Elfrieda Knaak

Elfrieda Grace Knaak was an American schoolteacher whose death caused a media sensation.

Knaak was born September 21, 1898, in Deerfield, Illinois to Theodore Ludwig Knaak and her mother Elise Knaak (née Becker). Both her parents were born in Germany and immigrated to the United States; they married in Illinois in 1873. Elfrieda was the youngest of nine siblings: brothers Theodore, Edward, Otto, Alvin, and Rudolph, and sisters Emilie, Ida, and Amanda. Elfrieda attended Deerfield-Shields high school, completed the college course at Michigan's state normal school, and studied further at the University of Illinois for one year and the University of Chicago for two years. She worked as a schoolteacher and a Sunday School teacher in Deerfield and Waukegan, and a sales agent for Chicago's Compton Book Company's encyclopedias. She was a charter member and Associate Conductress of the Deerfield chapter of the Masonic Order of the Eastern Star, which was organized at the home of her sister Emilie in June 5, 1924. Her mysterious and gruesome burning death in 1928 became a news sensation.

Death

Elfrieda Knaak died on November 2, 1928 in Lake Forest, Illinois, at age 30. She is buried in Deerfield Cemetery.

At 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, October 30, 1928, Elfrieda was found in the furnace room of the Lake Bluff village hall, unclothed, with severe burns on her hands, feet, head, neck, and face. She was discovered by street employee and janitor Chris Louis who had gone to replenish the fire. Louis called the Village Marshal Barney Rosenhagen, policeman Eugene Spaid, and Dr. A.J. Rissinger. She died in Lake Forest at the Alice Home hospital at 4:00 a.m. three days later, on Friday, November 2, 1928. Physicians at the time of her death stated her story indicated "an acute nervous disorder."

Coroner John L. Taylor found signs of electrocution and a severe blow to the head, in addition to her burns.

Speculation was raised about Elfrieda's relationship with fifty-two year old married father of four Night Officer Charles Webster Hitchcock (1876-1960), who also taught salesmanship, public speaking, expression at the Waukegan Y.W.C.A. Hitchcock had previously been an actor with Essanay studios, and later a vaudeville trooper. Hitchcock himself did not believe she could have acted alone, stating, "The investigation on this thing ought to be pushed to the limit. It's preposterous to think that she could have done it herself." Despite the jury's conclusion, state attorney A.V. Smith opted to keep detectives on the case. On Thursday, December 6, 1928, Elfrieda's brother Alvin Knaak announced that a special investigation financed by the Knaak family was underway, in cooperation with county authorities, stating "We believe that Elfrieda may have burned herself, but the results of our investigation thus far lead us to believe that a moral responsibility for her action rests on others. We are hoping to discover what happened between nine forty-five and midnight the night of her accident, and we are making some headway." "B. Lock" was later identified to be Mrs. Luella Roeh, married to Libertyville contractor H.P. Roeh. Luella stated in an interview, "Fritzie came to my house to sell books Sept. 20. She seemed to like me. After her second visit I became aware of a certain power that she had over me. I liked her, too. But I felt that I was being hypnotized in a way." Luella also claimed Elfrieda told her "I am not here with you... I am in another world entirely - a spirit world." A Tuesday, November 13 Chicago Tribune story printed a quote from a book Elfrieda had annotated, Christ in You, anonymously authored and first published by Dodd, Mead & Co in 1916: "As you unfold in the consciousness of God many inexplicable things become clear. One is the purifying process of pain. It is safer and grander to suffer, because, rightly viewed, it is sure to perfect the soul. Have you not sometimes felt the shallowness and the emptiness of joy? ...This is the process called 'the refiner's fire.'" Officer Spaid succeeded Rosenhagen as chief. The police committee of the city council at this time also asked for the resignation of Night Officer Charles W. Hitchcock. Less than a year later, initial suspect Charles W. Hitchcock (then employed as a bill collector) and his eighteen year old son Raymond were arrested for burglaries in Lake Bluff."

The case persisted in the public consciousness, with a London Chicago Tribune correspondent comparing a 1954 woman's burning death to Elfrieda's 1928 burning. A 2016 Chicago Tribune article by Ron Grossman, "Who Really Killed Elfrieda Knaak?" dives back into the case's details and various suspects. In February 2019, Chicago's WGN9 published a podcast by Larry Potash on the death of Elfrieda Knaak. In 2024, podcast Crime Junkie published an episode "Mysterious death of: Elfrieda Knaak."