Book picks similar to
Whatever Happened to Denise Sullivan? by Stephen P. Lacy


criminal-justice
historical-crime
kidnapped
missing-people

Rigged Justice: How the College Admissions Scandal Ruined an Innocent Man's Life


John Vandemoer - 2021
    Though the hours were long and the program struggled for funding, sailing gave Vandemoer’s life shape and meaning.But early one morning, everything came crashing down when Vandemoer, still in his pajamas, opened the door to find FBI and IRS agents on his doorstep. He quickly learned that a recruiter named Rick Singer had used him as a stooge in a sophisticated scheme designed to take advantage of college coaches and play to the endless appetite for university fundraising—and wealthy parents looking for an edge for their college-bound children.Vandemoer was summarily fired, kicked out of campus housing, his children booted from campus daycare. The next year of his life was a Kafkaesque hellscape, and though he was an innocent man who never received a dime was the first person to be convicted in what became known as the Varsity Blues scandal.A true story that reads like a suspense novel, Rigged Justice lays bare how a sophisticated scheme could take advantage of college coaches and university money—and how one family became collateral damage in a large government investigation that dominated national headlines.

A Life Inside: A Prisoner's Notebook


Erwin James - 2003
    A young man when he was sent down, he has matured in prison and has reflected on the wasted years he has spent inside. This is the candid and hard-hitting account of those years. He tells of arriving in prison; about learning the who, what, why and when of prison life; about bullying and terror from other inmates and security staff; about replaying the crimes of his past over and over; and about discovering his talent for writing. This is a book that takes its readers on Erwin James's moving and terrible journey from vicious youth to reformed and reflective middle age.

The Last Place You'd Look: True Stories of Missing Persons and the People Who Search for Them


Carole Moore - 2011
    She covers parental abductions, intentional disappearances, stranger abductions, the missing and mentally ill, runaways, foul play, and other situations where people go missing. In addition, the criminal justice approach to missing persons is discussed, as Moore looks at the science of missing persons (DNA, forensic dentistry, etc.), resources for family and friends, national organizations such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and other groups involved in searching and recovering loves ones. Here, readers will discover how people are found, how missing persons' cases are treated, and how and why some stories have happy endings and others do not.

The Murder of Adrianne Reynolds & Other Stories: A Collection of True Crime


Pete Bird - 2019
    Sarah and Cory would take Adrienne's body to Sarah's grandparents' farm where they attempted to burn it to no avail. They would then recruit another friend to help dismember the body after which they would dump it in a historic site. The three then went and ate lunch at McDonald's to celebrate their crime. What would ever possess these teens to commit such a horrific crime?

Abuse of Power


Lizzie Scott - 2016
    The children arrived with a lot of kicking and screaming from the eldest…terrified of the changes going on in his life.One of our jobs as their carers was to minimise change as much as possible until their future was decided by the courts at the final hearing.There was much going on in the background that we were not aware of but would find out in the course of time.Plans were being made by professional people, who should know better and should never take advantage of their position to abuse those who are vulnerable and unable to defend themselves because they are told ‘The law is against you’, when actually what is meant is that they, in their powerful position are against you.We were slowly and blindly heading toward an adult temper tantrum that neither I nor any of the social workers present at the time, had ever witnessed before.A temper tantrum of such intensity that one person changed the course of these children’s lives.It was a truly, truly wicked act of power displayed by one very spiteful egotistical person.

Broadmoor - My Journey Into Hell


Charlie Bronson - 2015
    His journey has, until now, never been told.In the winter of 1979, aged just twenty-seven, the inmate who would come to be known as 'Charlie Bronson' was considered uncontrollable by the prison system. Certified insane, he was transferred from Parkhurst Prison to the most infamous high-security psychiatric hospital in England, Broadmoor Asylum for the Criminally Insane. There he embarked on a one-man campaign to retain his sanity, and to fight against the brutality of a largely hidden regime that relied on enforced drug control.This outstandingly honest account takes the reader back to those dark days. It is a journey filled with sadness, and yet it is one that includes much laughter and pathos, as well as detailing the camaraderie among fellow patients, who included Ronnie Kray and Frankie Fraser.How Charlie Bronson survived Broadmoor, what he endured and the things he witnessed are, for the very first time, documented in this sad, often chilling, sometimes funny and often moving account of one man's journey into madness and his methods for surviving the UK's most feared and notorious psychiatric hospital. Capturing Bronson's unique voice, it is a roller-coaster ride of madness, pain, laughter and tears. It is also a testament to one man's triumph over adversity.

Renegade Amish: Beard Cutting, Hate Crimes, and the Trial of the Bergholz Barbers


Donald B. Kraybill - 2014
    Answering a late-night knock from what appeared to be an Amish neighbor, Mrs. Miller opened the door to her five estranged adult sons, a daughter, and their spouses. It wasn't a friendly visit. Within moments, the men, wearing headlamps, had pulled their frightened father out of bed, pinned him into a chair, and--ignoring his tearful protests--sheared his hair and beard, leaving him razor-burned and dripping with blood. The women then turned on Mrs. Miller, yanking her prayer cap from her head and shredding it before cutting off her waist-long hair. About twenty minutes later, the attackers fled into the darkness, taking their parents' hair as a trophy for their community.Four similar beard-cutting attacks followed, disfiguring nine victims and generating a tsunami of media coverage. While pundits and late-night talk shows made light of the attacks and poked fun at the Amish way of life, FBI investigators gathered evidence about troubling activities in a maverick Amish community near Bergholz, Ohio--and the volatile behavior of its leader, Bishop Samuel Mullet.Ten men and six women from the Bergholz community were arrested and found guilty a year later of 87 felony charges involving conspiracy, lying, and obstructing justice. In a precedent-setting decision, all of the defendants, including Bishop Mullet and his two ministers, were convicted of federal hate crimes. It was the first time since the 2009 passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act that assailants had been found guilty for religiously motivated hate crimes within the same faith community."Renegade Amish" goes behind the scenes to tell the full story of the Bergholz barbers: the attacks, the investigation, the trial, and the aftermath. In a riveting narrative reminiscent of a true crime classic, scholar Donald B. Kraybill weaves a dark and troubling story in which a series of violent Amish-on-Amish attacks shattered the peace of these traditionally nonviolent people, compelling some of them to install locks on their doors and arm themselves with pepper spray.The country's foremost authority on Amish society, Kraybill spent six months assisting federal prosecutors with the case against the Bergholz defendants and served as an expert witness during the trial. Informed by trial transcripts and his interviews of ex-Bergholz Amish, relatives of Bishop Mullet, victims of the attacks, Amish leaders, and the jury foreman, "Renegade Amish" delves into the factors that transformed the Bergholz Amish from a typical Amish community into one embracing revenge and retaliation.Kraybill gives voice to the terror and pain experienced by the victims, along with the deep shame that accompanied their disfigurement--a factor that figured prominently in the decision to apply the federal hate crime law. Built on Kraybill's deep knowledge of Amish life and his contacts within many Amish communities, "Renegade Amish" highlights one of the strangest and most publicized sagas in contemporary Amish history.

Hollywood Private Lives Uncensored


Alan Royle - 2016
    Hollywood minus the hype and hokum.

RED-HANDED: 20 Criminal Cases That Shook India


Souvik Bhadra - 2014
    As the nation watched on in horror, the police uncovered the body parts of fifteen more children in the same location. These grisly killings were found to have been the handiwork of Surinder Koli, a serial killer who lived in a house nearby.In Red-Handed: 20 Criminal Cases That Shook India, lawyers Souvik Bhadra and Pingal Khan narrate the stories behind some of the most sensational criminal cases to have caught the attention of the country in the last few decades. From the murder of Nitish Katara in a case of ‘honour killing’ to the shooting of Jessica Lal; from the Harshad Mehta scam to the Best Bakery arson of 2002; and, from the horrifying ‘tandoor’ case, in which Naina Sahni was killed and then cremated, to the trial and conviction of Sanjay Dutt under TADA, Red-Handed examines the motives behind these crimes even as it aims to lay bare the inner workings of the Indian judicial system. Additionally, the authors illuminate the crucial role that the media has come to play in judicial matters—it shapes public opinion, and often even investigates cases and delivers justice, much before the judges do.

Finding Bethany: A True Crime Memoir


Glen Klinkhart - 2014
    Finding Bethany is the true story of how, as a young boy, Glen Klinkhart was unable to save his sister from a heinous sexual homicide, and how he began his journey as a police officer to find the lost, the missing, and to bring those who would do evil upon others to justice. His career as a homicide detective takes the reader along as he travels from the brink of exhaustion and obsession and into the dark and evil world of sociopathic killers, and those who would do anything to help them. Finding Bethany details what real life homicide investigations are like, from his unique perspective as a victim and as a reluctant hero. The reader will experience the bizarre twists and turns down dark paths which result in macabre dead ends, and unexpected miracles found within the darkest of circumstances. His cases include the stories of people who were willing to give of themselves for someone they often didn’t even know. Finding Bethany is also about two brothers – one a sociopath, the other a good man whose own love for his evil brother had been exploited his entire life.

Murders of Merseyside


Tom Slemen - 2011
    In this compelling study of true crime, Liverpool's most popular author Tom Slemen recounts some of the most intriguing and baffling murders of Merseyside such as:• The baffling case of the Victorian canned corpse• The magistrate's beautiful granddaughter who was killed by a crazed admirer• The condemned man who was hanged twice• Frederick Deeming - the Rainhill psychopath who wiped out his own family and danced on their grave with his next victim• The bizarre link between a South Seas cult and the housewife who was stabbed fourteen times in her Knotty Ash home by a killer who struck under the cover of a fog• The unsolved case of the superintendent and his son who died of gunshot wounds under mysterious circumstances - in a police station• The enigmatic murder of Julia Wallace - and a very credible solution• The only assassination of a British prime minister - by a Liverpool businessman Plus many more fascinating murder cases.This fascinating book is a must for all readers of true crime in general and Liverpudlians and Merseysiders in particular.

One of the Family


John George Pearson - 2003
    Moreover, he was as legendary a figure on the streets of New York as on the streets of London.Pearson persuaded the mysterious criminal leader to talk to him - and the result was a story even more extraordinary than that of the Kray twins. Here Pearson reveals the true story of the Englishman who became the adopted son of Joey Pagano, the head of one of the major New York crime families. Here the Englishman tells the story that no-one else dared to tell.

Killer Dad


Robert Scott - 2007
    . .there's blood all over!" The 911 call came from a Colorado family man, Michael Blagg, distraught over his missing wife and six-year-old daughter. Frantic search parties and Michael's anguished pleas on national television came up empty--until the investigation stumbled across Blagg's dark side. . .A Sordid SecretA devout born-again Christian addicted to Internet porn, Blagg allegedly indulged in the services of paid escorts and reportedly abused his wife. Then in June 2002, nearly a year after her disappearance, when his wife's mummified remains were found in a local landfill, Michael quickly left town. . .Only One Way OutExtradited from Georgia, Blagg was charged with first-degree murder. But the explosive trial was rocked by even more bizarre revelations, stunning twists, and an unspeakable mystery that haunted the country: What made Blagg do it? And, even more disturbing, whatever happened to little Abby?

Mr. Big: The Investigation into the Deaths of Karen and Krista Hart


Colleen Lewis - 2015
    Big is the shocking true story of a murder investigation in Newfoundland and Labrador that forever changed the face of the Canadian justice system.On August 4, 2002, three-year-old twin girls Karen and Krista Hart drowned in Gander Lake. They had gone there with their father. He said it was an accident, but the police were convinced Nelson Hart had killed his daughters that day.With not enough evidence to make an arrest, the RCMP launched a $500,000 “Mr. Big” sting operation to try to get a confession. This book examines the dramatic events that unfolded over the four-month period when Nelson was flying back and forth across the country working in what he believed to be an organized crime syndicate.Central to this story is Jennifer Hicks, who reveals for the first time her life with her now ex-husband, Nelson Hart, and the events surrounding the deaths of her daughters. Together with television journalist Colleen Lewis, who closely followed Hart’s murder trial, Jennifer has reconstructed the tragic story of an abusive relationship and a mother’s worst nightmare.Finalist for the 2016 Arthur Ellis Awards, Best Nonfiction Book Category#10 on the Globe and Mail (Canadian Non-Fiction) Bestseller List (October 10, 2015)#6 on the Globe and Mail (Canadian Non-Fiction) Bestseller List (October 17, 2015)#6 on the Globe and Mail (Canadian Non-Fiction) Bestseller List (October 24, 2015)#10 on the Globe and Mail (Canadian Non-Fiction) Bestseller List (October 31, 2015)

Gambino: The Rise: A Novel Based on the True Story


James Pierre - 2015
    The Department of Justice’s endeavors to capture him on video surveillance likewise came up empty, because he rarely left his modest row house at 2230 Ocean Pkwy., in Brooklyn, New York. He was silent and reclusive to a fault. And by the time the public got their first look at him in 1970 (following an arrest on a trumped-up charge that was never prosecuted) he was already the most powerful mafia boss in the country, controlling a crew of 800 mafiosi, who oversaw nearly 50 criminal and legitimate businesses, which netted his crime family over $1 billion in annual revenue. Yet few even knew his name, let alone his story. Now, for the first time ever, the true story of Carlo Gambino is told in full, gory detail. Gambino: The Rise, A Novel Based on a True Story, unveils the intricate machinations of Gambino’s ascent, from poor, immigrant stowaway, to billionaire boss of America’s most deadly and elite crime family. On this journey, we meet such celebrity hoods as Charlie “Lucky” Luciano, Al “Scarface” Capone, Meyer Lansky, Vito Genovese, and Albert “The Mad Hatter” Anastasia… all of whom became pawns on Gambino’s Machiavellian chess set. Gambino’s story is a rags to riches tail of the bloodiest kind, which explores the dichotomies of family, wealth, and power within the mafia environment. With its careful scrutiny of mob business and brutality, Gambino: The Rise will undoubtedly draw comparisons to Mario Puzo’s timeless classic, The Godfather. But this is to be expected, especially when Puzo’s fictional crime patriarch, Vito Corleone, was based on none other than Carlo Gambino. Gambino: The Rise is a historical novel for the ages that will leave readers shell-shocked with every flip of the page, until its earth-shattering and climactic end.