The Summer Wind: Thomas Capano and the Murder of Anne Marie Fahey


George Anastasia - 1999
    "Now, for the first time, reporter George Anastasia offers a re-creation of the Capano-Fahey affair, the murder, and its aftermath. The Summer Wind is a story of the clash of two generations and two cultures, of the arrogance of power in a growing city, and of the decaying moral landscape of late-twentieth-century America.

Texas Tragedy: The Story of Priscilla Davis: A True Story of Money, Murder and Survival


Greg Brown - 2016
    Worth, Texas. Cullen Davis was one of the richest men in Texas and his second wife, Priscilla Davis, was shot in their mansion. Also shot and murdered were her twelve-year-old daughter and her thirty-year-old boyfriend, Stan Farr. Priscilla and two other people said it was Cullen. The culprit was wearing a wig so his identity was somewhat hidden but not completely. Cullen was arrested in the early morning hours of August 3, 1976, at his girlfriend's house. He later went on trial for the murder of Priscilla's daughter. He was found not guilty but the next year he was put on trial for a murder-for-hire plot to kill the judge overseeing his divorce from Priscilla. He got off from that charge, too. And somehow he finally skirted any murder charge for Stan Farr. Finally in 1979 he and Priscilla were divorced. Priscilla received 3.3 million dollars and Cullen was able to move back into his 19,000 square-foot mansion. Two books have been written and a movie was made describing these events and characters. But nothing has been written about what really happened in the decades after the trials of the 1970's. This book explains the facts of that fateful August night and what happened in the courtrooms of Texas. But the majority chronicles the path Priscilla took after the trials of the 1970's. Priscilla was not done with Cullen yet and she would try tirelessly to obtain some kind of justice. She also decided to have a little fun along the way. The press loved Priscilla but the general public were split. She had been painted as a low-rent gold-digger in the Texas courtrooms but everyone also knew that Cullen was probably guilty of murder. In the end, only the two of them really knew the truth. This is the story of how Priscilla learned to live with the fact that justice was denied her and Cullen would probably never pay. In 1995, a 26-year-old man named Greg Brown moved in with Priscilla, who was now 53. They became lovers and Greg tells how Priscilla learned to make the most of tragic situations which were both of her making and not of her making. It's a story of struggle, love and compromise even in the most dire of circumstances.

You'll Never Find My Body


Don Lasseter - 2009
    Instead, their father showed up with a small bag of cold French fries and said their mother had gone away. Ann's children didn't believe it. Neither did her friends. And neither did the police. But there was zero evidence that anything had happened to Ann.No Body...Los Angeles detectives dug furiously into the case, grilling John Racz and searching for clues. But without a body, the investigation stalled, and three children grew up wondering what had happened to their loving mother-and if their father had killed her.And A Killer In Plain Sight...Fourteen years later, a brilliant female prosecutor defied the legal establishment and delved into the cold case, uncovering shocking information about Ann and her relationship with John. Suddenly, a crusading prosecutor was up against the most difficult kind of murder case of all: to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that John Racz had murdered his wife-despite the fact that her body was never found...With 16 pages of photosDon Lasseter has authored a dozen true crime books, more than fifty magazine articles, and a book about WWII airmen downed in France and rescued by the Resistance. His best seller is Die for Me (Pinnacle, 2000) a chronicle of crimes by California serial killer Charles Ng. Lasseter's television appearances include several talk shows and crime documentaries on A&E's "American Justice and Biography," Court TV, the Discovery Channel, and CSPAN's Book TV. He is a resident of Orange County, California.

Doctor, Doctor: A True Story of Obsession, Addiction, and Psychological Manipulation


Merry Freer - 2014
    Although smart and successful in a controlled and stable workplace, she has been taught since childhood to substitute her own judgement for that of others, leaving her naïve, gullible and ill-prepared to effectively manage the complexities of her new life.When Susan meets Mark, a charismatic and charming doctor, she thinks she has found the kind of love and passion she has longed for. But things are not as they appear with Mark, and slowly she becomes aware of the deceptive life he is leading. Seeking counsel and solace in a trusted therapist, she encourages Mark to accompany her to a session.The three year odyssey begins with intense therapy - appointments orchestrated by a psychiatrist who develops a personal stake in the couple’s progress. Secrets, lies, and silent pacts draw Susan, inexperienced and trusting, deeply into Mark’s treatment plan. The shrewd therapist’s unorthodox and manipulative schemes break all the rules, taking Susan into a world of drama, deceit, betrayal, and an excruciatingly close encounter with the law – an encounter that forces her to choose between saving Mark or saving herself.

Our Friend Travis: The Travis Alexander Story


Chris Hughes - 2015
    He was in the prime of his life enjoying good health, financial success, world travel and a bustling social life. But, things weren't always so good for him. His life began in dismal circumstances, and tragically, it ended worse than it began. He was born to drug addicted parents and suffered many of the worst privations of life. His family was poor and his parents were neglectful and abusive. He was teased and bullied as a small child and had few, if any, friends.    After running away at the age of ten and going to live with his Grandmother, he became active in his church. Travis began to thrive in this environment. He had found a place where he was accepted. He had a support group, many friends and a purpose. Travis did not let his dark childhood stop him from accomplishing great things in his life. He used his negative experiences to propel him into a life of abundance and success by becoming better every day. Like many single, thirty-year-old men, he was dating in hopes of finding Mrs. Right, so he could get married, start a family and live the good life. Unfortunately, Jodi Arias, one of the women Travis was dating, was a psychopath. When Travis was dating her, they were living in different states. Soon after he broke things off, she moved within a mile of his house in Mesa, Arizona! She stalked him, hacked his email and social media accounts, and made his life unlivable. Her manipulation, lies, conniving, need for control and invasive behaviors were too much for Travis and he finally convinced her to move back to Yreka, California in April of 2008. On May 26, 2008 Travis finally saw Jodi for the evil monster she is. Via text, chat and email, they got into a huge fight. In June 2008, she set off on a 1,027 mile road trip to Mesa, Arizona to murder Travis. With Travis’ blood still under her fingernails, she headed to Utah to hook-up with a new love interest. Travis was found with twenty-nine stab wounds, shot in the face, and with his throat slit from ear to ear. After a heart-wrenching, five-year delay, the case finally went to trial, and became one of the highest profile murder trials in recent history. On May 8, 2013, his killer was convicted of first-degree, pre-meditated murder. During the grueling, ten month trial, which was in large part a circus act of character assassination, lies and fiction, Travis’s life was purposefully distorted and despicably misrepresented. This book was written to share with the world who Travis Victor Alexander was, the reality of what he endured, and the positive impact he continues to have on the world. Our Friend Travis is a book about the real Travis; his life, his light, his triumphs, his mistakes, his death, his murderer’s trial and his legacy. Chris and Sky Hughes are able to offer an insight that few, if any, have into Travis’s life and the evil that ended it. The world deserves to know the real Travis, and they hope you will get to know him through this book. They hope that his loving demeanor, zest for life, passion for service and ability to make people realize their divine potential jumps off the pages and into your heart. NOTE ABOUT REVIEWS OF THIS BOOK: This book includes information about the Jodi Arias murder trial, which was one of the highest profile murder trials in recent history. As a result of the media attention this case garnered, millions around the world have come to know Travis Alexander and Jodi Arias, the woman who viciously murdered him. Though the public came out overwhelmingly in support of Travis Alexander, his friends and family, there is a very small, but vocal group, who, for whatever reason, are supportive of a convicted murderer.

When The Bough Breaks: The True Story Of Child Killer Kathleen Folbigg


Matthew Benns - 2003
    She killed her four children over 10 years. Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura Folbigg died one by one over a 10-year period in similar circumstances - suddenly, unexpectedly and while sleeping. Each was discovered by Kathleen, their mother, who raised the alarm to her husband, Craig, that they were not breathing. When the Folbiggs' marriage fell apart six weeks after the death of their fourth child, Laura, Craig was devastated. It only got worse when he discovered Kathleen's diary in her bedside drawer. Horrified at his wife's ramblings about losing control with the children, her 'terrible thoughts' and her fears she was her 'father's daughter', he took the diary to the police. The diary was the crucial evidence Detective Bernie Ryan had been searching for to confirm his suspicions that the babies had been murdered. With his career and credibility on the line, he made the decision to charge Kathleen Folbigg with the murder of her four innocent babies. No one who knew Kathleen could believe she had murdered her own children. Yet few knew of her tragic past - the fact that her own father had stabbed her mother to death four decades earlier. When The Bough Breaks exposes the secret life of Australia's worst convicted female serial killer, a woman jailed for the unthinkable crime of killing her own children. It raises important issues about parents who do not feel emotionally attached to their children and about the diagnosis of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome as a cause of death.

Another Forgotten Child: Free Sampler: Too Late to Help? A Shocking True Story of Abuse and Neglect


Cathy Glass - 2015
    Her five older siblings were taken into care many years ago. So no one can understand why she was left at home to suffer for so long. It seems Aimee was forgotten.The social services are looking for a very experienced foster carer to look after Aimee and, when she reads the referral, Cathy understands why. Despite her reservations, Cathy agrees to Aimee on – there is something about her that reminds Cathy of Jodie (the subject of ‘Damaged’ and the most disturbed child Cathy has cared for), and reading the report instantly tugs at her heart strings.When she arrives, Aimee is angry. And she has every right to be. She has spent the first eight years of her life living with her drug-dependent mother in a flat that the social worker described as ‘not fit for human habitation’. Aimee is so grateful as she snuggles into her bed at Cathy’s house on the first night that it brings Cathy to tears.Aimee’s aggressive mother is constantly causing trouble at contact, and makes sweeping allegations against Cathy and her family in front of her daughter as well. It is a trying time for Cathy, and it makes it difficult for Aimee to settle. But as Aimee begins to trust Cathy, she starts to open up. And the more Cathy learns about Aimee’s life before she came into care, the more horrified she becomes.It’s clear that Aimee should have been rescued much sooner and as her journey seems to be coming to a happy end, Cathy can’t help but reflect on all the other ‘forgotten children’ that are still suffering…

Blood & Marriage: Chris Watts: With these hands


Kathleen McKenna Hewtson - 2021
    

Flesh Collectors: Their Ghoulish Appetites Drove Them to Crimes that Only Began With Murder


Fred Rosen - 2003
    A friendship grew from their shared lust for sadistic brutality, and once released, they teamed up to hunt human prey. In March, 1998, in Pensacola, Florida, while quietly watching TV, Leighton Smitherman was shot in the back by assailants hiding outside his home. Amazingly, he survived, not knowing that he'd been chosen at random by would-be-thrill-killers. Their next target wasn't so lucky. Justin Livingston, 20, died from multiple stab wounds - some more than six inches deep. The horror peaked on 7 May 1999, when Rodgers went on a date with pretty Jennifer Robinson, 18, with Lawrence tagging along. The young woman was drugged and assaulted first by Rodgers, then Lawrence, before Rodgers shot her execution-style. But the worse was yet to come, an unspeakable act of mutilation that followed in the bloody footsteps of one of the most infamous serial killers of our time...

More Than Just A Pretty Face: Can You Identify Any Of Us? Victims of Serial Killer Rodney Alcala


Victoria Best - 2019
     Hiding in the shadows of depravity, Rodney James Alcala was one of the most cunning and terrifying of all serial killers. Highly mobile, and able to fit in anywhere, Alcala 'flew under the radar’ during his murderous career in the 1960s and 1970s. Even though he was arrested and in prison since 1980, his trials and appeals were not complete until March 2010. He was sentenced to death for the murders of four young women and a 12-year-old girl. However, it is firmly believed that his victim count is much higher. Law enforcement found a secret storage locker of Alcala’s containing hundreds of photographs of young women, children, and even two boys. They believe more of his victims could be among the unidentified photos. Can you identify any of us? Our photos were found in the secret storage locker of a Serial Killer.

The Murders of Christopher Watts


Cheryln Cadle - 2020
    Cheryln Cadle contacted him and started visiting him in prison. Christopher started writing her letters from his prison cell in Wisconsin. These letters had his confessions of things he had never told anyone else. Now she shares the letters and the truth about what happened that fateful night in Frederick Colorado to Shanann, Nico, Bella and Celeste Watts at the hands of their father. Was he just a monster or was it truly his girlfriend that he wanted to start a life with the reason he was willing to kill his family?

Kids Who Kill: Case 2: Eric Smith


Kathryn McMaster - 2018
    But he chose not to. Eric continued to deal with Derrick's body because he wanted to, because he chose to, and most frighteningly of all, because he enjoyed it."Four-year-old Derrick Robie is dead. The killer's name is Eric Smith. He is just thirteen years old. Eric Smith loves torturing small animals of all descriptions; cats and kittens, birds, even snakes. When he graduates to people, he shows no remorse for what he has done. "I have just met the Anti-Christ," says a family friend to his wife after meeting teen-killer Eric Smith for the first time.This is the true story of a chilling murder of a preschooler who becomes the target of Eric's uncontrollable rage. Did police officers stop a serial killer in the making? You decide.If you read true crime books by Ann Rule, Jack Rosewood, or Kathryn Case, you will enjoy reading Kathryn McMaster's books. Kathryn McMaster is an accomplished author who specializes in true crime and unsolved cases and explores the darkest side of the human mind.

First We'll Kill My Husband


Lyn Riddle - 2008
    . . Gulf War veteran Doug Gissendaner would do anything for a friend, a stranger, or the wife who broke every rule in the marriage book. Now, investigators were scouring the Georgia woods not far from Doug's home. They'd already found the charred wreckage of his car. They knew they were looking for a body. . . A Hitman Who Killed For Love. . . Gregory Owen had been having an on-again, off-again affair with Doug's wife for years. Then Kelly Gissendaner told Greg it was time for her husband to die. With a knife and a plan, Greg forced Doug to drive into the woods. When Greg finished his savage, cold-blooded deed, Kelly showed up to make sure Doug was dead. A Woman On Death Row. . . This is the astounding true story of the only woman on Georgia's Death Row and the chilling, account of how she got there. From the hold Kelly had over a good and decent man to her dramatic, controversial trial, "First We'll Kill My Husband" captures the lies, schemes, and manipulations of a woman totally bent on murder. . . Includes 16 pages of shocking photos! Lyn Riddle is a freelance writer and journalist whose work regularly appears in "The New York Times, " the "Los Angeles Times, " and "The Atlanta Constitution." She is the author of "Family Blood: The Murder that Shattered an All-American Home " and "Ashes to Ashes. "She lives in Simpsonville (near Greenville), SC.

Honeymoon Dive: The Real Story of the Tragic Honeymoon Death of Tina Watson


Lindsay Simpson - 2010
    But that picture was to tell a desperate story. In the lower right-hand corner of the shot, Tina Watson's lifeless body lies 25 metres down on the ocean floor, her arms outstretched, reaching upwards. This is the photograph which shocked millions across Australia and the US.How could this young woman have died, a mere seven minutes into her dive, when Gabe Watson, her diving buddy and husband of only eleven days, was a certified rescue diver? How could such an experienced diver have panicked and abandoned his new wife to her fate, as he later told police? As the tragedy unfolded and witnesses came forward, disturbing evidence mounted that something more sinister might have occurred. Could Gabe Watson have murdered Tina?This is the captivating mystery at the heart of this true-life thriller, as Lindsay Simpson and Jennifer Cooke cover two continents to discover the real story.

Limb from Limb


George Hunter - 2009
    . .On Valentine's Day 2007, in a suburb of Detroit, stay-at-home dad Stephen Grant filed a missing person's report with the local sheriff. Grant's wife Tara had disappeared five days earlier. He'd been searching for her ever since--or so he claimed. He Started With Her Hands. . .Over the next two weeks, police questioned Grant. He lashed out, accusing them of harassment, pleading his innocence in television interviews. He swore that his wife, a successful businesswoman, had abandoned him and their children. Then the police made a gruesome discovery. . .He Kept Her Torso In The Garage.After his arrest, Grant confessed to strangling his wife and cutting her body into fourteen pieces while the children slept. "Detroit News" reporter George Hunter interviewed Grant several times, learning shocking details of his relationship with Tara. This chilling account goes inside the twisted mind of a husband who snapped--and a marriage that ended in bloody carnage.Includes 16 Pages Of Shocking Photos