Author uncovers family tragedy: Death on St Charles Street reveals decades-old mystery [Video]

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – In 1962, a man shot and killed his wife and two of his three children. For 40 years, the family didn’t speak about it, until one man wanted to learn more.

Joe Strupp, author of ‘Death on St Charles Street’, has been a reporter for more than 30 years and no stranger to investigative reporting. After looking through old photos with some family members, he had a question about one of the women in the photos, who he later found out was his great aunt Alberta, who was murdered by her husband, but the question Strupp had, was why?

”Most of the story was John, who did the killings, had severe mental illness, depression and anxiety. He went away for a while, which again in 1962, very different mental health treatments than today, but there was more than I had thought. There were drugs that …