Such strange and chilling tales run the gamut of the terrifying and the bizarre and include crime victims, lost explorers, ships vanished at sea, outdoor disappearances, and supernatural mysteries that defy all explanation. Among these pages you’ll find accounts of America’s Lost Colony, history’s most famous ghost ships, famous figures who vanished into the unknown, the unknown fate of America’s first kidnapping for ransom, a vanished heiress, lighthouse keepers who impossibly disappeared, the killer who escaped the noose – permanently, the Grand Canyon adventurers who were never seen again, the Prohibition lawman’s nephew who was never found, the Ohio sorority girl who never made it home, the abducted housewife who disappeared, the Hollywood starlet who left her family behind, a missing West Point cadet, the babysitter who vanished on Halloween, the missing Texas couple who may have been Russian spies, the little boy who walked away for good in the Smoky Mountains, a missing heiress to a candy empire, a missing TV news reporter, a long distance runner whose run never ended, plus infamous vanishings of figures like Theodosia Burr, Amelia Earhart, Glenn Miller, Judge Crater, Jimmy Hoffa, and far too many more! Just remember as you turn the pages, that if these people so easily vanished from the face of the earth, then it means it could happen to anyone – perhaps even you. You may want to read this one with the lights on.

    

    "Finally, the definitive book about Escobar, original and up-to-date" - UNILAD   Pablo Escobar was a mama's boy who cherished his family and sang in the shower, yet he bombed a passenger plane and formed a death squad that used genital electrocution.Most Escobar biographies only provide a few pieces of the puzzle, but this action-packed 1000-page book reveals everything about the king of cocaine. Mostly translated from Spanish, Part 1 contains stories untold in the English-speaking world, including: The tragic death of his youngest brother Fernando. The fate of his pregnant mistress. The shocking details of his affair with a TV celebrity. The presidential candidate who encouraged him to eliminate their rivals.

    Piper's three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Shaina, answered and said, "A mean man carried Mommy away." Then the line went dead. In the tranquil region of southeast South Dakota, word of the young mother who was brazenly abducted from her home in broad daylight shocked residents. Piper was the second woman to vanish, following the startling incident of a young woman who narrowly escaped abduction by fighting for her life on a dark and secluded highway.An intensive search by an elite team of investigators uncovered a secret crime location, but the discovery of a nightshirt cut in half, a burnt candle, and a homemade bondage board revealed the chilling truth behind the missing women. With the help of a quick-witted and streetwise maximum security prison inmate, prosecutor Larry Long and his team were able to piece together the sinister facts of the diabolical crimes.Bestselling authors PHIL AND SANDY HAMMAN, along with former Attorney General LARRY LONG, dive into the grim and demented world of Robert Leroy Anderson, a sexual sadist, rapist, and murderer. Duct Tape Killer is also the story of perseverance and proof that love will not be extinguished by the ruinous evil that seeks to take root in our world.

    Expanded and updated, this new edition of The Mammoth Book of Unsolved Crime includes such recent cases as British backpacker Peter Falconio, lost in the Australian outback, and reporting as diverse as Colin Wilson's look at the Zodiac Killer of California and Russell Miller's examination of the ongoing obsession with LA's Black Dahlia Killer, to Sydney Horley on the woman who was cleared of murdering her husband and went on to become a Broadway star, and Philip Sugden on that most mythic criminal enigma of them all, Jack the Ripper. Nearly all the cases involve one or more acts of murder, and all are left with a question mark hanging over them—real-life whodunits that offer a continuing challenge to all who find fascination in the criminal mind.

    From the outside, the Whitman’s appeared to be living the American dream but within the household, lay a much darker reality. Charles Whitman Sr made sure his family wanted for nothing and in return, he demanded perfection. Lethargy or failure were unacceptable and resulted in violence. Growing up under the brutal rule of Charles Sr took its toll on Charles Jr. He could not live up to the impossible expectations set by his father nor could he accept his failures. Charles Jr struggled to control his inner thoughts and temper, and his life started to unravel. He needed to put an end to his trajectory. He wasn’t going to slide into mediocrity. He wouldn’t go silently into suicide and oblivion. The world needed to know his name and what he was truly capable of, for the rest of time. The Texas Tower Sniper is a chilling account of one of the largest campus shootings in American history. Ryan Green’s riveting narrative draws the reader into the real-live horror experienced by the victims and has all the elements of a classic thriller. CAUTION: This book contains descriptive accounts of abuse and violence. If you are especially sensitive to this material, it might be advisable not to read any further

    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.

    The man admitted he had attempted to siphon gas from a motor home but inadvertently put the siphon tube in the wrong tank. Instead of gasoline, the man sucked out the contents of the sewage holding tank. If stupidity were lethal, all of the criminals highlighted in The Stupid Crook Book would be dead. This book from highly successful author Leland H. Gregory III captures hilarious tales of captured criminals who are so dumb you almost feel sorry for them. Almost. This lineup of criminal bozos includes: * Michael Anthony Silver, who made a $250 call to a 1-900 psychic hotline in the course of robbing a home. When the phone bill came later that month the homeowners called the police, who traced the call back to the hotline. It turns out Silver used his real name with the psychic.* A would-be bank robber who fainted when a bank teller told him she had no money. The police later found his getaway car and discovered the key locked inside it.* Tony Bariteau, who was arrested and pled guilty to breaking into the Deja Vu store in Troy, Alabama-twice! He was arrested because the same witness spotted him smashing the same window and stealing much of the same merchandise. Deja vu indeed.* A wanted fugitive from Maryland who was running low on cash and stopped by a police station in Texas to ask for gas money. The police saved him the expense and gave him a free ride back to prison.The Stupid Crook Book builds on the successful trail Gregory blazed with America's Dumbest Criminals, the book he coauthored that spent 17 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list.Author's web site: www.realwacky.com/

    Local writer Mark Gribben reveals how Dr. James Howard Snook was captured and interrogated, including his gory confession of Theora Hix's death. During the trial, the details of the illicit love affair were so salacious that newspapers could only hint about what really led to the coed's murder and the professor's ultimate punishment. For the first time, read the full account of this astonishing story, from scandalous beginning to tragic end.

    Jay Smith, a high school principal and her accused killer. The naked body of Susan Reinert, a suburban, Philadelphia school teacher was found jammed into the hatchback of a car. Her two young children were missing and never found.Thus began one of the most prominent murder cases Pennsylvania history, and one that would grip the nation. Now the defense attorney for the main suspect of the murders-- Jay Smith, the principal of the school where Reinert taught-- takes you inside the cover-ups and corruption that dramatically affected the outcome of the case. Did Jay Smith do it? Did he deserved the death penalty? it is you who must decide.

    Presented here in an easy-to-follow chronology are the raw, unedited and most fascinating official case files as they appeared to the detectives from the Pacific Northwest to the Rocky Mountains to Florida.Book three in Sullivan’s Bundy Trilogy (The Bundy Murders, The Trail of Ted Bundy), The Bundy Secrets completes Sullivan’s opus by presenting readers with a 'just the facts' rendition of the formerly classified files of the manhunt, as well as contemporary interviews, gathered by Sullivan from dozens of sources along Bundy’s trail of terror. A must-have for true crime students of Ted Bundy.

     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.

    

    Guns are drawn, and in the ensuing hail of bullets, only the husband walks away. However, police soon find out, that what seems to be a robbery gone wrong is anything but. The Case of the Ragged Stranger, as the tabloids dubbed it, is a tale of deceit, betrayal, and depravity, a stranger-than-fiction mystery story whose shocking solution riveted the nation and made it one of the most sensational crimes of the Jazz Age.

    He was the top justice of New York’s highest court. She was a stunning socialite and his wife’s step-cousin. In 1993 Sol Wachtler was convicted of blackmail and extortion against Joy Silverman, his former mistress. How did a respected jurist and one of the most prominent men in America end up serving time in prison? Linda Wolfe starts at the beginning—from Wachtler’s modest Brooklyn upbringing through his courtship and marriage to Joan Wolosoff, the only child of a wealthy real estate developer.   Joy Fererh was three and a half when her father walked out. When she and Sol met, he was fifty-five and nearing the pinnacle of his legal career. She was a thirtysomething stay-at-home mother who, with Sol’s help, made a career for herself as a Republican Party fundraiser. They kept their affair a secret—until an explosive mix of sex, power, betrayal, and prescription-drug abuse set the stage for the tabloid headlines of the decade.