother and brother, but he was found not guilty for the other nine counts, by reason of insanity.  The death penalty had been suspended in the US between 1972 and 1976, so James couldn’t be sentenced to death for his crimes.  He was sentenced to two consecutive life terms and his attorney attempted to appeal citing a judicial error, but the motion was denied. 

 

-James was guilty of killing his mother and his brother.  He was sane for that part, then he was insane when he carried out the other 9 murders. 

-Does that mean that he only had the intention to kill his brother and mom when he woke up?  Is that why he wasn’t insane for those? 

-If they’re saying he had an undiagnosed mental illness, how was that not present for the first two murders?  It’s just confusing. 

 

Edna Allgeier was the mother of one of the victims, Alma Ruppert.  This was James’ previous girlfriend whom his brother ended up marrying. On the day of the verdict in 1982, she said, “I sometimes think I’d like to string him up on the cross like Christ and cut a little piece off at a time. I’d want him to bleed slowly, but if you put that in the paper, people will wonder what kind of Catholic I am.”  

 

Edna said that James Ruppert was actually responsible for 13 deaths, not 11. Three years after the massacre, her husband, shot himself in the head at 4 AM on Easter Day. During the trial in 1982, one of the jurors collapsed from a heart attack and died. Edna believed that the pictures must have got him. 

 

Edna feels that James was wildly jealous of his brother for marrying Alma. She was the only victim that was shot one time, and it was through the heart.  All the other victims were shot in the head.  What do you think that could mean?   

 

 

In 2015, The Allen Oakwood Correctional Institution parole board released a statement, “The board has determined that the inmate is not suitable for release at this time.  The inmate has not completed any recommended programming and does not appear to be willing to do so.  The inmate’s record notes negative institutional conduct.  The inmate took the lives of multiple victims.  There has been strong community objections to his release...the release of this inmate would not be in the best interest of justice.”  He died at Franklin Medical Center in Columbus due to natural causes at age 88. 

 

 

Here are the people that lost their lives during the Easter Sunday Massacre: 

Charity Ruppert (65)  

Leonard Rupert Jr. (42) 

Alma Ruppert (38) 

Leonard Ruppert III (17) 

Michael Ruppert (16) 

Thomas Ruppert (15) 

Carol Ruppert (13) 

Ann Ruppert (12) 

David Ruppert (11) 

Teresa Ruppert (9) 

John Ruppert (4) 

 

The 11 victims were buried in the Arlington Memorial Gardens in Cincinatti. A year later, the house on Minor Avenue was opened to the public and all the contents were sold at auction. The home was cleaned, but the bloodstains are still there, they just placed carpets over them. It was rented to a family that was new to the area and didn’t know the history of the house, but they quickly moved out. The family said they could hear voices and strange noises. The lights turned on and off, doors slammed, and they could hear heavy footsteps on the stairs.  

 

Several families moved in and quickly vacated the home, all allegedly reported the same events.  There wasn’t a lot on this though, so I don’t know the validity of the claims. The house ended up being abandoned for several years.  As of 2014, a family moved into the home and said they didn’t find anything creepy about it and there was no unusual activity. 

 

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