The Raccoon Bend Massacre

On a narrow stretch of School Road in Austin County, Texas, a small turquoise-and-white trailer sat in the middle of the Raccoon Bend oil field, just miles from the Brazos River. It belonged to 86-year-old Will Stetenpohl — a quiet widower known to everyone simply as “Mr. Will.” He lived simply, kept cash in his pockets instead of banks, left his doors unlocked, and trusted the people around him.

Almost every day, Mr. Will’s daughter Bernice Schiller and her husband Aldon brought him lunch, washed his dishes, and made sure he ate something better than the canned food he prefe...