True Murder: The Most Shocking Killers

It’s hard to imagine that anyone in the healthcare industry could have murder on his or her mind.But some do.The nineteen cases in this book range across Europe, US and Australia, documenting horrifying and sinister betrayals of trust.From Harold Shipman, Britain’s worst serial killer who murdered over 200 patients, to Roger Dean the Sydney nurse who in 2011 set fire to the nursing home where he worked killing 11 patients, these stories will make you wary and leave you shaking your head in horror. ANGELS OF DEATH-Disturbing Real-Life Cases of Nurses and Doctors That Kill-Emily Webb

It is now one hundred years since drugs were first banned in the United States. On the eve of this centenary, journalist Johann Hari set off on an epic three-year, thirty-thousand-mile journey into the war on drugs. What he found is that more and more people all over the world have begun to recognize three startling truths: Drugs are not what we think they are. Addiction is not what we think it is. And the drug war has very different motives to the ones we have seen on our TV screens for so long.In Chasing the Scream, Hari reveals his discoveries entirely through the stories of people across the world whose lives have been transformed by this war. They range from a transsexual crack dealer in Brooklyn searching for her mother, to a teenage hit-man in Mexico searching for a way out. It begins with Hari’s discovery that at the birth of the drug war, Billie Holiday was stalked and killed by the man who launched this crusade—and it ends with the story of a brave doctor who has led his country to decriminalize every drug, from cannabis to crack, with remarkable results.Chasing the Scream lays bare what we really have been chasing in our century of drug war—in our hunger for drugs, and in our attempt to destroy them. This book will challenge and change how you think about one of the most controversial—and consequential—questions of our time. CHASING THE SCREAM-The First And Last Days Of The War On Drugs-Johann Hari     

Nothing like it before. Nothing like it since. Murder Inc. was the most unusual, brutal and extensive collection of characters the American underworld had ever produced.  Culled primarily from Brooklyn's Brownsville and Ocean Hill sections, these official on-call killers of New York's larger crime Syndicate were a unified force of Jewish and Italian gangsters that treated murder as an art form for an entire decade. They were called mobsters, thugs, hoods and racketeers, but at the very core... they were assassins.  When gangland kingpins, such as Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, Charles "Lucky" Luciano and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, needed a contract fulfilled - the "Combination" boys would eagerly take to task the enforcement duties, which included methods ranging from gunfire to fire axes, incineration to icepicks.These are the mysteries, the sordid stories, the character profiles, alluring and lesser known tales of the Mob's Most Deadly Hit Squad.  Meet the killers, the victims, the bosses, the lovers, the deceivers and the gangbusters that made up a nationally-reaching ensemble cast rivaling anything organized crime or law enforcement had ever imagined to that point in time.  Discover the nuances, the attitudes, the motivations, the ambitions and, thanks to little honor among thieves, the scathing revelations that lead to an inevitable downfall. MURDER INC.-Mysteries of the Mob's Most Deadly Hit Squad-Christian Cippolini    

In 1999, the body of Hae Min Lee was found in a shallow grave in Baltimore's Leakin Park. Six weeks later, her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was arrested and charged with her murder. The state's case against Syed hinged entirely on the testimony of Jay Wilds, who said that he had been with Syed on the day of the murder, and that he had assisted with the burial in Leakin Park. At trial, the prosecutor argued that although Wilds had repeatedly given false and inconsistent statements concerning the crime, his story was corroborated by Adnan's cell phone records. Syed was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison; Wilds pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact, and was released without serving a day in prison.Last year, the creators of This American Life covered Syed's story in the popular podcast Serial. In order to better visualize the events that were being described on the show, Attorney Susan Simpson put together a series of maps comparing the location data from the cell records with the various witness statements concerning the location of the phone throughout the day on which Hae Lee was murdered. The result showed just how fragmented and incoherent the prosecution's case was, as none of Wilds' multiple stories can be reconciled with the cell phone data. It also highlighted many of the gaps in the prosecution's evidence, and showed how numerous witnesses who could potentially have confirmed or denied Jay's stories were never contacted by investigators. SERIAL-The On-Going Story-Susan Simpson     

From the cornfields of Nebraska to the top rung as a rising star of the adult industry, Timothy John Boham had everything a young man could ask for; including a beautiful young daughter. The fall from the top of the ladder to the depths of prison was short and steep as in one rash moment with one wrong decision, Boham lost it all.Seasoned true crime writer Donna Thomas spent countless hours with the subject Timothy John Boham. Thomas also worked for a period of time for the deceased victim John Paul Kelso. As only a gifted author such as Thomas can, she takes the readers on this sometimes very perilous-but fascinating and entertaining-journey of adult film star Timothy J. Boham AKA Marcus Allen as his thirst and hunger for fame and adulation explodes into chaos, love, loss and murder! INTENDED FOR MATURE AUDIENCES-The Rise and Deadly Spiral of Adult Star Timothy J. Boham-Donna Thomas         

On May 18, 1927, the small town of Bath, Michigan, was forever changed when Andrew Kehoe set off a cache of explosives concealed in the basement of the local school. Thirty-eight children and six adults were dead, among them Kehoe, who had literally blown himself to bits by setting off a dynamite charge in his car. The next day, on Kehoe's farm, what was left of his wife---burned beyond recognition after Kehoe set his property and buildings ablaze---was found tied to a handcart, her skull crushed. With seemingly endless stories of school violence and suicide bombers filling today's headlines, Bath Massacre serves as a reminder that terrorism and large-scale murder are nothing new. "A chilling and historic character study of the unfathomable suffering that desperation and fury, once unleashed inside a twisted mind, can wreak on a small town. Contemporary mass murderers Timothy McVeigh, Columbine's Dylan Klebold, and Virginia Tech's Seung-Hui Cho can each trace their horrific genealogy of terror to one man: Bath school bomber Andrew Kehoe. BATH MASSACRE-America's First School Bombing-Arnie Bernstein   

On August 16, 1982, an unidentified attacker brutalized and strangled Maggie Hume at her apartment in Battle Creek, Michigan. The daughter of a beloved local football coach, her seemingly senseless murder sparked intense scrutiny that lingers today. Award-winning author Blaine Pardoe and his daughter, Victoria Hester, crack open three decades of material on this mysterious tragedy, exposing dark secrets and political in-fighting that tore at the Battle Creek legal system for years. Compiled from documents, videos and interviews, this book presents the facts and clues of the case to the public for the first time. THE MURDER OF MAGGIE HUME-Cold Case in Battle Creek-Victoria Hester and Blaine Pardoe  

After his December 2003 arrest, registered nurse Charlie Cullen was quickly dubbed "The Angel of Death" by the media. But Cullen was no mercy killer, nor was he a simple monster. He was a favorite son, husband, beloved father, best friend, and celebrated caregiver. Implicated in the deaths of as many as 300 patients, he was also perhaps the most prolific serial killer in American history.Cullen's murderous career in the world's most trusted profession spanned sixteen years and nine hospitals across New Jersey and Pennsylvania. When, in March of 2006, Charles Cullen was marched from his final sentencing in an Allentown, Pennsylvania, courthouse into a waiting police van, it seemed certain that the chilling secrets of his life, career, and capture would disappear with him. Now, in a riveting piece of investigative journalism nearly ten years in the making, journalist Charles Graeber presents the whole story for the first time. Based on hundreds of pages of previously unseen police records, interviews, wire-tap recordings and videotapes, as well as exclusive jailhouse conversations with Cullen himself and the confidential informant who helped bring him down, THE GOOD NURSE weaves an urgent, terrifying tale of murder, friendship, and betrayal. Were it not for the hardboiled, unrelenting work of two former Newark homicide detectives racing to put together the pieces of Cullen's professional past, and a fellow nurse willing to put everything at risk, including her job and the safety of her children, there's no telling how many more lives could have been lost. THE GOOD NURSE-A True Story of Medicine, Madness and Murder-Charles Graeber     

On an October night in 1993, at one of the campgrounds dotting Florida's Gulf Coast, ex-con Eddie Lee Sexton told his daughter Pixie to silence her crying baby. Incredibly, the young mother smothered the helpless infant, stuffed it's tiny corpse into a gym bag, and then buried it in a shallow grave, less than a month later. Eddie Lee ordered his son Willie to strangle the baby's bereaved father during a family picnic. Sexton was priming his third victim when the FBI and Florida Cops finally caught up with him. Authorities soon learned that these killings were the final heinous acts of a sadistic, incestuous monster whose reign of psychological and sexual violence had began back in Ohio. For years, Eddie Lee whipped his children daily, raped his daughters, abused his sons and even fathered three inbred Sexton babies. But in early 1992, after teenaged Machelle Sexton's courageous flight to authorities, the walls of silence surrounding this house of horrors crumbled. With terrifying detail, Lowell Cauffel takes us into a shocking world of abuse, incest and family murder-a world ruled by a psychopath whose ability to manipulate his children produced one of the most sensational cases in true crime history. HOUSE OF SECRETS-Lowell Cauffiel   

John Crutchley seemed to be living the American Dream. Good-looking and blessed with a genius level IQ, he had a prestigious, white-collar job at a prominent government defense contractor, where he held top secret security clearance and handled projects for NASA and the Pentagon. To all outward appearances, he was a hard-working, successful family man with a lavish new house, a devoted wife, and a healthy young son.But, he concealed a hidden side of his personality, a dark secret tied to a hunger for blood and the overriding need to kill. As one of the most prolific serial killers in American history, Crutchley committed at least twelve murders, and possibly nearly three dozen. His IQ elipsed that of Ted Bundy, and his body count may have as well. While he stalked the streets hunting his unsuspecting victims, the residents of a quiet Florida town slept soundly, oblivious to the dark creature in their midst, unaware of the vampire next door. THE VAMPIRE NEXT DOOR-The True story of the Vampire Rapist-J.T. Hunter and Detective Robert Leatherow      

It was planned to look like a suicide.But even in the best-laid plans, evidence is left behind…Jocelyn Branham Earnest was found dead on the floor of her living room in Forest, Virginia. By her side was a gun and a suicide note—typed, lacking a signature, and with one fingerprint on it. A fingerprint apparently belonging to Jocelyn’s estranged husband…Wesley Earnest was a respected high school administrator, poised to restart his life in a new community. Parents entrusted their children to his care and believed he was above reproach. But the investigation into the life the couple once shared would reveal adultery, troubled finances, and shattered dreams—enough for one man with murder on his mind to travel hundreds of miles…UNDER COVER OF THE NIGHT-A True Story of Sex, Greed and Murder-Diane Fanning   

Murder in Suburbia features the stories of more than 20 murder cases that have happened in the quiet streets of Australia’s suburbs and small towns.These stories show that the most brutal and harrowing events can happen in any street or neighbourhood.Featuring contemporary cases as well as some shocking historical murders, Murder in Suburbia proves you should never say ‘it could never happen here’. MURDER IN SUBURBIA-Disturbing Stories From Australia's Dark Heart-Emily Webb  

In Why We Love Serial Killers, Drew University criminology professor Scott Bonn, PhD, simultaneously examines the public’s and media’s fascination with the monsters among us and the ways in which that attention impacts them. He writes about serial killers’ behaviors and the research—from the FBI’s original work to more recent models—that informs the law enforcement professionals charged with profiling, catching, and studying them. A real bonus: Dr. Bonn’s correspondence with Dennis Rader (BTK or “Bind, Torture, Kill”) for its insight into the mind of an especially chilling murderous psychopath. As such, it is a stark reminder that, irrespective of any deceptively benign appearances to the contrary, “they” are never like “us.” WHY WE LOVE SERIAL KILLERS-The Curious Appeal of the World's Most Savage Killers-Dr. Scott Bonn    

In this Notorious USA collection, Death of a Cheerleader, New York Times bestselling author Gregg Olsen and true crime journalist Kevin M. Sullivan write about notorious crimes in the Bluegrass State. In a scene right out of Hitchcock’s “Rear Window,” a young woman vanishes from a beach on a summer day and a neighbor views the abduction through his telescope. A newly wed disposes of his bride but doesn’t know what to do with her head. Selling tickets at a drive-in movie theater proves deadly. And a parent’s worst nightmare becomes reality – their young daughter disappears from a sleepover. DEATH OF A CHEERLEADER-Kevin M. Sullivan

1982: Oregon businessman Phil Champagne, age 52, dies in a tragic boating accident off Lopez Island. He is survived by one ex-wife, four adult children, an octogenarian mother, and two despondent brothers. Phil didn't know he was dead until he read it in the paper. All things considered, he took it rather well. So did Phil's brother, Mitch, the beneficiary of a 1.5 million dollar policy on Phil's life. 1992: Washington restauranteur Harold Stegeman, famous for his thick, juicy steaks, is arrested by the Secret Service for printing counterfeit United States currency in an Idaho shed. In addition to the bogus bills, Stegeman also has a fraudulently obtained passport, a fabricated Cayman Island drivers license, and Phil Champagne's fingerprints. When the uproarious reality of Harold Stegeman's secret identity hit the headlines, the counterfeit resurrection of Phil Champagne became one of the most celebrated and hysterically funny true-crime stories of the twentieth century. And while every supermarket tabloid and television talk show hounded after the untold story, only Edgar Award winner Burl Barer captured Champagne's confidence and received permission to detail Phil's post-mortem career of fraud, deception, trickery, lies, and fine prime rib, bringing to life the exploits of a man his family thought dead over a decade ago. MAN OVERBOARD-The Counterfeit Resurrection of Phil Champagne-Burl Barer