Nebraska is an ideal place to live, work, play, and explore…but it’s not without some dark spots in its history. A truly evil serial killer once lurked in a small town, picking off her very own family one by one.
The village of Dannebrog, located in Howard County, has always been an idyllic little place. It’s a lovely locale in which to raise a family.
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But the Danish Capital of Nebraska was once home to a woman who can only be described as evil. Between 1918 and 1923, Della Sorenson killed seven or eight people (reports vary), all of them members of her own family by blood or marriage.
By Ammodramus (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
The first to die by Sorenson’s hand was her one-year-old niece, Viola Cooper, in 1918. Sorenson would later say that the murder was retribution for the child’s mother, her sister-in-law, “gossiping” about her. Two years later, Sorenson murdered her husband after an argument. She disposed of her mother-in-law shortly thereafter, saying that she was feeble and a burden. (The mother-in-law is often omitted from lists of Sorenson’s victims, but Sorenson confessed to the killing at the time of her arrest.)
The Lincoln Star Archives, April 21, 1925, p 2
Sorenson’s subsequent killings included two (possibly three) of her own children, her nephew, and an infant daughter of a relative. She poisoned at least two other children who were saved by doctors. All of the poisonings took place in her modest Dannebrog home.
The Lincoln Star Archives, April 22, 1925, p 2
Perhaps the most disturbing part of Della Sorenson’s crimes is the utter lack of remorse she showed. Her motives ranged from irritation to revenge to a sick sense of pity for ill or neglected children. In her signed confession, Sorenson said that she felt elation and happiness after she killed, and that she enjoyed attending funerals.
The Lincoln Star Archives, April 21, 1925, p 2
Della Sorenson committed these horrific murders over the course of five years, escaping detection for far too long. She was only investigated after she poisoned two young relatives with strychnine-laced candy and they survived. She immediately confessed to the crimes, showing no sorrow whatsoever.
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By Ammodramus (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
The Lincoln Star Archives, April 21, 1925, p 2
The Lincoln Star Archives, April 22, 1925, p 2
Police and doctors found Sorenson to be mentally ill. Rather than facing trial for her crimes, she was committed to the Hastings State Hospital, where she died 16 years later at the age of 44.
Della Sorenson’s crimes were committed long ago, but she wasn’t the first serial killer in Nebraska. That dubious title went to a man who began killing 40 years earlier – read his story here.
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