Granddaughter Recalls“ Killers of the Flower Moon” Villain Played by Leonardo DiCaprio: 'Took Away My Family'

Margie Burkhart tells PEOPLE about growing up as the granddaughter of a man who helped kill her relatives

Margie Burkhart still remembers seeing her grandfather for the first time, when she was a child. With fluffy white hair and beautiful blue eyes, you wouldn’t know from looking at an elderly Ernest Burkhart that he was one of the men responsible for murdering a number of his Native American wife’s relatives as part of a plot to inherit their lucrative oil rights — a plot that is at the center of the new movie Killers of the Flower Moon, directed by Martin Scorsese, which premieres in theaters on Oct. 20.

“He just looked like a sweet little man, and if you saw him on the street, you would never know what he was capable of doing or what he did,” says Margie of her first encounter with her grandfather, Ernest. “It was wild to me how he just looked normal.”

In Killers of the Flower Moon, Ernest is played by Leonardo DiCaprio, who stars alongside Lily Gladstone, who portrays Margie’s grandmother Mollie, and Robert De Niro as William Hale, the ringleader of the plot to murder Mollie’s family, who were members of the oil-rich Osage Nation in northern  Oklahoma in the 1920s. 

Margie, 61, who grew up not far from where the murders occurred years before, would hear the stories of the crimes committed against her family. She used to ride horses with her father James, better known as Cowboy, and he would point out chilling landmarks.

"You want to go see this area where [Aunt] Anna was murdered?" she remembers him asking.

Related: Killers of the Flower Moon Cast Discuss Using 'Authentic' Osage Language in New Clip (Exclusive)

Ernest Burkhart married Mollie, a member of a wealthy Osage family in 1917. Ernest would go on to be part of a plot hatched by Hale that resulted in the deaths of several members of her family, including her sisters Anna and Reta: Anna was shot to death and dumped in a ravine; Reta, along with her husband, died when their home was bombed. Mollie’s mother, Lizzie Q., and sister Minnie also died mysteriously.

Known as the Reign of Terror, the murders were not properly investigated by local authorities and members of the Osage Nation had to lobby the federal government to look into the heinous crimes that took away their loved ones, according to author David Grann, who wrote the 2017 bestselling non-fiction book on which the new movie is based.

The agency that would become the FBI investigated the murders, as well as several other murders committed against Osages, and investigators suspected Ernest and Hale were involved. For years, Mollie stood by her husband, but in 1926 he finally confessed to his role in the murders and testified against Hale and other conspirators. Mollie divorced Ernest, but Margie says her grandmother was shunned by many in the community for initially standing by him. (Mollie eventually remarried and died in 1937, before Margie was born.) And Cowboy, Mollie's son and Margie's father, was also ostracized despite being a child at the time of the murders.

Related: Leonardo DiCaprio Reunites with Martin Scorsese in First Look at 'Killers of the' 'Flower Moon'

Ernest served time in prison for the murders but was eventually released. Sometime later, he met his granddaughter, Margie.

For more on the true story behind Killers of the Flower Moon, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here.

One time, Margie’s family was set to go on a vacation, and Ernest was asked by Cowboy to housesit. Margie, who grew up hearing the awful stories, was terrified that he would harm her pet fish, whom Ernest had been given instructions on how to feed.

“I knew what he was and I was scared for my fish,” Margie says.

Related: Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese's 'Killers of the Flower Moon' Gets 9-Minute Standing Ovation at Cannes

Time has not healed the wounds caused by Ernest's actions. Margie still holds animosity toward her grandfather, who died in 1986.

“I have a lot of anger towards him,” Margie says. “He took away my whole family. He took away potential cousins. I don't have any relatives on my Osage side.”

The Apple Original Film Killers of the Flower Moon will premiere in theaters around the world, including IMAX® theatres, on Oct. 20.

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