Heinrich Layer

Heinrich Layer, also known as Henry Layer, was born in Eigenfeld, a German colony in the Akkermansky Uyezd of the Bessarabia Governorate, then part of the Russian Empire. He was part of a community of German-Russian immigrants—ethnic Germans who had settled in Russia before emigrating to the United States during the late 19th century. In 1886, when he was a young child, Layer immigrated with his family to the United States. They eventually settled near Ashley, North Dakota.

Layer married twice in his adult life. His first marriage, to Mathilda Miller in 1904, resulted in two children, but the couple divorced in 1911. In 1912, he remarried, this time to Lydia Brokofsky Hinzman. Together, they had six children. In 1916, the Layer family moved to a farm near Turtle Lake, North Dakota, where Henry worked as a farmer. He lived in proximity to the Wolf family, who were also German-Russian immigrants and fellow members of the same rural farming community.

There is no record of prior criminal history or significant disturbances involving Layer before the events that occurred in April 1920. His motive for the murders remains subject to speculation, although reports suggest disputes over property or livestock may have played a role.

On April 22, 1920, one of the most horrific mass murders in North Dakota history occurred on the rural farmstead of Jacob and Beata Wolf near Turtle Lake. The victims included the couple and five of their six daughters, along with a young farmhand. Only the couple's infant daughter, Emma, survived.

The crime was brutal. The victims had been shot and beaten. Some were found inside the family home, while others were discovered in the cellar and a nearby outbuilding. Evidence suggested that the attacker had attempted to cover his tracks by trying to set the barn on fire, which ultimately failed. The Wolf family farmhand, 13-year-old Jacob Hofer, was also among the dead.

Within days of the murders, suspicion fell on Henry Layer, a nearby farmer and acquaintance of the Wolf family. Investigators linked him to the crime through various circumstantial details and his own shifting accounts of his whereabouts that day.

Layer ultimately confessed to the murders during interrogation. According to reports, the dispute that triggered the massacre centered around a disagreement over a dog, though other accounts point to possible long-standing tensions or property-related disputes. Regardless of motive, the details revealed in the confession described a calculated and violent attack.

Layer was arrested, tried, and convicted later that year. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. There is no public record of any appeal or commutation of his sentence. His death occurred sometime later while serving his prison term, though the specific date and circumstances of his death remain unconfirmed in public records.