Bitter Medicine: Two Doctors, Two Deaths, And A Small Town's Search For Justice


Carlton Smith - 2000
    Everyone thought it was the perfect place to live....until two local doctors made headlines.Two DoctorsOn a chilly January night, Dr. Eugene Turner hastened the death of a three-day-old baby boy who had been pronounced brain-dead. Six weeks later, ER physician Dr. Bruce Rowan hacked his wife to death with an axe, then tried to kill himself--claiming he snapped after witnessing Dr. Turner's euthanasia.A Small Town Rocked by A Shocking FatalityWhat really happened? What drove Dr. Bruce Rowan--a man who was entrusted to heal the sick--to so savagely take the life of his own wife? Acquitted by reason of insanity, Dr. Rowan was committed to a mental institution. And thought the trial is over, some fascinating ethical and legal questions have been raised by its outcome.Now, bestselling true crime writer Carlton Smith reveals the never-before-told facts and the stunning truth behind two doctors, two deaths, a surprising trial, and the picturesque town standing in the shadow of a ghastly killing.

Taken from Home


Eric Francis - 2006
    But seven months later, investigators found Jennifer’s remains in a Mesa County landfill, and things took a darker turn… Jennifer had been shot in the head, investigators discovered, and Abby was nowhere to be found.  While Michael, a respected prayer-group leader, played the part of grieving survivor, authorities became increasingly suspicious. There was blood evidence in the back of the family’s van. Was Blagg a cold-blooded killer? A religious fanatic? This is the terrifying true story of what happened when Jennifer and Abby Blagg were…

Vanished at Sea: The True Story of a Child TV Actor and Double Murder


Tina Dirmann - 2008
    A retired probation officer and a stay-at-home mom, they were looking forward to entering the next phase of their golden years. Their plan: To sell their home--a 55-foot, $435,000 yacht--and start a new life on land...and spend as much time with their grandchildren as possible. The Hawks were thrilled when a young man named Skylar Deleon wanted to buy the boat for himself, his wife, and their two kids. Little did Thomas and Jackie know that this unemployed, former childhood actor and dishonorably discharged Marine had another devious plan in mind: To lure the couple out to sea, force them to sign away their life savings, throw them overboard, and leave them

The Fortune Hunter


Suzy Spencer - 2004
    All that mattered to the 70-year-old widower was love. He forgave her when she stole his late wife's jewelry. He stood by her when she entered a psychiatric hospital for depression. What he didn't know about was Celeste's intimate involvement with fellow patient, Tracey Tarlton, a lesbian friend who would do anything Celeste asked. Anything.He Found A Nightmare Out Of Control.Then, in the morning hours of October, 2003, Tracey leveled a shotgun point blank at Steven Beard. The blast tore into his stomach while he slept. When Celeste tried to put a hit on Tracy as well, all hell broke loose. Even Celeste's own daughters turned on their mother with righteous vengeance. The sensational trial would finally expose the sordid motives behind a murderous marriage-and bring two deadly women to justice.

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.

Love Me or Else: The True Story of a Devoted Pastor, a Fatal Jealousy, and the Murder that Rocked a Small Town


Colin McEvoy - 2012
    But inside, she longed for the church's handsome Pastor Gregory Shreaves, a former golf pro who sparked her most sinful thoughts.When Mary Jane let her feelings be known, the Pastor gently pushed her away. But her obsession only grew stronger when she became convinced that he was romantically involved with a younger church member, a woman named Rhonda Smith.Rhonda was doing volunteer work in the church office one day when she was shot to death in cold blood. The trail of evidence led police to Mary Jane, and soon other suspicions were raised: Was she also involved in the mysterious death of her own father fifteen years earlier? This is the shocking true story of love, worship, and murder in one American small town.

Dying to Get Married: The Courtship and Murder of Julie Miller Bulloch


Ellen Harris - 1991
    Julie Miller was a successful executive who, through a newspaper ad, met who she thought was "Mr. Right." Little did she know that he had a violent past and a predisposition for bizarre sexual rituals. This tragic, true-crime tale will shock its horrified readers.

Death Cruise


Don Davis - 1996
    And even though all three were desperately afaid of the water, they were so taken with friendly boat owner Oba Chandler that they gladly accepted a ride with him on beautiful Tampa Bay.Little did naive mom and two daughters know that behind Chandler's mask of a gracious host lurked a daring and ruthless ex-con, a thief and a liar, a seductive Don Juan who used and discarded wives and children. As they sun serenely sank below the Gulf of Mexico, Chandler suddenly shut down the engines, dropped anchor...and turned into a sadistic torturer.Hog-tying and brutally raping all three, Chandler tossed them overboard -- alive -- with 40-pound cement blocks tied to their necks. With cruel laughter, he spoke his last words to them: "Swim for it." But the dark green waters of Tampa Bay refused to hold his monstrous secret, and after only three days, the bodies of his victims surfaced.If it hadn't been for a dedicated team of detectives and the clues provided by Chandler's neighbors, a depraved killer might have gotten away with his ghastly crime. Instead, he now paces the floors of a Florida prision awaiting his rendezvous with the electric chair.

The Bus Stop Killer


Geoffrey Wansell - 2011
    Six months later her body was discovered many miles away. A massive police investigation, the largest manhunt in Surrey's history, got nowhere. Only when nightclub bouncer and bare-knuckle boxer Levi Bellfield was arrested for the murder of another young woman did it become clear to police that they had a serial killer on their hands.This is the full story of the murders, the victims and the pain-staking nine-year investigation and trial by police and prosecutors. It tells of Bellfield's terrifying, controlling personality - a man who went from charming to monstrous in the blink of an eye - and his depraved stalking of young women.It is a terrifying portrait of the only man in modern British legal history to be given two whole-life sentences.

The Palm Beach Murder: The True Story of a Millionaire, Marriage and Murder


Marion Collins - 2004
    But when the reckless social climber and adulterer turned marriage in their Palm Beach mansion into a luxurious hell, the beautiful Georgia debutante wanted out--and half of her husband's fortune to take with her.Then in 1987, a hit man unloaded three bullets into Lita's head.Her family demanded justice. James had other plans--and the money to insure it. But it wasn't until eleven years later that a startling confession from a surprise witness would bring James Sullivan's comfortable life crashing down around him. The cold-blooded millionaire was indicted and fled the country turning hotspots across the globe into exotic private playgrounds before settling with his new fiancée in a sumptuous resort near Bangkok, where he was arrested four years later. From Palm Beach elite to life in a squalid Thailand jail cell, Marion Collins' Palm Beach Murder is the astonishing true story of one man's flight from justice and one family's burning desire to make him pay.

Secrets from the Grave


Maria Eftimiades - 1998
    Then, a single shot rang out. Moments later, Marty Dillon, a promising young lawyer, was dead of a gunshot wound to the chest. His friend, Dr. Stephen Scher, later tearfully explained that Dillon had been running with a shotgun after a porcupine, and tripped and fell, accidentally killing himself. But what really happened?Marty Dillon's violent death was immediately declared an accident by the local coroner in 1976. But as Dillon's body was lowered into the cold ground, did a damning secret, one that would haunt his friends and family for decades, go with him?* Were rumors of an affair between Dr. Scher and Marty's wife, Pat, true?* Why did the couple marry so soon after Dillon's death?* If the shot was self-inflicted, why did the bullet come from Dr. Scher's gun?* What was it about Dillon's bloody wound that cast suspicion on Scher?After 20 years of pleading with authorities, and finally hiring their own investigators, Dillon's parents persuaded the Pennsylvania State Police to reopen the case. They exhumed Dillon's body - and his decayed remains told the real story of that tragic day two decades earlier. On October 22, 1997, Dr. Stephen Scher was convicted of the murder of Marty Dillon - final justice for a cold-blooded killer who for 20 years thought he had gotten away with murder.

Shattered Justice: A Savage Murder and the Death of Three Families' Innocence


John Philpin - 2006
    . .another destroyed.The Crowes’ neighbors in the peaceful middle classcommunity in San Diego’s North County were shockedby the savagery of the crime—a young girl murdered,stabbed repeatedly, in her own bed in the dead of night.The lack of any evidence of forced entry led the Escondidopolice to their inevitable conclusion: someone in the familywas responsible for 12-year-old Stephanie Crowe’s slaying.The investigation quickly zeroed in on the victim’s olderbrother, Michael, and two teenage friends—three lonerswho enjoyed inhabiting dark fantasy worlds of quests andviolence. Through efficient, by-the-book police work, theboys were broken down and ultimately confessed. The onlyproblem was the detectives had gotten everything wrong . . .Shattered Justice is the riveting and disturbing trueaccount of a horrific tragedy and the terrible crimethat followed—a nightmare of four innocent livesshattered, one by a killer’s blade, three byobsession and twisted law.

Sleep In Heavenly Peace


M. William Phelps - 2006
    When the long-dead bodies of several infants are discovered, the trail leads to Dianne Odell, a fifty-year-old mother of eight children who claimed that her late mother forced her into teen prostitution and murdered her 'bastard children.'.

Eye of the Beholder


Lowell Cauffiel - 1994
    A detailed exploration into the murder of TV anchorwoman Diane Newton King in 1991 describes how her husband was convicted of the crime a year later only after playing mind games with the police and leading them on several wild goose chases.

Beyond Bad


Sandra Lee - 2002
    Cruel and evil, Katherine Knight showed no mercy when she butchered her lover in a crime that put her behind bars in an Australian prison for a record life sentence.Swinging from a meat-hook, John Price's entire skin was in one piece, including his hair, face, ears, nose, mouth, and genitals. Slashes and stab holes tore through the human pelt, a testimony to the wounds he suffered before dying.Knight, a 44-year-old abattoir worker, had stabbed father-of-three John Price 37 times, skinned his body, cooked his head, and served him up as a meal for his children. Drawing on first-hand accounts, Beyond Bad tells what motivated Knight to commit such a heinous act and how it rocked the small town where she lived. This is a horrifying story of love, lust, revenge, and murder that is all the more shocking because it really happened.©2002 Sandra Lee; (P)2003 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd