Schrader, the Indiana-based real estate and auction company facilitating the sale, describes the 162-acre tract as containing “some mature trees and a beautiful view overlooking the Drum Creek and the farmland bottoms below.”Īccording to Amy Renee Leiker of the Wichita Eagle, the property’s current owners purchased the land in the 1950s or 60s, long after souvenir seekers drawn in by the gory tale had picked apart the original Bender homestead. The historic Bender farm is listed as “Tract 2” in a bundle of 15 properties heading to auction on February 11. And as Jonathan Riley reports for the Salina Journal, the land where they committed their crimes is now up for sale. Today, the “ Bloody Benders” endure as a notorious serial killing family of the Old West. The family members, who appeared to have fled the scene, were quickly identified as the perpetrators of these grisly murders. An investigation of the Bender property revealed the remains of an estimated 11 individuals buried in the garden, their skulls smashed in and throats slashed. But it soon became clear that the family had played a more malevolent role in the story. Locals initially thought the Benders were the latest victims in a string of mysterious disappearances plaguing the area. John and Kate Bender, along with their two adult children, also named John and Kate, operated an inn and grocery store that catered to travelers along a nearby road-until, one day, they vanished. In the 1870s, a family of four settled on the frontier prairie lands of southeastern Kansas, not far from the town of Cherryvale.
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