True Murder: The Most Shocking Killers

Eleven women went missing over the spring and summer of 1988 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, an old fishing port known as the Whaling City, where Moby Dick, Frederick Douglass, textile mills, and heroin-dealing represent just a few of the many threads in the community’s diverse fabric. In Shallow Graves, investigative reporter Maureen Boyle tells the story of a case that has haunted New England for thirty years. The Crimes: The skeletal remains of nine of the women, aged nineteen to thirty-six, were discovered near highways around New Bedford. Some had clearly been strangled, others were so badly decomposed that police were left to guess how they had died. The Victims: All the missing women had led troubled lives of drug addiction, prostitution, and domestic violence, including Nancy Paiva, whose sister was a hard-working employee of the City of New Bedford, and Debra Greenlaw DeMello, who came from a solidly middle-class family but fell into drugs and abusive relationships. In a bizarre twist, Paiva’s clothes were found near DeMello’s body. The Investigators: Massachusetts state troopers Maryann Dill and Jose Gonsalves were the two constants in a complex cast of city, county, and state cops and prosecutors. They knew the victims, the suspects, and the drug-and-crime-riddled streets of New Bedford. They were present at the beginning of the case and they stayed to the bitter end. The Suspects: Kenneth Ponte, a New Bedford attorney and deputy sheriff with an appetite for drugs and prostitutes, landed in the investigative crosshairs from the start. He was indicted by a grand jury in the murder of one of the victims, but those charges were later dropped. Anthony DeGrazia was a loner who appeared to fit the classic serial-killer profile: horrific childhood abuse, charming, charismatic, but prone to bursts of violence. He hunted prostitutes in the city by night and served at a Catholic church by day. Which of these two was the real killer? Or was it someone else entirely? Maureen Boyle first broke the story in 1988 and stayed with it for decades. In Shallow Graves she spins a riveting narrative about the crimes, the victims, the hunt for the killers, and the search for justice, all played out against the backdrop of an increasingly impoverished community beset by drugs and crime. Drawing on more than one hundred interviews, along with police reports, first-person accounts, and field reporting both during the killings and more recently, Shallow Graves brings the reader behind the scenes of the investigation, onto the streets of the city, and into the homes of the families still hoping for answers. SHALLOW GRAVES:The Hunt for the New Bedford Highway Serial Killer-Maureen Boyle

1926 was the year that Americans all over the country said screw it. And screw it they did... mixing too much bootleg booze, marijuana, cocaine, and heroin, with fast cars, sex, and jazz music can only lead to trouble. The number of allegedly normal people senselessly committing ghastly murders in 1926 is astounding. It is like a switch got turned on and some people went mad unlike any other time in American history. 1926 HOMICIDE IN AMERICA-David Kulczyk

Human trafficking is the trade of people for forced labor or sex. It also includes the illegal extraction of human organs and tissues. And it is an extremely ruthless and dangerous industry plaguing our world today. Most believe human trafficking occurs in countries with no human rights legislation. This is a myth. All types of human trafficking are alive and well in most of the developed countries of the world like the United States, Canada, and the UK. It is estimated that $150 billion a year is generated in the forced labor industry alone. It is also believed that 21 million people are trapped in modern day slavery - exploited for sex, labor, or organs. Most also believe since they live in a free country, there is built-in protection against such illegal practices. But for many, this is not the case. Traffickers tend to focus on the most vulnerable in our society, but trafficking can happen to anyone. IN CHAINS: The Dangerous World of Human Trafficking-Alan R. Warren

Ted Bundy. John Wayne Gacy. Jeffrey Dahmer. The names of notorious serial killers are usually well-known; they echo in the news and in public consciousness. But most people have never heard of Israel Keyes, one of the most ambitious and terrifying serial killers in modern history. The FBI considered his behavior unprecedented. Described by a prosecutor as "a force of pure evil," Keyes was a predator who struck all over the United States. He buried "kill kits"--cash, weapons, and body-disposal tools--in remote locations across the country. Over the course of fourteen years, Keyes would fly to a city, rent a car, and drive thousands of miles in order to use his kits. He would break into a stranger's house, abduct his victims in broad daylight, and kill and dispose of them in mere hours. And then he would return home to Alaska, resuming life as a quiet, reliable construction worker devoted to his only daughter.When journalist Maureen Callahan first heard about Israel Keyes in 2012, she was captivated by how a killer of this magnitude could go undetected by law enforcement for over a decade. And so began a project that consumed her for the next several years--uncovering the true story behind how the FBI ultimately caught Israel Keyes, and trying to understand what it means for a killer like Keyes to exist. A killer who left a path of monstrous, randomly committed crimes in his wake--many of which remain unsolved to this day.American Predator is the ambitious culmination of years of interviews with key figures in law enforcement and in Keyes's life, and research uncovered from classified FBI files. Callahan takes us on a journey into the chilling, nightmarish mind of a relentless killer, and to the limitations of traditional law enforcement. AMERICAN PREDATOR: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century-Maureen Callahan

In June 2014, 19-year-old Erin Corwin was living a quiet life in Twentynine Palms, California, expecting her first child with her husband, U.S. Marine Corporal Jon Corwin?until the day she drove off into the desert and never returned. As temperatures climbed into the hundreds, friends and family teamed up with local law enforcement in a grueling search of Joshua Tree National Park. Nearly two months after her disappearance, Corwin's body was found at the bottom of an abandoned mine shaft, a homemade garrote wrapped around her throat.Suspicions mounted within the tight-knit Marine community as residents questioned if the killer was one of their own. Fellow Marine Christopher Lee and his wife lived next door to the Corwins, and the two young couples had leaned on each other for support. But detectives soon discovered that Chris and Erin's relationship had developed into a whirlwind romance that consumed them both and called the paternity of Corwin's baby into question. Lee told investigators he'd been out hunting the day of Corwin's disappearance, but his claims of innocence soon began to crumble. And while Erin was researching baby names, Lee was reportedly searching the internet for ways to dispose of a human body.Through interviews, court records, and extensive research, bestselling true-crime author Shanna Hogan constructs a chilling story of betrayal, deception, and tragedy. SECRETS OF A MARINE'S WIFE: A True Story of Marriage, Obsession, and Murder-Shanna Hogan

The true story of the night innocence and evil crossed paths. On a summer night in 2000, Amy Shute and Jason Burgeson were set upon by five predatory youths outside a Providence, Rhode Island, club. It began as a twisted joyride for the young kidnappers. It ended in cold-blooded murder-and a town's relentless fight for justice. MURDER WITHOUT MOTIVE: The Amy Shute and Jason Burgeson Story-Raymond Pingatore

Cynthia Albrecht, the executive chef of the Penske-Marlboro racing team and darling of the IndyCar circuit, went missing on October 25, 1992-the night before her divorce from Michael Albrecht became final.Drivers and racing crews from across the country converged on "The Brickyard," site of the Indianapolis 500, to help search for her.As the head mechanic for the Dick Simon racing team, known as “Crabby” across the race circuit, Michael had a reputation for bullying and abuse. He'd immediately become a suspect in Cynthia's disappearance. But with a strong alibi, there was nothing authorities could do when he decided to take a vacation to Florida and skip a scheduled polygraph test and the search for his estranged wife. ??? Nor could law enforcement charge him when Cynthia’s body was found a few weeks later in northern Indiana - minus her head.The case went cold for six years until a newly elected prosecutor allowed his deputies to charge Michael Albrecht with murder.??? But would they be able to prove his guilt?This true crime legal thriller written by one of the prosecutors, Larry Sells, and journalist Margie Porter, runs at full throttle and will leave you on the edge of your seat right up to the checkered flag at the final verdict. RACE TO JUSTICE: Larry Sells and Margie Porter

When forty-year-old Esther Castellani died a slow and agonizing death in 1965, the official cause was at first undetermined. The day after Esther's funeral, her husband, Rene, packed up his girlfriend, Lolly; his daughter, Jeannine; and Lolly's son, Don, in the company car and took off for Disneyland. If not for the doggedness of the doctor who treated Esther, Rene, then a charismatic and handsome radio personality, would have been free to marry Lolly, who was the station's pretty twentysomething receptionist. Instead, Rene was charged with capital murder for poisoning his wife with arsenic-laced milkshakes. Murder by Milkshake is the compelling story of the Castellanis, and of their daughter, Jeannine, who was eleven at the time of her mother's murder and who clung to her father's innocence, even committing perjury during his trial. Rigorously researched, and based on dozens of interviews with family, friends, and co-workers, Murder by Milkshake documents the sensational case that kept a city spellbound, while providing a snapshot of the Mad Men-esque social and political realities of the 1960s. MURDER BY MILKSHAKE: An Astonishing True Story of Adultery, Arsenic, and a Charismatic Killer-Eve Lazarus

A Michigan couple’s affair leads to two grisly murders by heroin injection in this true crime account from the acclaimed author of Lobster Boy.When Carol Giles’s friend Nancy Billiter was found dead—she had been bound, sexually violated, and injected with a lethal dose of battery acid and heroin—detectives in Michigan traced Billiter’s death back to Giles and her boyfriend, Tim Collier. Police also learned that the diabolical duo shared another secret: They had murdered Giles’s husband, Jessie. Jessie, who had died months before Billiter, was disinterred, and an autopsy proved he’d been given a lethal shot of heroin instead of his prescribed insulin. Homebound and diabetic, Jessie was a heroin dealer. Police determined that Giles—who was fed up with taking care of her husband and children—along with her lover, Collier, had stolen the fatal dose from Jessie’s own drug supply. The cops surmised that Billiter’s death might have been due to her knowledge of the couple’s plot. In their dramatic trial, Giles and Collier turned against each other, but both were eventually convicted of murder. NEEDLE WORK: Battery Acid, Heroin, and Double Murder-Fred Rosen

A young bride drowns in her bathtub. Her husband of four months is accused of murder. What happened in their tiny suburban bathroom—and why—was never resolved. A compelling true-crime drama, based on exclusive new information, Submerged exposes hidden angles of a case that captivated and divided an ordinary American community, tore apart two families and tested the criminal justice system. Compelled by conscience and curiosity, former Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Janice (Morse) Hisle—who covered the saga of Ryan and Sarah Widmer from the start—returns 10 years later to dig deep to tell the untold story: dozens of interviews, 6,000 pages of trial transcripts and previously unrevealed records such as:•Ryan’s first written statement about Sarah’s death•attorneys’ notes and trial-preparation documents•Ryan’s personal journal, notes and correspondence•more than a thousand pages of police notes and reportsSubmerged will draw you into the depths of a stranger-than-fiction story that you will ponder long after turning the final page. SUBMERGED: Ryan Widmer, his Drowned Bride and the Justice System-Janice Hisle

In the middle-class neighborhood of Muswell Hill, underneath a spectacular residence located at 23 Cranley Gardens, a gruesome discovery was about to be unearthed. While working on drainage pipes of the house at that location, a plumber discovered several bones and a flesh-like substance covering the inside of the pipes. The pipes led to the top floor apartment of the residence. It was rented to Dennis Nilsen, a 37-year old, quiet, soft-spoken civil servant. Nilsen was also a retired policeman with military service. Shockingly, the police were about to discover Dennis Nilsen was also one of Britain’s worst serial killers. DRINKS, DINNER & DEATH: The True Story of Dennis Nilsen-Alan R. Warren

It has been thirty years since Ted Bundy, arguably this country’s most notorious serial killer, was put to death in the electric chair by the state of Florida in 1989, but there continues to exist in our society a morbid interest in him and the ghastly way he murdered and disposed of the women he abducted in the 1970s.Many people want to know how a person could do the things that Ted Bundy did. It’s truly frightening to think that there are fellow human beings who possess such dark desires and act out their murderous tendencies on the innocent and unsuspecting. We tend to think of these individuals as inhuman or “evil,” which is the only thing that makes sense to us because what drives Ted Bundy, and others like him, are not feelings that any of us can remotely relate.In exploring what might have been working inside the mind of Ted Bundy, the Angel of Decay, triggering him to brutally snuff out the lives of so many young women, the purpose is not to increase his ignominious celebrity or sensationalize his heinous acts, but to shatter any such appeal. The only way to do that is to remember the women and young girls that he killed not merely as victims, but remembering who they were, how they lived, and the impact they had on their families as well as all those around them. They had a lot more in common than being casualties of Ted Bundy’s violent psycho-sexual desires. TED BUNDY: The Angel of Decay-Paul Lonardo

The definitive account of Bill Cosby's transition from revered father figure to convicted criminal.Bill Cosby's decades-long career as a sweater-wearing, wholesome TV dad came to a swift and stunning end on April 26, 2018, when he was convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand. The mounting allegations against Bill Cosby--more than 60 women have come forward to accuse him of similar crimes--and his ultimate conviction were a shock to Americans, who wanted to cleave to their image of Cosby as a pudding-pop hero. Award-winning journalist and former People magazine senior writer Nicki Weisensee Egan was the first reporter to dig into the story when Constand went to the police in 2005. Other news organizations looked away, but Egan doggedly investigated the case, developing ties with entrenched sources and discovering incriminating details that would ultimately come to influence the prosecution.In her debut book, Chasing Cosby, Egan shares her firsthand account of Cosby's 13-year run from justice. She tells us how Cosby planned and executed his crimes, and how Hollywood alliances and law enforcement knew what Cosby was doing but did nothing to stop him. A veteran crime reporter, Egan also explores the cultural and social issues that influenced the case, delving into the psychological calculations of a serial predator and into the psyche of a nation that fervently wanted to put their faith in the innocence of "American's Dad."Rich in character and rife with dramatic revelations about popular culture, media power, and our criminal system, Egan's account will inform and fascinate readers with its candid telling of humanity's most enduring tale: the rise and fall of a cultural icon. CHASING COSBY: The Downfall of America's Dad-Nicole Weisensee Egan

New from the author of the WildBluePress classics The Trail of Ted Bundy and The Bundy Secrets!Ted Bundy’s Murderous Mysteries is a deep-dive into the archival record of America’s most notorious serial killer. It’s a veritable goldmine of information on Bundy, his victims, and this very voluminous case. Written by the foremost authority on Ted Bundy, this latest examination of this brutal serial killer contains new, revealing, and never-before published interviews with those close to Bundy, close to his victims, and a potential victim who barely escaped his clutches. Ted Bundy’s Murderous Mysteries brings to light for the first time many heretofore passed-over facts about Bundy and reveals previously hidden aspects of the lives of some of his victims. TED BUNDY'S MURDEROUS MYSTERIES: The Many Victims of America's Most Infamous Serial Killer-Kevin Sullivan

Truman Capote’s bestselling book “In Cold Blood” has captivated worldwide audiences for over fifty years. It is a gripping story about the consequences of a trivial robbery gone terribly wrong in a remote village of western Kansas.But what if robbery was not the motive at all, but something more sinister? And why would the Kansas Bureau of Investigation press the Attorney General to launch a ruthless four-year legal battle to prevent fresh details of the State’s most famous crime from being made public, so many years after the case had been solved?Based on stunning new details discovered in the personal journals and archives of former KBI Director Harold Nye—and corroborated by letters written by Richard Hickock, one of the killers on Death Row—“And Every Word Is True” meticulously lays out a vivid and startling new view of the investigation, one that will keep readers on the edge of their seats as they pick up where Capote left off. Even readers new to the story will find themselves drawn into a spellbinding forensic investigation that reads like a thriller, adding new perspectives to the classic tale of an iconic American crime.Sixty years after news of the 1959 Clutter murders took the world stage, “And Every Word Is True” pulls back the curtain for a suspenseful encore to the true story of “In Cold Blood.” AND EVERY WORD IS TRUE: New found evidence reveals Trumna Capote's In Cold Blood is not the end of the story-Gary McAvoy