What happened to everyone at the end of 'Killers of the Flower Moon'
Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon."
The true-crime thriller ends on a radio show that breezes through the fallout of the Osage Nation murders.
Here's what happened to everyone after the movie's endpoint.
Based on investigative journalist David Grann's book of the same name, Martin Scorsese's latest film, "Killers of the Flower Moon," follows the mysterious and grisly murders that terrorized the Osage Nation during the 1920s. The community was targeted for its oil wealth and an FBI investigation, led by Tom White (Jesse Plemons), cracked the case.
Of the more than 60 deaths that occurred during the "Reign of Terror," the movie hones in on community member Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone) and the consecutive, suspicious deaths of her family members between 1918 and 1923 after her future husband Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his uncle, William King Hale (Robert De Niro), entered their lives with the intent to inherit their fortune.
The movie culminates in a trial, with Ernest outing Hale as the orchestrator behind many of the murders that play out on-screen.
After a tense, final conversation between Ernest and his wife, the movie pivots to a staged radio broadcast which quickly zips through what happened to all of the characters. Here's what happened to the main players.
Mollie Burkhart really left her husband and remarried.
In the film, Mollie Burkhart (née Kyle) has one final conversation with her husband, Ernest, where she confronts him, inquiring whether or not the diabetes insulin shots he injected into her contained poison. Ernest denies the accusation and she walks out on him.
In investigative journalist David Grann's book of the same name, upon which the movie is based, he reported that government officials working for the Office of Indian Affairs and authorities both believed someone was secretly poisoning Mollie.
In real life, Mollie divorced Ernest after learning that he knew about the murder of her sister Anna.
In 1928, Mollie remarried a man named John Cobb and the two of them lived on the Osage reservation until she died at the age of 50 in June 1937.
William King Hale was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Mollie's cousin, Henry Roan, but was later paroled.
Once a prominent, respected man in the Osage community, Hale was first arrested in 1926.
When his nephew eventually testified against him, Hale was sentenced to life in prison in 1929 at the Federal Penitentiary in Kansas for the murder of Mollie's cousin, Henry Roan. Hale was listed as Roan's beneficiary on his $25,000 life insurance policy.
Hale was released from prison in July 1947 after serving 18 years on his sentence. According to Grann, the parole board officials based his release on his age, 72, and "his record as a good prisoner."
This wasn't satisfactory to the Osage community. According to the History Channel, speaking of Hale's release, one member of the community said, "His good conduct in prison does not mitigate the fact. I personally think he should have been hanged for his crimes."
Hale wasn't allowed to return to Oklahoma, but Grann reported that he visited relatives telling them that they'd be rich if his nephew kept quiet.
Hale spent the final 12 years of his life in Phoenix, Arizona. He died in a nursing home in August 1962 at the age of 87.
John Ramsey also received a life sentence for the murder of Roan. He, too, was paroled in 1947.
In his testimony, Ramsey claimed that Hale hired him to kill Roan, shooting him dead in his car in February 1923.
When he faced the death penalty, he recanted his confession, but Ernest named Ramsey as Roan's killer.
Initially sentenced to life in prison at the Federal Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, he was paroled in 1947.
Ernest Burkhart wound up receiving a life sentence, but was also eventually paroled and pardoned.
After pleading guilty in 1926 to his involvement in the death of William Smith, the husband of Mollie's sister Rita, Ernest was sentenced to Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester. He later testified against his uncle and Ramsey.
Ernest was originally paroled in 1937, the same year Mollie died. However, his parole was revoked in 1940 after he and a woman robbed his former sister-in-law, Lillie Maggie Burkhart, of $7,000 worth of money and valuables from her garage.
He was paroled again in 1959 and received a full pardon from Oklahoma's governor in 1966.
Grann reported he eventually reconnected with his and Mollie's son, James "Cowboy" Burkhart, and met his granddaughter, Margie Burkhart.
He died in 1986 in his mid-90s. Grann reported he was cremated with his son receiving his remains in a box. Ernest's wishes were for his ashes to be scattered around the Osage Hills. Margie said her father tossed the box over a bridge one night.
Kelsie Morrison was charged with the murder of Mollie's sister, Anna Brown, but was released from prison after a few years.
In 1926, Kelsie Morrison admitted to shooting and killing Anna in exchange for $1,000 from Hale. In his testimony, Morrison said Ernest's brother, Byron, was present.
Morrison was sentenced to life in prison in 1926, but had his conviction overturned a few years later in 1931 due to an immunity deal he made in exchange for testimony.
He was killed in 1937 in a police shoot-out.
Byron Burkhart, Ernest's brother, was never tried for Anna's murder.
According to Grann, Byron was given an immunity deal by prosecutors for giving them evidence.
Tom White left the newly formed FBI after leading the Osage Nation investigation and survived a hostage situation that nearly left him dead.
White became the warden of Leavenworth Prison in Kansas until he was held hostage by eight convicts trying to escape in December 1931.
According to Grann, White received a shotgun bullet to his left arm at close range and was left for dead in a ditch. The bullet fragmented with some pieces going into his chest. Despite almost losing his arm, he survived. Grann noted his left arm "dangled uselessly" moving forward.
As a result, White was transferred and took over as warden in La Tuna Federal Correctional Institution in Texas, a job which was considered less demanding.
Grann reported that when White learned James Stewart was going to star in a movie called "The FBI Story," which would mention the Osage murders, he reached out to President Hoover to offer any information to the filmmakers. Despite Hoover saying he'd keep him in mind, White apparently never heard from anyone.
White attempted to work on a book recounting his work on the Osage case with author Fred Grove, but could never find a publisher. Instead, Grove released a fictional Western called "The Years of Fear," which sounds a lot like "Killers of the Flower Moon."
White died in 1971 at the age of 90.
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