2010-12-10T07:16:00.000-08:00

One of nation's first serial killers wanted to return to Grand Haven as final resting place

FINAL DOOM: The Frederick Hollman Story is an upcoming book written by Kevin Collier, to be published in the summer of 2012 by Black Oak Publishing. Currently being researched and compiled, Collier assembles the most complete record on one of the nation's first serial killers, Frederick William Hollman, who came to Grand Haven, Michigan in 1883 from Brandenburg, Germany. After being run out of town Hollman moved to Wisconsin in 1889 where his violent nature took over and by June 1896 he would begin shocking murder spree from Kenosha to Ford County, Illinois making him one of our nation's very first serial killers. Hollman's unmarked and empty grave is in Lake Forest Cemetery, Grand Haven, Michigan. Executed on May 14, 1897 for the murder of Wiebke Geddes, Hollman was suspect #1 in the murder of four other women and attempted murder of eight others. Hollman is attributed to being the killer of Grethe Seifkin of Melvin, Illinois, Bertha Hilgendorf of Kenosha, Wisconsin, Anna Catherine Mohr of Somers, Wisconsin, and Caroline Lenz of Gilman, Illinois. Read all about about the twisted life of Frederick Hollman, his crimes and the path of destruction he left behind for others. The book will be published by Black Oak Media.

Hollman's Many Names

For the most part Friederich Wilhelm Hoellman went under the name of Frederick Hollman in America. The many aliases he used included: Fred Lange, William Holman, Fred Hollman, Fred Hartman, Fred Hoetman, Fred Hellman, William Hoellmann. Find many articles on the trial and execution on the Library of Congress project "Chronicling America." Click here to see many newspapers with Fred Hollman stories highlighted in pink.

Hollman Poses On The Gallows

May 13, 1897, one day before his execution. Pictured from left to right: Sheriff Benjamin Franklin Mason, Ira Gilmore (or possibly Laurence Campbell) and Frederick Hollman posing with his bible held in his hand. Click on photo to enlarge.

Faces in Hollman's Life

Fred Hollman’s second wife, Augusta Pauline Hollman (pictured), remained in Green Lake County, Wisconsin until her death in 1945. She lived in poverty after Fred Hollman abandon her and their two children in 1892. Augusta remarried on February 3, 1903 in Princeton taking Herman A. Boettcher as her second husband. Boettcher, born in Germany in 1870, was a blacksmith by trade. Fred Hollman's children by Augusta, Minnie and Herman, never knew what truly had happened to their birth father. Augusta told the children that their father had been killed in a railroad accident in Chicago around 1900. It would be a story that would be passed on from generation to generation. Augusta died on January 3, 1945.

Professor of Psychology Rudolph H. H. Blome (pictured), of the Rice Collegiate Institute at Paxton, was Fred Hollman's 'counselor. while the accused was in jail. Blome’s experience with Fred Hollman undoubtedly motivated him to further his career in psychology and philosophy. There can be little doubt during his lifetime Blome would never encounter a case the magnitude of serial killer Fred Hollman again. Blome became the president of Northern Arizona Normal School in 1909. In 1921, her moved to Pasadena, California, where he died in 1923.

Book Video Preview

Watch A Video Book Trailer Above

Newspaper Clippings

Illustration of Frederick Hollman published in 1897 during his trial, however, the Chicago Tribune drawing that appears on the book cover at the top of the page is more precise as to his appearance.

Article published upon Hollman's murder conviction. Note his name is presented as "Hartman" in the story.