This searching analysis of the shooting of three children in Oregon by their mother devolves into a study of personality. In May of 1983, Diane Downs drove to a Williamette Valley hospital emergency room with her children, all gravely wounded; one did not survive the first hour, and the other...  more

This searching analysis of the shooting of three children in Oregon by their mother devolves into a study of personality. In May of 1983, Diane Downs drove to a Williamette Valley hospital emergency room with her children, all gravely wounded; one did not survive the first hour, and the other two were disabled for life. Downs initially told of a "bushy-haired stranger" who had committed the crime, but frequently changed her story. Under police questioning she recalled her childhood with a cold, domineering father who abused her sexually, her weak mother, a rape by one of her bosses, her failed marriage and many men with whom she had sex. One of these men, whom she claimed to love, did not want children, and that may have prompted the crime, speculates the author. The greatest strength of this book is the exploration by ex-policewoman Rule (The Stranger Beside Me) of the aberrant personality of Downs, who is now imprisoned and not eligible for parole until 2009.

AN UNIMAGINABLE CRIME. AN UNLIKELY PLACE. AN UNRELENTING KILLER. On December 16, 2004, a Nodaway County, Missouri, 9-1-1 operator received a frantic call from the mother of 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett. The eight-months-pregnant mom-to-be, Bobbie Jo, had been found lying on her family room...  more

AN UNIMAGINABLE CRIME. AN UNLIKELY PLACE. AN UNRELENTING KILLER. On December 16, 2004, a Nodaway County, Missouri, 9-1-1 operator received a frantic call from the mother of 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett. The eight-months-pregnant mom-to-be, Bobbie Jo, had been found lying on her family room floor bleeding profusely and barely breathing. Most disturbing of all, her baby was gone. Only 187 miles away in Melvern, Kansas, Bobbie Jo’s killer, Lisa Montgomery, dressed the baby she’d brutally kidnapped in a Winnie-the-Pooh outfit and called her husband to say that she’d given birth to a baby girl she called Abigail. While televisions blared the nation’s first Amber Alert for an unborn child, Lisa proudly showed off "her" new baby at church and a local diner, duping many while arousing the suspicions of others. And that was only the beginning of one of the most unthinkable events in American history, one that shocked the nation and left two Midwestern communities reeling in the crime’s aftermath. Now, investigative journalist and acclaimed author M. William Phelps delivers a definitive literary investigation of this compelling story, one that is as suspenseful as it is heartbreaking. Working with the exclusive cooperation of Lisa Montgomery’s ex-husband, Carl Boman, Lisa’s children and mother, law enforcement officials, friends, relatives, and neighbors, Phelps reveals what really happened that fateful day in December and traces the tortured history of sexual abuse, abandonment, and desperation that planted the seeds of a potential sociopath destined for "moral insanity." Here is the true story of the frantic search for a baby born under the most horrific conditions imaginable, of the lucky break that led to the killer, of Lisa’s family’s fears about her mental health, and of the shock waves that still linger in two small American towns that will never be the same again. Like Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, Murder in the Heartland takes an unflinching look at an American tragedy, exploring its terrible trajectory with unparalleled courage, insight, and compassion.

Between August and November 1888, at least seven women were murdered in London's Whitechapel area. The gruesome nature of their deaths caused panic and fear in the East End for months, and gave rise to the sobriquet that was to become shorthand for a serial killer -- Jack the...  more

Between August and November 1888, at least seven women were murdered in London's Whitechapel area. The gruesome nature of their deaths caused panic and fear in the East End for months, and gave rise to the sobriquet that was to become shorthand for a serial killer -- Jack the Ripper. For over a hundred years the murders have remained among the world's greatest unsolved crimes, and a wealth of theories have been posited which have pointed the finger at royalty, a barber, a doctor, a woman and an artist. Using her formidable range of forensic and technical skills, Patricia Cornwell has applied the rigorous discipline of twenty-first-century police investigation to the extant material, and here presents the hard evidence that the perpetrator was the world-famous artist Walter Sickert. By using techniques unknown in the late Victorian age, Patricia Cornwell has exposed Sickert as the author of the infamous Ripper letters to the Metropolitan Police. Her detailed analysis of his paintings shows how his are continually depicted, his horrific mutilation of his victims, and her examination of this man's birth defects, the consequent genital surgical interventions and their effects on his upbringing presents a casebook example of how a psychopathic killer is created. With her knowledge of criminal investigation and her consummate skills as a bestselling writer, Patricia Cornwell has produced a book which is as compelling as it is authentic and which pays due respect to the people whose early deaths spawned one of the twentieth century's least attractive entertainment industries -- Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddows, Mary Kelly, and others.

Ted Bundy was handsome, charming, a brilliant law student, and on the verge of a dazzling career. On January 24, 1989, he was executed for the murders of three young women, having confessed to taking the lives of at least thirty-five more. This is the story of one of the most fascinating killers...  more

Ted Bundy was handsome, charming, a brilliant law student, and on the verge of a dazzling career. On January 24, 1989, he was executed for the murders of three young women, having confessed to taking the lives of at least thirty-five more. This is the story of one of the most fascinating killers in American history--of his magnetic power, his bleak compulsion, his double life, his string of helpless victims. It is also the story of Ann Rule, a writer working on the biggest story of her life, tracking down a brutal mass murderer. Little did she realize that the "Ted" the police were seeking was the same Ted who worked with her at a Seattle crisis clinic, a man who had become her close friend and confidant. As she began to put the evidence together, a terrifying picture emerged of the man she thought she knew. Twenty years after it was first published, The Stranger Beside Me remains a gripping, explosive true-crime classic. 8 pages of photographs.

Thrilling, true tales from the Vidocq Society, a team of the world's finest forensic investigators whose monthly gourmet lunches lead to justice in ice-cold murders Three of the greatest detectives in the world--a renowned FBI agent turned private eye, a sculptor and lothario who speaks...  more

Thrilling, true tales from the Vidocq Society, a team of the world's finest forensic investigators whose monthly gourmet lunches lead to justice in ice-cold murders Three of the greatest detectives in the world--a renowned FBI agent turned private eye, a sculptor and lothario who speaks to the dead, and an eccentric profiler known as "the living Sherlock Holmes"-were heartsick over the growing tide of unsolved murders. Good friends and sometime rivals William Fleisher, Frank Bender, and Richard Walter decided one day over lunch that something had to be done, and pledged themselves to a grand quest for justice. The three men invited the greatest collection of forensic investigators ever assembled, drawn from five continents, to the Downtown Club in Philadelphia to begin an audacious quest: to bring the coldest killers in the world to an accounting. Named for the first modern detective, the Parisian eugène François Vidocq-the flamboyant Napoleonic real-life sleuth who inspired Sherlock Holmes-the Vidocq Society meets monthly in its secretive chambers to solve a cold murder over a gourmet lunch. The Murder Room draws the reader into a chilling, darkly humorous, awe-inspiring world as the three partners travel far from their Victorian dining room to hunt the ruthless killers of a millionaire's son, a serial killer who carves off faces, and a child killer enjoying fifty years of freedom and dark fantasy. Acclaimed bestselling author Michael Capuzzo's brilliant storytelling brings true crime to life more realistically and vividly than it has ever been portrayed before. It is a world of dazzlingly bright forensic science; true evil as old as the Bible and dark as the pages of Dostoevsky; and a group of flawed, passionate men and women, inspired by their own wounded hearts to make a stand for truth, goodness, and justice in a world gone mad.  

From Publishers Weekly: True-crime fans will savor this room-by-room, machine-by-machine tour of the FBI Criminal Laboratory in Washington, D.C., perhaps the world's best forensics department. Fisher (Killer) introduces readers to units that involve chemistry (with a special emphasis on...  more

From Publishers Weekly: True-crime fans will savor this room-by-room, machine-by-machine tour of the FBI Criminal Laboratory in Washington, D.C., perhaps the world's best forensics department. Fisher (Killer) introduces readers to units that involve chemistry (with a special emphasis on toxicology), explosives, hairs and fibers, fingerprints and DNA analysis, material analysis, documents, firearms, photography, video enhancement and polygraphy. Included are details of the ballistic investigations of the assassination of John Kennedy, the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan, the murder of Martin Luther King, and the World Trade Center bombing. Readers will be astounded by the abilities of the high-technology equipment and the talents of the investigators who staff this extraordinary sci-crime lab. From Library Journal: Major advances in forensic science, such as DNA analysis, have taken place in the recent past. With the interested lay reader in mind, Washington Post journalist Fisher describes the work of the FBI Crime Laboratory regarding explosives, firearms, hairs and fibers, toxicology, etc.and how it has been used to solve problematic cases. Writing with the FBI's cooperation, Fisher tends to accept at face value their judgments in some controversial cases: Sacco and Vanzetti, Alger Hiss, the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, and the JFK assassination. Nevertheless, his enthusiasm for the progress in processing the faintest crime-scene clues is not misplaced. While some detailed accounts of forensic procedures can be soporific, they also pinpoint guilt or innocence previously undetectable. Recommended for larger popular crime collections.

Katherine Cleary was a quiet, well-mannered little redhead, a schoolteacher who worked with deaf children and lived alone in a one-room apartment on New York's Upper West Side. Like so many young women, she was lonely and looking for love. Joe Willie Simpson was a handsome drifter from...  more

Katherine Cleary was a quiet, well-mannered little redhead, a schoolteacher who worked with deaf children and lived alone in a one-room apartment on New York's Upper West Side. Like so many young women, she was lonely and looking for love. Joe Willie Simpson was a handsome drifter from the Midwest. In New York he'd found a wife, a lover, and the dark pleasures of the night. On New Year's Day they met in a neighborhood bar -- strangers with no rendezvous, no common friends, no reason to come together. Only hours later, Katherine Cleary was dead... victim of a brutal -- and inevitable -- act of murder.

On the night of 29 June, 1860 three-year-old Francis Kent was kidnapped from his room, murdered and his body dumped in an outside lavatory. Eleven people were in the house, two of them sleeping in the same room as Francis, and the building itself was isolated and impenetrable. There were three...  more

On the night of 29 June, 1860 three-year-old Francis Kent was kidnapped from his room, murdered and his body dumped in an outside lavatory. Eleven people were in the house, two of them sleeping in the same room as Francis, and the building itself was isolated and impenetrable. There were three possible suspects, and the case initially appeared straightforward, but the police found themselves up against the dead boy's mysterious family, who appeared to be covering up a dark secret from their past. The ensuing investigation became legendary for its mismanagement, incompetence, infighting and corruption. Eventually, amidst frenzied public interest, Constance Kent, Francis' half-sister, was convicted and sentenced to death, but because of uncertainty over her confession, this was commuted to penal servitude for life. Paul Chambers re-investigates this famous case, and demonstrates conclusively who the murderer really was.

To love, honor...and poison - the true story of a wife brought to justice. For four months, arsenic consumed the body of promising young pediatric AIDS researcher Eric Miller. No one thought that his wife could be capable of such a horrible crime - except for veteran homicide investigator...  more

To love, honor...and poison - the true story of a wife brought to justice. For four months, arsenic consumed the body of promising young pediatric AIDS researcher Eric Miller. No one thought that his wife could be capable of such a horrible crime - except for veteran homicide investigator Chris Morgan, a man who would spend the next four years in his pursuit of justice.

A brutal murder. An abundance of DNA evidence. A three-and-a-half year search for a killer who was always so close-yet untouchable. After the rape and murder of Raleigh, North Carolina, resident Stephanie Bennett, police had ample DNA evidence. They also had a suspect: the man next...  more

A brutal murder. An abundance of DNA evidence. A three-and-a-half year search for a killer who was always so close-yet untouchable. After the rape and murder of Raleigh, North Carolina, resident Stephanie Bennett, police had ample DNA evidence. They also had a suspect: the man next door. But for more than three years, he eluded them by refusing to hand over a DNA sample, wiping down anything he touched and even planting decoy samples. This is the gripping story of how a team of detectives finally tripped him up-and brought closure to an innocent young woman's family.

Catherine Crier has been covering the Peterson case since Laci Peterson disappeared from her home on December 24, 2002. Crier, a former judge and one of television's most popular legal analysts, was among the first to question the behavior of Laci's husband, Scott Peterson. And with her network...  more

Catherine Crier has been covering the Peterson case since Laci Peterson disappeared from her home on December 24, 2002. Crier, a former judge and one of television's most popular legal analysts, was among the first to question the behavior of Laci's husband, Scott Peterson. And with her network of journalistic sources, Crier was soon able to penetrate the core of the police investigation that followed -- gaining access to a huge and revealing body of previously unseen police reports, transcripts of recorded conversations, photographic evidence, and other exclusive materials. Drawing on these resources -- and extensive interviews with key witnesses and lead investigators -- Crier has written this astonishingly detailed and intimate look at the most notorious murder case since O. J. Simpson. Among the revelations in A Deadly Game: Dozens of actual conversations involving Scott, Amber Frey, the police, and his family, friends, and others -- filled with Scott's chilling and incriminating behavior The most complete account ever of Scott's lies and manipulation -- in the words of those who knew him best Accounts of Scott's womanizing from his conquests themselves -- including the woman he was dating just before Laci, and two of his mistresses before Amber How Laci's mother confronted Scott with furious accusations -- while his own mother privately urged him to "deny, deny, deny" How swift police work may have saved the case in the first twenty-four hours The untold story of how Amber maintained contact with Scott without informing police, and was briefly considered a suspect How Scott bragged to two different witnesses about how to kill someone Many never-before-seen police photos, documents, and evidence files Thoroughly engrossing yet highly disturbing, A Deadly Game is the definitive account of a murder that left an indelible stain on the American psyche.