True Murder: The Most Shocking Killers

In 2016-17, while working for the USA TODAY NETWORK's Wisconsin Investigative Team, author John Ferak wrote dozens of articles examining the murder case again Steven Avery, who had already beat one wrongful conviction only to be charged with the murder of Teresa Halbach in 2005. The case became the wildly successful Netflix "Making A Murderer" documentary. In WRECKING CREW: Demolishing The Case Against Steven Avery, Ferak lays out in exacting detail the post-conviction strategy of Kathleen Zellner, the high-profile, high-octane lawyer, to free Avery. To write this book, Zellner, perhaps America's most successful wrongful conviction attorney, gave Ferak unique access to the exhaustive pro bono efforts she and her small suburban Chicago law firm dedicated for a man she believes to be a victim of an unscrupulous justice system in Manitowoc County. WRECKING CREW: Demolishing The Case Against Steven Avery-John Ferak

A DEVOTED MOTHER GOES MISSINGEvery once in a great while a genuine murder mystery unfolds before the public's eyes…Such is the tragic case of Susan Powell and her murdered boys, Charlie and Braden. When the pretty Utah mother went missing in December of 2009, the media was swept up in the story?with lenses and microphones trained on Susan's husband, Josh. He said he had no idea what happened to Susan?and that he and the boys had been camping in the middle of a snowstorm. It was hard to know what, or who, to believe.AND A CYCLE OF DEVASTATION BEGINS…Over the next three years, bombshell by bombshell, a world of secrets about the Powell family came to light. Josh's father, Steve, who was sexually obsessed with Susan, would ultimately be convicted of unspeakable perversion. Josh's brother, Michael, would commit suicide. And in the most stunning event of them all, Josh Powell would murder his two little boys before killing himself. Why did he do it? What really happened to Susan? This is the shocking true story of the Powell family that no reader will soon forget. IF I CAN'T HAVE YOU: Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance, and the Murder of Her Children-Rebecca Morris

It was a shattering death bed confession by a heartbroken mother. But would it solve the oldest cold case murder case in American jurisprudence?In January 1994, Eileen Tessier told Jack McCullough’s half-sister Janet Tessier that he, her son, kidnapped 7-year-old Maria Ridulph from their neighborhood in Sycamore, Illinois and killed her in December 1957. It was a case that tore the child’s family apart, as well as dividing and terrifying the town as the days, then the months, and finally the years passed with no arrest.In 2008 the Illinois State police reopened the case against Jack after receiving an email from Janet Tessier about their mother’s deathbed confession. After the Illinois State police interviewed Janet and learned that Jack had also been accused of raping their other sister, Jeanne Tessier, they reopened the case. But would reopening the case solve the question of who killed Maria Ridulph? And was McCullough the killer?In THE LAST MAN STANDING, true crime author Alan Warren writes in exacting detail about the kidnapping, murder and subsequent investigations—both in 1957 and 2008—that eventually led to the murder conviction of Jack McCullough. But the story doesn’t stop there as it delves into the years McCullough spent in prison and the efforts to have his conviction overturned.Was McCullough the brutal killer of a little girl? Or was he the last man standing when the justice system decided he needed to pay for the crime? You decide. THE LAST MAN STANDING Is Jack Daniel McCullough: A True Story-Alan R. Warren

Brian Stidham fell in love with Tucson, Ariz., the minute he came to town. A young and talented eye surgeon, he accepted a job with an established eye surgeon to take over his pediatric patients.“It’s a beautiful place,” Stidham told a friend. “I can live right there by the mountains and go hiking. It’s a great deal for me there. The partner I’ll be working with is ultracool. He’s giving me the keys to the kingdom.”Brad Schwartz, the doctor who hired Brian, was ambitious and possessed surgical skills few others had. But he was a troubled man.Within a year of Stidham’s arrival in Tucson, the medical relationship would be severed by Schwartz’s personal troubles. Stidham broke away to start his own practice. Rumors abounded within the medical community that Schwartz was incensed and considered the departure a betrayal. His rage grew, even driving a wedge between him and his fiancée, Lourdes Lopez, a former prosecutor.Three years after Stidham moved to Tucson, his life ended in an empty, darkened parking lot. But who would murder such a nice man in such a violent manner? Lourdes, who had witnessed Schwartz’s toxic rage toward his former partner, feared she knew. But would her suspicions be enough to catch the killer? TOXIC RAGE: A Tale Of Murder In Tucson-A.J. Flick

The Creep Among Us, the true story of the next chapter. Investigations and research which entails some of what we know a little more than five months into solving who The East Area Rapist, Original Night Stalker, Golden State Killer is. The story continues after the ARREST of Joseph James DeAngelo on April 24, 2018 in Sacramento, California. The trial estimated to begin in about four years will be unprecedented as several jurisdictions will try DeAngelo in Sacramento at the same time. There have been multitudes of articles and information that have come out in the five months since the arrest. DeAngelo was found from DNA left at the scenes of his many rapes and then murders over a ten year time span 1976-1986. A profile downloaded to GEDmatch as well as experts who traced his profile to his family tree were instrumental in the final arrest of a man whose DNA matched the suspect with a 100% match. Anne Penn is just one of hundreds of people involved in the story who needed to investigate the details. He truly was the creep hiding among us. The creepiest thing of all is he was living among his victims in his favorite attack areas in the East Sacramento area of Citrus Heights for most of the last 42 years. We shall see how the investigators connect all of the dots. Ms. Penn was compelled to follow this story through to justice. Her investigations into the details of who this perpetrator is and how we missed him in 1979 are something she had to ask questions about. Larry Crompton has written his thoughts after the arrest and they are included. Mark Smith discusses the ballistics involved in some of the murders. Many ran the idea that the criminal was in Law Enforcement throughout the many years. Mr. Smith discusses how we could have and should have determined that this man was a cop. THE CREEP AMONG US: Golden State Killer After The Arrest-Anne Penn

BEFORE NETFLIX'S DON'T F**CK WITH CATS: Hunting an Internet Killer-Brian Whitney had an exclusive interview with Luka Magnotta for his book, My Son The Killer. In 2012, the Canadian Press ignited a firestorm of criticism by naming killer Luka Magnotta as its “Newsmaker Of The Year.” But while the recognition was questionable for its sensitivity, there’s no doubt that few people had captured the public’s attention like the young murderer and internet sensation.A male escort and sometimes model, Magnotta had earned his notoriety by videotaping himself stabbing Chinese student Lin Jun to death with an ice pick and dismembering the body, before posting the video online. After mailing Jun’s hands and feet to elementary schools, he then led Interpol on a manhunt that ended when he was arrested at an Internet café in Berlin where he was reading news stories about himself. An international celebrity in a macabre sort of way, with a legion of fans, Magnotta was brought back to Canada, convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to prison. During this time, Anna Yourkin, his estranged mother, troubled by Magnotta’s abused childhood and her role in that, reconnected with her killer son. Despite his internet fame, Magnotta never agreed to any in-depth interviews. Now Magnotta has given award-winning journalist and author, Brian Whitney (RAW DEAL, THE SHAWCROSS LETTERS) an exclusive look inside the mind of this “social media” killer. Joining Whitney to tell this unique true crime story is Anna Yourkin. The book also contains exclusive photos provided by Yourkin. MY SON, THE KILLER: The Untold Story of Luka Magnotta and "1 Lunatic 1 Ice Pick"-Brian Whitney.

Where is Brandon Sims? The four-year-old had not been seen since July 3, 1992, when he attended a birthday party with his twenty-year-old mother, Michelle Jones. Jones was employed, confident, talented, smart, assertive and involved in many community activities in Indianapolis, Indiana. In contrast, when he was last seen, Brandon Sims, an only child, was a serious, quiet, thin boy who rarely maintained eye contact with his mother. After that night, he was never seen again. His body has never been found. For years Jones lied to her friends about Brandon, telling some that he was living with his father and others that he was staying with his grandmother in another state. When Brandon’s father, who had been in jail, came looking for Brandon, Michelle’s shocked friends confronted her. She confessed that Brandon was dead. She repeated her story of how Brandon died to a detective, after she admitted herself to the local psych unit. Days later she checked out of the unit and refused to reveal where he had hidden Brandon’s body. She was sure she had gotten away with murder.And she would have except the detective didn’t believe her story. He enlisted the help of a novice prosecutor because no experienced prosecutor would take the case. In Indiana, no one had ever been convicted of murder without a body. That prosecutor has written a book that reads like a mystery novel instead of the real murder prosecution. Truth is stranger than fiction where Santeria curses, the law and politics are only a few of obstacles to justice. INCONVENIENCE GONE: The Short Tragic Life of Brandon Sims-Diane Marger Moore

Michael Peterson was driven to succeed.An army brat-turned-marine, he saw combat in Vietnam, and returned a decorated soldier. An avid reader, his dreams of being an acclaimed novelist came true. His desire to find love was fulfilled when he married brilliant executive Kathleen Atwater, the first female student accepted at Duke University’s School of Engineering. The Petersons seemed the ideal academic couple— well-respected, prosperous, and happy.All that came crashing down in December of 2001, when Kathleen apparently fell to her death in their secluded home in an exclusive area of Durham, North Carolina. But blood-spattered evidence and a missing fireplace poker suggested calculated, cold-blooded murder. Her trusted husband stood accused.Then the most damaging evidence of all surfaced: Sixteen years earlier, Peterson was the last person to see his neighbor alive–before she was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in her home in Germany. A dramatic trial followed in the explosive final chapter of a life that no novelist could ever have conceived. WRITTEN IN BLOOD: A True Story of Murder and a 16-year-old Secret that Tore a Family Apart-Diane Fanning

Ambitious, attractive, and full of potential, five young college students prepared for the new semester. They dreamed of beginning careers and starting families. They had a lifetime of experiences in front of them. But death came without warning in the dark of the night.Brutally ending five promising lives, leaving behind three gruesome crime scenes, the Gainesville Ripper terrorized the University of Florida, casting an ominous shadow across a frightened college town.What evil lurked inside him? What demons drove him to kill? What made him ‘A Monster of All Time’?A MONSTER OF ALL TIME: The True Story of Danny Rolling, The Gainesville Ripper-J.T. HunterAudible.com/truemurder, text truemurder 500500

The original comprehensive case files of the East Area Rapist who became known as The Original Night Stalker. A serial rapist turned serial murderer, he held California in a grip of fear for way too long. Larry Crompton tells us of the attacks that began in Northern CA in 1976 that continued on until 1986 that we know of. Prior to Sacramento attacks there was a serial prowler called the Visalia Ransacker with over 125 break in prowlings under his belt. Detective Crompton had a feeling all of the attacks were connected and tried to tell jurisdictions across the state. Retired from Contra Costa County Department Larry has never quit searching for this serial predator. Now at long last Joseph James DeAngelo is the face of the man behind the mask. Presumed innocent until proven guilty the case appears to have been solved by a 100% DNA match. His name had become the Golden State Killer. Now what we look for are answers. Hopefully there are not more victims of this serial predator. This book originally released on paperback in 2010 was the first book out on a case that no one was talking about. Retired Lieutenant Crompton was compelled to write the story so we would not forget. Justice is on the way at last. SUDDEN TERROR: The True Story of California's Most Infamous Serial Predator, Golden State Killer, ONS aka EAR-Larry Crompton

When Veterans Hospital patients on the road to recovery suddenly die in increasing numbers, it’s up to VA Special Agent in Charge Bruce Sackman to find out why. His shocking discovery rips open the hidden world of what goes on behind the bedside curtains when a killer doctor or nurse decides a patient must die.Behind the Murder Curtain is the true story of Bruce Sackman, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General. Sackman’s main responsibilities had been investigating white-collar crimes such as embezzlement when he is drawn into the macabre world of doctors and nurses who murder their patients. Sackman evolves from an investigator of routine cases to the world’s leading expert on Medical Serial Killers—MSKs—doctors and nurses who ply their evil trade hidden behind the privacy curtain at a patient’s bedside.Behind the Murder Curtain tells how this dedicated investigator brought down four MSKs in Veterans Hospitals while developing the RED FLAGS PROTOCOL, which is now taught to investigators and forensic nurses throughout the world as a tool for stopping an MSK. BEHIND THE MURDER CURTAIN: Special Agent Bruce Sackman Hunts Doctors and Nurses Who Kill Our Veterans-Bruce Sackman

In 1968 young girls went missing in California and New York, massive searches started and soon bodies began to turn up. This is the story of Rodney Alcala, the charming, good looking photographer that was in NYU studying under Roman Polanski and even once had won on the popular TV game show " Dating Game" but now wanted for rape, torture and murder of several young girls. He would make the girls suffer until they passed out, then rape them, and when they came too , he would beat them again before killing them. Alan R. Warren, best selling true crime author and co-host of House of Mystery takes you through each step of the story in shocking detail, including details from the trials and the appeals that have been going on for over twenty years while Alcala sits on Death Row. THE KILLING GAME: The True Story of Rodney Alcala the Game Show Serial Killer-Alan R. Warren

At a remote little inn not far from the Kansas homestead of Laura Ingalls Wilder lived the Bender family. These pioneers welcomed unwary visitors with jackrabbit stew and a sledgehammer to the skull.In time, their apple orchard gave up its secrets - a burial ground for their mutilated victims, each stripped of their possessions. The devilish enterprise on "Hell's Half-Acre" would earn the Bloody Benders an undying place in the annals of American infamy. But it was the mysterious fate of eldest daughter, Kate, that would make them the stuff of mythic campfire prairie tales.Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie is part of Bloodlands, a chilling collection of short addictive historical narratives from bestselling true-crime master Harold Schechter. Spanning a century in our nation's murderous past, Schechter resurrects nearly forgotten tales of madmen and thrill-killers that dominated the most sensational headlines of their day. LITTLE SLAUGHTERHOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE (Bloodlands Collection)-Harold Schechter.

During the mid-1980s, a brutal killing spree began in Los Angeles as several women were murdered, having been sexually assaulted and shot in the chest with the same .25 calibre gun. The man responsible was Lonnie David Franklin Jr. However, his identity wouldn't be revealed for more than 20 years, by which time he had become one of America's most prolific serial killers. At the time, Los Angeles was a city struggling under the weight of racial inequalities and a crack epidemic that was sweeping through its most deprived areas. The victims were black women, and often addicts and sex workers. Many in the communities of South Central felt that these factors all caused a lack of interest on the part of the LAPD in investigating the murders, allowing Franklin to carry on his killing spree undetected. THE GRIM SLEEPER: Talking With America's Most Notorious Serial Killer, Lonnie Franklin-Victoria Redstall

Amanda Howard is a bestselling true crime author, fiction writer and violent crimes consultant who has written 19 books over the past 14 years including ten books on a wide range of true crime cases. She has also interviewed some of the world's most heinous serial killers over two decades and has collected a vast pool of information on various types of killers, their motives and rituals.In Killer Minds Amanda Howard investigates 60 cases of serial murder from around the world. Using primary resources and the actual words of the serial killers, Amanda reconstructs both infamous and lesser known crimes and provides an insight into the minds of serial killers. The book is broken into the following chapters: - Child Killers - Strangers We Know - Thrill Killers - Killer Kids - Poisoners – Group Killers - Black Widows and Parents who Kill. KILLER MINDS: An Insight Into the Minds of Serial  Killers-Amanda Howard