In 1922, a New Jersey minister and a choir singer were found shot in a field, sparking a national media frenzy that captivated the nation. The scandal, which remains unsolved to this day, may have inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, which debuted 100 years ago this spring.

The Mysterious Murders of Rev. Edward Hall and Eleanor Mills

On the morning of September 16, 1922, Rev. Edward W. Hall and Eleanor Mills were found dead beneath a crabapple tree in a secluded field outside New Brunswick, N.J. They lay side by side, each shot in the head with a .32 caliber pistol. The woman's throat had been cut with such force that she was nearly decapitated. Their limbs were arranged in a strangely tender pose, as if frozen by death in a moment of intimacy.

The investigation that followed was marred by jurisdictional disputes, compromised evidence, and sensationalized media coverage. Despite the strong motive and suspicious circumstances surrounding Rev. Hall's wealthy wife, Frances Noel Stevens Hall, no one was ever brought to justice.

The Trial and Acquittal of Mrs. Hall and Her Family

After public pressure mounted, the case was reopened in 1926, and Mrs. Hall and her brothers, William "Willie" Stevens and Henry Stevens, were charged with murder. The prosecution argued that Mrs. Hall had orchestrated the killings with the help of her brothers, but the defense successfully discredited key witnesses and challenged the physical evidence.

The trial was a media sensation, with 300 reporters from across the country attending the proceedings. In the end, all three defendants were acquitted, leaving the question of who committed the murder unanswered.

The Lasting Legacy of the Hall-Mills Case

The Hall-Mills case may have faded from public memory, but its central injustice still lingers: a brutal crime captivated the nation, yet the guilty went unpunished. Nearly a century later, it remains an unsolved mystery and a haunting reminder of who history chooses to remember, and who it allows to be forgotten.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, who closely followed the case, may have drawn inspiration from the tabloid headlines and the themes of class, sex, and injustice that permeated the scandal. The parallels between the Hall-Mills case and the climactic murder in The Great Gatsby are striking, and historians have long speculated about the influence of the real-life crime on Fitzgerald's masterpiece.

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For more behind-the-scenes stories and little-known details about The Great Gatsby, check out the recent episode of the iHeartRadio podcast, hosted by former PEOPLE editors Jordan Runtagh and Alex Heigl.