Nina Housden

Background

Nina Housden lived near Detroit. She was described as a passionate, violent and neurotic woman who was pathologically jealous of her bus-driver husband, Charles. In 1944, Charles left her.

The offence

Just before Christmas in 1944, Nina Housden invited Charles over for a drink "for old times' sake," got him drunk, and then strangled him with a clothes line. The next day, she dismembered him and wrapped the parts of the body in newspaper.

Housden had said she had planned to kill him for more than a year. She also told authorities that if she were free, she would go to Kentucky and kill a couple of women Charles had affairs with.

Investigation

Wayne county authorities said that a first degree murder charge would be filed against Mrs. Nina Housden. Housden confessed she strangled her husband across the street from the police station and started to St. Louis with his dismembered body in the trunk of her automobile.

She said that Charles returned home from his run on Thursday, and that they went to a motion picture theater and had several drinks. She said she succeeded in getting him drunk, then took him to her apartment facing the Highland Park police station.

She stated that after she strangled him with a clothes line, she went to bed and kept the body in her apartment for two days, waiting for delivery of an automobile she had bought. She said she dismembered the body with a razor because she was unable to carry the 200 pound body down the stairs, stuffed it into a canvas bag, put it in the trunk of the automobile, and started to St. Louis where she planned to dispose of it.

Arrest

Housden was arrested at Toledo, Ohio, when her automobile broke down and a garage attendant became suspicious of her. A garage proprietor was surprised when the woman said she would wait in the car, even if it took a week to repair. A garage mechanic looked into one of the evil-smelling parcels in the back seat while Nina slept and discovered a human leg.

Trial

She was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Other details

Nina Housden was described as a slender brunet who had a war-time job as a driver for the American Railway Express Co. She was also described as a truck driver who had maintained a 48-hour-vigil over the car. She accused her husband of bragging about his affairs with other women.

Charles was described as a cross country bus driver. He was also described as a bus driver, age 32, with the dismembered body found in an auto in a garage.

Verbatim quotations:

"for old times' sake,"

"If I were free, I would go to Kentucky and kill a couple of women he had affairs with," she said.

Mrs. Housden, who accused her husband, a cross country bus driver, of bragging of his affairs with other women, was arrested at Toledo, Ohio, when her automobile broke down and a garage attendant became suspicious of her.

They went to a motion picture theater, then had several drinks.

She had planned to kill him, she said, for more than a year.

She succeeded in getting him drunk, she told authorities, then took him to her apartment facing the Highland Park police station.

She strangled him with a clothes line, she said, then went to bed.

She kept the body in her apartment for two days, waiting for delivery of an automobile she had bought.

She dismembered it with a razor, stuffed it into a canvas bag, put it in the trunk of the automobile and started to St. Louis where she planned to dispose of it.

Timeline

• 1944 (just before Christmas) — Nina Housden invited Charles over for a drink, got him drunk, strangled him with a clothes line, and dismembered him the next day, wrapping the parts in newspaper.
• 1944 (Thursday, as described in the case narrative) — Charles returned home from his run; Nina and Charles went to a motion picture theater and had several drinks before she strangled him across the street from the police station (as stated).
• After Charles was killed (two days) — Housden kept the body in her apartment waiting for delivery of an automobile she had bought.
• At Toledo, Ohio (as described in the case narrative) — Her automobile broke down; she was arrested after a garage attendant became suspicious and a mechanic discovered a human leg in a parcel in the back seat while she slept.
• December 26, 1944 — Wayne county authorities said a first degree murder charge would be filed against Mrs. Nina Housden.
• 1945 — She was sentenced to life in prison.