Please see New News The confession of Ray Lanphere is a physical document that was witnessed by Chicago Tribune reporter Edward Bechly the first week of January 1910 This document likely still exists in archives or the case file and should be used as a reference On page 16 of Mr Bechly s narrative Lanphere s Confession is a summary of what he read In the confession Lanphere said that he had killed Mrs Gunness and children with an axe sprinkled the bodies with kerosene and set fire to them and the house It gave details of the slaying and told of his part in the former murders which occurred at the Gunness farm his task usually being the burying of the bodies in the garden The essential fact however was that the murderess was not alive as a fugitive