Book picks similar to
The Meaning of Our Tears: The True Story of the Lawson Family Murders of Christmas Day 1929 by Trudy J. Smith
true-crime
non-fiction
history
morbid
We Have Your Daughter: The Unsolved Murder of Jonbenet Ramsey Twenty Years Later
Paula Woodward - 2016
Here for the first time, Woodward publishes exclusive police reports from the JB Murder Book Index which no other media have obtained. She examines conversations and information from all sides of those involved in the case. She documents media errors that led to many "urban myths". She shares information compiled during the twenty years she reported on the murder, including private conversations with law enforcement individuals directly involved in the case, their thoughts and dissections of what went wrong and right, and who they now believe is the killer. Woodward has included drawings by JonBenét, letters from her teachers, and photographs that show a normal, happy six-year-old whose life was cut short in such a horrible manner. She shares portions of John Ramsey's private journal,where he wrote of his torment and grief immediately after his daughter's murder. And she recounts personal conversations with JonBenét's mother prior to her death from cancer in 2006. JonBenét's brother Burke talks publicly about his sister's death and how it affected the family and his life.
Kentucky Bloodbath: Ten Bizarre Tales of Murder from the Bluegrass State
Kevin M. Sullivan - 2015
And then there’s the demented son who returns home to live with his mother and stepfather, and one night in their beautiful mansion sitting atop a high bluff overlooking the Ohio River, slaughters them. Each case will keep you on the edge of your seat. From The Author:As I began my research into past Kentucky killers and their victims, I was well aware there were a good number of very unusual homicides from the Bluegrass State, as I’d read about them over the years in newspapers accounts, heard the strange tales from relatives and friends, or watched the occasional newscasts on TV. But these sources were never in-depth studies of the cases in question; and worse still, very often, erroneous information came forth, and it wasn’t until I began the research, using the original case files, that I’d find out what really happened. And it would be in these moments of discovery, that an accurate picture of each individual tragedy would rise and take shape from the seemingly innumerable police reports and interviews of those involved. Indeed, many of these ten stories I’ve “unearthed” would have been lost forever had I not sought them out from the dusty archives and storage facilities scattered throughout the state; stories that would, ultimately, be destined for obscurity and eventual disposal as the decades dragged on. Recently, one radio interviewer, contemplating their bizarre aspects, quite rightly stated how all of these Kentucky murders resembled something out of The Twilight Zone, and I quickly had to agree with his assessment. That’s the nature of these cases, and frankly, it was what I was looking for in my quest to uncover true crime in Kentucky. From The Story "Blood In The Moonlight": “As Bauer led the officer to the side door where they entered the house through the kitchen, Kendrick asked if he knew who’d done this, and Bauer said, “No.” Just before stepping inside the home, Kendrick radioed the Emergency Medical Services unit, telling them to continue on to this address – code 3 – and that homicide units should be sent as well. Having notified dispatch, Kendrick then drew his weapon and entered a nightmare."
The Corpsewood Manor Murders in North Georgia
Amy Petulla - 2016
They brutally murdered their hosts. Dr. Charles Scudder and companion Joey Odom built the "castle in the woods" in the Trion forest after Scudder left his position as professor at Loyola. He brought with him twelve thousand doses of LSD. Rumors of drug use and Satanism swirled around the two men. Scudder even claimed to have summoned a demon to protect the estate. The murders set the stage for a trial vibrant with local lore.
The Boston Strangler
Gerold Frank - 1966
A reprint of a hardcover edition.The most bizarre series of murders since Jack the Ripper triggered the greatest man-hunt in the annals of modern crime for Albert deSalvo, brutal sexual psychopath, who murdered thirteen women and held a city in the icy grip of terror for eighteen months.
Tortured Minds: Pennsylvania's Most Bizarre--But Forgotten--Murders
Tammy Mal - 2014
A teenage girl disappears on her way home from Coatesville High School. A reputed witch turns up dead in Pottsville. A young woman seemingly helps solve her own murder after she dies in a Philadelphia park.True-crime author Tammy Mal digs up facts on four of Pennsylvania’s weirdest killings in her book Tortured Minds: Pennsylvania’s Most Bizarre—But Forgotten—Murders. These 1930s crimes have long fallen into obscurity, but Mal deftly revives them in stark detail, from discovery of the body and through the trial. Ghosts, witches, resentment, and sex factor into these crimes, giving them a chilling edge as Mal brings them back to life in her latest true-crime book. It’s a look into just what tortured minds can do, certain to convince you to lock your doors after dark.
Psycho.com: serial killers on the internet
Eileen Ormsby - 2020
The internet has put them in our pocketsPsycho.com is a chilling look at what happens when murderous minds meet modern technology by the bestselling author of The Darkest WebThis book expands on three cases originally released in edited form for the Casefile True Crime podcast:Pedro Rodrigues Filho, aka Pedrinho Matador, aka Killer PeteyDnepropetrovsk Maniacs, aka the Hammer ManiacsMark Twitchell, aka Dexter Serial Killer
Killer Children: Horrifying True Stories of Kids Who Kill (Killer Kids Book 1)
Danielle Tyning - 2020
Names like Bundy, Gacy, and Gein come to mind, alongside the many other murderous people out there who've gained notoriety because of their evil. When you're envisioning the unthinkable and heinous acts that are carried out in this world, it's unlikely you imagine a youngster as being a perpetrator of evil.Killer children, although rare, do exist. The thought alone is terrifying; we see children as being vulnerable and pure, which makes it harder to comprehend them wanting to inflict pain and suffering on another being. The correlation of a child and unthinkable acts of murder is undeniably tricky to compute.The children in this book carried out acts of savage murder - even just typing that sentence feels wrong. Some of these murders are sexually motivated; some are carried out for revenge; others are part of an occult ritual. Regardless of the motivation for these children to commit unspeakable acts of cruelty, they are all disturbing.This book was written to give you some food for thought, to allow you to digest some of the heinous crimes committed by youngsters and consider why they'd carry out such horrific acts. This book will open up a world of questions, many of which I've likely pondered upon myself. While I do offer up my own opinion throughout this book, I do need to (as much as possible) stick to the facts to let you make your own mind up.With that in mind, let's delve into some of the despicably horrific murders that were carried out by children.
The Cases That Haunt Us
John E. Douglas - 2000
Provocative. Shocking. Call them what you will...but don't call them open and shut. Did Lizzie Borden murder her own father and stepmother? Was Jack the Ripper actually the Duke of Clarence? Who killed JonBenet Ramsey?America's foremost expert on criminal profiling and twenty-five-year FBI veteran John Douglas, along with author and filmmaker Mark Olshaker, explores those tantalizing questions and more in this mesmerizing work of detection. With uniquely gripping analysis, the authors reexamine and reinterpret the accepted facts, evidence, and victimology of the most notorious murder cases in the history of crime, including the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, the Zodiac Killer, and the Whitechapel murders.Utilizing techniques developed by Douglas himself, they give detailed profiles and reveal chief suspects in pursuit of what really happened in each case.The Cases That Haunt Us not only offers convincing and controversial conclusions, it deconstructs the evidence and widely held beliefs surrounding each case and rebuilds them -- with fascinating, surprising, and haunting results.
To Die For: The Shocking True Story of Serial Killer Dana Sue Gray
Kathy Braidhill - 2000
Dropping thousands of dollars on a shopping binge or a luxurious day spa was nothing out of the ordinary for Dana-nor for many wealthy women. But Dana wasn't wealthy-she was an unemployed nurse. She was also a serial murderess, who preyed upon elderly women, violently killed them, then used their credit cards to embark on wild, post-murder spending sprees.Women serial killers are rare-there are only 36 documented cases-and those, like Dana Sue Gray, who murder so brutally that veteran police officers are shaken by the bloodiness of the crime scene, are even rarer. Now, in an exposé as shocking and fascinating as its subject matter, author Kathy Braidhill explores the stunning story of Dana Sue Gray, one of the most dangerous, deadly, and disturbed women in history.
Crazy for You: A Passionate Affair, a Lying Widow, and a Cold-Blooded Murder
Michael Fleeman - 2015
In the parking lot, a minivan pulls up next to his car. The driver pulls out a gun—and shoots Rusty four times in the chest.A HEARTBROKEN WIFESneiderman’s devoted wife, Andrea, is devastated by the crime. Who could have done this? She is shocked when police trace the shooting to a man named Hemy Neuman—who happens to be Andrea’s adoring boss. A DEADLY OBSESSIONThe prosecution accuses Andrea and Hemy of having a "forbidden relationship," and of conspiring to collect $2 million in her husband’s life insurance. But Andrea swears she never intended to kill Rusty—and that it is Hemy who’s "delusional" and obsessed. With the charges against her dropped, and the insurance money frozen, Andrea remains a mysterious character. Only one other person—the man who pulled the trigger—knows the truth about what really happened… With 8 pages of dramatic photos!
Murder in the Bayou: Who Killed the Women Known as the Jeff Davis 8?
Ethan Brown - 2016
The women came to be known as the Jeff Davis 8, and local law enforcement officials were quick to pursue a serial killer theory, opening a floodgate of media coverage and stirring a wave of panic across Jennings’ class-divided neighborhoods. The Jeff Davis 8 had been among society’s most vulnerable—impoverished, abused, and mired with mental illness. They engaged in sex work as a means of survival. And their underworld activity frequently occurred at a decrepit no-tell motel called the Boudreaux Inn. As the cases went unsolved, the community began to look inward. Rumors of police corruption and evidence tampering, of collusion between street and shield, cast the serial killer theory into doubt. But what was really going on in the humid rooms of the Boudreaux Inn? Why were crimes going unsolved and police officers being indicted? What had the eight women known? And could anything be done do stop the bloodshed? Mixing muckraking research and immersive journalism over the course of a five-year investigation, Ethan Brown reviewed thousands of pages of previously unseen homicide files to posit what happened during each victim’s final hours.
December 8, 1980: The Day John Lennon Died
Keith Elliot Greenberg - 2010
In a breathtaking, minute-by-minute format, December 8, 1980: The Day John Lennon Died follows the events leading to the horrible moment when Mark David Chapman calmly fired his Charter Arms .38 Special into the rock icon, realizing his perverse fantasy of attaining perennial notoriety. New York Times bestselling author Keith Elliot Greenberg takes us back to New York City and the world John Lennon woke up to. The day begins with a Rolling Stone photo session that takes on an uncomfortable tone when photographer Annie Leibowitz tries to maneuver Yoko Ono out of the shot. Later Lennon gives the last interview of his life, declaring, "I consider that my work won't be finished until I'm dead and buried and I hope that's a long, long time." We follow the other Beatles, Lennon's family, the shooter, fans, and New York City officials through the day, and as the hours progress, the pace becomes more breathless. Once the fatal shots are fired, the clock continues to tick as Dr. Stephan Lynn walks from the emergency room after declaring the former Beatle dead, Howard Cosell announces the singer's passing on Monday Night Football, and Paul McCartney is lambasted for muttering "Drag, isn't it?" - his bereavement confused with indifference. The epilogue examines the aftermath of the killing: the considerable moment when 100,000 New Yorkers stood in silence in Central Park, the posthumous reunion of the Beatles in the studio with George, Paul, and Ringo accompanying the recordings of their old friend the unveiling of a bronze John Lennon statue in Fidel Castro's Cuba, and the durable legacy that persists today.
Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood
William J. Mann - 2014
Never before had a medium possessed such power to influence. Yet Hollywood’s glittering ascendency was threatened by a string of headline-grabbing tragedies—including the murder of William Desmond Taylor, the popular president of the Motion Picture Directors Association, a legendary crime that has remained unsolved until now.In a fiendishly involving narrative, bestselling Hollywood chronicler William J. Mann draws on a rich host of sources, including recently released FBI files, to unpack the story of the enigmatic Taylor and the diverse cast that surrounded him—including three beautiful, ambitious actresses; a grasping stage mother; a devoted valet; and a gang of two-bit thugs, any of whom might have fired the fatal bullet. And overseeing this entire landscape of intrigue was Adolph Zukor, the brilliant and ruthless founder of Paramount, locked in a struggle for control of the industry and desperate to conceal the truth about the crime. Along the way, Mann brings to life Los Angeles in the Roaring Twenties: a sparkling yet schizophrenic town filled with party girls, drug dealers, religious zealots, newly-minted legends and starlets already past their prime—a dangerous place where the powerful could still run afoul of the desperate.A true story recreated with the suspense of a novel, Tinseltown is the work of a storyteller at the peak of his powers—and the solution to a crime that has stumped detectives and historians for nearly a century.
Pure Murder
Corey Mitchell - 2008
On a summer night in Houston, two bright, beautiful, success-bound teenage girls crossed paths with a group of young men fueled with alcohol and rage. Four days later, when searchers finally found Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña, their bodies were unrecognizable.AN ORGY OF VIOLENCEAt first, the teenage boys grabbed Elizabeth, while Jennifer escaped. But Elizabeth's desperate cries brought Jennifer back to help her best friend. Both girls were subjected to sexual assaults of every conceivable kind--and long, painful, drawn-out deaths.NO MERCYFor days afterward, the killers bragged openly about their crime. By the time prosecutors got the case, convictions for double murder looked like a "slam dunk." But the families of the victims were in for a horrible surprise. In this terrifying case, justice would be a torturous journey.