Elisabeth Congdon

The Glensheen murders refers to the murders of Elisabeth Mannering Congdon and her night nurse Velma Pietila on June 27, 1977, in Duluth, Minnesota, USA, at the Glensheen Historic Estate.

The motive was initially thought to be robbery, but authorities soon began to suspect Congdon's son-in-law Roger Caldwell and his wife, the Congdon's adopted daughter Marjorie. Later she would be found guilty of arson and fraud, crimes for which she served prison time.

Background Chester Adgate Congdon married Clara Hesperia Bannister in 1881 and together they had seven children. In 1905 Chester began building Glensheen, a 39-room mansion on their estate in Duluth, Minnesota. It was finished three years later. Chester died in 1916 and Clara in 1950, upon which their daughter Elisabeth, born April 22, 1894, inherited Glensheen.

Elisabeth never married. was adopted in 1935.

Marjorie had seven children by her first husband. She was divorced after twenty years of marriage. In addition, a witness came forward during the trial to testify to Roger Caldwell's whereabouts, though the witness recanted after the trial. . She spent nearly two years in prison in the 1980s for the arson of her own home shared with third husband, Wally Hagen, who died in 1992. Upon her release from prison, she was arrested for arson again, receiving a fifteen year sentence. About three years after her release from prison, she was arrested for computer fraud and several other counts. She pleaded guilty to fraud and removing money from the bank account of Roger Sammis, who prior to his death had been under her care. She received three years probation in 2009.

Musical A musical retelling of the story was created in 2017 by Jeffrey Hatcher and Chan Poling and has run on and off in Minnesota since then. In May 2026 the musical received its first performance outside of the USA with a premiere in Belgium .