Nevada's First Serial Killer: Queho

STUDIO - Have you ever been so mad at your boss that you beat him upside the head with a piece of wood, lived on the run for the rest of your life murdering a bunch of people becoming the first serial killer of Nevada? Yeah, me neither. A Native American guy named Queho did though.

Let me tell you a story about Queho, The Bad Indian

Back in 1880 there was a scandal, a biracial child was born.

Part Mexican and Part Native American. Labeled as half breed, he was not accepted by his own on either side. He was also weird looking, having two set of teeth and a clubbed foot.

When Queho was 17 years old, his brother Avote became a mass murderer killing at least 5 white men in a rampage then running away

Apparently it was custom in the culture that the brother of the accused was to be the one who executed justice so Queho was made to kill his brother.

Queho knew where his brother would go, stalked him and waited for the right moment.

Just like Steinbeck's Of Mine and Men. Queho shot his brother in the head from behind.

This made Queho sort of a hero to the community. though it likely messed with his head a bit. A few years later, he too would be a murderer on the run.

Sometime around  1910 Queho was a suspect for a few murders of some other Native Americans and miners. The first official murder other than his brother was his boss J.M. Woodsworth.

Queho for a while was working as a lumberjack felling trees and then cutting them up to size. The story goes that Queho found out he was not going to be paid for his work one day and like any rational person he grabbed a freshly cut piece of cedar and beat the man to death.

Like I said before, he was known to have a clubbed foot, some say a limp from a broken leg but whatever the case he was a funny walk. Which you could see in the tracks made in the ground.

The search was on, and soon Queho struck again.

An older watchman of the Gold Bug Mine in Arizona was found dead, his badge stolen and funny foot tracks were found at the scene.

Over the next few decades, Queho was labeled as a mass murderer. Just about every murder or mysterious disappearance was blamed on him.

There's even a story of a lady being found dead in her house, the kids said their dad did it but it was pinned on Queho.

Other strange murders came about which were blamed on him. Like Canyon Charlie, an old blind Indian man who was known to be good friends of Queho. Charlie was found bashed in the head with a pickaxe and all his stuff stolen.

My personal thought on that one is sort of conspiratorial and I have no evidence so take this with a grain of salt... What if the posse looking for Queho went to Canyon Charlie to ask some questions, he didn't talk or give them the right answers so they killed him, blaming it on Queho and publicising it in hopes to draw him in.

Either way it was pinned on him Another Posse was sent out but still came up empty handed.

These different posse's came close, one guy was shot at late at night, the bullet wizzing right past him. One posse had some Indian trackers and were found to have been leaving clues for Queho on where they were heading.

There were sightings of him walking around Las Vegas. Going into some store and buying peaches with a gold nugget. All kinds of things but he was never caught by the authorities.

Now fast forward allllllll the way to 1940.

Some guys were prospecting one day when the notice a cool looking cave in the distance. They go to check it out and walk in. Inside this cave was a dried up muffified human body with a clubbed foot and two rows of teeth.

Also found was a Rifle, a Shotgun, a Bow and Arrow set, some pots and pans, some tools and rope some wood that was traced back to the construction site of the hoover dam and sure enough the badge of the gold bug mine watchman.

Investigators decided that Queho died from a rattlesnake bite judging from a bandage around one of his legs.

Soon the body was sold to the Las Vegas Elks Club, His body was put in a glass case and displayed at a funeral home for a few years then brought back to the Elks club where it was dragged around in the Helldorado days parade for a few years until one day his body mysteriously vanished.

The body stayed missing for a few years until it was randomly found and then bought by a local DA who then finally buried Queho