Member-only story
Murderer Revealed in a Dream
Ida Anderson’s vision leads the police to the corpse
For Ida Anderson, the decision to move into Mark Wilkins’ Elmhurst home made complete sense. Wilkins’ wife was away, gone to the East coast to have her baby; Wilkins had plenty of room in the house he owned near Oakland, California. It sat in a quiet neighborhood; flowers filled the well-tended gardens in the front yard. It was November 1907, the sun lit a blue sky, all appeared well.
Wilkins was a bit of a mystery. He didn’t work but appeared to have plenty of money. Ida’s husband met him while he and Ida were staying at the Planters’ Hotel in Oakland. The trio warmed to each other, and when Wilkins offered rooms to the couple, they quickly agreed.
The first weeks of November passed unremarkably. Then Ida, engaged in a bit of snooping, discovered a collection of baby clothes in the house. How strange. Why would a woman go home to give birth, but leave the baby clothes behind? It didn’t make sense.
The mystery deepened. On the same day she found the infant’s clothing, Wilkins approached her with a proposition. He asked her, a married woman who was sharing rooms with her husband, to pretend to be his wife.
“What for?” she asked.
