100 Years Ago, Three Fur Trappers Were Brutally Killed And Found In An Oregon Lake, And Now, “The Lava Lake Murders” Continues To Be One Of The State’s Oldest Unsolved Cases
One morning in April 1924, three men trekked to the banks of Little Lava Lake, located within Deschutes National Forest in Oregon. The weather that day was no short of perfect, sporting clear skies as the chill of winter wore off and spring colors of green began to emerge.
But, as the water thawed, the group of men were not there searching for a spot to relax and fish. Rather, they were there to remove the remains of three murdered men from the lake.
Earlier that year, a triple murder that’s now known as “The Lava Lake Murders” shocked the Oregon community, and the case remains unsolved to this day.
The three men involved in the case were 25-year-old Dewey Morris, 50-year-old Edward Nickols, and 35-year-old Roy Wilson. Each of them hailed from Bend, Oregon– Deschutes County’s main city.
In 1923, the trio embarked on a journey into the park with the intention of spending the autumn and winter months in the vicinity of Lava Lake while working as fur trappers.
So, they had made arrangements to reside in a log cabin belonging to Edward Logan, a logging contractor from Bend. Logan had allowed the men to use his cabin, which was located near the forest, as their base camp while fur trapping.
As part of the arrangement for their winter accommodation, the three men committed to looking after five precious foxes that Logan was rearing for fur on his land. This agreement seemed beneficial for all of them, leading to the trappers settling into the cabin.
Afterward, in the days leading up to Christmas in 1923, Edward Nickols made a trip back to Bend to sell furs. He managed to sell an entire sled full of fur, and according to local reports, he was happy. He even said that the fur trapping season was proving to be exceptionally successful.
Then, on January 15, 1924, the three men were spotted again. Allen Wilcoxen, the owner of a holiday camp, had been traversing the snow from his home in Fall River to his resort at Elk Lake– a distance of 28.6 miles on snowshoes.
Cascade Photo – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
During his journey, Allen took a break and stayed overnight at the cabin, continuing his trip to the resort the next morning.
When authorities later interviewed Allen, he claimed that the three men had been “in high spirits and good health.” According to him, no unusual incidents occurred during his overnight stay in the cabin.
Instead, Allen recalled how the men had actually talked about another fruitful fur-trapping venture. Yet, that overnight stay was still the last time all three men were seen alive.
It wasn’t until Dewey’s brother, Innis Owen Morris, grew concerned after approximately two months had gone by without any communication from Dewey that suspicions began to arise. While the cabin was quite isolated, the prolonged lapse in communication seemed unusual to Innis.
So, he got the help of Pearl Lynnes, the superintendent of the Tumalo Fish Hatchery, to visit the cabin and locate the trio. Upon arrival, they discovered the dining table prepared for a meal and pots on the stove containing charred food. This suggested that whatever occurred, it had been out of nowhere.
Inside the cabin, traps, winter clothes, food, and rifles were discovered left behind, with no evidence of any kind of struggle. However, the sled used by the men for transporting supplies and equipment was nowhere to be seen.
Innis and Pearl were also both aware that the trappers had an agreement to tend to Edward Logan’s foxes in exchange for lodging. That’s why they promptly made their way to the fox enclosure. There, they found all five prized foxes gone, with only a blood-stained claw hammer remaining in the pen.
After Deschutes County Sheriff Clarence Adams learned about the disappearance, he traveled to the cabin to begin an investigation. Adams had previously served as a game warden, meaning he was well-acquainted with the cabin’s region.
Sheriff Adams oversaw the investigation as the sled previously used by the trappers was discovered partially buried in the snow with dark stains. Nearby, investigators also observed that a hole had been made in the ice of the frozen lake, which had since re-frozen.
Then, authorities discovered a section of snow stained with human blood, alongside tufts of hair and a front tooth. Additionally, the carcasses of the five foxes were found– which had all been professionally skinned.
At the time, though, the frigid conditions limited further investigation, and a thorough search of the lake was postponed until the ice melted.
It was at that point, when the lake thawed sufficiently for a boat search, that the bodies of the three men were found submerged in the water.
The autopsies determined that the cause of death for all three men was a combination of gunshot wounds and blunt force trauma inflicted by a hammer.
Specifically, Ed Nickols suffered fatal injuries from a shotgun blast at close range, which resulted in the loss of his lower jaw and a portion of his chest. Dewey Morris sustained a gunshot wound to his left elbow and had a hole behind his right ear, indicative of a hammer blow to the skull. Finally, Roy Wilson was shot in the right shoulder, nearly severing it, and also suffered a fatal shot execution-style behind his left ear.
According to the medical examiner, all three murders occurred sometime in January, meaning that the tragedy took place after Allen Wilxocen stayed at the cabin.
Now, given the secluded setting and the proficiently skinned foxes, investigators assumed that the perpetrator was well-acquainted with the region. So, the investigation shifted focus towards Lee Collins, a trapper, following a lead from Edward Logan. Collins had reportedly issued a death threat against Nickols the year before.
After looking into Lee Collins, investigators realized that Lee Collins was actually just an alias; the man’s true identity was Charles Kimzey, a convicted felon who had fled from the Idaho State Prison.
Kimzey had been serving a 15-year sentence and was at large. He was also known for his expertise in outdoor survival skills and was regarded as extremely dangerous– someone for whom any crime, including a triple homicide, would not be out of character.
Kimzey’s most recent offense involved the attempted murder of a stagecoach driver who had been tasked with transporting Kimzey back to Idaho. During the trip, Kimzey assaulted the driver, restrained him by binding his hands and feet, and subsequently threw him into a well.
Miraculously, the driver managed to free himself from the restraints, climbed up the well’s wall, and sought assistance at a nearby residence. Additionally, he was able to pinpoint Kimzey as his assailant. But, while charges were brought against Kimzey, he escaped town before his trial could start and vanished.
So, the police spent nine whole years tracking down Kimzey before finally apprehending him in Kalispell, Montana. Upon interrogation, he provided an alibi, claiming that he was in Colorado working on the construction of the Moffat Tunnel at the time the murders occurred. He also said he had no knowledge of the three men.
Kimzey failed to be able to substantiate his alibi. Nonetheless, authorities only had circumstantial evidence connecting him to the murders– meaning the investigators could not file charges.
Despite this, Kimzey did not gain his freedom. He was instead transferred to the Oregon State Penitentiary, where he received a life sentence for his attempted murder of the stagecoach driver.
And although Kimzey was never formally charged for the Lava Lake Murders, he has remained the prime suspect for nearly 100 years.
More recently, Melany Tupper– who wrote the book “The Trapper Murders” in 2013– has proposed that perhaps Kimzey was an accomplice to the killings.
She thinks that Ray Jackson Van Buren was Kimzey’s accomplice in the murders. Van Burden had connections to multiple unsolved murders throughout Oregon, yet there has been no concrete evidence to support this theory.
Van Buren also ended his own life in 1938, taking any potential evidence of his involvement in the Lava Lake Murders with him.
So, the case of the Lava Lake Murders now continues to be one of Oregon’s oldest unsolved murder cases, and what exactly happened to the three fur trappers will likely remain a mystery.
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