True Crime
In the early evening of June 25, 1980 in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, two middle-class outsiders named Vicki Durian, 26, and Nancy Santomero, 19, were murdered in an isolated clearing. They were hitchhiking to a festival known as the Rainbow Gathering but never arrived. For thirteen years, no one was prosecuted for the "Rainbow Murders" though deep suspicion was cast on a succession of local residents in the community, depicted as poor, dangerous, and backward. In 1993, a local farmer was convicted, only to be released when a known serial killer and diagnosed schizophrenic named Joseph Paul Franklin claimed responsibility. As time passed, the truth seemed to slip away, and the investigation itself inflicted its own traumas---turning neighbor against neighbor and confirming the fears of violence outsiders have done to this region for centuries. In The Third Rainbow Girl, Emma Copley Eisenberg uses the Rainbow Murders case as a starting point for a thought-provoking tale of an Appalachian community bound by the false stories that have been told about. Weaving in experiences from her own years spent living in Pocahontas County, she follows the threads of this crime through the complex history of Appalachia, revealing how this mysterious murder has loomed over all those affected for generations, shaping their fears, fates, and desires. Beautifully written and brutally honest, The Third Rainbow Girl presents a searing and wide-ranging portrait of America--divided by gender and class, and haunted by its own violence.
Based on clinical experience of killers. Includes a selection of USA/UK serial killer studies. Exposes police and other failings and shortcomings and the perversity of 'defences', 'excuses', etc. Strongly critical of USA gun laws and attitudes or perspectives making for an unhealthy environment, moral vacuum and lack of official/individual awareness and responsibility.
Dr Eric Cullen describes how he was 'so profoundly moved' by his inescapable conclusions about how serial killers are 'made' that he felt compelled to set out his findings. A critic of the serial killer growth industry, unhealthy interest and ill-informed comment he sets the record straight. Serial killers are made not born.
But his more central polemic is that serial killers are one of several malign human by-products of a dysfunctional, unduly permissive society, overwhelmingly American, brought about by modern-day culture and lax moral standards (as also reflected in other countries to the extent that they pursue a comparable way of life).
"Crime is a fact of the human species, a fact of that species alone."
--Georges Bataille, French philosopher
Interest in criminal behavior continues to flourish.
The worse the crime and the greater the notoriety of the perpetrator, the more the public yearns to digest every detail.
Atlas of True Crime offers a wide-ranging survey of the criminal underworld from the 1850s to the present, providing illustrated histories of dozens of infamous individuals who have left their mark on society -- in the darkest ways possible.
Profiled are the apex serial killers: John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy and David Berkowitz; the cannibals: Jeffrey Dahmer, Ed Gein and Albert Fish; and the spree killers like Richard Speck, Charles Whitman and Charles Manson; plus murderers and cannibals from around the world.
Other contents include:
Filled with striking archival photos in a full-color design with full-color maps, this expansive volume will fascinate true-crime buffs everywhere.
Part of the fascinating Big Ideas series, this book tackles tricky topics and themes in a simple and easy to follow format. Learn about Crime in this overview guide to the subject, great for novices looking to find out more and true crime experts wishing to refresh their knowledge alike! The Crime Book brings a fresh and vibrant take on the topic through eye-catching graphics and diagrams to immerse yourself in. This captivating book will broaden your understanding of Crime, with: - More than 100 ground-breaking accounts of true crime
- Packed with facts, charts, timelines and graphs to help explain core concepts
- A visual approach to big subjects with striking illustrations and graphics throughout
- Easy to follow text makes topics accessible for people at any level of understanding
The Crime Book is a captivating introduction to the world's most notorious criminal cases, aimed at adults with an interest in the subject and students wanting to gain more of an overview. Here you'll discover more than 100 sinister accounts of true crime through exciting text and bold graphics.
Your Crime Questions, Simply Explained
This fresh new guide explores the most twisted accounts of crime and criminology in history. If you thought it was difficult to learn about the most prolific wrongdoings and the criminals behind them, The Crime Book presents key information in an easy to follow layout. From outlaws like pirates, bandits, and highwaymen, to serial killers and the cyber criminals of the 21st century, discover the worst felonies through superb mind maps and step-by-step summaries.
The Big Ideas Series With millions of copies sold worldwide, The Crime Book is part of the award-winning Big Ideas series from DK. The series uses striking graphics along with engaging writing, making big topics easy to understand.
A young woman is found dead on the floor of a Tijuana hotel room. An ID in a nearby purse reads "Atlantis Black." The police report states that the body does not seem to match the identification, yet the body is quickly cremated and the case is considered closed.
So begins Betsy Bonner's search for her sister, Atlantis, and the unraveling of the mysterious final months before Atlantis's disappearance, alleged overdose, and death. With access to her sister's email and social media accounts, Bonner attempts to decipher and construct a narrative: frantic and unintelligible Facebook posts, alarming images of a woman with a handgun, Craigslist companionship ads, DEA agent testimony, video surveillance, police reports, and various phone calls and moments in the flesh conjured from memory. Through a history only she and Atlantis shared--a childhood fraught with abuse and mental illness, Atlantis's precocious yet short rise in the music world, and through it all an unshakable bond of sisterhood--Bonner finds questions that lead only to more questions and possible clues that seem to point in no particular direction. In this haunting memoir and piercing true crime account, Bonner must decide how far she will go to understand a sister who, like the mythical island she renamed herself for, might prove impossible to find.
The gripping story of a young woman's murder, unsolved for over two decades, brilliantly investigated and reconstructed by her stepsister.
Growing up, Rachel Rear knew the story of Stephanie Kupchynsky's disappearance. The beautiful violinist and teacher had fled an abusive relationship on Martha's Vineyard and made a new start for herself near Rochester, NY. She was at the height of her life-in a relationship with a man she hoped to marry and close to her students and her family. And then, one morning, she was gone. Around Rochester-a region which has spawned such serial killers as Arthur Shawcross and the "Double Initial" killer-Stephanie's disappearance was just a familiar sort of news item. But Rachel had more reason than most to be haunted by this particular story of a missing woman: Rachel's mother had married Stephanie's father after the crime, and Rachel grew up in the shadow of her stepsister's legacy. In Catch the Sparrow, Rachel Rear writes a compulsively readable and unerringly poignant reconstruction of the case's dark and serpentine path across more than two decades. Obsessively cataloging the crime and its costs, drawing intimately closer to the details than any journalist could, she reveals how a dysfunctional justice system laid the groundwork for Stephanie's murder and stymied the investigation for more than twenty years, and what those hard years meant for the lives of Stephanie's family and loved ones. Startling, unputdownable, and deeply moving, Catch the Sparrow is a retelling of a crime like no other.
***With a brand new chapter, updates on the investigations, 8 pages of exclusive photos, and a behind-the-scenes conversation between Billy Jensen and retired detective Paul Holes on the Golden State Killer, their favorite cold cases, and more***
The New York Times bestselling true-crime hit, now in trade paperback!
Journalist Billy Jensen spent fifteen years investigating unsolved murders, fighting for the families of victims. Every story he wrote had one thing in common--they didn't have an ending. The killer was still out there.
But after the sudden death of a friend, crime writer and author of I'll Be Gone in the Dark, Michelle McNamara, Billy became fed up. Following a dark night, he came up with a plan. A plan to investigate past the point when the cops had given up. A plan to solve the murders himself.
You'll ride shotgun as Billy identifies the Halloween Mask Murderer, finds a missing girl in the California Redwoods, and investigates the only other murder in New York City on 9/11. You'll hear intimate details of the hunts for two of the most terrifying serial killers in history: his friend Michelle McNamara's pursuit of the Golden State Killer and his own quest to find the murderer of the Allenstown Four. And Billy gives you the tools--and the rules--to help solve murders yourself.
Gripping, complex, unforgettable, Chase Darkness with Me is an examination of the evil forces that walk among us, perfect for every true crime fan who has read I'll Be Gone in the Dark and wants to know "what's next?"