Homicide by the Rich and Famous: A Century of Prominent Killers --The rich and famous kill for the very same reasons others do: love, power, money, jealousy, greed, revenge, and rage. Here, is a tour of murders committed by the rich and famous during the last century, looking at motives, responses of the community,local law enforcement, media, and the outcomes. The rich and famous receive vastly different treatment and often get away with murder. They have access to better representation, the means to flee the country, influential friends willing to put themselves on the line and they are treated better by law enforcement and the criminal justice system.

1993 Murders In The U.S.: West Memphis Three, Richard Allen Davis, Polly Klaas, Brown's Chicken Massacre, Damien Echols, Jonathan Sellers, Brian Glick (murder Victim)

Wicked Women : Black Widows, Child Killers, And Other Women In Crime -- The "gentle" sex: mothers, nurturers . . . and sometimes killers. In this look at female criminals, you'll meet wives who poisoned their mates for profit, nurses who hastened their patients' demises and mothers who did the unthinkable. You'll also see how some play their cards right to get lighter sentences than men - or no punishment at all!

Assassins -- What drives someone to murder a public figure? The cold blooded motives of three of the most notorious assassins of the 20th century Sirhan Sirhan, James Earl Ray, and Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme. In an exclusive interview, James Earl Ray, who gunned down Martin Luther King, tells why he believes he was framed.

Fatal Journey-- by Jack Gieck "Monster!" That's the word people in Klamath Falls, Oregon, used to describe Jesse Pratt. The would-be macho trucker and sometime pimp was so threatening, even his own mother was terrified of him. Obsessed with his secretary, Carrie Love, 20, Pratt alternately charmed and stalked her. When she resisted he forced her to accompany him on a business trip, where he raped her, then stabbed her to death. To hide her identity, he ran over her body with his tractor/trailer. The provided forensic scientists with enough evidence to put him on death row. Using meticulous analysis, gathering the tiniest of clues, a top team of detectives put together a case against Pratt.

City Confidential: Gatlinburg - Smoky Tattoo Eddie, nicknamed for his 134 tattoos, Kimberly Kay Pelley, a homeless country girl, and two friends murder two innocent people in a robbery at the Rocky Top Village Inn in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, in 1986. Tattoo Eddie winds up with two death sentences as the case shocks the tacky tourist town of Gatlinburg, gateway to Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

City Confidential: Great Falls, VAIn 1980, Great Falls, Virginia was shocked when a prominent cardiologist was murdered in his home. The investigation focused on a well-to-do neighbor. Republican lawmakers and beltway businessmen in the rich, conservative community found out that Norm Hamilton, one of the world's greatest jewel thieves, lived among them. He shielded his identity while he stole more than $7 million in antiques, coins, jewels, furs, and silverware without a brush with police. December 5, 1980, Hamilton was caught.

Last Dance, Last Chance by Ann Rule -- Dr. Anthony Pignataro, was a cosmetic surgeon and a famed medical researcher whose flamboyant lifestyle in western New York State suggested a highly successful career. With scalpel, drugs, and arsenic, he betrayed every oath a physician makes. A trusted medical professional in the depths of greed, manipulation and self-aggrandizement where even slow, deliberate murder is not seen for what it truly is: pure evil.

A

Michael Alig, the co-founding member of Club Kids, a group of young clubgoers, led by James St. James in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Young people who used drugs bought inside of Peter Gatien's nightclubs had a way of ending up dead from drug overdoses or drug-induced homicides. Andre Angel Melendez frequented the club scene wearing large, white angel wings. Angel was murdered by Alig and his accomplice “Freeze” for drugs and money when he visited their apartment. Son of famed novelist, Paul Auster, Daniel Auster, was in the apartment doing heroin during the murder. He admits to taking $3,000 from the Angel's body. Alig kept Angel's body on ice, in his bathtub, for several days before he was dismembered and thrown into the Hudson. Alig and “Freeze” confessed and were incarcerated. Daniel Auster did not do any jail time.

Patricia Allanson, nee Taylor, a spoiled southern belle, encouraged her husband to kill his parents, she attempted to murder his grandparents, opened a private nursing care service and tried to kill two clients. Everything She Ever Wanted: A True Story of Obsessive Love, Murder, and Betrayal

Alex Baranyi and David Anderson, fantasized about murder-- Early January 4, 1997, the Wilsons, a Bellevue, WA family of four, were slain by David Anderson and Alex Baranyi. The crime was planned for a year. Kimberly Wilson, a friend visiting home from AmeriCorps, was targeted because Anderson owed her money. Anderson lured her to a neighborhood park. Baranyi waited behind a bush to strangle her. They smoked cigarettes then they went to the Wilson home. Kim's parents knew she was with Anderson so they had to die. William, Rose and Julia Wilson were stabbed and beaten. Baranyi told detectives there was no motive, “just that opportunity to experience something truly phenomenal.” The prosecution characterized Baranyi as a sociopath. His lawyers argued the high-school dropout was neglected as a child, suffers from bipolar disorder, could not distinguish fantasy from reality, and was controlled by Anderson. It took two trials to get a conviction on Anderson. They both belonged to the Saturday Night Denny’s Club, a Goth crowd of disaffected youth. Criminal behavior: theories, typologies, and criminal justice. More: Black Circle Boys (Streaming or DVD)

Jane Andrews was the Cleethorpes girl who wanted to be a princess.The former aide to the Duchess of York, was found guilty of murdering her fiancé, Tom Cressman, 39, after discovering a sexy e-mail he sent to another woman. She is sentenced to life imprisonment. Relentlessly portrayed as a callous social climber, she gives her account of the relationship and what led up to the killing. Andrews was captured in a hotel room with her parents and older brother after three days on the run from prison.

B

In Wroclaw, Polish author, Krystian Bala, wrote about the torture and murder of a young woman with her hands bound behind her back and a noose around her neck. A judge ruled Bala was using personal experience. He was sentenced to 25 years for directing the killing of Dariusz Janiszewski.

Allen Blackthorne -- Texas millionaire, Allen Blackthorne, 45, was convicted of arranging the murder of his ex-wife, Sheila Bellush, 35. She was shot and her throat was slit. Her two-year-old quadruplets, from her current marriage, played near her body. She was found by her and Blackthorne's13-year-old daughter. He had a history of violence against his ex-wife. Bellush had Blackthorne arrested for sexually abusing their daughter, a charge he denied. The charges were dropped. Case Updates and Overview. -- Every Breath You Take : A True Story of Obsession, Revenge, and MurderEvery Breath You Take: A True Story of Obsession, Revenge, and Murder -- Ann Rule, untangles a horrific web of lies that culminated in Sheila's savage murder more than ten years after she left Blackthorne.

A convenience store surveillance video showed Donald Blom, 51, with his hands around the neck of Katie Poirier, 19, May 1999. Blom confessed to abducting, strangling and burning her body in a fire pit on his nearby vacation property. Blom has 6 prior felony convictions, 5 are sex-related.

Until the Twelfth of Never: The Deadly Divorce of Dan and Betty Broderick by Bella Stumbo, Judith Regan -- A sensitive study of a socialite convicted of murdering her ex-husband and his new wife. Hell Hath No Fury: A True Story of Wealth and Passion, Love and Envy, and a Woman Driven to the Ultimate Revenge [Kindle Edition] by Bryna Taubman, Ann Seranne-- Woman Scorned (1992) with Meredith Baxter includes the sequels, Her Final Fury: The Betty Broderick Story and The Last Chapter chronicle the trial.

C

Rae Carruth Sports Trivia, Books, Films.

Robert Chambers "Preppie Murderer" pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of Jennifer Levin in New York's Central Park. On August 26, 1986, Jennifer, 18, and Robert, 19, prep school friends, partied at Dorrians bar in Manhattan's before going to Central Park, where Jennifer's body was discovered by a cyclist hours later. Chambers used a “rough sex” defense, claiming her death was an accident. After 12 days of jury deliberation without a verdict, he accepted a plea bargain of manslaughter for 15 years in prison. While incarcerated he was charged with 27 rules violations for possession of weapons and drugs, assault, and disobeying direct orders. More than four years of his sentence was in solitary confinement. He served the full term. After his release, during a four-hour interview, he gave his version of how Jennifer died. Assistant District Attorney, Linda Fairstein, believed Chambers remains a threat to society because he has the "heart of a sociopath." Even though he attended East Side prep schools and Boston University, for a semester, he was expelled from a New York school at age 13 years for stealing a teacher's wallet. He's had a serious drug habit since the age of 14. Fairstein said he may have been drunk and high when he strangled Jennifer. Mike Sheehan, the homicide detective who interrogated Chambers referred to him as e a "diabolical liar" and predicted he would be back in prison. "You put a guy who uses drugs in maximum security for 15 years and that isn't rehabilitation." In 2004, Chambers, was arrested for drugs. He pleaded to a lesser charge and served 100 days. In 2007, Chambers and his longtime girlfriend were arrested for running a cocaine operation out of her East Side apartment. Chambers pleaded and got 19 years. He received more time for selling drugs than he did for murder. Chambers is now inmate 08A4763 at Wende a maximum security prison Correctional Facility outside Buffalo, NY. He could be eligible for parole in 2023. Book: Wasted: The Preppie Murder -- The true story behind New York's rough sex murder of Jennifer Levin by Robert Chambers.

Mark David Chapman gunned down former Beatle John Lennon. -- He was a troubled man whose fascination with John Lennon' turned into a psychotic obsession. Chapman, one of Lennon's biggest fans, got his last autograph. John Lennon's Assassination After he fired four shots, he waited for police to arrest him. Six months later, he was sentenced to 20 years to life.

D

Richard Allen Davis-- In October 1993, Polly Hannah Klaas was kidnapped at knife-point from a slumber party. Her 12-year-old friends were bound and gagged, with pillow-cases as Polly’s mother, Eve Nichol, and sister Annie Nichol, 7, slept in the next room. Richard Allen Davis, on parole for a previous conviction, had a history of violent knife attacks and sex crimes against women. He had been arrested 25 times. He was incarcerated for17 out of the previous 20 years. Free to Kill - Polly Klaas Murder -- Polly's father, Marc Klaas, shared his rage and betrayal. Jurors and attorneys examine the evidence and legal experts reveal why the penal system fails to rehabilitate.

Javier Balmore Deleon, 20, received an 8 1/2 year sentence for the murder of 13-year-old, Kavita Babber. Deleon got Kavita drunk and committed statutory rape. When she became loud and argumentative, he strangled her to death. Kavitra lived with her parents in Northgate, a Seattle suburb. On a September 1998.evening, she met up with a friend and Deleon at a Northgate-area apartment. The friend left her with Deleon. Kavitra was strangled early the next morning. Her body was found in a hillside storm drain. Deleon made an Alford plea, he does not admit guilt but pleaded guilty because he would be convicted if the case went to trial. Initially, Deleon was charged with second-degree murder, based on his confession at the time of his arrest. Police did not allow him to contact an attorney when he requested one, therefore his confession was thrown out and the charge was renegotiated. Superior Court Judge Ronald Kessler read a letter from Kavitra's mother to the court. She described her daughter as "very caring and so young," from a family "in crisis for many years." Deleon was upset with his sentence. He felt he should have received 6 1/2 years instead of 8 1/2 years, the maximum term for first-degree manslaughter.

Vincent Doan left behind muddy footprints and bloodstained boots after his former girlfriend, 22-year-old, Carrie Culberson's disappearance. She vanished from Blanchester, Ohio in 1996. Her body was never recovered. Jurors believe in August 29, 1996, Doan punched Carrie in the face, and said, "I told you, the next time I'd kill you." He drove around, called his father and then returned to Carrie, dying in her car. Neither Carrier or her red 1989 Honda CRX, were seen again. Doan was found guilty of aggravated murder, kidnapping and killing, and sentenced to life in prison without parole. In July 2011, prosecutors offered him a chance for parole for divulging the location of Carrie's body. Defense attorney, Kort Gatterdam, said Doan would probably not accept the deal because he is innocent. American Justice: What Happened to Carrie Culberson?

Diane Downs was convicted of the shooting of her own 3 young children.

Jurors acquitted millionaire, Robert Durst, for killing Morris Black, a 71-year-old neighbor. Jurors set aside his confession. A Deadly Secret by Matt Birbeck

E

Einhorn, Ira -- Holly was a small-town Texas girl from a conservative home. In 1979, 18 months after the disappearance of Holly Maddux, 30, Philadelphia police entered Ira Einhorn's, smelly, rundown apartment. In a steamer trunk, next to where Einhorn slept, Holly's mummified body was discovered. Her skull was fractured in six or more places. Einhorn spent 20 years on the lam after skipping out on his 1981 trial, while on bail. After his extradiction to the US, he stood trial again and was found: guilty of 1st-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. The judge told him that he was an "ntellectual dilettante" who "preyed upon the uninitiated, uninformed, unsuspecting and inexperienced." Einhorn resides Graterford Prison, Pennsylvania's maximum-security. The Unicorn's Secret: Murder in the Age of Aquarius by Steven Levy -- Einhorn's rise, frp, a would-be campus leader during the '60s to a respected ecologist, sociologist in the 1970s. Investigative Reports-- Earth Day founder, Einhorn was a counter-culture icon in the '60s. Powerful allies, including current Senator Arlen Spector, secured his release from prison before he fled.

F

Shonda R Foster, 26, and her brother-in-law, Christopher W. Morlan, 26, believed Neal R. Bowen, 34, fathered the baby that Cori, Morlan's wife and Foster's younger sister, delivered. Foster tied up Bowen, stuffed a condom in his mouth, and pushed him off a cliff, into a lake, where he drowned. Foster contends that she acted under Morlan's direction. Foster was sentenced to 40 years after Morlan was sentenced to 26 years for his guilty plea to first-degree murder. Foster's sentence was longer because she has a previous conviction for vehicular assault.

G

Gabriel Gomez was found guilty of the kidnapping and murder of his half-sister, Sandra Rosas, the late wife of Cesar Rosas, of the Grammy-winning Los Lobos. Sandra vanished on an October 1999 night. Cesar was touring with Los Lobos. The door was left open of her Rowland Heights, California home with broken glass from her van in the driveway. The van had blood evidence from Rosas and Gomez. After two hours of deliberations, the jury found him guilty in October 2000. Gomez was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole, plus 16 years for kidnapping conviction and additional time for other convictiosn.November 2000, police and canine search squads discovered bones in a shallow grave. Jewelry, a hair clip, nail polish and dental records confirmed the bones were those of Sandra Rosas.

Dr. Debora Green--October 1995, in Prairie Village, Kansas, a fire consumed the mansion of physicians' Debora Green and Michael Farrar. Their children, Tim, 12 and Kelly, 6, were trapped and died. Lissa, 10, jumped from the garage. Michael was not living in the home. He was involved with another doctor's wife, Celeste Walker. Bitter Harvest: A Woman's Fury, A Mother's Sacrifice
Ann Rule

H

May 29, 1979 -- Federal Judge "Maximum John" Wood was assassinated outside his San Antonio home. Charles Harrelson, father of actor Woody Harrelson, was convicted. Drug kingpin, Jimmy Chagra's case was to come before "Maximum John," so he paid Harrelson $250,000 to kill the judge. The investigation was more expensive than the investigation of the assassination of President Kennedy.in 2007, Harrelson died in his cell of heart failure. Shortly before his death, he wrote of a peaceful, silent existence of reading, writing, watching David Letterman and listening to NPR and BBC at Supermax, the nation's most secure penitentiary.

Dick Hickock and Perry Smith -- On the night of November 15, 1959, in the little town of Holcomb, KS, a wealthy wheat farmer, Herbert Clutter, wife Bonnie, and their teen aged children, Nancy and Kenyon were shot to death in their home. They were churchgoers, active in the 4-H, and well liked. Herbert, a successful farmer and community leader, was a fair man and loyal to his invalid wife. Nancy, their daughter, a straight-A student, and award-winning pie-maker, was dating a high school basketball star. Their son, Kenyon, was building a cedar chest to give his oldest sister, Beverly, on her wedding day. They were all bound, gagged, and shot at close range. The telephone lines were cut but there were no signs of a struggle, and nothing was missing. There was no apparent motive and no clues. Perry Smith's family was violent. Two of his siblings committed suicide, and one parent died of alcoholism. Smith had disfigured legs. Dick Hickock wanted money. His family was poor and he passed bad checks. Hickock heard about Clutter from a jail mate. Floyd Wells, an ex-employee of Clutter. Wells said Clutter spent $10,000 a week keeping the farm going, and speculated there was a safe. Hickock recruited Smith, because he figured he was a natural-born killer. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote VHS In Cold Blood (1967) Starring: Robert Blake, Scott Wilson VHS In Cold Blood (1996).

Paul Hill became a media celebrity by advocating murder on national TV for over a year. Mainstream "pro-life" leaders distanced themselves from Hill after he was charged with murder, but he was invited to their national strategy meeting three months earlier.

Lawrence T. Horn, Motown's former recording engineer, is guilty of three counts of first-degree murder and one count of murder conspiracy for hiring a man to kill his ex-wife, Mildred Horn, their severely brain-damaged, quadriplegic 8-year-old son, Trevor and Trevor's 38-year-old overnight nurse, Janice Roberts Saunders. The hit man, James Edward Perry, purchased how-to "Hit Man" manuals before the March 1993, murders. After shooting Mildred and Janice Roberts Saunders, he went to Trevor's crib, pulled his tracheotomy tube out from the respirator, then plugged the tube with one hand and his mouth and nose with the other. Horn received a life sentence.

I

J

Guilty Verdict in 'Rink Rage' Trial -- Hockey Father Convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Thomas Junta, 44, a 275 pound truck driver killed Michael Costin, 45, 156 pound construction worker. The 3, 10, and 12 year old sons of Costin and Junta were present. Junta challenged his son's hockey coach. The dispute followed to a locker room. Junta left but returned. In front of 12 children the men fought. Costin unconscious, died, his head was nearly severed.

K

Photos. Son of a Grifter: The Twisted Tale of Sante and Kenny Kimes, the Most Notorious Con Artists in America by Kent Walker, Mark Schone -- Written by Sante's son and Kenny's brother. Dead End: The Crime Story of the Decade--Murder, Incest and High-Tech Thievery -- The trial and conviction of Sante and Kenneth Kimes for murder of Irene Silverman. Details their criminal history. Sins of the Mother DVD

M

The murder of Edward Paulsen, a 28-year old Harvard graduate student studying economics, was the result of a drug deal. Paulsen and his brother were trying to purchase a kilo of hashish from Anthony Martin in Cambridge, September 1976. Martin and Gordon Kent Brown planned to take Paulsen's money wthout giving him the drugs. When the plan backfired, Martin shot Paulsen. Using an alias, Martin left town before his trial, but was indicted in absentia for murder. Canadian police arrested Martin, 23 years after he killed Paulsen. Brown spent six years on the run before he was captured in New Jersey in 1982, convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Who killed Christa Worthington? From a prominent local family, a former fashion journalist, for Women’s Wear Daily, Elle, and The New York Times, Christa Worthington moved to her family's summer beach home in Truro, Massachusetts. In January 2002, Christa, 46, the single mother of a young daughter, was murdered at home with her daughter Ava, 2 ½, beside her body. This was the first homicide in Truro, in more than 30 years. In April 2005, a local garbage collector from Hyannis, MA., Christopher M. McCowen, 33, was charged. He had a record of violent crime. In November 2006, he was convicted of first-degree murder, aggravated rape, and aggravated armed burglary; he was sentenced to life without parole.

David Michael Miller, 45, a wealthy playboy and repeat sex offender, was convicted on one of a series of attacks against South Florida women. Miller attacked women when he was angry, with a woman he loved. A Palm Beach jury found him guilty of attempted second-degree murder in a 1997 attack. on a 22-year-old woman. Miller was previously convicted on two sexual assaults, in 1979 and 1984. He was arrested in a 1989 attempted abduction of a 6-year-old girl. He pleaded guilty to a weapons charge, a served three years of a nine-year prison sentence.

Christopher W. Morlan -- Shonda R. Foster, 26, wept as she was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the killing of Neal R. Bowen, 34. She believed he impregnated her younger sister. Her brother-in-law, Christopher W. Morlan, 26,  the principal accomplice, was sentenced to 27 years.  Foster and Morlan believed Neal Bowen fathered  a baby with Morlan's wife, Cori. Morlan beat Bowen on two occasions when he saw him out walking. Foster tied Bowen up, stuffed a condom in his mouth and pushed him off a 56-foot cliff over Red Lake where he drowned. Foster contends she acted at Morlan's direction and wasn't responsible.

N

The Wonderland Gang were cocaine dealers in Los Angeles during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Eddie Nash, 72, was suspected of ordering the Wonderland murders. Their center of operation was on Laurel Canyon's Wonderland Avenue. On July 1, 1981, four members of the gang were killed. LAPD detectives say the crime scene was more bloody and gruesome than the Tate-LaBianca murders.. Return to Wonderland, the ghost of legendary porn star, John Holmes, stalks LA. Wonderland Murders.

William "Cody" Neal, was sentenced to death for killing three women at a townhouse he shared with a victim. Neal fired his public defenders to represented himself. He pled guilty to all charges and then challenged his conviction and sentence.

Marie Noe --Killed her own infants one by one.

P

Marion Pruett, a "mad-dog killer" went on a murder spree while in a government witness protection program. Two weeks before he was executed Pruett was interviewed. American Justice

Daniel Pelosi, an electrician, was convicted of murder in the 2001 death of millionaire investment banker, Ted Ammon. Ted was struck in the head with a blunt object more than 30 times as he slept in his East Hampton mansion. Daniel was having an affair with Ted's estranged wife, Generosa. Pelosi continued to get in trouble behind bars. The War for Ted Ammon's Children. Book: Almost Paradise: The East Hampton Murder of Ted Ammon by Kieran Crowley

Scott Peterson - Guilty -- Sentenced to the Death!

R

George Rivas, prison escapee and reputed leader of the "Texas Seven," was convicted of capital murder for slaying an Irving policeman during a store robbery. Rivas was the mastermind behind the Texas Seven, one of the biggest prison escapes in Texas. He asked a jury to sentence him to death for slaying a police officer and they did.

Jean-Claude Romand grew up in a home where emotions were internalized and lies were a way of life. The physicians was active on the school board, associated with impressive names in the French medical establishment, and was an expert financial manager. In January 1993, a fire destroyed the family home. Jean-Claude was the only survivor. His wife, Florence, their two children, his parents were murdered. He had no medical degree. His lifestyle was maintained by spending money he was given to invest. His life was a lie for eighteen years. The Adversary: A True Story of Monstrous Deception by Emmanuel Carrere -- Too mortified to admit he missed a crucial medical school exam, Jean-Claude Romand, convinces his wife, friends, family, and mistress that he is a doctor with the World Health Organization. Emmanuel Carrère pursues Romand's psychological inner workings.

Daniel Ruda, 26, and his wife Manuela, 23, were convicted of of killing a close friend, Frank Hackerts, 33, with a hammer and 66 stab wounds. His decomposing body was found in their apartment. At their Bochum, Germany trial in they admitted to stabbing Frank, but pleaded not guilty as they were under orders from the devil to "Kill, sacrifice, bring souls." They were merely Satan's instruments and had to "make sure the victim suffered well." Both grinned at the mother of their victim. They received sentences to a secure psychiatric ward where they would receive therapy.

S

Murder on 'Abortion Row' -- John Salvi was serving two life terms for shooting seven health care workers at a Boston suburb .abortion clinics. He was found dead in his cell in Walpole, Massachusetts' maximum security prison.

OJ Simpson was not convicted of murdering his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.

Perry Smith see Dick Hickock

Off the wall? Eccentric, bizarre record producer, Phil Spector, was convicted of second-degree murder and discharging a firearm killing actress Lana Clarkson.

Michael Skakel -- Convicted of murdering Martha Moxley over 30 years after the crime.

T

MaryBeth Tinning loved to have babies and murder them.

Joe Ture -- Is a convicted murderer/rapist with a connection between the Huling case and the murder of a young waitress.

V

Joran van der Sloot admitted guilt in Peru with the murder of Stephany Flores Ramirez. He is suspected in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway and wanted in the US on extortion charges. As van der Sloot stood before three women Peruvian judges, he came across as arrogant--smirking as the sentence was to be read. When the words “28 years” were read, his demeanor changed. He wiped the sweat from his brow and tears from his eyes.

W

The Ward Weaver Story: On a stormy winter morning, Ashley Pond, 12, a seventh-grader at Gardiner Middle School, headed for the school bus stop in Oregon City, OR at about 8 a.m. Jan. 9, 2002. Ashley did not make it to school. Two months later on March 8, 2002, 13-year-old Miranda Diane Gaddis, disappeared after she left her apartment at 8 a.m. for the school bus. Ashley and Miranda attended the same school, rode the same bus, were in the same dance class and had a common friend.

In February 2002, .David Westerfield, 49, kidnapped and murdered Danielle van Dam, 7, who lived next door to him in San Diego. The Trial of David Westerfield. --Interview with the victim's mother Brenda van Dam and the civil attorney for the van Dam family. Gloria Allred.

Tookie Williams, cofounder of the Crips, was convicted of four murders committed during robberies, sentenced to death, and executed. He authored several books, anti-gang and anti-violence literature and children's books.

Y

Everybody has a dream. For aspiring actress Suzanne Reynolds, her dream ended in a gruesome encounter with eccentric New York artist, Charles Yukl. Fooled by his choirboy looks, Suzanne had no idea the man who taught her the piano was a woman-hating recluse who spent his days lost in fantasies of perversion. In 1966, Charles Yukl killed, raped and sodomized Suzanne Reynolds, an aspiring actress and singer. As a result of the plea bargain for Suzanne1s brutal murder, Yukl soon gained his freedom due to a shocking series of legal errors -- and killed again.While incarcerated in Sing Sing, he was a model prisoner and was paroled in 1973. In 1974 he murdered Karin Schlegel, 23 and dumped her body off his roof. The Piano Teacher brilliantly portrays a madman set on fulfilling his own sadistic and homicidal dreams...and the flawed justice system that gave him the opportunities to do so.

We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda, is more interested in the personalities of killers and those who pursue them than the drama of murder itself. As a result, A Cold Case is short on tension, but it is an excellent character study. Gourevitch immerses us in the "white hoodlum milieu of another time and from a city which no longer really exists," and he conjures up the particular moral universe of each character--Rosenzweig; murder victim Richie Glennon, an ex-prizefighter who walked the fence between the good guys and the bad guys; Murray Richman, the Mob-defending lawyer from the Bronx who likes murder cases because there's "one less witness to worry about"; and Koehler himself, now elderly but still unremorseful.

Kari & Associates
PO Box 6166
Olympia, WA 98507

Copyright Kari Sable 1994-2006

Murder Cases of the Twentieth Century: Biographies of 280 Convicted or Accused Killers -- From Jack Henry Abbott, who stabbed a waiter in the heart for not allowing him to use the toilet, to the "Zodiac," an unknown California serial killer who may have murdered 37 people, 280 of the most famous murder cases of the twentieth century. Contains birth and death dates, aliases, occupation, location of murders, weapons used, number of victims and time period the killings occurred.

City Confidential: Bigfork: Silent Night, Deadly Night
Ted Ernst was a local in the tiny town of Bigfork, Montana. Paralyzed from the waist down at the age of 10, he became a nationally recognized wheelchair athlete. Ted had another talent. With his younger brother Jesse, Ted masterminded 30 burglaries, the last one on Christmas night in 1997. Ted's luck ran out. when Streeter found him waiting in a car near a vacation home. Ted decided to shoot his way out of trouble--despite his brother's objections, as the trial would later reveal--and he killed Streeter and made his escape.

Fatal Error by Mark Morris, Paul Janczewski--Michigan housewife Sharee Miller, a pathological liar, schemer, and sociopath manipulated Jerry Cassaday, a Missouri man she met in an Internet chat room into murdering her innocent husband, Bruce, on Nov. 8, 1999. Cassaday had been a police officer in Marshall, Mo., and worked for casinos in Nevada and Missouri. Miller concocted tales of abuse by her husband. After meeting Cassaday, she convinced him she was carrying his child (she was not able to get pregnant). She elicited his sympathy by claiming her husband was in organized crime. He really ran a salvage yard. He drove from Mo to Mi to shoot Bruce Miller. Sharee Miller then broke up with Cassaday. With anger at Sharee and guilt over the killing, he shot himself with a .22-caliber rifle.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil John Berendt
Shots rang out in Savannah's grandest mansion in the misty, early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. Berendt interweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of the Old South. It is a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman's Card Club; young redneck gigolo; hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison; aging and profane Southern belle who is the 'soul of pampered self-absorption'; black drag queen; arrogant antiques dealer; sweet-talking, piano-playing con artist; young blacks dancing the at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight.

Crime Scene USA: A Traveler's Guide to the Locations of Famous and Infamous Murders, Robberies, Kidnappings, and Other Unlawful Acts by Neal S. Yonover, from the Bureau of Amateur Detectives
A regional guide for all those fascinated with outlaws, serial killers, Mafia dons, kidnappers, and robbers, related museums, gift shops, roadside attractions, and APB's for those unsolved crimes. Perfect for armchair detectives. * Serial murder * Criminal hometowns * Bank robbery * Mafia hangouts * Museum and prison tours * Related gift shops, hotels, and restaurants

Down by the River: Drugs, Money, Murder, and Family
Charles Bowden
This is an unforgettable American story about drugs, money, murder, and family. Lionel Bruno Jordan was murdered on January 20, 1995, in an El Paso parking lot, but he keeps coming back as the skeleton key to a multibillion-dollar drug industry, two corrupt governments --the US and Mexico -- and a War on Drugs that is a fraud. Phil Jordan runs DEA intelligence, but when his brother Bruno is killed, he is powerless. Amado Carrillo Fuentes runs the most successful drug business in the history of the world, but when his usefulness to governments ceases, he mysteriously dies. Carlos Salinas runs Mexico, but as soon as he leaves office, his brother is jailed for murder and Salinas flees into exile. Sal Martinez, DEA agent and Bruno's cousin, does the secret work of the US government in Mexico, but when he seeks revenge for his cousin's murder, he is sentenced to a term in federal prison. Beneath all the policy statements and politicians is a world of lies, pain, and money. Down by the River is how a murder led one American family into this world and destroyed them. Of how one Mexican drug leader outfought and outthought the US government. Of how major financial institutions fattened on the drug industry. And how the governments of the US and Mexico buried everything.