True Crime Books

Early on a May morning in 1988, Laurie Dann, a thirty-year-old, profoundly unhappy product of the wealthy North Shore suburb of Chicago, loaded her father's car with a cache of handguns, incendiary chemicals, and arsenic-laced food. Driven by fear and hate, she was going to make something terrible happen.Before the end of the day, Dann had blazed a murderous trail of poison, fire, and bullets through the unsuspecting town of Winnetka, Illinois, and other North Shore suburbs. She murdered an eight-year-old boy and critically wounded 5 other children inside an elementary school. It finally took a massed force of armed police to end the killing.The shocking story of innocence destroyed by a rich young babysitter inexplicably gone mad made headlines all across the nation and inspired at least two psychotic killers to follow her example. What lead her to do it? Could she have been stopped? The case raised a host of agonizing questions that have remained unanswered—until now. In this book, three Chicago Tribune reporters who covered the Laurie Dann tragedy have pulled together all the available police evidence, unearthed valuable psychiatric information, and interviewed at length scores of people who knew Dann, many of whom had never before spoken to the media about this case. Despite clear and ominous warning signs, a young woman of beauty and privilege was allowed to deteriorate and go slowly berserk—and no one stopped her. Her parents, her doctors, and the police officers who knew her pathological behavior all failed her at critical times. By its passivity and silence, a community comfortable and quiet on the surface, yet reluctant to admit its underlying flaws, became an unwitting accomplice to the final rampage of Laurie Dann. MURDER OF INNOCENCE is a searing portrayal of a family—and a society—unable to cope, and of a young woman who wanted all too desperately only to be loved.

\ \ Casper, Wyoming:1973. Eleven-year-old Amy Burridge rides with her eighteen-year-old sister, Becky, to the grocery store. When they finish their shopping, Becky’s car gets a flat tire. Two men politely offer them a ride home. But they were anything but Good Samaritans. The girls would suffer unspeakable crimes at the hands of these men before being thrown from a bridge into the North Platte River. One miraculously survived. The other did not.\ Years later, author and journalist Ron Franscell—who lived in Casper at the time of the crime, and was a friend to Amy and Becky—can’t forget Wyoming’s most shocking story of abduction, rape, and murder. Neither could Becky, the surviving sister. The two men who violated her and Amy were sentenced to life in prison, but the demons of her past kept haunting Becky…until she met her fate years later at the same bridge where she’d lost her sister.\ \

The devil in disguiseThis is a well-written account of wife-killer Randy Roth who lived and murdered in King County, Washington.Roth was married four times. His first marriage to Donna Sanchez lasted five years and produced one son. His second marriage to Janis Miranda ended after eight months when Janis fell to her death from Beacon Rock. His third marriage to Donna Clift lasted four months. His fourth marriage to Cynthia Baumgartner ended in less than a year when she drowned.The hard work of detectives and prosecutors is to be much admired. The depth of their investigation is apparent in the staggering amount of evidence they produced.17

In and out of hospitals since birth, angelic nine-month-old Morgan Reid finally succumbed to what appeared to be Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Morgan's Texas-born mother Tanya, a nurse and devoted wife, pulled up stakes with her grieving husband Jim, and moved on. It was the best way to put the past behind them. Until their son Michael, a boy who by all accounts was terrified of his mother, began showing signs of the same affliction that stole the life of his baby sister...First, the suspicion: Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. Then, Tanya was charged and convicted with felony child abuse of her son. She was later tried and ultimately convicted for first degree murder of Morgan. It would become a landmark trial that unfolded in a series of reversals and bizarre twists of fate as it gradually revealed another side of Tanya Reid—of her own troubling childhood and the dark secrets that drove a woman to the cruelest deception of all...

In November 1983, David Hendricks's wife and three children were found butchered in their Bloomington, Illinois, home while Hendricks was away on business. Hendricks soon became the prime suspect in the murders of his family. Reissue.

The late Jack Olsen was simply incapable of writing a bad book. First, few true-crime authors demonstrated such a stubborn insistence on chasing down every stray fact and every peripheral character as this former magazine writer from journalism's Golden Age. Second, his tender-tough-guy prose keeps what might have been exhausting expositions in the hands of lesser writers crackling along like ice cubes in a glass of whiskey. And "The Misbegotten Son" is nowhere near Olsen's finest work. It's no less well-done than any of his other books, mind you. It simply lacks as compelling a central character as, say, Claude Dallas of "Give A Boy A Gun," Fred "Kevin" Coe of "Son" and Steve Titus and MacDonald Smith of "Predator." Arthur Shawcross, a sociopath from a small town in upstate New York, is more of a blank slate, a bland personality that he wore as a mask over a true face of relentlessly murderous rage toward women. His crimes are much more fascinating than he is. Yet, Olsen dives right in, and comes up with a crackerjack third act — as Shawcross targets prostitutes in Buffalo, New York in the late 1980s, a survivor of one of his attacks teams with the cops, very reluctantly, to spread the word among the streetwalking set and smoke out the killer. The woman whose sense of self-worth — and justice — couldn't be beaten out of her by a near-fatal rape or numerous years on the streets near the bottom of the prostitute food chain becomes someone you can't help rooting for. And the whole cops-and-cornerwalkers-learning-to-trust-each-other-just-enough angle is ultimately what makes this book a good one ... if only second-tier by the lofty standards set by the man many called The Dean Of True Crime. I can't say that "The Misbegotten Son" is a book I'll want to re-read, but that's OK. I've got plenty of great Jack Olsen books to page through all over again anytime I want. And I will. The man had the gift.

A serial killer who wanted to out-kill Ted Bundy. . . In September 2001, Carmen Rodriguez, a beautiful 32-year-old Hartford mother of four, went missing. At first police were stymied. . .until a killer's crucial mistake led investigators down a long, dark road of cold, calculated murder. . . "Phelps is a first-rate investigator." --Dr. Michael M. Baden In 1987, single mother Mary Ellen Renard was strangled, repeatedly stabbed, and left for dead in her New Jersey apartment. Her vicious assailant had already killed once. . .and would kill again. But unlike the fiend's other victims, Mary Ellen lived to tell the tale. . . "Phelps gives readers an exclusive, insider's look." --Anne Bremner Clean-cut, popular and on the fast track at a multinational computer firm, Rutgers grad Edwin "Ned" Snelgrove shocked friends and colleagues with a plea bargain for Renard's brutal attack--and the heinous 1983 murder of college girlfriend Karen Osmun. Vowing never to be caught again, Ned spent his time in prison obsessively studying the violent career of his idol Ted Bundy. . .then was released ten years early for good behavior. . . "Phelps proves that truth is more shocking than fiction." --Allison Brennan Unflinching and brilliantly researched, this is an exclusive tour into the twisted mind of an all-American killer. . .and a state attorney's tireless efforts to lock him away forever. Includes 16 Pages Of Revealing Photos

Bright, attractive, and both from good families, University of Texas college student Colton Pitonyak and vibrant redhead Jennifer Cave had the world at their beckoning. Cave, an ex-cheerleader, had just landed an exciting new job, while a big-money scholarship to UT's prestigious business school lured Pitonyak to Austin. Yet the former altar boy had a dark, unpredictable streak, one that ensnared him in the perilous underworld of drugs and guns. When Jennifer failed to show up for work on August 18, 2005, her mother became frightened. Sharon Cave's search led to Colton's West Campus apartment, where Jennifer's family discovered a scene worthy of the grisliest horror movie. Meanwhile, Colton Pitonyak was nowhere to be found.A Descent Into Hell is the gripping true story of one of the most brutal slayings in UT history—and the wild "Bonnie and Clyde-like" flight from justice of a cold-blooded young killer and his would-be girlfriend, who claimed that her unquestioning allegiance to Pitonyak was "just the way I roll."

A true story of sin, sex, and murder in a small Arkansas town.When Ruie Ann Park—a pillar of the Van Buren, Arkansas, community—was found beaten to death and lying in a pool of blood in her home, the police and local residents assumed the son was the murderer. But the years would uncover a more sinister story. Up till that night, the Park family seemed to have it all. For fifty years they owned and published The Press Argus newspaper. Hugh was well-connected politically and his wife, Ruie Ann, was the local historian, journalist, and teacher. They had a brilliant son and a shy adopted daughter. They built a beautiful home on top of Logtown Hill with a vista overlooking the Arkansas River, but their idyllic life ended with divorce. Ruie Ann stayed in the home, becoming more bitter and more demanding of the daughter who couldn't match up to her beloved son. The son, Sam Hugh, had a promising legal career but his fondness for young boys, alcohol, and drugs doomed what should have been a successful law practice in his hometown. The daughter, Linda, graduated from college, married an attorney, and moved away to a small town near Little Rock. The police were baffled. Who was smart enough to hide all evidence and pass the lie-detector test?And who would want to bludgeon this mother to death?

True-crime master Ron Franscell tells the grisly story of a cold case involving multiple murders committed by a husband-and-wife team. The appalling details are made even more vivid by the author's familiarity with the Wyoming times and places that formed the backdrop of his national bestseller The Darkest Night.Would you kill for love? After Alice, a desperate young mother in a gritty Wyoming boomtown, kills her husband in 1974 and dumps his body where it will never be found, she slips away and starts a new life with a new love. But when her new love's ex-wife and two kids start demanding more of him, Alice delivers an ultimatum: Fix the problem or lose her forever. With Alice's help, he "fixes" the problem in an extraordinarily ghastly way ... and they live happily ever after. That is, until 2013, almost forty years later, when somebody finds a dead man's skeleton in a place where Alice thought he'd never be found.Featuring a femme fatale whose manipulative, cold-blooded character rivals Lady Macbeth, this page-turner by bestselling true-crime author Ron Franscell revisits a shocking cold case that was finally solved just when the murderers thought they'd never be caught.

"Phelps is the Harlan Coben of real-life thrillers."--Allison BrennanSheila Davalloo was young, attractive, and successful. When she started a new job at a cutting-edge research lab in Stamford, Connecticut, she met the man of her dreams. Nelson Sessler had no idea how violently Sheila would react when he began seeing a co-worker, Anna Lisa Raymundo. Sheila eliminated her rival in a bloody knife attack--and then turned her rage on another victim she saw as an obstacle to her passions. M. Williams Phelps recounts the riveting story of a white-collar love triangle gone horribly wrong. . .and the terrifying infatuation that drove one woman to kill."Anything by Phelps is always an eye-opening experience." --Suspense Magazine"M. William Phelps dares to tread where few others will: into the mind of a killer." --TV RageIncludes 16 Pages Of Dramatic Photos

#1 New York Times bestselling author and queen of true crime Ann Rule’s sixteenth volume in her True Crime Files series, Deadly Neighbors delves into the unsolved case of a billionaire’s son mysteriously falling off a balcony to his death and more.In July 2011, billionaire Jonah Shacknai’s Coronado, California, mansion was the setting for two horrifying deaths only days apart—his young son’s plunge from a balcony and his girlfriend’s ghastly hanging. What really happened? Baffling questions remain unanswered, as these cases were closed far too soon for hundreds of people; Rule looks at them now through the eyes of a relentless crime reporter. The second probe began in Utah when Susan Powell vanished in a 2009 blizzard. Her controlling husband, Josh, proved capable of a blind rage that was heartbreakingly fatal to his innocent small sons almost three years later in a tragedy that shocked America as the details unfolded. If anyone had detected the depth of depravity within Josh Powell, perhaps the family that loved and trusted him would have been saved. In these and seven other riveting cases, Ann Rule exposes the twisted truth behind the façades of Fatal Friends, Deadly Neighbors.These doomed relationships are the focus of queen of true crime Ann Rule’s sixteenth all-new Crime Files collection. In these shattering inside views of both headlined and little-known homicides, Rule speaks for vulnerable victims who relied on the wrong people. She begins with two startling novella-length investigations.

Critically acclaimed author Kathryn Casey delivers a riveting account of the brutal murders of young women in the I-45/Texas Killing Fields—a chilling true story that has already helped police uncover evidence that may link suspected serial killer William Lewis Reece to some of the heinous crimes Over a three-decade span, more than twenty women—many teenagers—died mysteriously in the small towns bordering Interstate 45, a fifty-mile stretch of highway running from Houston to Galveston. The victims were strangled, shot, or savagely beaten. Six met their demise in pairs. They had one thing in common: being in the wrong place at the wrong time.The day she vanished, Colette Wilson waited for her mother after band practice. Best friends Debbie Ackerman and Maria Johnson loved to surf and were last seen hitchhiking. Laura Kate Smither dreamed of becoming a ballerina and disappeared just weeks before her thirteenth birthday.In this harrowing true crime exposition, award-winning journalist Kathryn Casey tracks these tragic cases, investigates the evidence, interviews the suspects, and pulls back the cloak of secrecy in search of elusive answers.

When young women begin mysteriously disappearing in Oregon, Police Lieutenant James Stovall leads a relentless search for a killer. With little evidence available, and the public screaming for answers, he must find a remorseless, brutal killer whose identity will shock them all ...One by one the young women vanished without a trace ...Pretty Linda Slawson disappeared while trying to make a living selling encyclopedias door to door.Lovely college girl Jan Whitney never completed her two-hour drive home on the freeway.Beautiful pre-med honor student Karen Sprinker failed to show up for a lunch date with her mother.Stunningly attractive Linda Salee dropped out of sight while her boyfriend waited and worried for hours.By then the pattern was clear. Oregon's massive police search was under way. But not even Lt James Stovall, the brilliant investigator in charge, suspected how grisly the crimes were - or who the man who killed like a sadistic monster would turn out to be ..."Rule springs surprises and rvelations with a novelist's skill.' - Seattle Times

On the evening of April 19, 2013, Samantha and Gianna Rucki disappeared. Two of five children born to David Rucki and Sandra Grazzini-Rucki, the teenage sisters vanished in the midst of their parents divorce.The girls father, David Rucki, worked tirelessly with law enforcement to search day and night for his two missing daughters, following every lead while raising three remaining children at home. Their mother, Sandra Grazzini-Rucki, used her newfound freedom to vacation around the world, abandoning her children. And as the investigation intensified, catching the attention of the media, Sandra also disappeared.The Girls Are Gone is the true story of two sisters who went missing, the father who kept searching, and the adults who conspired to keep the truth hidden.

“Kathryn Casey is one of the best true crime writers today.”—Ann Rule With true crime classics like Descent into Hell and Die My Love, author Kathryn Casey has peered into the darkest corners of the Lone Star State, shedding a fascinating, chilling light on a series of notorious Texas murders. In Shattered, she explores in riveting detail an infamous Houston area crime: the brutal slaying of a young mother and her unborn child by the person closest to them.  Bestselling author Carlton Stowers numbers Kathryn Casey “among the elite of true crime writers,” and Shattered—a shocking true story of blood, rage, and betrayal—will only enhance her reputation as one of the best of the best.

The Peernocks cast the impression of being a very well-to-do and content family evenl after the separation of Richard and his wife. But madness was contained inside their house and one night Richard Peemock came to kill his wife and daughter, brutally beating them, force feeding them alcohol and placing them together in a car which he let drive into a wall so that it would seem like a drunk driving accident.What Richard Peernock didn't forsee was his daughter's survival and her willingness for the first time to describe, in detail, her father's psychosis and his manipulative personality.Once a successful whistleblower, Peernock denied his involvement in the murder, claiming a conspiracy against him on all levels. Confounding the justice system, hiring and firing lawyers, representing himself, saying everyone was against him. After numerous tense trials, Peernock was finally sentenced to life in prison, though those close to him still live in fear.

"Under The Trestle" is the true story of the most compelling murder case in Virginia history. In 1980, beautiful Gina Renee Hall, a Radford University freshman, went to a Virginia Tech nightclub on a Saturday night. She was never seen again. Her abandoned car was found parked beneath a railroad trestle bridging the New River, with blood in the trunk. The investigation led police to a secluded cabin on Claytor Lake, where there was evidence of a violent attack. Former Virginia Tech football player Stephen Epperly was charged with murder, despite the fact that Gina's body was never found. In Virginia's "trial of the century," prosecutor Everett Shockley presented an entirely circumstantial case. Key witnesses against Epperly included his best friend, his mother and a tracking dog handler later believed by many to be a fraud. Three former Virginia Tech football players testified, including a Hokies quarterback once featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Would Epperly become the first person in Virginia history convicted of murder without the victim's body, an eyewitness or a confession? And would authorities ever find the body of Gina Renee Hall?