American Serial Killers: True Crime Short Stories Featuring Serial Killers from All 50 States: Part 4
Posted by Kim Cantrell on May 14, 2013 | 0 Comment
This fifth article in a ten part series on American serial killers covers Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, and Maryland. KANSAS: John Edward Robinson, Sr. Luring his victims from the internet as early as 1993, John Edward Robinson, Sr. is considered to be the internet’s first serial killer. From childhood to 1979, John Robinson had been a nuisance to ... Read more »
Against Her Will by Ronald J. Watkins (May 1995)
Posted by Kim Cantrell on May 8, 2013 | 0 Comment
Kelly Ann Tinyes was anticipating her fourteenth birthday in March 1989 when she got a call from a neighbor just a few doors down and headed out the door, leaving her eight year-old brother to care for their ailing grandmother. Many would see Kelly Ann enter the Golub home at 81 Horton Road but no one would see her leave. Frantic when her daughter didn’t ... Read more »
American Serial Killers: True Crime Short Stories Featuring Serial Killers from All 50 States: Part 3
Posted by Kim Cantrell on May 4, 2013 | 0 Comment
This is the third in a ten part series featuring American serial killers from each of the fifty United States. This segment features killers and their victims from Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa. HAWAII: The Honolulu Strangler When we think of Hawaii, a serial killer isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. But between 1985 and 1986, Hawaii ... Read more »
Cruel Doubt by Joe McGinniss
Posted by Kim Cantrell on April 30, 2013 | 0 Comment
Life hadn’t always been easy for Christopher Pritchard. As a young child, his father had left and seldom visited nor contributed to his financial well-being. As a result, his mother had to work long hours and he was often left to be tended to by grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Yet Bonnie Von Stein gave all she could give to her son, Chris, and his younger ... Read more »
American Serial Killers: True Crime Short Stories Featuring Serial Killers from All 50 States: Part 2
Posted by Kim Cantrell on April 26, 2013 | 2 Comments
This is the second in a ten part series about serial killers from all fifty of the United States. In the first segment, I presented information on multiple murderers and their victims from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas. Now, in part two, I invite you to learn about serial killers from Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, and Georgia. COLORADO: William ... Read more »
Little Girl Lost: The True Story of The Vandling Murder by Tammy Mal (December 2012)
Posted by Kim Cantrell on April 24, 2013 | 0 Comment
On January 2, 1945, nine year-old Mae Ruth Barrett was walking home with sugary treats for her sister and younger cousin when she was viciously attacked. Little Mae would never make it home and a town would live in fear until a killer was caught. But when that day finally came, the towns people would never be the same; their lives forever changed. There would ... Read more »
American Serial Killers: True Crime Short Stories Featuring Serial Killers from All 50 States: Part 1
Posted by Kim Cantrell on April 19, 2013 | 1 Comment
Although the phrase “Serial Killer” wasn’t coined until the 1970s, the truth is these shadowy mysteries have lurked among society since the beginning of civilization. Today, these monsters are the huge, bold headlines of our newspapers and grace our television screens in fictional and reality-based shows. The United States of America has more ... Read more »
Fatal Kiss by Suzanne Barr (July 2012)
Posted by Kim Cantrell on April 17, 2013 | 0 Comment
When Sylvia Ipock found herself suddenly widowed and a single mother of three boys following her husband’s suicide, she didn’t let mourning keep her from eying the handsome husband of a mentally ill neighbor down the street. Whatever Sylvia wanted, Sylvia got; including the attractive neighbor Billy Carlyle White. After a few months of sneaking ... Read more »
Murderous Seduction: Susan Wright and the Murder of her Husband Jeffrey Wright
Posted by Kim Cantrell on April 11, 2013 | 1 Comment
It was a twisted road, filled with pole dances and drugs for a young couple that was about to join on a path that ended with the murder of one of them. Susan Lucille Wyche was a beautiful, blonde 21-year-old the day she met Jeff Wright. They were both in love after their first date, each without knowing the others darkest secrets. Susan, shortly after graduating ... Read more »
The Boy in the Box: The Unsolved Case of America’s Unknown Child by David Stout (September 2008)
Posted by Kim Cantrell on April 9, 2013 | 0 Comment
He was found in a cardboard box on the side of the road in the Fox Chase section of Philadelphia. He would become known as The Boy In The Box. No one came forward to claim the little boy who was estimated to be between the ages of four and six. He was obviously malnourished, weighing that of the average two year old. And he’d been beaten to death. Who ... Read more »
Daddy Dearest: 5 True Crime Short Stories of Fathers Who Killed Their Children
Posted by Kim Cantrell on April 5, 2013 | 0 Comment
Too often the news reports coming to us through television, newspapers, and the internet are about mothers who have killed their children. No matter how many times we hear about these case, we are still shocked to our very core. After all, it’s so… unnatural … for a woman who carried life in her womb to murder the very child to whom she gave ... Read more »
Notes on a Killing: Love, Lies, and Murder in a Small New Hampshire Town by Kevin Flynn and Rebecca Lavoie (April 2012)
Posted by Kim Cantrell on April 3, 2013 | 0 Comment
Kenneth Carpenter had to be in control. Of everything. But the truth of the matter was, he was in control of nothing. Although he appeared to maintain sobriety for almost a quarter of a century, the fact was he’d simply replaced with it with another drug – one not always recognized as such: women. Whenever Ken attended his Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) ... Read more »
Forever and Five Days: The Chilling True Story of Love, Betrayal and Serial Murder in Grand Rapids, Michigan by Lowell Cauffiel (1992)
Posted by Kim Cantrell on March 27, 2013 | 0 Comment
Cathy Wood and Gwendolyn Graham were drawn to each other like magnets. Cathy was a dominate personality and Gwen had mommy-issues laced with a desire to be dominated. Cathy dominance reared it’s ugly head in a variety of ways, but mostly through manipulation. So it’s no surprise when she and Gwen found themselves working together at the Alpine Manor ... Read more »
Missing Monday: Rosa Marie Camacho of Hartford, Connecticut
Posted by Kim Cantrell on March 25, 2013 | 0 Comment
It was almost a month before police began searching for Rosa Marie Camacho and her mother Rosa Delgado after they went missing on October 24, 1997, following a visit to a Madison Avenue grocer. Why so long, you ask? Maybe it was because the mother/daughter disappearance would serve as a huge embarrassment to the Hartford Police Department, considering one of ... Read more »
Bigamist and Murderess: The Story of Jill Lonita Billiot Ihnen Moore Coit Brodie Dirosa Metzger Steely Boggs Carroll
Posted by Kim Cantrell on March 21, 2013 | 0 Comment
No one is really certain when Jill Lonita Billiot was born. She was prone to lie so frequently about the date and her age that it makes it difficult to know for sure; but most are certain that she was born on June the 11th of 1943 or 1944. Jill experienced a normal American childhood. Her father, Henry Albert Billiot, was a tugboat captain; her mother, Juanita ... Read more »
Honor Bound: My Journey to Hell and Back with Amanda Knox by Raffaele Sollecito and Andrew Gumbel (September 2012)
Posted by Kim Cantrell on March 19, 2013 | 0 Comment
There’s been so much information tossed at followers of the Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito case that, at times, it’s been overwhelming. Guilty or not guilty? Should the United States government get involved or allow the Italian courts to determine justice? There was valid arguments for both sides but somehow the story just never seemed, um, ... Read more »
5 True Crime Short Stories of Cheating Men Who Murdered Their Wives
Posted by Kim Cantrell on March 15, 2013 | 0 Comment
It’s all too common in America today, the cheating spouse who murders their wife or husband to be with their new lover. Although the percentages of men and women who cheat are becoming almost equal, for now the men are still the majority of those practicing infidelity. Men also outdo women in committing spousal homicide. Whether it’s because they ... Read more »
Murder À La Carte: Anjette Donovan Lyles and The Murder of Two Husbands, A Daughter, and A Mother-in-Law
Posted by Kim Cantrell on March 8, 2013 | 0 Comment
When Anjette Donovan married Ben Franklin Lyles, Jr. in 1948, she went to work in his family’s Macon, Georgia, restaurant on Mulberry Street. Lyles’ Restaurant was a hopping diner near the Bibb County Courthouse. Serving lawyers, judges, and many of the area’s politically connected folks, Anjette’s charismatic personality and beauty quickly ... Read more »
Cynthia Campbell Ray, David West, and the Cold Blooded Murder of James and Virginia Campbell
Posted by Kim Cantrell on March 1, 2013 | 0 Comment
During the quiet, predawn hours of June 10, 1982, attorney James “Snake” Campbell and his wife Virginia Campbell lay soundly sleeping in their Houston home when intruders slipped quietly through a window, slithered to the master bedroom, and fired six rounds into their bodies; their young grandsons camped out at the foot of the grandparents bed. Although ... Read more »
Who Killed Chrissy?: The True Crime Memoir of a Pittsburgh girl’s Unsolved Murder in Las Vegas by Beverly Simcic
Posted by Kim Cantrell on February 27, 2013 | 22 Comments
In 1982, Beverly Simcic and Christine Casilio were friends. Sort of. The pair had been roommates for a while but Christine’s lifestyle was a bit more risky than Beverly liked, especially with a young son in her care and she’d parted company with Christine. But in May 1982, when Christine presents Beverly with the idea of a vacation in Las Vegas, ... Read more »
When Dad Says No: Jeff Pelley and the Murders of His Father, Stepmother, and Stepsisters
Posted by Kim Cantrell on February 22, 2013 | 1 Comment
Pastor Robert “Bob” Lee Pelley and his wife Dawn M. Pelley were doing the best they knew how blending their families. Both widows, Bob had brought his son Jeff Pelley and daughter Jacque Pelley into the marriage, while Dawn had brought three daughters, Jessie, Janel, and Jolene. In an effort to unify the family, Bob and Dawn adopted one another’s ... Read more »
Joseph Pikul, Wall Street Analyst, A Bitter Divorce, and The Murder of Diane Pikul
Posted by Kim Cantrell on February 15, 2013 | 1 Comment
Born in a small Indiana town to well-to-do parents who thought they could never have children, Diane Jackson Whitmore always dreamed of shedding her heartland roots and finding success in the big city. After earning a degree from an all-girl college, Diane set off for adventures in the big city but living the lifestyle she always dreamed of wasn’t as easy ... Read more »
Blind Faith by Joe McGinniss (January 1989)
Posted by Kim Cantrell on February 13, 2013 | 0 Comment
Maria Marshall was what most American women dream of being: extraordinarily beautiful, extremely intelligent, and wealthy – with a successful husband and three healthy sons to boot. To outsiders, Maria had it all. Her life was perfect. But behind the closed doors of the Marshall home, it was anything but perfect. Maria knew her husband, Robert Marshall ... Read more »
Missing Monday: Dawn Marlene Allen of Carroll, Iowa
Posted by Kim Cantrell on February 11, 2013 | 0 Comment
For 21 years, Dawn Marlene Allen had worked at the Carroll, Iowa, Subway without ever having missed a day nor being late. So when the 50 year-old woman failed to show up at work on the morning of May 5, 2011, her boss was very concerned and immediately contacted police after being unable to reach Dawn by phone. Investigators determined Dawn was last seen near ... Read more »
True Crime Quiz: Famous (And Not So Much) Crime Scenes in Texas
Posted by Kim Cantrell on February 8, 2013 | 0 Comment
How well do you know your crime scenes in Texas? Part 1 * 2020 Lamar Avenue in Pasadena, Texas, was the final killing ground for what serial killer also known as "The Candy Man"? Albert Fish Ted Bundy Joel Rifkin Dean Corll ... Read more »
Wasted by Suzy Spencer (December 1998)
Posted by Kim Cantrell on February 6, 2013 | 0 Comment
Regina Hartwell so desperately wanted to be loved. So much in fact she was willing to buy the love of any willing friend or lover. And since her mother had died in a horrific accident when she was twelve, from which Regina had a trust fund, there was plenty of money spend. Or maybe not. Kim LeBlanc had tried being a lesbian lover to Regina but, truth of it ... Read more »
5 True Crime Short Stories of Mothers Who Kill Their Children
Posted by Kim Cantrell on February 4, 2013 | 2 Comments
It’s not something anyone wants to discuss. Mothers who kill their children are a depressing, horrifying thought. But it does happen and, sadly enough, will continue to occur as long as (wo)mankind exists. Sometimes a mother’s urge to kill her child is the result of an untreated medical condition such as Postpartum Depression. Other times it ... Read more »
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Missing Monday: Leah Rachelle Peebles of Albuquerque, New Mexico
Notorious Prisons of the World by Stephen Wade (February 2013)
American Serial Killers: True Crime Short Stories Featuring Serial Killers from All 50 States: Part 4
Against Her Will by Ronald J. Watkins (May 1995)
Missing Monday: Latoya Natasha Thomas of Hayward, California
American Serial Killers: True Crime Short Stories Featuring Serial Killers from All 50 States: Part 3
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