We see that javascript is disabled or not supported by your browser - javascript is needed for important actions on the site. Read more

What's New - Home - Login

Member $avings: $81,750,208.73 | Books Available: 730,956 | Members Online: 241

Swap Used Books - Buy New Books at Great Prices!

How To Swap Books Sign Up Search submenu

PBS Market (New Books)

Gift Buying Guide

Book Browser Advanced Search Books Posted Today Member Book Reviews Award Winning Books NYT Best Sellers Amazon Best Sellers Most Traveled Copies Club Wish List

Discussion Forums Book Lists

Club Lists My Book Lists My Watched Lists Create a List

Blog Donations

School Donation Program In Memory of... Military Donation Program Friends of PBS

Box-O-Books Maps The Eclectic Pen Fun Stuff

20 Questions Sudoku Bookmark Creator

Top 100

Requests Posts Swappers Referrers Reviewers

Pulse of PBS Spread The Word

Invite Friends Bookmarks Facebook Page Facebook App More Ways...

Photo Gallery Recipes Club Tag Cloud Member Testimonials

Help Center submenu

How To Swap Books Browse Help Docs Ask the Librarian PBS Member Icons Live Help

Kiosk

PBS Market (New Books) Go Shopping Buy Credits Buy PBS Money Upgrade Membership Gift Certificates Transfer Credits

Need Help?

Search - Evil Among Us: The Texas Mormon Missionary Murders

Evil Among Us The Texas Mormon Missionary Murders
Author: Ken Driggs

Introduction About a year after arriving in Texas in 1993 as an attorney, I chanced upon newspaper reports of the 1974 incredibly brutal murders of young Mormon missionaries Gary Darley and Mark Fischer. I recalled hearing about them years earlier in my own LDS congregation when the news first broke, and started investigating the case with an ey... more »e toward an article or two. The more I dug, however, the more compelling and heart-rending the story became. Stories, actually, of alleged murderer Bob Kleasen's mental illness and pathetic life, of well-meaning Mormons responding to troubled new converts, of loving families dealing with unimaginable loss, and of a tortuous death penalty case.In the mid-1970s death penalty law in the United States was unsettled. In 1972 the U.S. Supreme Court had invalidated all death penalty statutes because of the gross racism in how they were applied. Nearly every state was then attempting to enact new constitutional statutes which the Court was just beginning to rule on. This was the situation when Kleasen was brought to trial for killing Darley and Fischer.Even though there seems to be little doubt Kleasen was the killer, his conviction was reversed on appeal and he was never retried. As a lawyer who specializes in death row cases, I was particularly interested in how the criminal justice system responded to such a situation. All of this clearly added up, I felt, to a story worth reading.What follows isn't intended to support the death penalty. Personally, I'm opposed to all executions. Nor is it an indictment of the American criminal justice system. In some ways, I realize, justice was frustrated in this case. However, it also illustrates how cases can work out in the real world of criminal law. And while I believe Kleasen was a murderer and, like everyone else, would prefer that he be locked up, I found considerable evidence of the forces that shaped him. I believe that understanding these forces--however much we may want to ignore them or tell ourselves they could never affect us--may help to prevent future Kleasens.As with many religious and cultural communities, Mormons sometimes have a language of their own and concepts peculiar to Latter-day Saint life. I have attempted to explain these terms and beliefs for non-Mormon readers. Mormonism is more than a religious denomination; in many ways, it is close to an ethnic community.Much of this book is drawn from Texas, New York, and federal court transcripts. Additional information comes from extensive newspaper coverage of Kleasen over the years. Quotations from those sources didn't always translate neatly into writing, so I've occasionally taken the liberty of slightly rewording some to make them read more smoothly. In every instance, however, the plain meaning of the quotes has been preserved. Whenever the quotation is ambiguous, or its language is critical, it's used exactly as found.This book would have been impossible without the help of many people, some of whom were kind enough to revisit old, often unpleasant memories. I conducted about fifty interviews of varying lengths. For most, recalling events twenty years in the past in great detail was difficult. In many instances recollections didn't always square with the existing documentary record. Whenever such conflicts were present, I chose to rely on the contemporary written record. Periodically, some of the people I spoke with still feared Kleasen or had other reasons for not wanting to be identified. In other instances I felt that some of the parties who couldn't be located wouldn't have wanted to be identified by their real names. For these reasons I've used several fictional names in the book. Each of these instances is identified.Several Austin Mormons who knew Kleasen offered invaluable insights, along with a few former LDS missionaries who served in Texas and New York. Frank and Norma McCullough, Eddie Davis, Bruce and Ruth Smith, Richard and Lynn Odell, Caleb West (not his real name), and Larry Doty provided important background into Kleasen's Mormon involvement. Lance Chase, now on the faculty at Brigham Young University in Hawaii, supplied helpful information on Mark Fischer.In New York several individuals who tracked Kleasen both before and after the murders went out of their way to help. Veteran Wayne County probation officer David Williams prepared thorough PreSentence Investigation Reports on Kleasen. As a result, he was able to supply history critical to this book. New York parole officer Richard Low provided useful insights and documentation. Wayne County public defender Ron Valentine was another helpful interviewee. Retired Buffalo City police officer and district attorney investigator Dick Murphy spent years gathering information on Kleasen which he generously shared. The New York aspects of this book could not have been written without Murphy's generosity.Veteran Buffalo civil rights lawyer David Jay, who represented Kleasen from 1988 to 1990, was gracious and candid. Several administrators and residents of both the downtown Buffalo City Mission and Lafayette Hotel also willingly talked about a man whose friendship might have embarrassed many people. I appreciate as well one of his unwitting pen pals, Ann-Eliza Young (not her real name) of Northern Ireland.Retired Austin police lieutenant Colon Jordan spent hours going through records in his possession and reflecting on the 1974 murder investigation he coordinated. Texas wildlife officer Max Hartman, now a state magistrate-judge in Fredericksburg, was helpful in interviews as well, as were Texas game officer Norm Henk, retired FBI agent Joe Butler, and former Austin police officer Doug Ferris.Several of the Austin attorneys involved with the murder case provided helpful interviews and/or documents. In particular, Pat Ganne and David Bays, junior members of Kleasen's 1975 trial defense team, were generous with their time. Former assistant district attorney Charlie Craig provided invaluable interviews. Phil Nelson, who is still with the Travis County district attorney, and Richard Banks, formerly a Travis County prosecutor and later an assistant United States attorney in Houston, were helpful as well. Travis County district attorney witness-victim assistance counselor Bobbi Neyland wasn't part of the Kleasen case but provided important insights into the expected experiences of the surviving parents of murdered children.Very late in the writing process, I also received help from Kleasen's fourth wife, Marie Longley, from Vera Fawden, and from her son Joe Fawden. To the extent they were allowed under British law to discuss their ongoing investigations of Kleasen, several Humberside law enforcement officers made contributions to this book as well. I spent many days in the clerk's office of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals studying the lengthy appellate record of the 1975 capital murder conviction. The CCA, as it is known to Texas lawyers, is the state's highest court for criminal matters. (There is a Texas Supreme Court for civil law matters.) Every person in that office went out of his or her way to assist me. Presiding judge Mike McCormick took more than a passing interest in the project and made himself available to bounce ideas off as well as to help locate Texas participants in these events. Clerk of the court Troy Bennett, chief deputy clerk George Miller, and deputy clerks Abel Acosta, Faye Koenig, John Brown, Belva Myler, Louise Pearson, and Greg Ross all helped at one time or another. I thank each for his or her many courtesies. Likewise, the staffs at the Blanco County and Travis County, Texas, courthouses, as well as at the Erie County, New York, courthouse, were consistently helpful. The Austin History Center provided a number of photographs from 1974, 1975, and 1978. These originated with the Austin American-Statesmen. This resource added considerably to the book.

ISBN-13: 9781560851387
ISBN-10: 1560851384
Publication Date: 8/2000
Pages: 290
Rating:

Currently 3/5 Stars.

3 stars, based on 1 rating

Publisher: Signature Books
Book Type: Paperback
Members Wishing: 2
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

Genres:

Biographies & Memoirs >> True Crime >> Murder & Mayhem

Back to the Top ↑

Search - Evil Among Us: The Texas Mormon Missionary Murders

Loading...