(Jun 30, 2011)
The true story of sex killer Westley Allan Dodd-his victims were too small to fight...and too young to die! Includes eyewitness execution report.
By all appearances, twenty-nine-year-old Westley Allan Dodd was the perfect all-American boy—model high school student, camp counselor and U.S. Navy enlistee. But behind his mask of normalcy lurked a predatory sex fiend with a seventeen-year history of appalling acts of molestation and violence. Children were his victims and the parks of the Pacific Northwest his personal hunting grounds.
On September 4, 1989, his unnatural desires had driven him past simple satisfaction to abduct, torture, and kill two young boys in Vancouver, Washington. Undetected despite his record, Dodd killed a third innocent victim only weeks later near Portland, Oregon. But only when he was caught trying to kidnap a child from a local movie theater was he finally taken into custody by police. Confessing to this heinous murders, he was convicted on all three counts and sentenced to death.
Based on exclusive access to police files and riveting trial testimony, personal interviews with Dodd himself and excerpts from his chilling "diary of death," Driven to Kill dramatically recounts a hideous spree of death and horror that brought every parent's worst nightmare frighteningly to life!
Find Out More From Amazon
Driven to Kill
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(Jun 28, 2011)
On April 14, 1989, for reasons still debated today, Mexican immigrant Ramon Salcido went on a violent rampage in the idyllic Sonoma Valley wine country where he lived and worked. In the course of just two hours, he killed his wife, Angela, her two younger sisters, his mother-in-law, and the man he suspected Angela of having an affair with. He then slashed the throats of his three young daughters - four-year-old Sophia, three-year-old Carmina, and twenty-two-month-old Teresa - leaving them for dead in the county dump. A little more than a day later, the bodies of his daughters were discovered. Miraculously, tiny Carmina was still alive and able to tell her rescuers 'My daddy cut me'.
In Not Lost Forever , Carmina Salcido explores the events surrounding these headline-making murders with extraordinary clarity and composure. Reaching back to understand the events that traumatized her childhood - and weaving them together with the recollections of detectives and witnesses - she reconstructs the story of her father's crimes, and their aftermath, in sobering detail.
Yet Carmina's story doesn't end there. Those who remember her as the tiny victim of these murders will also be shocked by what followed: how she was adopted by a Catholic extremist family that tried to change her name and bury her past; how she tried to escape their sheltering influence by joining a Carmelite convent and then a ranch for troubled girls; and how the psychological trials she endured along the way nearly broke her spirit - until, at last, she found peace by returning to the one relative still alive to share her grief: her grandfather.
Now a young woman, Carmina returned to California to share her experience and discover the family that was brutally taken from her. The devout Catholic also returned to look into her father's eyes on Death Row and confront the man who took away her entire family. With clear-eyed candor, courage, and grace this brave young woman takes readers along on her miraculous journey of survival, discovery, and hope.
Find Out More From Amazon
Not Lost Forever
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(Jun 28, 2011)
A devoted wife and mother and a Harvard-educated scientist working as a biology professor at the University of Alabama–Huntsville, Amy Bishop seemed to have it all. But when she was denied tenure, her whole world came crashing down and she reacted in a way no one ever could have imagined.
On February 13, 2010, Amy was charged with murder for opening fire in a staff meeting the day before, killing three colleagues and injuring others. How could one woman’s fury unleash such destruction? While the campus massacre made national headlines, authorities began a thorough investigation and uncovered another chilling episode in Amy’s past.
When she was twenty-one, Amy fatally shot her teenage brother, Seth. His death was ruled an accident—and no charges were pressed. But for many involved in the case, Amy’s story didn’t add up, and law-enforcement officials suspected it was murder…After the Huntsville rampage, the cold case was reopened and Amy would find herself charged with killing her own brother—murder in the first degree. If Amy had been found guilty twenty-four years earlier, three lives might have been saved.
Find Out More From Amazon
A Professor's Rage: The Chilling True Story of Harvard PhD Amy Bishop, her Brother's Mysterious Death, and the Shooting
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(Jun 27, 2011)
In March 1999, just months after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, human rights lawyer Rosemary Nelson was assassinated when a bomb exploded under her car. The attack was claimed by a loyalist paramilitary group but, over the last ten years, there have been several government enquiries into Nelson's murder. The latest one, which has been ongoing since 2005, has dramatically alleged that there may have been some security service collusion in the killing. Rosemary Nelson came to prominence for representing high-profile Republican and nationalist clients. It was no secret that her life was at risk and she had received many death threats - but had always been refused police protection. She had even claimed publicly that her life was being threatened by members of the RUC - allegations which have always been denied by the police. This fascinating and in-depth book takes an unflinching yet impartial look at this controversial case. As well as investigating the events leading to Rosemary Nelson's murder, author Neil Root draws on first-hand interviews with those relevant to the case. He also examines the striking similarities between her death and the assassination of solicitor Pat Finucane in 1989. This is a complex and terrifying story which deserves to be told...
Find Out More From Amazon
Who Killed Rosemary Nelson?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Jun 24, 2011)
The Case Against Casey Anthony is fascinating! Everybody wants to know the truth but I fear we will never truly know what really happened to poor little Caylee Anthony. Even if Casey stood up in court and cried, “Enough of this circus! I did it!” We couldn’t really believe her, could we? As the murder trial continues day after day, the case takes us on a wild ride of ups and downs, twists and turns. I am captivated! It seems that Caylee was so loved, so how did she end up thrown like trash into the woods? It simply does not make sense! I can’t wrap my mind around it, can you?
Tragedy has fallen upon this seemingly normal, successful American family and we all want answers. Follow me into this dark world as I ask all the crucial questions about the Casey Anthony Case the world wants answered!
Find Out More From Amazon
The Case Against Casey Anthony Crucial Questions The World Wants Answered
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Jun 23, 2011)
On Sunday 15 November 2009, detectives hunting one of the most prolific sex offenders in Britain finally made an arrest; 17 years after the first terrifying attack took place. Delroy Grant, the ‘Night Stalker’ first struck in 1992, raping an 84-year-old woman in her flat in Croydon. What followed was a sickening series of horrifying sexual assaults on elderly victims across south London, Kent and Surrey. All the victims lived alone and were woken in the night by a man dressed in black, his face obscured by a balaclava. Delroy would shine a torch into their eyes, or switch off their electricity, before subjecting them to terrifyingly violent attacks. DNA profiling revealed a list of 21,000 possible suspects before officers working on Operation Minstead finally pieced together enough evidence to make an arrest. This is the full story of the man dubbed the ‘Night Stalker’, who brought terror and violence to the streets of South London.
Publisher:BOOK PROMOTIONS
ISBN:9781843586401
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(Jun 23, 2011)
Former Baltimore City homicide detective Kelvin Sewell has seen it all. Gang members burned alive; a baby unceremoniously stuffed into the ground by its own mother; a sex offender who killed a child in a delusional jealous rage. The constant grind of bearing witness to violent death has given Sewell an unprecedented perspective into the minds of killers.
He sat in the Baltimore Police Department’s interview room with 14-year-old Devon Richardson as the teen tried to explain why he shot a woman he didn’t know in the back of the head. He watched the father of 17-year-old Nicole Edmonds cry over the corpse of his dead daughter, murdered for a cellphone. But now for the first time Sewell has decided to share the insights and the pain, the dehumanizing effects of crime and waves of psychic despair and social dysfunction in his groundbreaking book, Why Do We Kill?
“I think people deserve to know the truth,” said Sewell, a 20-year veteran of Baltimore City’s police department. “They need to get a sense of why people kill in Baltimore. “I want people to see what we see as detectives,” he explained. “I think there are misconceptions about crime in Baltimore, and I hope this book will clear them up.” The book recounts some of the most notorious homicide cases in Baltimore in the past decade, all told from the perspective of the cop who worked them. Joining forces with Sewell is award-winning investigative reporter Stephen Janis, who covered City Hall for the now-defunct Baltimore Examiner and is founder of the award-winning news website Investigative Voice. “What makes this book different is the collaborative voice,” said Janis. “Kelvin would discuss his thoughts on the cases and I then tried to tell the story by adding the context that comes naturally with being a reporter.” Janis’s colleague at Investigative Voice, reporter and political scientist Alan Z. Forman, served as editor for the project. Janis is no stranger to the Baltimore crime scene, winning a string of prestigious awards for his crime reporting, including two consecutive Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association awards in Category A for his series on the murders of sex workers and his investigation into the high number of unsolved killings in Baltimore.
About the Authors
STEPHEN JANIS is an award-winning reporter who publishes Investigative Voice, an online watchdog journalism website based in Baltimore Maryland. As a staff writer for the former Baltimore Examiner (and one of only a handful of reporters who worked at the paper for its entire existence) he won a Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association award in 2008 for investigative reporting on the high rate of unsolved murders in Baltimore. In 2009 he won an MDDC Press Association award for Best Series for his articles on the murders of prostitutes. As co-founder of the independent investigative website Investigative Voice, Janis’s work uncovering corruption and government waste in Baltimore City will be chronicled in the upcoming national documentary “Fit To Print.” The site has won worldwide critical acclaim for its unconventional presentation and hardnosed reporting and is read regularly by insiders in city government as well as the police department. Janis is the author of two novels, Orange: The Diary of an Urban Surrealist and This Dream Called Death. In addition to reporting and directing content for Investigative Voice he currently teaches journalism at Towson University. KELVIN SEWELL is a 22-year veteran of the Baltimore City Police Department. A former narcotics officer tasked to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, he worked on major drug investigations for nearly a decade, later becoming a supervisor in the BPD’s Internal Affairs Division, where he led several high profile integrity operations. Sewell worked as a supervisor and investigator in the fabled Baltimore City Homicide Unit, working some of the most notorious cases in one of the most violent cities in the country. He attended Harvard Associates Forensic Science School and received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in criminology from Coppin State University. Following his retirement as a Baltimore homicide detective he took a job as Lieutenant in the Pocomoke City Police Department on Maryland’s lower Eastern Shore, where he currently continues to serve.
Find Out More From Amazon
Why Do We Kill?: The Pathology of Murder in Baltimore
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(Jun 22, 2011)
On Saturday morning, February 2, 2002, 7-year-old Danielle van Dam was reported missing by her mother, Brenda, who had been out partying with friends at a local bar until almost 2:00 a.m. Danielle's father, Damon, had been left behind at home to babysit their three young children, and their dog, a sleek gray Weimaraner. He said that he had put the kids to bed, cracked their doors, and fell asleep in the master bedroom, along with the dog, and with the door closed. Shortly before 2 a.m., he opened the bedroom door, and let the dog out to greet his wife, knowing she would be home soon.
Some people, like KFMB talk show host Rick Roberts, began to question the parents' behavior, after it was reported in the media that they were "swingers", and they did not check on their children, even after they said they found two outside doors open that night.
Danielle's body was discovered at Dehesa on February 27.The police had almost immediately suspected neighbor David Westerfield, as he went away that weekend, leaving his garden hose lying untidily across his neat front yard. Was he responsible for Danielle van Dam's death, or was he the victim of a "rush to judgement"?
What does the evidence say?
* No evidence was found that he was ever in her home, nor that he had been at the body recovery site.
* Why were no fibers from her pajamas or bedding found in his house or vehicles?
* Had she ever played in his motor home while it was parked in their street?
* Did his pornography collection include child porn?
* Did he fail his lie detector test?
* What is the truth about the plea deal story?
* Was the body rapidly mummified by a warm dry wind that hadn't yet begun to blow?
* What happened to the photographs the searchers took of the body?
* Did the orange fiber in her hair come from something in her own home?
* Whose hair was found under her body? It was neither Danielle's nor Westerfield's.
* On February 15, Brenda received an anonymous phone call that Danielle was abused but alive. Who made that call? The insect evidence indicates she died soon afterwards.
* A year later, James Selby, a convicted serial rapist, confessed in writing to killing Danielle. Was he just a "quack"? One of his victims was a 9-year-old girl, whom he abducted sleeping from her bed.
This book examines these questions and many more.
This was a high-profile case, with an enormous amount of public attention; the trial was broadcast live on radio and TV, so a book on it is long overdue, and this is an authoritative book. There are books with titles like "MS-DOS Bible" and "Windows 7 Bible". This book is the Westerfield-van Dam case "bible". It is a comprehensive reference source about the case, and a "must read" for everybody interested in it, and especially all those who were personally involved: the jurors, the police, the crime laboratory, the DA's office, the defense lawyers, the neighbors and other witnesses.
This case has similarities to the OJ Simpson case, not only in the intensity of public and media attention, but also in the fact that George "Woody" Clarke was a prosecutor on both cases, and Jo-Ellan Dimitrius was a jury consultant on both, but for the defense in the OJ trial, and for the prosecution in the Westerfield trial. Did clever juror selection contribute to a miscarriage of justice in either case?
David Westerfield's automatic appeal is due soon, making this book timely.
About the Author
The author has spent years studying this case, debating it with others, and researching the issues involved. As would be expected of someone with a science degree, he has devoted particular attention to the scientific evidence, especially the entomology (the bugs), which involved numerous calculations.
The trial jury reportedly took a methodical approach during their deliberations. The author shows what a truly methodical approach really is. He documents flaws in the media coverage, flaws in the case presented by the defense, flaws in the prosecution case, and flaws in the police investigation. In particular, he is disturbed by the close relationship claimed by prosecutor Clarke between the District Attorney's office and the Police Department's Crime Laboratory. Scientists must be neutral, they must establish the truth. People can learn from these mistakes, and so avoid them in future.
The author has a strong sense of justice, and is suspicious of angry communities. Forensic pathologist Dr Michael Baden said that, when the passions of the community and the prosecutor are raised, one can get a false verdict, and he quoted a case (Jeanine Nicarico, Chicago, 1983) very similar to Danielle's, in which that had happened and innocents were convicted (Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez). Did that also happen to David Westerfield?
Find Out More From Amazon
Rush to Judgement: a critical examination of the David Westerfield, Danielle van Dam child kidnapping and murder case, San Diego 2002
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(Jun 21, 2011)
In 1988, a 29-year-old preschool fitness teacher, Julie Love, left the Atlanta home of her fiance and was never again seen alive. A year later her skeletal remains were found in a trash dump.
In 1995, the body of 42-year-old Gary Clark was discovered in a wooded lot about three miles south of Madisonville, Kentucky. He had been killed at another location by a single gunshot wound and his body dumped in the woods.
In both cases, the police initially found no leads or physical evidence.
These are just two examples of cold cases--crimes that stymie investigators and sometimes remain unsolved for many years. But for the painstaking, dedicated work of law enforcement professionals who reinvestigate and revive cases that others once abandoned, justice might never be served and lack of closure forever torment the families and friends of crime victims.
Delayed Justice documents the heroic efforts of some of the nation's most prolific cold case detectives. In collaboration with authors Jack and Mary Branson, these professionals share their insights, skills, and resources, using their most compelling cold cases as illustrations.
The authors examine how cold case investigations differ from standard investigations and why cold case detectives sometimes have success where earlier investigators failed. They also discuss some of the pitfalls of reopening long-unsolved crimes, such as lost or compromised evidence and the difficulty of getting accurate information from witnesses who must rely on fading memories. Looking to the future, the authors discuss new technology that may someday allow investigators to drastically enhance surveillance videos and create a facial recognition database as accurate as DNA analysis and fingerprints.
Both true crime readers and fellow law enforcement professionals will find the stories and expert insights described in this book to be fascinating and instructive.
About the Author
Jack Branson (Cumming, GA), a retired special agent with the US Department of the Treasury, is now the head of Branson & Associates, a private investigation firm. He has also written a novel, Terminal Justice.
Mary Branson (Cumming, GA) is a freelance writer and the president of AptWord, Inc., a literary agency. She is the author of many books, including (with Jack Branson) Murder in Mayberry and Cutting Myself in Half.
Find Out More From Amazon
Delayed Justice: Inside Stories from America's Best Cold Case Investigators
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(Jun 21, 2011)
Anna Nicole Smith was known as much for her sometimes-turbulent life off-camera as she was for her tabloid celebrity.
Judge Seidlin provides hard factual never-before-seen evidence on the circumstances and mysteries surrounding her death.
These new revelations come from a man who personally witnessed and participated in this tragic story, and whose legal decisions sought to bring justice.
Valentine's Day 2007. The body of model, actress, former U.S. Playmate of the Year, and international celebrity Anna Nicole Smith, dead of an apparent drug overdose, lay in a morgue in South Florida, decomposing at an alarming rate. No one could decide where to bury her. Enter Judge Larry Seidlin, and twenty-nine lawyers. The six-day trial that followed heard explosive testimony: That Anna Nicole's mother, a lifetime police officer with a nose for foul play, had predicted her death just months before. That Howard K. Stern slept on a couch downstairs while Anna Nicole and Larry Birkhead made love upstairs. That Stern, her lawyer, smuggled a duffle bag full of drugs into the hospital room of a pregnant Anna Nicole while she was under a doctor's care for her drug dependency. Under oath, both Stern and Birkhead claimed to be the father of Anna Nicole's baby daughter, Dannielynn. Was Anna Nicole Smith murdered? Did she commit suicide? If she died from a drug overdose, was it accidental or intentional? And what about Anna Nicole's son, twenty-year old Daniel, a young man who did not have a drug problem, dead just a few months before from a methadone overdose? Was Daniel murdered? Was his overdose accidental or intentional? It always came back to the drugs. Judge Larry Seidlin captivated America, and the world, during the six-day trial in which he laid bare the ugly reality of prescription drug abuse among celebrities, and the role enablers play in their addiction, and sometimes their death. Judge Larry Seidlin is convinced the original investigations into the deaths of Anna Nicole Smith and her son Daniel were seriously flawed. He believes that someone committed manslaughter, through reckless conduct, in the death of Anna Nicole Smith. Judge Seidlin believes that reckless conduct also led to the death of her son. He points out the similarities between the drug deaths of Anna Nicole Smith and Michael Jackson. In The Killing of Anna Nicole Smith, Judge Seidlin presents damning evidence and explains, for the first time, why he thinks justice eluded Anna Nicole Smith.
Find Out More Frm Amazon
The Killing of Anna Nicole Smith
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(Jun 20, 2011)
This thoroughly revised and updated text is about the circumstances in which people kill one another. Authored by renowned experts, WILL TO KILL, THE: MAKING SENSE OF SENSELESS MURDER, 4/e reviews homicide laws, introduces theories purporting to explain murder, and presents up-to-date statistical data identifying homicide patterns and trends. It covers topics ranging from domestic and workplace homicide to cult and hate killings; murder committed by juveniles to serial slayings. Finally, it examines criminal justice responses to homicide, including the strategies and tactics employed to apprehend, prosecute, and punish killers. Virtually every chapter in this edition has undergone significant revision. In particular, this edition reflects recent legislative changes and Supreme Court decisions, includes new case examples, and contains extensively expanded discussions of family and school homicide
Find Out More From Amazon
The Will to Kill: Making Sense of Senseless Murder (4th Edition)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(Jun 17, 2011)
Is there a fine line between love and hate? This novel tests the boundaries of these two innate emotions, intertwining them in a twisted tale filled with broken trust, tragedy and revenge. A dark tale of one man’s journey through a hellish divorce, the author explores the role of society in the court system, how men and women in today’s world can be both the victim and the destroyer and how a ‘snow globe’ marriage can easily turn into a Hollywood horror.
When the law fails, he takes matters into his own hands. Trying desperately to regain his life and son after the woman he once shared his entire world with, turns his whole world against him. Will revenge or justice prevail? After all, some say all is fair in love and war. In this story, love is war. Just be sure what you are fighting for.
Find Out More From Amazon
The Battered Husband: Based On A True Story
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(Jun 9, 2011)
There are 3,000 drugged-up psychopaths, armed to the teeth with blades, shooters and bombs. That's the only way I can describe Yare. It's a murderous viper's nest of assassins, cut throats and killers.'When James Miles and his best friend Paul Loseby were caught smuggling ten kilos of cocaine out of Caracas, Venezuela, they couldn’t deny their guilt. Young and naive, the lads had thought the one-off drug mule job would be a passport to a better life. But in reality it was a ticket to hell ...They were sentenced to thirty years and flung into the world's deadliest prison system, ending up in the notorious Yare. A place where drugs and weaponry are currency and the rules are: there are no rules.
This is the gripping true-life story of how two men endured untold savagery in the most appalling conditions. It's about what it's like to witness murder and rape every day, fearing you'll be next. How it feels to join a dangerous Latino gang and eat dead rats in order to survive. And, what you do when you're at the centre of a riot between thousands of men with machine guns.As seen on Channel 5’s Banged Up Abroad, this is the most shocking prison story ever told and an inspiring account of human endurance.
Publisher:Ebury Press
ISBN:9780091943509
Pages:320
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(Jun 8, 2011
At 1.45am on New Year's Day, Rachel Moran left her mother's house to make the 20 minute walk back to her own flat. She never arrived. Rachel was just like many women of her age, loved by her family, adored by her boyfriend and with a bright future ahead of her. Her fatal mistake was to walk the mile or so alone to feed the kittens she and her boyfriend kept. She was taken from the street and brutally murdered by Michael Little. Her body wasn't discovered for a month. In an attempt to make sense of what happened that night and in the months that followed, her mother kept a diary of what happened.
Find Out More From Amazon
The Murder of Rachel
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(Jun 1, 2011)
A hard-hitting look at the most dangerous illegal drug in North America. A fact-based account featuring up to the minute interviews and life stories from users, dealers and doctors, with a Canadian perspective on the problem and its potential solutions. An important book for teachers, parents and anyone interested in, or living close to, this devastating drug. Includes advice on how to talk effectively to your children and students about methamphetamine - and how not to!
Find Out More From Amazon
Crystal Death: North America's Most Dangerous Drug
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(Jun 1, 2011)
A silent, simmering killer terrorized New England in 1911. As a terrible heat wave killed more than 2,000 people, another silent killer used the heat to cover her own killing spree. That year an obituary writer for the Hartford Courant noticed a sharp rise in the number of obits for residents of a rooming house in Windsor, Connecticut, and began to suspect who was responsible: Amy Archer-Gilligan, who'd opened Archer Home for Elderly People and Chronic Invalids four years earlier. Sister Amy would be accused of murdering both of her husbands and up to sixty-six of her patients with cocktails of lemonade and arsenic; her story inspired the Broadway hit Arsenic and Old Lace.
The Devil's Rooming House is the first book about the life, times, and crimes of America's most prolific female serial killer. In telling this fascinating story, M. William Phelps also paints a vivid portrait of early-twentieth-century New England.
Find Out More From Amazon
The Devil's Rooming House: The True Story of America's Deadliest Female Serial Killer
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment