True Murder: The Most Shocking Killers

Seventeen-year-old Tyler Hadley posted an invitation on Facebook: party at my crib tonight. But this was no ordinary house party in the Florida suburbs; it was a grisly crime scene. Later that night, Tyler revealed to his best friend, Michael, that he’d bludgeoned his parents to death with a hammer. Michael didn’t believe him…until he entered the master bedroom and saw the bodies of Tyler’s parents on the floor—murdered, beyond the shadow of a doubt. Mary Jo and Blake Hadley had always known their son had a dark side. He would make disturbing jokes about murder on Facebook. He apparently idolized the infamous Menendez brothers, who murdered their parents for money. But how could they have known their son was dead serious? What kind of person could kill his mother and father, throw a party with their bodies in the next room, and brag about it? This riveting account by award-winning journalist Amber Hunt takes you deep inside the mind of a troubled teenager—and behind the scenes of a true American nightmare…SEE HOW MUCH YOU LOVE ME-A Troubled Teen, His Devoted Parents and a Cold Blooded Killing-Amber Hunt

 In August 1982, in Kelowna, British Columbia David Shearing shot grandparents George and Edith Bentley and parents Bob and Jackie Johnson at their campsite in Wells Gray Park. The sole purpose of these murders was to give him access to the two Johnson daughters Janet, age 13 and Karen, age 11 for purposes of rape, molestation and torture. He held the girls captive for almost a week and then murdered them as well. He put the bodies of the girls in the trunk of the family car with the four adults in the back seat, and set the car on fire - leaving the bodies nearly unidentifiable.A hearing was set for September 4, 2014 to give consideration for day  and full parole for Ennis. If day parole were granted, he would be allowed to live in a halfway house. If full parole were granted, he would be allowed to live in the community. Ennis was denied parole in 2008 and in 2012 for numerous issues, including a diagnosis of phychopathy.Tammy Arishenkoff attended school with the young girls and worked with the victim's family to organize an on-line petition drive to deny David Ennis' parole; sending the following to the parole board in Ottawa:We, the undersigned, feel that the release of David Ennis, formerly David Shearing, into the community would jeopardize the safety of all citizens, but more importantly our children. As well, the heinous nature of his crimes should preclude any possibility of release.Tammy Arishenkoff and her followers strongly urged the Parole Board of Canada to once again deny parole to this murderer at the upcoming hearing September 4, 2014. This is what happened. THE PAROLE OF MASS MURDERER DAVID ENNIS-Tammy Arishenkoff

The remote farming community of Murdock, Nebraska, seemed to be the least likely setting for one of the heartland's most ruthless and bloody double murders in decades. In fact, the little town had gone more than a century without a single homicide. But on the night of Easter 2006, Wayne and Sharmon Stock were brutally murdered in their home. The murders garnered sensational frontpage headlines and drew immediate statewide attention. Practically everybody around Murdock was filled with fear, panic, and outrage. Who killed Wayne and Sharmon Stock? What was the motive? The Stocks were the essence of Nebraska's all-American farm family, self-made, God-fearing, and of high moral character. Barely a week into this double murder investigation, two arrests brought a sense of relief to the victims' family and to local residents. The case appeared to fall neatly into place when a tiny speck of murder victim Wayne Stock s blood appeared in the alleged getaway car.Then, an obscure clue left at the crime scene took the investigation down a totally different path, stretching into Iowa, Louisiana, New York, Texas, and Wisconsin. By the time this investigation was over, the charges against the original suspects were dismissed and two new individuals emerged from the shadows.Author John Ferak covered the Stock murders from the very beginning, including all of the trial proceedings. When the criminal prosecution finally ended in 2007, he remained puzzled by one nagging question: Why was the blood of victim Wayne Stock in a car that was ultimately proven to have no connection to the murders?Over the next few years, the astonishing bloody lies were revealed, culminating in a law enforcement scandal that turned the case on its head and destroyed the career of Nebraska's celebrated CSI director, David Kofoed. BLOODY LIES-A CSI Scandal In The Heartland-John Ferak

For years David Elliot Penton stalked elementary schools and playgrounds looking for young girls from low-income neighborhoods to abduct, rape and murder. He thought of them as "throwaway kids"-hardly missed, and soon forgotten, except by those who loved them. He was every parent's worst nightmare. The bogeyman they warned their children about ... the fiend who lurked outside bedroom windows.Christi Meeks disappeared during a game of hide-and-seek outside her mother's Mesquite apartment complex in January 1985 and was found dead less than three months later in Lake Texoma.Christie Proctor's body was found in a south Plano field in April 1988, more than two years after the fourth-grader was last seen walking from her North Dallas apartment to a friend's house. And Roxann Reyes was snatched from an alley while playing outside her Garland apartment in November 1987.This story focuses on the work of a team of police detectives, starting with Garland Police Detective Gary Sweet, who picked up the cases of the three missing girls after they'd gone cold.In 1996, years after the murders, he found the girls' files and information on suspect David Elliot Penton. "For some reason, out of all the stuff that was in those two boxes, I pulled out a file and started reading about him," Sweet said.Penton was in jail in Ohio for killing 9-year-old Nydra Ross. What followed was a series of fateful twists — from reviewing old tips, to conducting new interviews and gathering information shared by Penton's cellmates. By 2003, Sweet and the team had enough to indict Penton. TRUE DETECTIVE-From The Detective's Perspective-Gary Sweet  

The story of one of the nation's most notorious wrongful convictions, that of Steven Avery, a Wisconsin man who spent eighteen years in prison for a crime he did not commit. But two years after he was exonerated of that crime and poised to reap millions in his wrongful conviction lawsuit, Steven Avery was arrested for the exceptionally brutal murder of Teresa Halbach, a freelance photographer who had gone missing several days earlier. The "Innocent Man" had turned into a cold blooded killer. Or had he? This is narrative non-fiction at its finest. A true crime thriller. THE INNOCENT KILLER-A true story of a Wrongful Conviction and it's Astonishing Aftermath-Michael Griesbach

On a sunny September morning in 1930, six men entered the Lincoln National Bank in Nebraska's capital city armed with revolvers and Thompson submachine guns. In eight minutes they emerged with more than 2.7 million dollars, the largest take of any bank heist in history.A nationwide search for the bandits would lead Nebraska authorities through the rough, gangland streets of Chicago and East St. Louis, and deep into the heart of the Capone organization.The Great Heist not only chronicles the search for the bandits and the trials that followed, but the incredible story of how they got the money back. THE GREAT HEIST-The Story of the Biggest Bank Robbery in History-Jeff McArthur

Charles Lucky Luciano is one of the most researched, discussed and dissected American mobsters of all time. His name has become synonymous with NY City's high drama gangland days of prohibition bootlegging, the information of the infamous five families, and controversy over his alleged Last Testament. However, there exists many fascinating and lurid tales and theories regarding Lucky's rise and fall from the mobs top spot. Some of these stories are known, but still incited debate, such as the origins of his nickname and menacing facial scars. Other legends are not so well known to the general publicWith information culled from rare news articles, government documents and numerous books written on the subject, this book will give readers a chance to discover Luciano in a way that engages the mystery of his pop culture status, while encouraging further debate over the facts that fallacies that exist about his true role in the history of the American mafia structure. LUCKY LUCIANO-Mysterious Tales of a Gangster Legend-Christian Cipollini

For the past forty years, Charles Manson has languished in prison for his participation in the Manson family murders of 1969. He is America’s icon of evil, the one who brought down the curtain on the 1960s. He has never been a quiet inmate, however. From his unbridled outbursts of rage to his tender acts of generosity, he makes his presence felt to everyone around him.He inspires awe in other inmates, he cozies up to prison guards who are eager to do him favors, and he is responsible for countless staff transfers within and outside of the institution.This book details the dramatic journey of Willie Mendez, a troubled inmate, housed next to the serial killer for more than a year. Willie became institutionalized after repeated violations of the law, including attempted murder and armed robbery. He is serving a sixty-eight year prison sentence.From his initial feelings of contempt toward the aging killer, Willie, nicknamed, “Boxcar,” by Manson, traveled to a place of openness and acceptance of the old man’s ideas. Over time, he began to defer more and more to Manson without reservation.This is a tale of growth and maturity that contains intimate details and shocking jailhouse secrets. Willie shares an insider’s view of Charles Manson, his crazy behavior, his whispered confessions, and his sometimes profound wisdom.“Charlie” speaks openly about his sexuality, shares some details of the Tate and LaBianca murders, and relates his childhood experience of being forced to wear a dress to school. CHARLES MANSON BEHIND BARS: The Crazy Antics and Amazing Revelations of America's Icon of Evil-Mark Hewit

Violent crimes in America have become an epidemic within the past decade or so, with more juvenile offenders taking to the streets, homicide and murder rates have skyrocketed, as science does their best to study the minds of America's most horrific killers. Amanda Seaton would like to invite you to delve into the world of crime and forensics, as she provides an analysis of those violent crimes committed by juvenile offenders, mothers, husbands, room-mates, ex-football players, and one of the most famous sadistic serial killers of the 1970's. The book explores the substantial problem the United States of America is facing with violent crimes, not just committed by adults, but juvenile offenders as well. VIOLENT CRIMES IN AMERICA: And The Forensic Disciplines Used To Solve Them-Amanda Seaton

The True American tells the story of Raisuddin Bhuiyan, a Bangladesh Air Force officer who dreams of immigrating to America and working in technology. But days after 9/11, an avowed "American terrorist" named Mark Stroman, seeking revenge, walks into the Dallas minimart where Bhuiyan has found temporary work and shoots him, maiming and nearly killing him. Two other victims, at other gas stations, aren’t so lucky, dying at once.The True American traces the making of these two men, Stroman and Bhuiyan, and of their fateful encounter. It follows them as they rebuild shattered lives—one striving on Death Row to become a better man, the other to heal and pull himself up from the lowest rung on the ladder of an unfamiliar country.Ten years after the shooting, an Islamic pilgrimage seeds in Bhuiyan a strange idea: if he is ever to be whole, he must reenter Stroman's life. He longs to confront Stroman and speak to him face to face about the attack that changed their lives. Bhuiyan publicly forgives Stroman, in the name of his religion and its notion of mercy. Then he wages a legal and public-relations campaign, against the State of Texas and Governor Rick Perry, to have his attacker spared from the death penalty.Ranging from Texas's juvenile justice system to the swirling crowd of pilgrims at the Hajj in Mecca; from a biker bar to an immigrant mosque in Dallas; from young military cadets in Bangladesh to elite paratroopers in Israel; from a wealthy household of chicken importers in Karachi, Pakistan, to the sober residences of Brownwood, Texas, The True American is a rich, colorful, profoundly moving exploration of the American dream in its many dimensions. Ultimately it tells a story about our love-hate relationship with immigrants, about the encounter of Islam and the West, about how—or whether—we choose what we become. THE TRUE AMERICAN-Anand Giridharadas

She was hired to nurse them back to health...instead, she took their lives.For months, the DaVita Dialysis Center in Lufkin, Texas had been baffled by the rising number of deaths and injuries occurring in their clinic. In April alone, they’d rushed thirty-four patients to the hospital. But no one expected such a horrific cause to be behind it all.Kimberly Clark Saenz was a well-liked licensed vocational nurse at the center. The East Texas nurse was a mother of two, and known for her smiles and the stories she told to help patients pass the time. But on April 28, 2008, witnesses came forward to say that instead of lifesaving medication, they’d seen Saenz adding toxic bleach to IV ports. Turns out, it wasn’t the first time. Once caught, the shocking story of Saenz’s murderous practices began to unravel…KILLER NURSE-John Foxjohn

She was hired to nurse them back to health...instead, she took their lives. For months, the DaVita Dialysis Center in Lufkin, Texas had been baffled by the rising number of deaths and injuries occurring in their clinic. In April alone, they’d rushed thirty-four patients to the hospital. But no one expected such a horrific cause to be behind it all. Kimberly Clark Saenz was a well-liked licensed vocational nurse at the center. The East Texas nurse was a mother of two, and known for her smiles and the stories she told to help patients pass the time. But on April 28, 2008, witnesses came forward to say that instead of lifesaving medication, they’d seen Saenz adding toxic bleach to IV ports. Turns out, it wasn’t the first time. Once caught, the shocking story of Saenz’s murderous practices began to unravel…KILLER NURSE-John Foxjohn

Beekman Place, once one of the most exclusive addresses in Manhattan, had a curious way of making it into the tabloids in the 1930's: “SKYSCRAPER SLAYER,” “BEAUTY SLAIN IN BATHTUB” read the headlines. On Easter Sunday in 1937, the discovery of a grisly triple homicide at Beekman Place would rock the neighborhood yet again—and enthrall the nation. The young man who committed the murders would come to be known in the annals of American crime as the Mad Sculptor.The charismatic perpetrator, Robert Irwin, was a brilliant young sculptor who had studied with some of the masters of the era. But with his genius also came a deeply disturbed psyche; Irwin was obsessed with sexual self-mutilation and was frequently overcome by outbursts of violent rage. Irwin’s primary victim, Veronica Gedeon, was a figure from the world of pulp fantasy—a stunning photographer's model whose scandalous seminude pinups would titillate the public for weeks after her death. Irwin’s defense attorney, Samuel Leibowitz, was a courtroom celebrity with an unmatched record of acquittals and clients ranging from Al Capone to the Scottsboro Boys. And Dr. Fredric Wertham, psychiatrist and forensic scientist, befriended Irwin years before the murders and had predicted them in a public lecture months before the crime. Based on extensive research and archival records, The Mad Sculptor recounts the chilling story of the Easter Sunday murders—a case that sparked a nationwide manhunt and endures as one of the most engrossing American crime dramas of the twentieth century. The book evokes the faded glory of post-depression New York and the singular madness of a brilliant mind turned against itself. THE MAD SCULPTOR-The Maniac, The Model and the Murder that Shook the Nation-Harold Schechter

Beekman Place, once one of the most exclusive addresses in Manhattan, had a curious way of making it into the tabloids in the 1930's: “SKYSCRAPER SLAYER,” “BEAUTY SLAIN IN BATHTUB” read the headlines. On Easter Sunday in 1937, the discovery of a grisly triple homicide at Beekman Place would rock the neighborhood yet again—and enthrall the nation. The young man who committed the murders would come to be known in the annals of American crime as the Mad Sculptor. The charismatic perpetrator, Robert Irwin, was a brilliant young sculptor who had studied with some of the masters of the era. But with his genius also came a deeply disturbed psyche; Irwin was obsessed with sexual self-mutilation and was frequently overcome by outbursts of violent rage.   Irwin’s primary victim, Veronica Gedeon, was a figure from the world of pulp fantasy—a stunning photographer's model whose scandalous seminude pinups would titillate the public for weeks after her death. Irwin’s defense attorney, Samuel Leibowitz, was a courtroom celebrity with an unmatched record of acquittals and clients ranging from Al Capone to the Scottsboro Boys. And Dr. Fredric Wertham, psychiatrist and forensic scientist, befriended Irwin years before the murders and had predicted them in a public lecture months before the crime.   Based on extensive research and archival records, The Mad Sculptor recounts the chilling story of the Easter Sunday murders—a case that sparked a nationwide manhunt and endures as one of the most engrossing American crime dramas of the twentieth century. The book evokes the faded glory of post-depression New York and the singular madness of a brilliant mind turned against itself. THE MAD SCULPTOR-The Maniac, The Model and the Murder that Shook the Nation-Harold Schechter

"For years he stalked elementary schools, neighborhoods and playgrounds looking for young girls to abduct, rape and murder. As though invisible, he brazenly struck in broad daylight, pulling children into his van or cars, or he crept into homes in the dead of night to carry away little girls while their families slept. He was the bogeyman they warned their children about disguised as the friendly stranger ... the fiend who lurked in the shadows outside of bedroom windows."From the NYTimes bestselling author of MONSTER and NO STONE UNTURNED comes the incredible cold case manhunt of one of America's most horrific serial killers. BOGEYMAN-Steve Jackson