Map -- The Great German Russian Pyramid

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The Wolf family was murdered in April of 1920 near Turtle Lake, ND, within what is sometimes referred to as the German Russian pyramid—the area inside a line from Aberdeen, SD, to Dickinson to Rugby back to Aberdeen. Some locals call it “The Sauerkraut Triangle." Both terms refer to the high density of Germans from Russia living in the area. The Wolfs and most of their relatives and neighbors and many farmers near towns further east were German Russians, as were the main suspects in this murder.

Map -- Central North Dakota

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Turtle Lake is located in Central North Dakota about 60 miles north of Bismarck in McLean County. Minot is about 60 miles further north.

Map -- The area around the Wolf farm

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This map looks to the south showing the Jacob Wolf farm about 2 1/2 miles north of Turtle Lake. The Henry Layer farm is about two miles further north (at the bottom of this photo).
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Online Slide Shows
Click below to view
photo slide shows

SLIDE SHOW 1 -- The Funeral

SLIDE SHOW 2 -- Grave Markers
and Causes of Death
     The text with these photos is taken from the coroner's description found in THE MURDERD FAMILY, pp. 106-107)

 SLIDE SHOW 3 -- The Crime Scene

Baby Emma Wolf
(from the funeral photo
on the home page)

This is a close-up of Baby Emma (center) from the funeral photograph at the top of the home page for this website. Eight-month-old Emma, the only one of the Jacob Wolf family to survive, is being held by her mother's sister, Christina. She and her husband, Emanuel Hofer, raised Emma until she started high school in Turtle Lake where she lived with the Emil Haas family and worked in their store.

Bismarck Police Chief
Credited with Solving Crime

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Bismarck Police Chief Chris Martinson is generally considered to be the one who solved the crime involving the murders of seven members of the Jacob Wolf family and their hired boy. In the story accompanying Henry Layer’s confession, The Bismarck Tribune reported:

“The solution of the mystery, which had been baffling the authorities, handicapped as they were because no clue had been left by the murderer and two days had elapsed between the time the murders were committed and the bodies were found, was in a large measure due to Chris Martineson, chief of the Bismarck police department, who has been working on the case together with Sheriff Ole Stefford (sic) of McLean County constantly since the murders were discovered. Chief Martineson was the first to suspect the guilty man, who was finally arrested Tuesday and by more than eight hours of continuous examination last night, forced the confession from him.”
CLICK HERE for more information on Chief Martinson.