The Vengeful Murder of Thais Liliencrantz
Erna Janoschek was only seventeen when she brutally murdered the baby she was hired to care for
Ernestine “Erna” Mazie Janoschek was born on April 2, 1911, in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts, California. Her father was a German immigrant named Edward Janoschek, and her mother, Maria Worthy, hailed from England.
Edward and Marie were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They married during the summer of 1905 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Their first child, Grace, was born there in 1905. Shortly after, Edward received a missionary calling, and the family moved to Los Angeles, where Erna was born. The Janoscheks bounced between California and Utah as the church called before settling in Oakland, California, in 1920.
Edward served as a missionary to the western states, but also Sudan and Mexico. As a church elder, he wrote at least one book, The Latter-day Zion, its redemption and chosen instruments. The US Federal Census lists his occupation as a magazine salesman, and Marie as a teacher.
The family valued education greatly, as well as the literary arts. However, Edward was fervently religious almost to the point of fanaticism. He abandoned his family in favor of church work. Edward served as an editor for a…
