True Murder: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History and the Authors That Have Written About Them

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

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

The story begins with Bert, a gentle, unassuming street person who mumbled to himself and talked to trees. He wasn't an alcoholic, but he hung out at a detox center in Sacramento, where a volunteer named Judy took an interest in him. Judy was overjoyed when she found a home for Bert with a silver-haired grandmother, Dorothea Puente, who ran a tidy boarding house in a blue-and-white Victorian. Little did Judy know that Puente (just one of the woman's many aliases) would soon become her obsession. By the end of the story, Bert has disappeared, and the cops are digging up seven corpses from the backyard of the boarding house. Author Carla Norton (Perfect Victim) skillfully unfolds the many-layered character of this classic Arsenic and Old Lace-style serial killer: "At the pinnacle of her fame and glory, Dorothea was like a junkie with a philanthropic habit... Everyone dipped into her pot and benefited from her largesse." She was ultimately tried on nine counts of murder, and sentenced to death. DISTURBED GROUND-Carla Norton

Nearly forty years after Jimmy Hoffa vanished from the face of the earth his disappearance still remains one of the biggest mysteries in crime history. At his zenith, Hoffa was reputed to be the most powerful figures in North America. The labor boss was never seen again after July 30, 1975 marking one of the most unexplainable cold cases ever. In Vanished: The Life and Disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa, freelance journalist William Hryb attempts to unravel the five-decade long riddle. The author takes the reader behind the scenes of the man who made the Teamsters the most formidable labor union in the United States. Alleged to have close ties with organized crime, Hoffa became the target of sensational congressional hearings into organized crime spearheaded by Robert Kennedy. VANISHED:The Life and Disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa-William Hryb

A tragic suicide, a likely murder, wrongful imprisonment, and gripping courtroom scenes draw readers into this compelling story giving them a frightening perspective on justice corrupted and who should be accountable when evidence is withheld. Licensed to Lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice is the true story of the strong-arm, illegal, and unethical tactics used by headline-grabbing federal prosecutors in their narcissistic pursuit of power. Its scope reaches from the US Department of Justice to the US Senate, the FBI, and the White House. This true story is a scathing attack on corrupt prosecutors, the judges who turned a blind eye to these injustices, and the president who has promoted them to powerful political positions. LICENSED TO LIE-Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice-Sidney Powell

 Karen Wolfe Churgin walked her dogs on April 18, 1990, on her remote wooded property on Chebacco Road. The veterinarian spotted a white sphere obstructing a drainage ditch.  When she reached to dislodge it, she reeled back in horror. She immediately called the police. “I saw something in the woods that looked like a punched-in volleyball,” Karen told the Beverly Times on April 25, 1990. “I looked closer and it was a human skull. It had suture-like zigzagged lines. Those are unique to human skulls.” Officer Hatfeld was the first to respond, and the initial conclusion determined the discovery was, indeed, a human skull. Hamilton Police Chief Walter Cullen arrived at the scene next and photographed the find. The Massachusetts State Police Crime Prevention and Control Unit, CPAC, dispatched Cpl. Dennis Marks to take charge of the crime scene. Local police sent the skull and a nearby black boot to Hunt Memorial Hospital to examine, but nothing else surfaced in the initial cursory search of the surrounding area. Notices went out to departments to assist the resident force, and names poured in to compare the cranium to known missing persons. Joan Webster’s name appeared on the list, but the resting spot was more than thirty miles from the long-speculated crime scene at Pier 7 in Boston. “Of course, it’s being checked out, but the location doesn’t seem to correlate. Circumstances pointed to her being taken out in a boat and dumped at sea. MOMMY'S A MOLE-Unraveling The Joan Webster Murder and Other Secrets in a CIA Family-Eve Carson

The Sicilian Mafia: A True Crime Travel Guide is the first book of its kind in any language: the ultimate Cosa Nostra experience. Since 2006, author Carl Russo has photographed Mafia hotspots on the Italian island of Sicily: where  murders happened, where the godfathers lived and their victims buried. From the sunbaked fishing villages of the Mediterranean to the darkest alleys of Palermo, western Sicily is the exotic backdrop for over a 100 meticulously researched tales of murder and mayhem, with 200 photographs of the actual locations. They include the childhood home of gangster Lucky Luciano, the hideouts of the fearsome bosses of Corleone, the tombs of the "Robin Hood" bandit and the legendary dons, the roots of the American and Canadian mafias, the Allied landing, pistol-packing priests, political assassinations, playgrounds of the new Mafia and even the anti-Mafia movement. Whether you're planning a trip to Sicily or sticking to the comfort of your armchair, this provocative book will take you closer to the Sicilian Mafia than you dared to think possible. THE SICILIAN MAFIA-A True Crime Travel Guide-Carl Russo

A Voice out of Nowhere delves deep into the mind of a psychotic killer. In this tragic true story about one young man's harrowing descent into madness and murder, A Voice out of Nowhere offers a rare glimpse inside the workings of a criminally disordered mind. In the narrative style of non-fiction novels like In Cold Blood and Columbine, best-selling author Janice Holly Booth draws from court transcripts, eye-witness statements and personal interviews to go beyond the headlines and share little-known details of the tragedy. Fascinating, riveting and heartbreaking, A Voice out of Nowhere will will incite readers to think differently about the insanity defense and the awful consequences of untreated mental illness.  A VOICE OUT OF NOWHERE-Inside The Mind of a Mass Murderer-Janice Holly Booth

(Aired March 12th but due to audio problems-new interview)  Gary Skogen’s tour in Vietnam (1971–72) was the best year of his life. Living with fellow CID investigators in an isolated hooch overlooking the South China Sea at the U.S. base at Chu Lai, Skogen enforced military drug laws during his working hours and yet managed to pursue a life of perfect hedonism—far from the farm life in southwestern North Dakota where he grew up. With unlimited access to cheap beer, a wide variety of compliant Vietnamese women, and a jeep he had somehow commandeered, Skogen perfected his criminal investigative skills at a time when U.S. troop morale had reached its nadir. This unconventional, unheroic, and unapologetic book is not a typical Vietnam memoir. Together with 80 percent of the two million men and women who served in Vietnam, Skogen spent his time behind the scenes at a large support base. He did not slog on midnight patrols through Viet Cong tunnels or rice paddies studded with booby traps. He spent his year investigating the men who endangered the lives of their fellow soldiers by giving themselves over to unrestrained drug use. Skogen’s gritty narrative proves that some whose names are incised on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall died in less than heroic circumstances. Backed by impeccable research in the files of the National Archives and Records Administration, this unromanticized account reveals the sordidness of the war in its late phases, and questions the validity of seeing all Vietnam veterans as victims. NOT ALL HEROES-An Unapologetic Memoir of The Veitnam War, 1971-72-Gary Skogen

Dayton Leroy Rogers, was known in Portland, Oregon as a respected businessman and devoted husband and father. But at night he abducted women, forced them into sadistic bondage games, and thrilled in their pain, terror and mutilation. His murderous spree was stopped only after-in plain view, he slashed to death his final victim...and when a hunter accidentally stumbled onto the burial grounds of seven other women Rogers had killed one-by-one in the depths of the Molalla Forest, police realized they were dealing with a serial killer whose bloodlust knew no bounds. This is the shocking true story of the horrifying crimes, capture, and conviction of Dayton Leroy Rogers, Oregon's mild-mannered businessman by day--vicious serial killer by night. BLOOD LUST: Potrait of a Serial Sex Killer-Gary C. King

Nanette Johnston Packard, a sexy divorcee, liked to meet men at the gym and through personal ads. Soon after she began dating millionaire Bill McLaughlin, he moved her and her kids into his bay-front home in Newport Beach. But one man was never enough for Nanette...Eric Naposki, her NFL linebacker lover, fulfilled Nanette's wilder cravings. Together they schemed to make her fiance's fortune their own. When McLaughlin was gunned down, authorities had suspicions - but no proof. Pulitzer-nominated writer Caitlin Rother explores this chilling story of a woman who seemed to have it all - until justice finally had its day. I'LL TAKE CARE OF YOU-Caitlin Rother