I am a fifth generation Kansan on my mother’s side and have spent the majority of my life tending the soil and livestock. During just my lifetime the number of small family farmer/ranchers has dwindled to just over 1% of the US population from an average of 25-30% in the 1940’s. As the daughter of an Air Force Lt. Col, I was not born on a farm. My mother had inherited the family land from her grandfather, but it was managed by a local farmer. … [Read more...]
Patrick Gallagher
Patrick Gallagher has been a “jack of all trades, master of one,” the “one” being a U.S. Customs Broker and logistics specialist. But over a course of a lifetime Patrick has worked as a farm laborer, forest fire fighter, process server, retail store manager, preacher, warehouseman and dishwasher. However, founding and managing a business in international logistics was the career he loved. Now retired, Patrick and his wife enjoy their four … [Read more...]
THE WORLD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SERIAL KILLERS: A Must Have For Any True Crime Reader
The World Encyclopedia of Serial Killers is the most comprehensive set of its kind in the history of true crime publishing. Written and compiled by Susan Hall, the four-volume set has more than 1600 entries of male and female serial killers from around the world. Defined by the FBI as a person who murders 3 or more people over a period of time with a hiatus of weeks or months between murders, serial killers have walked among us from the dawn … [Read more...]
Susan Hall
N. Susan Hall is a novice true crime writer, but has investigated, written and published three books on genealogy. Her years in the business world included writing articles and manuals on a variety of items, from instruction manuals used in teaching, to the workings of machinery. … [Read more...]
Detective Paula May On Domestic Violence Victims And Why They Stay
"Hidden beneath our outward surfaces are layers of ourselves that we never see and others never see. Sometimes we do see the 'red flag' layers and easily dismiss them. We accept these red flags as 'normal defects' that could be present in every single human being. I was one who did dismiss red flags. I didn't know people like this could exist. I was raised to love people and do no harm. I had much to learn! Paula writes a profound and passionate … [Read more...]
A Brutal Serial Killer Was Stalking Omaha. But Who Could Kill With Such Precision? Find Out In PATHOLOGICAL
Detective Derek Mois wasn’t sure what he was dealing with when in March 2008 he walked into a home in an affluent Omaha neighborhood and was confronted with the bodies of an 11-year-old boy and the housekeeper. Both had been murdered with kitchen knives plunged into their throats. Who would do something so vile, and why? Lacking answers, Mois and other detectives working the case were stumped. Five years later, a strikingly similar crime … [Read more...]
WRECKING CREW Gives An Inside Look Into Kathleen Zellner’s Efforts To Free Steven Avery
“Ferak chronicles the long and sordid history of the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s department and the reason Sweaty’s license was suspended. Framing Avery was just par for the course." -- Kathleen Zellner In 2016-17, while working for the USA TODAY NETWORK’s Wisconsin Investigative Team, author John Ferak wrote dozens of articles examining the murder case against Steven Avery, who had already beat one wrongful conviction only to be charged with the … [Read more...]
THE LAST MAN STANDING
It was a shattering death bed confession by a heartbroken mother. But would it solve the oldest cold case murder case in American jurisprudence? In January 1994, Eileen Tessier told Jack McCullough's half-sister Janet Tessier that he, her son, kidnapped 7-year-old Maria Ridulph from their neighborhood in Sycamore, Illinois and killed her in December 1957. It was a case that tore the child’s family apart, as well as dividing and terrifying the … [Read more...]
Luka Magnotta’s Mother Tells All In MY SON, THE KILLER
In 2012, the Canadian Press ignited a firestorm of criticism by naming killer Luka Magnotta as its “Newsmaker Of The Year.” But while the recognition was questionable for its sensitivity, there’s no doubt that few people had captured the public’s attention like the young murderer and internet sensation. A male escort and sometimes model, Magnotta had earned his notoriety by videotaping himself stabbing Chinese student Lin Jun to death with an … [Read more...]
Why “Making a Murderer 2” Is Probably Better Than The Original
Last weekend, I was glued to my couch as I finally had an opportunity to binge watch and critique Netflix's highly anticipated "Making a Murderer 2." Friday night/Saturday morning I finished episodes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Saturday night was episodes 6,7, 8 and 9. I saved episode 10, the captivating finale, for Sunday afternoon. I have a close connection to the case, having produced dozens of in-depth pieces when I was living in Wisconsin as an … [Read more...]