The Road Out of Hell
Sanford Clark and the true story of the Wineville murders.
Written by Filed under History
Mug shot of serial killer Gordon Stewart Northcott.
Sanford Clark lived an extraordinary life, remarkable in that his adulthood was as nondescript as his youth was horrifying. Beginning at the age of 13, Clark was held captive on a southern California chicken ranch, where he was repeatedly abused, tortured, and raped by his uncle, Gordon Stewart Northcott, a psychopathic serial killer who murdered at least 20 young boys during the two years Clark remained in his clutches. Worse, Northcott forced his nephew to participate in the murders of three boys—including Walter Collins, whose mother was the focus of Clint Eastwood’s 2008 movie Changeling—and also charged him with burying or otherwise disposing of the bodies of his victims.
In the new book “The Road Out of Hell” (Union Square Press), Anthony Flacco recounts Clark’s nightmarish ordeal from the youngster’s point of view, continuing the story through Northcott’s arrest, trial, and execution in 1930. Written at the urging of Clark’s oldest son Jerry (who collaborated with Flacco), the book describes the oppressive conditions that kept Clark trapped, and explains how he was exonerated for his role in the murders and later rehabilitated at a forward-thinking boys school.
Failure interviewed Flacco about “The Road Out of Hell,” which has what the author describes as a “successful, if not entirely happy” ending, as Clark—against all odds—went on to become a decorated World War II veteran, devoted husband, loving father, and productive citizen.
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