Joann Kiger
On the night of August 17th, 1943, Carl Kiger and his wife Jennie, along with their two youngest children, 15-year-old Joann and 6-year-old Jerry, were peacefully sleeping in their farmhouse in rural Boone County, Kentucky. The family’s sleep and peaceful serenity were shattered that night, however, when somebody shot and killed Carl and Jerry, and wounded Jennie. 15-year-old Joan jumped in the family car and drove to the neighbors to get help.
When law enforcement arrived, they found no sign of a break-in by intruders. Carl Kiger, a suspicious man who took home security seriously, was well known for his precautions, checking and making sure all windows and doors were secure before going to sleep. That night had been no exception, and investigators noted that the house was “locked up tight”. In the absence of evidence of murder by an outsider, the investigators and prosecutors looked at those inside the house, and charged the by-then 16-year-old Joann and her mother with murder, both for that Carl Kiger, and Joan alone for that of young Jerry.
During the trial, it came to light that Joann had a history of night terrors – super intense and realistic nightmares – which she had inherited from her father. The defense argued that Joann had dreamt that she heard gunshots, thought that a murderous intruder had broken into the house, and in a somnambulistic state, grabbed two of the various loaded revolvers that her father kept around the house to be within easy access and reach in case of an emergency.
Armed and confused, she set out to “rescue” her family, yelling that “there’s a crazy man in here who’s going to kill us all!” Firing at shadowy figures whom she imagined were firing at her, Joann started her intended rescue by shooting her little brother to death. She then rushed to her parent’s room, where she shot her father dead, and wounded her mother with a bullet to the thigh. After mental health experts testified to her delusions and night terrors, the jury took four hours to deliberate, then acquitted Joann on grounds of insanity. Following that verdict, the case against Joann and her mother for the murder of Carl Kiger collapsed, and prosecutors dropped the charges.
Joann was sent to a mental institution, where she was interred for a year before being released. She changed her name to Marie Kiler, and went on to graduate from the University of Louisville, with a degree in education. She then spent her professional career as a guidance counselor in the Jefferson County, Kentucky, public school system, before dying at age 64 of cirrhosis of the liver.