Killer Was Former Mallard Man

MARTENS, ABEL

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes
Date: 7/29/2014 at 17:27:38

Unidentified Newspaper
1934

THE KILLER
WAS FORMER
MALLARD MAN
----------------------
Adolph Martens, Who
Killed Wife and Her
Daughter Near Keswick, At One Time
Lived on Ed Kendall
Farm North of That Place. Resided There
For Two Years.
----------------------
Postmaster: A.C. Sands of Mallard, who was in Emmetsburg Monday tells us that Adolph Martens, who has been accused of the slaying of his wife, Stella, and his stepdaughter, Maxine Abel, on a farm near Keswick, Iowa, formerly lived near Mallard. Mr. and Mrs. Martens resided for about two years on the Ed Kendall farm a short distance north of Mallard. They left that community in 1930. According to Mr. Sands, Mr. Martens was not inclined to be very agreeable and as a result had few friends in the Mallard neighborhood. We understand that Martens was married three times, being divorced twice. Mrs. Martens was formerly Mrs. Abel, and had one daughter, Maxine. People in Mallard were under the impression that Martens was probably of Scandinavian descent, but according to the Des Moines Register, he is suspected being on his way back to Belgium.

It will be remembered that Mrs. Martens had been shot through the thigh and then beaten to death with a blunt weapon. The girl had been beaten to death. A note found at the farm shack and signed by Martens confessed the slaying and state, "You will find me somewhere."

In leaving Keswick, Martens took his Chevrolet truck and his best clothes. The bodies of Mrs. Martens and daughter were found by neighbors Sunday in the farm shack, two miles west of Keswick where the family had lived since their farm home burned a year ago.

We understand that Sheriff Bert Montgomery of this place has been notified to be on the lookout for the slayer as there is a possibility he may return to Palo Alto county.
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Source: Velma Maxine Abel - Find A Grave Memorial #43051076; Maintained by Patty Wimpsett Killion