The Murder of Denise Leuthold

It’s Valentine’s Day, and as such, our story takes place on Valentine’s Day. I’m sure we are familiar with the infamous Valentine’s Day massacre that took place in 1929 when seven members of Chicago’s North Side Gang were killed at a Lincoln Park garage. The four unknown assailants lined them up against a wall and shot them. This led to a struggle to control the organized crime in the city between the Irish North Sides, headed by George “Bugs” Moran, and the Italian South Side Gang, headed by Al Capone. While nobody ever found out who perpetrated the act, everybody believes Capone was to blame.

We are also familiar with Oscar Pistorius and his Valentine’s Day murder of his girlfriend, for which he is serving 13 years in prison. So I would like to present to you another Valentine’s Day murder. This murder also took place on February 14th, 2013, the same day Pistorius murdered his girlfriend.

A former missionary, Nathan Leuthold was often described to be a “good person,” but that persona was ripped to shreds when he decided to kill his wife. Nathan and his wife Denise were very active in their Lithuanian-oriented church, and before they had children, would often travel the world doing missionary work. They also brought Lithuanian women who had escaped abusive relationships to the US to help them live a better life.