Chuck Hustmyre to Guest Post Tomorrow on WCI

We're excited to introduce another unique guest blogger on Women in Crime Ink. Crime writer, journalist, screenwriter and former ATF Agent Chuck Hustmyre will be joining us tomorrow.

Chuck Hustmyre spent 22 years in law enforcement and retired as a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). During his career he specialized in violent crime, narcotics, and fugitive investigations. Chuck wrote the screenplay for the LIONSGATE movie House of the Rising Sun, starring Dave Bautista, Danny Trejo, Dominic Purcell, and Amy Smart. He adapted the screenplay from his novel of the same title. He also wrote the upcoming novel A Killer Like Me.

Chuck is also the author of the true crime books An Act of Kindness (Penguin/​2007) and Killer with a Badge (Penguin/​2004). In addition to his fiction, Chuck is also an award-winning journalist, having written nearly 800 newspaper and magazine articles. His work has appeared in a variety of publications, including The Washington Post, truTV's Web site CrimeLibrary.com, The Baton Rouge Advocate, 225 Magazine, New Orleans Magazine, Psychology Today, and Homeland Security Today. His article "Blue on Blue: Murder, Madness, and Betrayal in the NOPD" (New Orleans Magazine, February 2005) was selected for the 2006 edition of HarperCollins' annual nonfiction book Best American Crime Writing.

AWARDS

• 2009: first place, In Cold Blog's Detective Award for best true crime article, Missing: Caylee Anthony, (truTV's CrimeLibrary.com)
• 2008: finalist, Press Club of New Orleans, feature writing, Violent Night: On the street with NOPD Homicide, (New Orleans Magazine)
• 2007: second place, Press Club of New Orleans, investigative journalism, True Blue: Katrina and the Cops, (New Orleans Magazine)
• 2006: finalist, Press Club of New Orleans, excellence in journalism, Blue on Blue: Murder, Madness, and Betrayal, (New Orleans Magazine)

TELEVISION APPEARANCES

• The O'Reilly Factor, Fox News
• The Line-Up, Fox News
• Hannity's America, Fox News
• The Live Desk, Fox News
• Fatal Beauty: 15 Notorious Women, E! Network
• Deadly Women: Born Bad, Discovery Channel

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

• Mystery Writers of America
• International Thriller Writers
• National Press Club
• The Authors Guild

Chuck Hustmyre currently lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and rides a Harley-Davidson.

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Holding the Prison System Accountable

by Kathryn Casey

I recently went to my P.O. Box, something I do rather infrequently, I confess. Waiting for me was a letter from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) informing me that Laura Hall has been denied parole. On one level, I felt relief. I wrote about Laura in A Descent Into Hell. She helped Colton Pitonyak dismember the body of a young woman named Jennifer Cave and then took him on a joyride to Mexico to escape apprehension, telling a friend, "That's just how I roll."

Why was I relieved? Because of Laura's own words. She's been incarcerated since 2007, and she still refuses to accept responsibility for her actions. She played an obvious role in this horrific murder. There's evidence she was in that apartment with Pitonyak during the time Jennifer's body was mutilated and she bragged to others that she participated. She told one woman, "How many people can tell their grandchildren that they helped cut up a body?" Her tone indicated she thought it was something to be proud of. She's never voiced any remorse for Jennifer's death, calling her a "bitch" and a "whore." It's as if she fails to even acknowledge that a human being died in that apartment, one that was loved by her family and friends.

Then there are Laura's own words, played for the jurors at her recent re-sentencing, when she threatened so many people with violence, from the victim's mother to the judge and jury. She threatened her own mother, saying something akin to, "I should just kill you." On the tapes, she even said she planned to commit suicide behind bars and take others with her.

Why did I also feel a great sense of sadness reading that this vindictive and violent young woman will be locked up for at least another year? Two reasons, the first is that Laura is a young woman with a lot of potential. Even with her world crumbling around her, she earned a degree from the University of Texas. At one time, she wanted to go to law school. Gradually, over the past years, she's become an unstable and frightening human being.

The second reason: The notation on the TDCJ letter says that Laura will again be eligible for parole in December of this year.

The truth is that Laura Hall is going to get out some day. Her sentence was ten years. TDCJ can only keep her for so long, and then she'll be released, set free. And the frightening thing is little if anything anyone can describe as rehabilitation has been going on with Laura during her stay in prison. Instead, from reports I've received from behind bars, the experience is making this very troubled young woman ever more unstable.

When we talk of any prison, no matter where in the world, there's the age old argument over whether the goal is to rehabilitate or to punish. I've always believed that in a perfect system it's a balance of the two. Yes, it's important to punish inmates, to make them understand that their actions have consequences. Prison shouldn't be a health spa without fees. And it's not. I've been in prisons and jails in different parts of the nation, and I assure you that none of them are country clubs. They're places filled with pain and desperation

Beyond punishment lies rehabilitation. In truth, this is as or more important. If we don't find ways to turn around inmates like Laura Hall, ones who will one day be freed, we're risking the safety of future victims. Sure, it costs money. But beyond the suffering of future victims, talking just dollars and cents, it's going to cost way more to have to retry and rehouse inmates we've failed to turn around before they walk out prison gates. How do we know the prison system isn't rehabilitating? Look at the recidivism rate. In a Bureau of Justice study done in 15 states, 67 percent of released prisoners were rearrested within three years. During that same time period, 51 percent returned to prison.

The bottom line is that our prisons are clearly not preparing inmates to function in the outside world.

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In death, Aileen Wuornos has the fame she craved in life

by Sue Russell

Today, November 18, 2010, marks the 20th anniversary of serial killer Aileen Wuornos’s final murder. During her bloody killing year, she took the lives of seven men. In the end, she dropped her death row appeals, keen to get on her way to be with God, and was executed in 2002. But, I think she would get a kick out of seeing her face on the opening credits of television’s Criminal Minds amidst the mug shots of Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy, et al. And, I know she would enjoy still being written about. Her appetite for attention and celebrity was so huge that even before her murderous year, she actively tried to find someone to write a book about her life.

She scared off one would-be ghost writer. During their meeting, she hit him up to lend her money and turned ugly when he refused. She promised a great story and hinted at having information about some unsolved murders. But, he got out of there fast and never looked back. I’ve always thought Aileen perhaps witnessed, if not participated in, an act of violence or murder earlier in her life. (I don’t have the space to explain, but you can find out why in my book, Lethal Intent.)

Aileen definitely craved celebrity. She often mentioned her wish to “be like Bonnie and Clyde,” even asking her partner's close friend if she wanted in on her plan. Later, in jail, Wuornos boasted to other inmates, “Don’t you know who I am? I’m Aileen Wuornos of television!” To her partner, Tyria, Wuornos bragged that she'd go down in history.

Her final victim was Walter “Gino” Antonio. On November 17, 1990, Tyria flew out of state to join her family for Thanksgiving. The next day, Mr. Antonio, driving to Alabama to see his fiancée, Aleen, made the deadly mistake of picking up Aileen Wuornos, who was working the interstates as a prostitute. Men on the road, Aileen knew, generally had a good stash of cash. Antonio wore a diamond and gold nugget ring--a special gift from his fiancée.

Aileen later claimed Antonio pulled a badge and, claiming to be a cop, demanded sex for free or he’d arrest her. He was a former reserve cop and did carry a badge, handcuffs, and a police-style billy club in his vehicle. She suspected the badge was a fake, bought through a private detective magazine. She was angry, and they argued.

Even with handcuffs and a billy club in the car, I doubt Antonio ever had the upper hand on her physically. When they argued alongside his car, she said, she reached into her bag for her gun, and they struggled. He fell, got back on his feet and, naked save for his tube socks, fled. Aileen, also naked, shot him in the back as he ran. She couldn’t recall how many shots she fired because she had drunk so much beer. Well, three bullets hit him in the back, a fourth in the back of the head. She regularly used empty beer cans for target practice and was a good shot.

Aileen said Antonio was still alive when she took his prized ring off his finger. If he was, he was likely drawing his last breaths because that year she was leaving behind no witnesses. Cursing, she tossed aside a set of false teeth he kept in the glove compartment, but she grabbed everything of value. She drove away naked, pulled over to get dressed, and threw out more of his personal items. Back at her motel, she parked his Pontiac Grand Prix, removed a suitcase from the trunk, and went inside her room.

When Tyria returned from her trip, Aileen slipped Mr. Antonio’s diamond and gold nugget ring on her finger.

His body was found a day later, and he was identified by his fingerprints. By then, the net was tightening. Sketches of Aileen and Tyria were aired on TV on November 29. Aileen’s longed-for fame was about to explode. That’s when Tyria left her, afraid she would be implicated in the murders.

After her arrest, Aileen confessed to killing seven men, and her conviction seemed inevitable. Even so, speaking to her the night before the verdict, she was so upbeat I knew she fully expected to hear “not guilty.” She was outraged by her conviction. She’d imagined herself being viewed as a hero. What was this serial killer stuff? Knowing how sure she had been that she’d be set free, when Judge Uriel Blount sentenced her to death the next day, my legs felt a little wobbly. She has been gone eight years, but it’s a moment I’ll always remember.

Aileen Wuornos was executed by lethal injection in October 2002, after a decade on Death Row. Award-winning journalist and author Sue Russell’s fact crime book, Lethal Intent, is being re-issued in November 2010 as a Kensington Books' “True Crime Classic.” Follow her on Twitter or Facebook

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Cirque Du Salahi: Diane Dimond Digs Deep

by Stacy Dittrich


It was the crime of the century (cough). A beautiful couple waltzes into the White House uninvited—allegedly, to pose for pictures with President Obama, posting the pictures on their Facebook page. Almost a year later, no criminal charges have ever been filed. A White House secretary lost her job, but the self-proclaimed power couple, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, remains untouched—by criminal charges, that is. Their public image didn’t get off quite so easily. As most people saw it, the couple barged into the White House uninvited, posed a potential threat to the President of the United States, got away with it, and wound up getting a fantastic gig on the reality TV show, “The Real Housewives of D.C.,” airing on the Bravo network.

That’s not exactly how it happened. Women in Crime Ink’s own investigative journalist, Diane Dimond, spent countless months—conducting over 70 interviews—to find the true story behind what the media dubbed “The White House Gate Crashers.” In her new book, Cirque Du Salahi: Be Careful Who You Trust, Dimond delves deep into the true chain of events that occurred on the night of November 24, 2009. She answers the questions regarding the nature of the Salahi’s “invitation” and whether or not the situation (no, not that “Situation”) was a complete cover-up by the White House. Some other interesting details uncovered by Dimond include the fact that the Bravo network was actually filming the Salahis on the night in question, and captured the entire debacle on tape—a tape that somewhat backs up the Salahis' story. However, Bravo chose to sit on the tape for almost a year as the Salahis were skewered by the court of public—and media—opinion.

Dimond’s Amazon page summarizes the book accurately:

“Cirque Du Salahi: Be Careful Who You Trust tells the INSIDE STORY of Michaele and Tareq Salahi—the never before revealed details of what happened before, during, and after their November 2009 appearance at the Obama administration' first state dinner. This journalistic autopsy reveals how one event can capture a ravenous media's attention, become the fodder for bogus political drama, and with razor-sharp and misplaced attention, ruin the reputation of a politically connected couple who did little more than attend a White House function for which they believed they had an invitation. Make no mistake. The copycat journalism surrounding the Salahis, which resulted in headlines like, "White House Gate-Crashers Investigated, Likely to be Indicted," could happen to any citizen who stumbles into the eye of a media storm.

“But this book is about more than what happens when the unsuspecting find themselves in the crosshairs of the national media. It reveals the truth about Michaele and Tareq Salahi: where they came from; what shaped their personalities; what obstacles they overcame; and what motivates them to do what they do. It is quite simply the background of the story heard 'round the world and how this couple, from the tiny town of Hume, Virginia, was able to survive the onslaught. What happened to the Salahis is much more than any reality television show can capture. The true story about this couple should serve as a mirror held up to the media to point out the disturbing trend of trimmed-to-the-bone newsrooms overreacting and exploiting certain stories. It also offers a wake-up call to Americans who believe that their news sources of choice are still trustworthy, when in reality they are often simply parroting the poorly researched work of others. The reader will be left wondering what ever happened to good journalism but not wondering what really happened that night at the White House.”

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the Salahis won’t be going away anytime soon. Most recently, the Salahis’ attorney, Lisa Bloom, fired off a letter to media outlets threatening to sue anyone who referred to her clients as “White House Gate Crashers.” This sparked Michaele’s fellow “Real Housewives” cast mates to ridicule her using the defamatory term, but with air quotes and the word “allegedly” before it.

I can attest that I had zero interest in the couple, but Dimond’s Cirque Du Salahi: Be Careful Who You Trust, is quite fascinating. If you recall, Diane Dimond is the sole reporter who broke the Michael Jackson molestation case and later wrote about it in her first book, Be Careful Who You Love: Inside the Michael Jackson Case. She is methodical, descriptive, and very detailed in her findings. If you think Dimond was entirely “Pro-Salahi,” think again. Although she worked with the couple during her research, she was brutally honest in formulating her conclusions and opinions. She had sole editorial control over the book.

You may not have much interest in this couple, but if you are looking for an investigative story done right, Diane Dimond’s book is it.

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Interview with Kathryn Casey about her latest true crime book: Shattered

by Andrea Campbell

I am happy to share this interview with my friend and Women in Crime Ink colleague Kathryn Casey about the release of her new true crime book: Shattered

Q: Kathryn, for WCI readers who don’t know you that well, can you tell us a little about your background?

KC: I began as a magazine writer in the mid-eighties, and wrote for a lot of the national magazines, Reader’s Digest, TV Guide, Ladies Home Journal, MORE, Seventeen, and Rolling Stone. As a reporter, I profiled celebrities, wrote about all kinds of subjects, including lifestyles and health. But from the beginning, I had a knack for investigating and writing about criminal cases. In the mid-nineties, I began writing true crime books, and I’ve done that ever since, adding crime fiction two years ago with the debut of Singularity, the first in my Sarah Armstrong mystery series.

Q: Since today we're talking about Shattered, would you give us the set-up or a brief synopsis?

KC: The murder took place in 1999. David Temple was a former Texas football star, high school and college, working as a teacher and coach in a Houston suburb. He and his wife, Belinda Lucas Temple, were college sweethearts. She was bright, beautiful, and a beloved teacher, and they had one child, a toddler named Evan. To those on the outside, they appeared the perfect, happy family. But behind the scenes, that was far from reality. Belinda was eight months pregnant with a baby girl, Erin, on that January morning David called 911, claiming he’d discovered her shot through the head in the master bedroom closet. From the beginning, the investigators suspected David was the killer. There were too many signs at the home that the scene had been staged. Then, they focused even more tightly on him after discovering that he was carrying on an affair with a beautiful young English teacher. But this was a complicated and frustrating case. In the end, it would take nine years to bring David Temple into a courtroom.

Q: Kind of a two-part question here: How do you choose your projects, and what elements do you look for? Also, have you started working on a book project that fell through for any reason?

KC: When it comes to true crime, I look for cases with lots of twists and turns, ones that will resonate with my readers. I spend a year on each book, often conducting a hundred or more interviews, so it’s a long road. With that in mind, I look for a case that will hold my interest, one I care about, and one, I hope, that will explore something about our society or the human condition. I strive to see the big picture through the lens of the case I’m studying. The Temple case, for instance, sheds a light on intimate partner homicide, particularly involving pregnant women. This is a horrendous problem, one virtually ignored until this past decade, with the sensational Scott Peterson trial. I can’t say that I’ve had a book fall through. I guess I’ve been pretty lucky.

Q: What type of background work do you do to begin, and how do you find your interview subjects?

KC: It’s a big commitment, but I go to the trials. Sometimes this can translate to six weeks or more living in a hotel room and long days in the courtroom, but for me, it’s necessary. I want to be there, with the families and jurors and the defendant, listening to the evidence. Once the trial is over, I use what I’ve learned as the foundation to begin my own investigation, seeking more evidence from those who’ve taken the stand. These people, connected with the case, often suggest others, and I fan out, talking to everyone willing to talk to me, finding out all I can about those involved and the events that fell into place leading up to and following the murder.

Q: Obviously you are digging into the lives of victims and those accused, their families, and the criminal justice professionals involved. How do you get cooperation? Also, do you let their emotions change your point of view or the way the story is told?

KC: I’ve found over the years that most people involved in such tragedies want to tell their stories. I never assume that someone won’t talk to me. Many will still be trying to figure out why things happened, and talking to me, cooperating so that the book is accurate, is one way to make that possible. The only way I can depict a case fairly and accurately is to talk to everyone involved who is willing to talk to me, and I do that. I try to keep an open mind. People are sometimes falsely accused and even convicted, so it’s important not to presuppose that a guilty verdict means the person actually committed the crime.

It’s difficult not to identify with the families whose lives have been torn apart by these tragedies. I often ache for all they’ve been through. I see their suffering as part of the story, and I include it in the book. It’s important to understand how devastating murder is, what it does to all those involved. It’s the most horrendous of acts, the taking of a life, and to treat it without emotion is to become desensitized to the pain. That said, the evidence is the evidence, and the events that lead up to the murder aren’t written by me but by those involved. When I write a novel, I construct the plots. But when it comes to true crime, I’m a chronicler, who researches and pulls together the evidence to paint the picture, to explain what happened and why.

Q: Have you ever done a prison interview?

KC: Many times, for magazines and books. It can be a chilling experience. It’s more than unsettling to sit across from someone who describes in detail how he or she has committed a horrendous crime. I’m often amazed at how skimpy the motives are and how calm and collected the killer can be while describing a victim’s final moments. Yet most of those I’ve interviewed, even years after their convictions, maintain their innocence. Do I believe them? As I said before, I do my best to give them the benefit of the doubt. I listen to what they tell me, ask them for anything I can research to bolster their claims, and afterward I follow through, looking for evidence that contradicts the guilty verdict.

Q: What is on the horizon for Kathryn Casey?

KC: I have a third Sarah Armstrong novel, The Killing Storm, coming out on October 26th. I’m very excited about the book. I love this character. Sarah is a Texas Ranger/profiler, a single mom. Since inventing her, I’ve put that poor woman through hell. In the first book, Singularity, she tracked a serial killer. In the second, Blood Lines, she was charged with saving a teen pop star from a perverse and deadly stalker, and in The Killing Storm, Sarah will have to fight her way through a hurricane to save the life of an innocent child.

Q: Do you have a blog?

KC: I have one associated with my Web site, www.kathryncasey.com, where I occasionally write about what I’m doing, a little bit about my personal life and writing. I’m also proud to say that I’m one of the founders of Women in Crime Ink.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to tell WCI readers?

KC: I’d like to thank everyone who reads my books, especially those who recommend them to others. Word of mouth is truly the best way to spread the word. Thanks all of you! Please keep reading: I really do enjoy the writing!

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My Kind of Prosecutor

by Diane Fanning


How do you decide which true crime book to read?  There are a number of reasons I make those decisions.  Sometimes, I am familiar with the case and want to know more.  Other times, it is because of an author whose work I respect and enjoy reading.  And then, there are times, I must admit, when I judge the book by its cover.

But recently, I found a whole new reason to select a particular true crime book.  I ended up holding Afraid of the Dark, by Tom Henderson, in my hand for a much more personal reason.  I don't know Tom, and I'd never read one of his books.

It started in my doctor's office.  During this follow-up visit, my doctor, Ronald Cohle, asked about my latest books and what I had in the works.  Then, to my amazement, he revealed something he'd never mentioned in the last sixteen years: his brother, Stephen Cohle (below right), is a medical examiner in Michigan.  He also said that Stephen had recently been on television and mentioned in a book.  He couldn't, however, remember which television show or the title or author of the book.

It didn't take long, though, for me to track down Afraid of the Dark, a true crime book about Florence and Mark Unger (above left).  When Henderson described the boathouse where Florence died, it sounded familiar.  I flipped to the photo section and there it was.  It all rushed into focus -- I remembered learning about that case on Dateline NBC.  Now, I really wanted to know more.

Then, what to my wondering eyes should appear in the pages of that book but prosecutor and Women in Crime Ink contributor Donna Pendergast.  I flashed back to the television show and recalled how impressed I'd been watching her in action in the clips on Dateline NBC.

The book added far more depth than an hour-long show could hope to offer.  It gave a glimpse into the complexities of two people whose marriage with children disintegrated into a melodrama of misery and murder.

It all came to an end on the morning of October 25, 2003, when Florence's body was found floating in the shallows of Lower Herring Lake at Watervale Inn, a northern Michigan resort.  Her husband, Mark Unger, claimed that on the previous night, he left her alone on a deck atop the boathouse to check on their boys.  He said that when he returned fifteen minutes later, she was gone.  He thought that she went to the cabin of friends to socialize.

The next morning, when her lifeless body was discovered, he surmised that Florence must have tripped, hit her head and fallen into the water where she drowned.


But prosecutors and law enforcement had another theory.  They believed Mark had knocked his wife off of the boathouse, causing a severe injury to her head when she hit the concrete slab twelve feet below.  Then, to cover up the assault, they suspected he pushed her into the water, bleeding but alive.

 

Mark was charged with first degree murder in May 2004.  The investigation uncovered financial problems, a divorce filing, an extramarital affair, an addiction to Vicodin and a looming custody battle over the Ungers' two young boys.  They also discovered many pieces of forensic evidence that were inconsistent with the tale told by Mark.

His trial began on May 3, 2006.  It was the 93rd murder trial for Donna Pendergast, (right). She and her assisting counsel, Mark Bilkovic and John Skrzynski, presented a thorough and convincing case from beginning to end.  But one piece of evidence stood out to me -- something emotionally compelling.  Florence Unger was extremely terrified of the dark and had been all of her life.  There was no way she would have sat alone on top of that boathouse in the pitch-blackness of a rural night.  Mark's whole story was a lie.

Still, the case was all circumstantial, and a battle of experts made the forensic evidence complicated.  Reading the book, you are not sure of the verdict until the end.

One thing, though, is obvious throughout: Pendergast is a formidable prosecutor.  The Detroit Free Press ran a profile of her with the headline: "Born to Prosecute,"  noting that her father was a 40-year veteran police officer. In the article, Swickard wrote: "Defendants can hear a cell door's cold clank when she enters the courtroom."

My advice to anyone contemplating murder: steer clear of Pendergast's territory. She obtained her first murder conviction in 1989 and hasn’t stopped yet. Donna Pendergast has a passion for justice; a tireless persistence to seek it, no matter how long it takes; a steely determination to achieve the right outcome in every single case; and a win rate in murder trials to prove it.

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Why I Write True Crime

by Kathryn Casey

Over the past couple of decades, the prestige of true crime writing has taken a hit. When In Cold Blood was first published in 1966, Truman Capote was lauded as a visionary who'd pioneered a new type of book, one that told a true story by exploring the human condition through the events surrounding one tragic murder case. Of course, Capote's book is still considered a classic, but something has happened. The prevailing sentiment has shifted. There are those who now look askance at true crime and at those who write it.

Especially since I've started writing fiction, I've had people question why I continue to write true crime. Some charge that I'm making money off the misery of others, even insinuating that I somehow bear a portion of the blame for the tragedies I write about. Yes, I make money, that's true. I sincerely wouldn't be able to afford to write true crime books if I didn't. I work hard and like most folks, I have bills to pay and a family to help support. As for true crime writers being somehow responsible for the crimes, I'm sure you understand that's flat out ridiculous.

When I hear those criticisms, I admit that I sometimes get a bit tongue-tied trying to explain why I write true crime. So I was particularly pleased when a reader sent me a recent e-mail. Her name is Meredith Appel, and she contacted me about my first book, The Rapist's Wife, now published under the title: Evil Beside Her. The book explores the case of Linda Bergstrom, a Houston woman who married a shy factory worker with a terrible secret. That's Linda's photo on the right. Lower left is her now ex-husband, James, holding their daughter, Ashley. What you'll note is what a great guy James appears to be in the photo. He's not. James Bergstrom is a very dangerous man.

The reason I'm sharing Meredith's e-mail is that she explains better than I can why I continue to write true crime. On one level, I hope the books are interesting to read, full of personalities and drama, true stories that take readers inside sensational crimes. But on another level, I know they can do so much good.

With Meredith's permission, here are a few paragraphs from her e-mail:

Ms. Casey,

...I'd written to you once before... when I was reading Evil Beside Her in college. I wanted to let you know more about that... I majored in criminal justice at a small private college, Saint Martin's University, in Washington State. The criminal justice department is expanding to include new types of courses that explore different angles on criminology, and every other semester a course in victimology is offered. The class turned out to be more of a psychology class than anything and even more than that the class was centered on victim impact. More than learning victim statistics, we listened to speakers who had personally survived a crime or were family members of someone who had been victimized.

What we learned is that it is important to take measures to protect ourselves, but at the same time we can't be expected to be responsible for identifying who is capable of committing crimes. In other words, although there are warning signs that are worth paying attention to, the only thing that ultimately determines who is murdered or raped is which person gets in the car with the murderer or rapist, which is something that no person can exactly predict beforehand, since it all depends on the psychology of the perpetrator. I say all that to say this... our teacher used Evil Beside Her as required reading for our class as an example of the impact that a perpetrator's choices have on those around him/her.

Domestic violence was a big section of our studies, and the main reason we read your book was to attempt to gain an understanding of the complexity behind the answer to "Why doesn't she just leave?" The James Bergstrom case and the way you portrayed it was a wonderful example for our class to learn what it feels like for a person to be right in the middle of a situation and to learn that things just aren't as simple as they may look to the objective person on the outside.


As Meredith so eloquently explains, we can learn a lot from an in-depth look behind the headlines, one that answers all the questions, including the all-important "why?" Not all true crime books are good true crime books, but the quality ones dissect the facts from all sides, explaining not only what happened, but what that particular set of personalities and circumstances says about all of us, who we are, where our society is going, what we believe.

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