Book picks similar to
Beyond Reasonable Doubt? by David A. Yallop
new-zealand
non-fiction
true-crime
david-yallop
Jack the Ripper: Quest for a Killer
M.J. Trow - 2009
This book names him. Mad doctors, Russian lunatics, bungling midwives, railway policemen, failed barristers, weird artists, royal princes and white-eyed men. All of these and more have been put in the frame for the Whitechapel murders. Where ingenious invention and conspiracy theories have failed, common sense has floated out of the window.M.J. Trow, in this gripping historical reinvestigation, cuts through the fog of speculation, fantasy and obsession that has concealed the identity of the most famous serial murderer of all time.
A Love To Die For
Patricia Springer - 2000
Suddenly, Christa turned on Colleen, accusing her of flirting with her boyfriend. Then, the words turned to shocking blows. An enraged Christa used a box knife to cut her rival's throat and a mini meat cleaver to inflict more havoc. Half-naked, Colleen crawled through her own blood begging for her life. In the middle of the hour-long assault, a satanic symbol was carved in the dying girl's chest. And when Christa was finally done, she took a piece of Colleen's skull as a macabre souvenir. What were the dark forces that drove angelic faced Christa to commit such a savage murder and become the youngest woman ever to be put on Death Row? In this shocking expose of a case that stunned the nation, Patricia Springer takes us through a horrifying crime scene and into the heart and mind of a murderess who killed for love-and would die for it, too.
Australian Heist
James Phelps - 2018
On June 15, 1862 a gang of bushrangers pulled off the largest gold robbery in Australia's history atEugowra Rocks. The gang escaped with bank notes and 77kg of gold, worth about $10 million today. It remains Australia's largest gold robbery. The story of how Ben Hall, Frank Gardiner, John O'Mealley, John Gilbert, Harry Manns, Alex Fordyce, John Bow and Dan Charters - planned and executed the robbery and what happened to all that gold is the stuff of a brilliant, modern, exciting crime book. This is Australian history on the very best crime-writing steroids from Australia's number one true crime writer.
Missing: True Cases of Mysterious Disappearances
Andrew J. Clark - 2018
disappeared without leaving a trace. This book shed lights on some of the most intriguing missing person cases.There are countless stories all over the globe of average, everyday people suddenly vanishing under the strangest and most inopportune of circumstances. These cases have baffled the experts and remained unsolved for decades. The missing person cases presented in this book have diverse backgrounds, but they are all equally mysterious. Here we will dive headfirst into some of the most unusual disappearing acts on record. Rational explanations have been put forward for some, but many lack any plausible theories whatsoever.This book relates the true yet astonishing tales of prime ministers lost at sea, esteemed physicists vanishing without a trace, great explorers lost in the wilderness. From the World War II veteran who seemed to literally disappear into thin air on a bus ride home, to the ill-fated singer-songwriter Connie Converse who right around her 50th birthday decided to pull a 'Bilbo Baggins' (Connie’s own words) on the ones she loved by slipping on her very own ring of invisibility and vanishing out of sight, this book takes us through some of the saddest, the most intriguing, and the most downright bizarre accounts of lost souls that you will ever find.
Teasing Secrets from the Dead: My Investigations at America's Most Infamous Crime Scenes
Emily Craig - 2004
In this absorbing, surprising, and undeniably compelling book, forensics expert Emily Craig tells her own story of a life spent teasing secrets from the dead.Emily Craig has been a witness to history, helping to seek justice for thousands of murder victims, both famous and unknown. It's a personal story that you won't soon forget.Emily first became intrigued by forensics work when, as a respected medical illustrator, she was called in by the local police to create a model of a murder victim's face. Her fascination with that case led to a dramatic midlife career change: She would go back to school to become a forensic anthropologist——and one of the most respected and best-known "bone hunters" in the nation.As a student working with the FBI in Waco, Emily helped uncover definitive proof that many of the Branch Davidians had been shot to death before the fire, including their leader, David Koresh, whose bullet-pierced skull she reconstructed with her own hands. Upon graduation, Emily landed a prestigious full-time job as forensic anthropologist for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, a state with an alarmingly high murder rate and thousands of square miles of rural backcountry, where bodies are dumped and discovered on a regular basis. But even with her work there, Emily has been regularly called to investigations across the country, including the site of terrorist attack on the the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, where a mysterious body part——a dismembered leg——was found at the scene and did not match any of the known victims. Through careful scientific analysis, Emily was able to help identify the leg's owner, a pivotal piece of evidence that helped convict Timothy McVeigh.In September 2001, Emily recieved a phone call summoning her to New York City, where she directed the night-shift triage at the World Trade Centre's body identification site, collaborating with forensics experts from all over the country to collect and identify the remains of September 11 victims.From the biggest new stories of our time to stranger-than-true local mysteries, these are unforgettable stories from the case files of Emily Craig's remarkable career.
The Law Killers
Alexander McGregor - 2009
But only when their rage explodes and unspeakable crimes are committed do we realise we hold them in our midst. Some are unpredictable psychopaths, others achieve notoriety after a moment of madness when a single out-of-character act changes their lives forever. One thing is for certain, homicide comes in many guises - the only thing most have in common is a corpse. In The Law Killers, journalist Alexander McGregor examines some of the people and deeds, which have terrorised Dundonian communities. Having reported on many of them first-hand, he has unique insight into the cases and they are as chilling as they are compelling. The father who wanted to go one better than his double-killer son...and did. The groom who promised to love, honour and cherish both his brides...before he strangled them. The thirteen-year-old who was almost as much a victim as the child she killed. The trail of slaughter that started with a break-in and ended hundreds of miles away after an escaped convict killed again...and again and again.The unsolved murder of the wealthy spinster who led a secret life. The trail of dead women in the life of a social worker who thought he could outwit the police...and nearly did
Wrestling With Madness: John E. Du Pont and the Foxcatcher Farm Murder
Tim Huddleston - 2013
Part of one of the most prominent and richest families in America: The du Pont Family. Then, strangely, he started losing his mind. This is what is known: du Pont was a fan of amateur sports and established a wrestling facility at his Foxcatcher Farm. He befriended several Olympic champions--including Dave Schultz, who he murdered. It was a never a question of if he did it; the question is why. What turns an otherwise sane man into a psychotic killer? This page-turning true crime story will take you into the mind of a man who had everything and let it all fall away due to madness and paranoia.
Those Days in January: The Abduction and Murder of Meredith Hope Emerson
John Cagle - 2020
The search would last only five days before the worst came to pass. Gary Hilton, suspected in the deaths of three more hikers across the Southeast, was arrested for her murder. What was once a small mountain town had fallen into the sights of a serial killer. Less than a month later, Hilton would plead guilty and be sentenced to life in prison in one of the swiftest cases in Georgia history. Lead investigator John Cagle shares the details of the investigation from start to finish in this day-by-day account. Witness the struggle firsthand to seek justice for Meredith, all while protecting her memory from the opportunists, sensationalist reporters, and unscrupulous practices that threatened to deny her the dignity she deserves. Discover not only the facts of her murder, but the impact on the personal lives of those who worked tirelessly to find her. For them, those days in January will never end.
Black Hands: Inside the Bain Family Murders
Martin Van Beynen - 2020
One lay dead from a single bullet to the head. The other was the only survivor: David Bain. Since then, the country has asked: Who killed the Bain family? David, or his father Robin? And why?Award-winning journalist Martin van Beynen has covered the Bain story closely for decades. His 2017 Stuff podcast, Black Hands - based on the manuscript for this book - topped the charts in New Zealand and around the world and has been downloaded more than 5 million times. Now, his book brings the story completely up to date: exploring the case from start to finish, picking through evidence old and new, plumbing the mysteries and motives, interviewing never-before-spoken-to witnesses andguiding readers through the complex police investigation and court cases, seeking to finally answer the question: Who was the killer?Black Hands is a riveting read from the first word to the last, by a skilled writer who knows his subject inside out.“If anyone can pass judgement it can only be those who sat through the whole trial.” - David Bain in New Idea
The Acid Alchemist
Robert Brown - 2020
As a young child his life was shaped by his parent’s extreme beliefs. Little did he know that the recurring nightmares of his early life would lead to one of the most horrific cases in British criminal history. Other than his obsession with cleanliness, John George Haigh was described by his acquaintances as someone who was as normal as any young man during the 1940s in England. In fact, most people said he was a true gentleman with exceptional manners and a profound love for classical music. However, in the back of John’s crisp mind was a much darker side; a craving for wealth combined with a lust for blood… After spending many years in prison for fraud and theft, John Haigh concluded that the only reason he always got caught was because people talked. What if I can make them disappear? he thought one evening. What if I can stop them from talking to the police? Using his scientific knowledge (and a tiny bit of the legal system he had read about while in prison) he derived a new sinister plan to get rich. That was the disturbing turning point in his life. That was the point when John The Gentleman became John The Serial Killer. This is the true story of the notorious Acid Bath Murderer, a cold-blooded murderer who imagined he was above the law. A man who believed he could literally get away with murder… Caution: The material in this publication has a strong adult theme and is intended for an adult audience. Reader discretion is advised.
A Dangerous Place: The Story of the Railway Murders
Simon Farquhar - 2016
In September 1970, two boys met in the playground on their first day at secondary school in North London. They formed what would be described at the Old Bailey thirty years later as ‘a unique and wicked bond’. Between 1982 and 1986, striking near lonely railway stations in London and the Home Counties, their partnership took them from rape to murder. Three police forces pooled their resources to catch them in the biggest criminal manhunt since the Yorkshire Ripper Enquiry.A Dangerous Place is the first full-length account of the crimes of John Duffy and David Mulcahy. Told by the son of one of the police officers who led the enquiry, exhaustively researched and with unprecedented access, this is the story of two of the most notorious serial killers of the twentieth century and the times they operated in. It is the story of the women who died at their hands. It is the story of the women who survived them, and who had the courage to ensure justice was done. And it is the story of a father, told by a son.
Where the Money Is: True Tales from the Bank Robbery Capital of the World
William J. Rehder - 2003
Rehder, the man CBS News once described as "America's secret weapon in the war against bank robbers," chronicles the lives and crimes of bank robbers in today's Los Angeles who are as colorful and exciting as the legends of long ago. The mild-mannered antiques dealer who robbed more banks than anyone else in history. The modern Fagin who took a page out of Dickens and had children rob banks for him. The misfit bodybuilders who used a movie as a blueprint for a spree of violent robberies.In a fast-paced, hard-edged style that reads like a novel, Where the Money Is carries us through these stories and more—all within a pistol shot of Hollywood, all true-life tales as vivid as anything on the big screen.
True Crime: Chilling Investigations Of Some Of Our Histories Most Unfamiliar True Crime Stories
Travis S. Kennedy - 2015
When a crime has been committed, it is essential for the perpetrator to be punished. In that way, although the family of the victims won’t always be able to make sense of what happened, they will still understand that nobody is above the law. Publicizing the criminal’s modus operandi is sometimes good - the citizens will be well aware of their tactics and they can take better care of themselves. On the other hand, it can also be bad, because “would be” criminals and serial killers are also watching and they might like the idea. Such was the case of Eddie Seda. Other than him, 4 others wreaked havoc in different places, at various times: There was the man who killed prostitutes in his own home (with his family in it), a man who claimed to have killed 600 hundred women when only 3 victims were verified, a father who brought his son to “hunt” some humans, and a husband who killed his wife when she learned of his lies. How did they do it? And how did the law authorities catch them? Here Is A Preview Of What You'll Learn...
True Crime – What Drives a Killer to the Edge?
True Crime – A Day of Hunting in Leonia
True Crime – Kendall and His House of Horrors
True Crime – Try Harder: 2nd Zodiac
True Crime – The Prankster Killer
True Crime – Lori's Husband
Much, much more!
Blood & Ivy: The 1849 Murder That Scandalized Harvard
Paul Collins - 2018
Dr. George Parkman, a Brahmin who owned much of Boston’s West End, was last seen that afternoon visiting his alma mater, Harvard Medical School. Police scoured city tenements and the harbor, and offered hefty rewards as leads put the elusive Dr. Parkman at sea or hiding in Manhattan. But one Harvard janitor held a much darker suspicion: that their ruthless benefactor had never left the Medical School building alive.His shocking discoveries in a chemistry professor’s laboratory engulfed America in one of its most infamous trials: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. John White Webster. A baffling case of red herrings, grave robbery, and dismemberment—of Harvard’s greatest doctors investigating one of their own, for a murder hidden in a building full of cadavers—it became a landmark case in the use of medical forensics and the meaning of reasonable doubt. Paul Collins brings nineteenth-century Boston back to life in vivid detail, weaving together newspaper accounts, letters, journals, court transcripts, and memoirs from this groundbreaking case.Rich in characters and evocative in atmosphere, Blood Ivy explores the fatal entanglement of new science and old money in one of America’s greatest murder mysteries.