Book picks similar to
September Sacrifice by Mark Horner


true-crime
crime
non-fiction
last-podcast

My Brother's Keeper: The Official Bra Boys Story


Sean Doherty - 2009
    Ringed by a jail, a sewerage works, a rifle range and a housing commission estate, it was where the streets of Sydney met the beach. It was a place where the local boys surfed hard and partied harder. It was also a place where trouble easily found you. Adopted by Maroubra Beach at a young age, the four Abberton brothers, all born to different fathers and a mother in the clutches of heroin addiction, grew up at a time when the area was shadowed by drugs and gang violence. Raised largely by their grandmother, Sunny, Jai, Koby and Dakota found solace in the surf, and solidarity with their mates, the Bra Boys.The official biography of the Abberton brothers follows their story from a turbulent upbringing on the sands of Maroubra to international surf stardom, and the fateful events of 5 August 2003, when Jai shot dead Maroubra underworld figure and childhood friend Tony Hines, only to be acquitted on the grounds of self-defence. The Official Bra Boys Story: My Brothers Keeper is raw, gritty, from the heart ... and everything you won′t read about in the newspapers.

Fear Came to Town: The Santa Claus, Georgia, Murders


Doug Crandell - 2009
    The Christmas holiday spirit lives all year around. It?s also where Jerry Scott Heidler was raised. And where?in December 1997?he brutally slaughtered his former foster family in an act that devastated the town forever.

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.

The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy


Elizabeth Kendall - 1981
    However, very rarely do we hear from the women he left behind—the ones forgotten as mere footnotes in this tragedy. This updated and expanded reissue of Elizabeth Kendall’s 1981 book The Phantom Prince chronicles her intense, six-year relationship with Ted Bundy and its eventual unraveling. Featuring a new introduction and a new afterword by the author, never-before-seen photos, and a new chapter from the author’s daughter, Molly, this gripping account presents a remarkable examination of obsession, intrigue, and the darkness that love can mask.

Dead Men Walking


Bill Wallace - 2010
    What is it like to live out your days inside one of the toughest prisons,knowing you'll never again see beyond the exercise yard?Is it really possible to make friends or form relationships inside?What should you do if you've been sentenced to die for a crime you did not commit?This book examines the life-stories of men who claim to be innocent, men who were eventually proven innocent and those who are so dangerous that life simply has to mean life.CONTENTS:PART ONE : LIFERS including Machine Gun Kelly, The Bostons Strangler, Charles Manson, Son of Sam, The Yorkshire Ripper, Dennis Nilsen, Jeffrey Dahmer PART TWO : HIGH PROFILE EXECUTIONS including Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Derek Bentley, The Night Caller, James Hanratty, Gary Gilmore, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy PART THREE : DEATH ROW USA including Ray Krone, Nick Yarris, Richard Allen Davis, Kenny Richey, Michael Morales, Richard Ramirez, Karl ChamberlainPART FOUR : WOMEN ON DEATH ROW including Ruth Snyder, Ruth Ellis, Velma Barfield, Aileen Wuornos

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.

Hunting A Psychopath: The East Area Rapist / Original Night Stalker Investigation


Richard Shelby - 2014
     Hunting A Psychopath chronicles the on-going search for the identity of the serial rapist and murderer known both as the East Area Rapist and Original Night Stalker. The author first lays the ground work for how the investigation was conducted. Then using what reports are still available, plus some personal insights, he examines each assault in the order they occurred. Gradually the methods used by the EAR/ONS in first searching out his victims, then stalking them, come to light. The EAR/ONS first surfaced in June,1976,in Sacramento, CA. He was last heard from in May, 1986,in Irvine, CA, where he brutally murdered an eighteen year old woman. In between those years he stayed busy, assaulting fifty-three people, and murdering twelve more, while spreading a blanket of fear across central CA and parts of Southern CA. It has been over thirty-years now,and still he has not been brought to justice. Although there have been other unsolved crimes of this same nature and of even greater magnitude, this series seems to have had a lasting impact on the public -- enough so that a virtual army of private citizens are pursuing this investigation on their own. When time permits, there are full time police officers who also work this investigation. By examining the information from each assault, it gradually becomes clear just how meticulous the EAR/ONS was. Every detail, from selecting a victim, to the actual assault, appear to have been carefully planned and orchestrated. The EAR/ONS was as devoted to committing sexual assaults and murders as anyone devoted to their own profession. In a distorted way, he was a professional rapist / murderer, and quite probably a certifiable psychopath. Perhaps this continuing interest is because those wanting to involve themselves in the investigation know it can still be brought to a satisfactory conclusion.

Against Her Will: The Senseless Murder of Kelly Ann Tinyes


Ronald J. Watkins - 1995
    But the nightmare to come was worse than they could ever imagine. Only five doors away, in the home of John and Elizabeth Golub, police found Kelly Ann's body stuffed in a plastic garbage bag. She'd been brutally beaten, stabbed, strangled, and mutilated. After weeks of intense investigation, police arrested the Golubs twenty-one-year-old son, Robert - a reclusive young man obsessed with bodybuilding and given to fits of rage. The sensational trial and subsequent conviction of Robert Golub shocked the nation and tore the once peaceful community apart. Neighbors took sides. So did the media. And no one who lived on Horton Road would ever be the same.NOTE: This book was re-edited in May, 2013 to correct OCR conversion errors.

Chris & Nancy: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide & Pro Wrestling's Cocktail of Death


Irvin Muchnick - 2009
    It laid bare the devastating prevalence of steroids and its effects on users. In order to tackle the whole story, dig up the facts, and connect the dots, Irvin Muchnick gives the most sensational scandal in pro wrestling history the full true-crime treatment in Chris and Nancy. Muchnick – the author of Wrestling Babylon and a co-author of Benoit: Wrestling with the Horror That Destroyed a Family and Crippled a Sport – has parsed public records and interviewed dozens of witnesses, inside and outside wrestling, to put together the first thorough and authoritative events of the gruesome June 2007 weekend in Fayette County, Georgia, during which World Wrestling Entertainment superstar Chris Benoit murdered his wife Nancy and their seven-year-old son Daniel, before proceeding to kill himself. But this book goes beyond the crime itself to answer some of the most important questions behind it. The biography of Benoit, a wrestler’s wrestler, makes it clear that his tragedy was a microcosm of the culture of drugs and death behind the scenes of one of North America’s most popular brand of sports entertainment. The author probes the story of the massive supplies of steroids and human growth hormone found in his home – all prescribed by a “doctor to the stars” who got indicted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and all dismissed by a WWE “wellness policy” that promoted everything except its talent’s wellness. The Benoit case led to unprecedented scrutiny of wrestling’s overall health and safety standards, by Congressional investigators and others, and this book is the primary source of what they found and what they should continue to look for. The ebook edition includes a new introduction that looks at recent events in sports, and further contextualizes the story of Chris Benoit and the figures surrounding his career.

Guilt by Matrimony: A Memoir of Love, Madness, and the Murder of Nancy Pfister


Nancy Styler - 2015
    The question was: Who did it? Fewer than twelve hours after her body was found and without any evidence, police decided a married couple from Denver had killed her. Within a few days, they arrested and charged Nancy Styler, a friend of Pfister’s who’d had a falling out with her after a business deal went sour, and Dr. Trey Styler, Nancy’s disabled husband, who recently lost the family home, his medical practice, and any hope of a peaceful retirement for himself and his wife. Eleven days later, police also arrested and charged Kathy Carpenter, Pfister’s underpaid and overworked personal assistant and closest friend.Months later, Trey Styler, who was slowly losing his grip on reality as he battled with mental illness, confessed to the crime. Rampant speculation spread about whether he was involved at all—or if his confession was that of a man on his deathbed—because a medical condition appeared to have left him barely able to walk, much less carry out such a heinous crime.In Guilt by Matrimony, Styler’s widow, Nancy, reveals the answers to the biggest mysteries of this case and recounts the trauma of being falsely accused and imprisoned for a first-degree murder she had no knowledge of. And, in the only interview before his death, Trey gives his account of that fateful day.New York Times bestselling author Daleen Berry covers this compelling story from the inside, following the Stylers from their fairy-tale life in Denver to the morning of their simultaneous arrest to Nancy’s release from jail and her attempts to rebuild her shattered life. Filled with details from exclusive interviews, a close look at the botched small-town police work, and first-person accounts of what really happened, Guilt by Matrimony is the definitive look at a shocking murder that rocked Aspen.

Killer Nurse


John Foxjohn - 2013
    In April alone, they’d rushed thirty-four patients to the hospital. But no one expected such a horrific cause to be behind it all.Kimberly Clark Saenz was a well-liked licensed vocational nurse at the center. The East Texas nurse was a mother of two, and known for her smiles and the stories she told to help patients pass the time. But on April 28, 2008, witnesses came forward to say that instead of lifesaving medication, they’d seen Saenz adding toxic bleach to IV ports. Turns out, it wasn’t the first time. Once caught, the shocking story of Saenz’s murderous practices began to unravel…INCLUDES PHOTOS

Killer Clown: The John Wayne Gacy Murders


Terry Sullivan - 1983
    He would be the final victim of John Wayne Gacy's horrifying compulsion. Then, ten days after the boy's disappearance. Detectives, finding a human bone in the crawl space of Gacy's house, dug into the lime-covered ground. With mounting horror, they pulled bone after bone from Gacy's suburban home until finally they had gathered the remains of twenty-eight more youths who had fallen prey to the killer clown. 16 Pages of Shocking Photos! "An unnerving true story of murder, terror and justice." –The Dallas Morning News

John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster


Sam L. Amirante - 2011
    It is a gory, grotesque tale befitting a Stephen King novel. It is also a David and Goliath saga—the story of a young lawyer fresh from the Public Defender’s Office whose first client in private practice turns out to be the worst serial killer in our nation’s history. Sam Amirante had just opened his first law practice when he got a phone call from his friend John Wayne Gacy, a well-known and well-liked community figure. Gacy was upset about what he called “police harassment” and asked Amirante for help. With the police following his every move in connection with the disappearance of a local teenager, Gacy eventually gives a drunken, dramatic, early morning confession—to his new lawyer. Gacy is eventually charged with murder and Amirante suddenly becomes the defense attorney for one of American’s most disturbing serial killers. It is his first case. This is a gripping narrative that reenacts the gruesome killings and the famous trial that shocked a nation.

No One Can Hurt Him Anymore


Carol J. Rothgeb - 2005
    But how could he have drowned when the water level was only four feet deep? And why was his body covered with cuts and bruises from head to toe?Wicked StepmotherSuspicion soon fastened on the dead boy's stepmother, Jessica Schwarz, who boastfully described herself as "loud and crude." She was a brute and a bully--but was she a torturer and child killer? Investigators unearthed a pattern of nightmarish physical and mental abuse that she had inflicted on the boy, one that left even hardened police sleuths sickened.Day Of ReckoningDuring her trials, Jessica Schwarz was smugly defiant, until convictions for criminal child abuse and second degree murder wiped the smirk off her face. She is now serving a seventy-year prison term. Carol J. Rothgeb, author of Hometown Killer, and Scott H. Cupp, the prosecutor who successfully convicted Jessica Schwarz, now tell the riveting inside story of how a brutal killer's reign of terror was finally brought to an end.

Dennis Nilsen - Conversations with Britain's Most Evil Serial Killer


Russ Coffey - 2013
    As the squad car drove him away, he confessed he had strangled 15 young men. But it wasn’t just the crimes that stunned the police, but the way Nilsen spoke. He said he loved the young men he killed. When newspapers carried stories of how the 37-year-old lured men back to his flat and why, the nation was shocked by his sheer evil. Yet some psychiatrists considered him a man of rare, complex, and extreme psychological problems. In addition, none of them had met a killer who seemed so keen to understand his own psyche. Whilst on remand in Brixton Prison, Nilsen filled 55 exercise books with thoughts. During his subsequent 30 years in prison he has continued to write—most notably on the first draft of a multi-volume autobiography—which the Home Office has banned. Using exclusive access to Nilsen's writing and extensive independent research, Russ Coffey explains what Nilsen says and how much of it we can believe. This is a shocking glimpse into the mind of a killer.