The Servant Girl Annihilator: America’s Forgotten Victorian Serial Killer | Unsolved-ish A Strange History Podcast

In the mid-1880s, a wave of brutal murders terrorized Austin. Women were attacked in their homes at night, often while sleeping, struck with axes, knives, or blunt objects. Most of the victims were servant women — poor, working-class, and largely ignored by the system meant to protect them.
The killer became known as The Servant Girl Annihilator, one of America’s earliest suspected serial murderers. As panic spread, citizens armed themselves, newspapers demanded answers, and authorities raced to restore calm.
A suspect was eventually arrested. A confession was announced. The case was declared solved.
But the evidence never quite fit.
In this episode of Unsolved-ish: A Strange History Podcast, we take a deep, Victorian-era dive into the murders, the flawed investigation, the role of class and race, and the uncomfortable possibility that justice was declared — not because it was achieved, but because it was needed.
This is a story about violence without accountability, confidence without proof, and how some crimes fade into history not because they were solved… but because they were inconvenient.
Not solved.
Not proven.
Just… Unsolved-ish.