Walkup Family Murders
Marie Green Walkup murdered her four children during the night while her husband, James Walkup, was in Phoenix on a business trip. She strangled them and plugged their noses up with Cotton. Afterwards she stabbed them each twice over the heart with an ice pick. She changed them out of their bloodied pajamas and put them in clean ones. She also changed the sheets and blankets, then tucked them in as though they were sleeping. Marie took an old army rifle and drove to a nearby golf course and shot herself. Hikers discovered her body shortly after. The police and the local physician went to the house and discovered two notes, one to James and one to the milkman requesting no milk for the next morning. James was informed and rushed home. The funeral took place several days later.
Marie was experiencing an intestinal condition in the months leading up to the murder suicide. While the disease she was suffering from is unknown, it is thought that she was experiencing chronic pain during that time. According to the doctor it was not serious. While she was assured otherwise, she was concerned that her children had the disease and planned on keeping them from suffering. She called the doctors house shortly before the murders took place and asked his son to deliver a message to him in the morning. The message was “Step into the Bedroom”.
The Walkup Family is buried in the Citizens Cemetery next to Campus
This is the gravestone of the Walkup Children
The Children ranged in ages from less than two years old to ten years old.
This is the gravestone of the mother, Marie Walkup
Marie was 32 years old.
The Walkup family was a very well known family. Almost all of James Walkup’s family worked in politics or were local community leaders for their cities or towns. James Walkup was was the chairman of the Coconino County Board of Supervisors, and was very active in the running of Flagstaff. As a result of the famous Walkup name, this story gained not only statewide attention, but also nationwide.