Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainJasper County's second-oldest cemetery, established 1841, holds the unmarked grave of spree killer Billy Cook — executed in California in 1952 after murdering six people across 22 days.
Peace Church Ave, Joplin, MO 64801
Research updated June 2026
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All Ages
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Free public cemetery
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Uneven grass and gravel cemetery grounds; older sections may be overgrown
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Est. 1841 · Second-oldest cemetery in Jasper County — established 1841 · Burial site of executed spree killer Billy Cook (1952) · Cook's unmarked grave located outside main cemetery boundary
Peace Church Cemetery was established in 1841, making it the second-oldest burial ground in Jasper County. For over a century, it served the surrounding community as a conventional rural cemetery with no particular notoriety.
That changed in December 1952. Billy Cook had grown up in Joplin in a difficult household — his mother died when he was young, and his father ultimately left him and his siblings in an abandoned mine shaft before disappearing. Cook was eventually placed in the Missouri Training School for Boys.
In late December 1950, Cook embarked on a 22-day murder spree across several states, killing six people including a family of five from Illinois and a traveling salesman. He was eventually captured in Mexico after a massive manhunt. Tried in California for the murder of two Seattle prospectors, Cook was convicted and sentenced to death.
On December 12, 1952, Billy Cook was executed in California's gas chamber at San Quentin. His body was returned to Joplin, but given the nature of his crimes, he was buried in an unmarked grave placed outside the boundary of Peace Church Cemetery's main grounds — a deliberate exclusion from the consecrated section of the burial ground.
Sources
The nature of Billy Cook's burial — an executed murderer interred in an unmarked grave outside the boundary of the main cemetery — has made Peace Church Cemetery a destination for paranormal investigators in the decades since his death.
Reports logged on regional paranormal documentation sites describe EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) recordings captured during investigations at the cemetery. Photographs taken at the site include what investigators describe as orb phenomena, concentrated in the area of the cemetery's older sections.
Cook's exclusion from the main cemetery grounds amplifies the site's atmosphere for visitors who know the history. The unmarked grave has no stone — there is nothing to indicate the location beyond those familiar with where authorities placed the body in 1952.
Notable Entities
Explore Jasper County's second-oldest cemetery, dating to 1841. Billy Cook's unmarked grave lies outside the main cemetery boundary — the ground where authorities buried him after his execution in California's gas chamber in December 1952.
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