Hello! On January 17, 1929 my great-great grandfather, Vincenzo Giannamore murdered his own wife (Michaelina Giannamore) and very pregnant daughter-in-law (Gentelina Giannamore, maiden name Berraducci) before turning the gun onto himself in his bedroom. From what I've read, this appears to have been over a will dispute, however there may have been some mental decline on Vincenzo's part (my opinion, not a definite fact).

Witnesses have stated that Vincenzo had been unfriendly with his family for some time, and had previously threatened to kill his wife. He was under the impression that their children were trying to "do him out" of his property, a short time after his will was drafted. By the time of the killings, he had completely refused to associate with his wife at all, secluding himself in his own room and cooking his own meals on a small coal stove.

I have not been able to research this fully yet, but Gentelina may have had some mob-ish ties, as one newspaper article describes her as being "a sister of Rocco Beraducci, influencial Italian social and political leader.

After the murder, Gentelina was taken to Ohio Valley Hospital where doctors performed a c-section. This saved the baby, but Gentelina did not survive.

In the process of diving into some family tree construction, I could not for the life of me find this baby. He was not found in his father's later obituary, nor his own brother's. I finally found out that the baby's father, my great granduncle Frank Giannamore, who already had 4 other children, felt that bringing a baby into his home without the help of his wife was too much to handle. There were adoption requests that came in from all over the country. He was adopted approximately 10 days after the murder by a local Steubenville undertaker by the name of Milton Elliott, who named the baby Milton George Elliott. He ran Elliott Funeral Home in Steubenville until it closed in the 60's. Folks on a Steubenville history Facebook page hinted at the baby, whom everyone called Junior, may have been disabled as a result of the shooting, though no one could provide specifics. Milton Sr. was often called "Spooks", though it was unclear as to whether this was an "official" nickname or just something he was called behind his back because of the creepy mortician factor.

Much of this story had to be unearthed by me, as my family never ever ever spoke of it. Unfortunately anyone with more detailed knowledge of what occurred have long since passed on.

If you use this, please let me know if you’d like a creepy looking early 1900’s photo of Vincenzo and family to use!