Member-only story
Alabama’s Axe Murderess: Viola Hyatt
Aka the “Torso Slayer”
June of 1959 brought horror to rural Northeast Alabama. Two human torsos were found in neighboring Etowah and St. Clair counties, while other body parts were discovered scattered in adjacent Calhoun County.
The first partial body was located on June 28, 1959, beside an abandoned shack just off U.S. Hwy 11. The second was found the next day, also dumped beside an abandoned house, about 10 miles south along the same highway.
The bodies and parts were determined to belong to two men, who remained unidentified. Police referred to them as Mr. X and Mr. Y. On July 1, 1959, the community held a graveside service for the nameless victims, who they buried in the Alabama City cemetery.
Both were shot in the face with a shotgun, which is what held up their identification, and then were dismembered with an axe. Somehow, police were able to create sketches of what the men’s faces looked like before the shotgun blast. They received a tip that the sketches resembled two brothers who hadn’t been seen for two weeks.
The tip came from a construction foreman who thought the images looked like two of his missing crew. He also told them that he received a call from a Viola Hyatt telling him that the brothers were ill and wouldn’t be in to work for a few days.
