Author Archives: Alicia Dean

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About Alicia Dean

Author of paranormal and romantic suspense. Follow her on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alicia-Dean/131939826889437) or twiiter (https://twitter.com/Alicia_Dean_)
March 14, 2019 · 8:25 am

From Here to Fourteenth Street ~ Diana Rubino

Please help me welcome today’s guest, my author friend Diana Rubino, with a fascinating look at her latest release…

 

FROM HERE TO FOURTEENTH STREET Now on Audio with the soothing voice of narrator Nina Price

Read About FROM HERE TO FOURTEENTH STREET and how Vita Found Love and Success Against All Odds

It’s 1894 on New York’s Lower East Side. Irish cop Tom McGlory and Italian immigrant Vita Caputo fall in love despite their different upbringings. Vita goes from sweatshop laborer to respected bank clerk to reformer, helping elect a mayor to beat the Tammany machine. While Tom works undercover to help Ted Roosevelt purge police corruption, Vita’s father arranges a marriage between her and a man she despises. As Vita and Tom work together against time and prejudice to clear her brother and father of a murder they didn’t commit, they know their love can survive poverty, hatred, and corruption. Vita is based on my great grandmother, Josephine Calabrese, “Josie Red” who left grade school to become a self-made businesswoman and politician, wife and mother.

An Excerpt:

As Vita gathered her soap and towel, Madame Branchard tapped on her door. “You have a gentleman caller, Vita. A policeman.”

“Tom?” His name lingered on her lips as she repeated it. She dropped her things and crossed the room.

“No, hon, not him. Another policeman. Theodore something, I think he said.”

No. There can’t be anything wrong. “Thanks,” she whispered,  nudging Madame Branchard aside. She descended the steps, gripping the banister to support her wobbly legs. Stay calm! she warned herself. But of course it was no use; staying calm just wasn’t her nature.

“Theodore something” stood before the closed parlor door. He’s a policeman? Tall and hefty, a bold pink shirt peeking out of a buttoned waistcoat and fitted jacket, he looked way out of place against the dainty patterned wallpaper.

He removed his hat. “Miss Caputo.” He strained to keep his voice soft as he held out a piece of paper. “I’m police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt.”

“Yes?” Her voice shook.

“I have a summons for you, Miss Caputo.” He held it out to her. But she stood rooted to that spot.

He stepped closer and she took it from him, unfolding it with icy fingers. Why would she be served with a summons? Was someone arresting her now for something she didn’t do?

A shot of anger tore through her at this system, at everything she wanted to change. She flipped it open and saw the word “Summons” in fancy script at the top. Her eyes widened with each sentence as she read. “I can’t believe what I’m seeing.”

I hereby order Miss Vita Caputo to enter into holy matrimony with Mr. Thomas McGlory immediately following service of this summons. 

How FROM HERE TO FOURTEENTH STREET Was Born

New York City’s history always fascinated me—how it became the most powerful hub in the world from a sprawling wilderness in exchange for $24 with Native Americans by the Dutch in 1626.

Growing up in Jersey City, I could see the Statue of Liberty from our living room window if I leaned way over (luckily I didn’t lean too far over). As a child model, I spent many an afternoon on job interviews and modeling assignments in the city, and got hooked on Nedick’s, a fast food chain whose orange drinks were every kid’s dream. Even better than the vanilla egg creams. We never drove to the city—we either took the PATH (Port Authority Trans Hudson) train (‘the tube’ in those days) or the bus through the Lincoln Tunnel to the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

My great grandmother, Josephine Arnone, “Josie Red” to her friends, because of her abundant head of red hair, was way ahead of her time. Born in 1895 (but it could’ve been sooner, as she was known to lie about her age), she left grade school, became a successful businesswoman and a Jersey City committewoman, as well as a wife and mother of four. She owned apartment buildings, parking garages, a summer home, did a bit of Prohibition-era bootlegging, small-time loan-sharking, and paid cash for everything. When I began outlining From Here to Fourteenth Street, I modeled my heroine, Vita Caputo, after her. Although the story is set in New York the year before Grandma was born, I was able to bring Vita to life by calling on the family legends and stories, all word of mouth, for she never kept a journal.

Vita’s hero Tom McGlory isn’t based on any real person, but I did a lot of reading about Metropolitan Policemen and made sure he was the complete opposite! He’s trustworthy and would never take a bribe or graft. I always liked the name McGlory—then, years after the book first came out, I remembered that was the name of my first car mechanic—Ronnie McGlory.

I completed the book in 1995, and my then-publisher, Domhan Books, published it under the title I Love You Because. The Wild Rose Press picked it up after I gave it many revisions and overhauls. My editor Nan Swanson did a fabulous job making the prose sparkle.

Changing the Title

When I proposed the story to Wild Rose, I wanted to change the title, since it went through so many revisions. I wanted to express Vita’s desire to escape the Lower East Side and move farther uptown. I considered Crossing 14th Street, but it sounded too much like Crossing Delancey. After a few more hits and misses, the title hit me—as all really fitting titles do.

A Bit of Background—What Was 1894 New York City Like?

The Metropolitan Police was a hellhole of corruption, and nearly every cop, from the greenest rookie to the Chief himself, was a dynamic part of what made the wheels of this great machine called New York turn. 

The department was in cahoots with the politicians, all the way up to the mayor’s office. Whoever wasn’t connected enough to become a politician became a cop in this city. They were paid off in pocket-bulging wads of cash to look the other way when it came to building codes, gambling, prostitution, every element it took to keep this machine gleaming and efficient. They oiled the machine and kept it running with split-second precision. The ordinary hardworking, slave-wage earning citizen didn’t have a chance around here. Tom McGlory and his father were two of a kind, and two of a sprinkling of cops who were cops for the right reasons. They left him alone because he was a very private person; he didn’t have any close friends, he confided in no one. He could’ve made a pocket full of rocks as a stoolie, more than he could by jumping in the fire with the rest of them, but he couldn’t enjoy spending it if he’d made it that way. They knew it and grudgingly respected him for it. He was here for one reason–his family was here. If they went, he went. As long as they needed him, here he was. Da would stop grieving for his wife when he stopped breathing. Since Tom knew he was the greatest gift she gave Da, he would never let his father down.

Meet Vita: An Interview With Vita Caputo, Heroine of FROM HERE TO FOURTEENTH STREET

Vita, we know you and Tom overcame astronomical odds to stay together. It’s like Romeo and Juliet. I can imagine how torn you felt when you wanted to be with Tom, but didn’t want to defy your father. Tell us, what was your family and homelife like when all this was going on?

Well, I loved my father and brothers more than anything, and didn’t want to defy them. Yet at the same time, I felt they weren’t respecting my wishes. I was in love with Tom, and they hated him for two reasons, which to me, were irrational—he’s Irish and he’s a cop. But you have to understand their underlying reasons—cops always gave Italian immigrants a hard time on the Lower East Side. They didn’t give Italians a fair shake. Many of them were bullied, arrested for crimes they didn’t commit—and of course if you know my story, you know that the police framed Papa and my brother for the murder of Tom’s cousin, also a cop. I can understand their hatred of the police force for this heinous act. But not the entire police force is corrupt. Teddy Roosevelt, the Commish, certainly wasn’t, and Tom certainly isn’t. But when you face this hatred and injustice every day, it’s easy to be bitter. Our homelife, before I met Tom, was the usual Italian household—we struggled to make ends meet and didn’t have much, but I always made sure we had more than enough to eat, and to share with those who had less. I went without new clothes, shoes, coats, to buy groceries so we wouldn’t go hungry. We argued over petty things—like who left the stove on—but we always made up in the end. We were very affectionate, and gave each other a lot of hugs and kisses. We sometimes felt the world was against us—and at times it was.

What did your childhood home look like?

Did you ever see the classic Jackie Gleason sitcom The Honeymooners? They had a walk-up flat in Brooklyn. Well, ours was on Mott Street in Manhattan, but our flat looked much like that—it was called a ‘railroad flat’ because all the rooms were in a row—kitchen sitting room, bedrooms in back. We shared a toilet on the landing. But compared to other Mott Street tenements, we had it made—we had indoor plumbing. No bathtub, but a sink with running water. We didn’t have to go to a backyard privy. The bedroom was partitioned off by a curtain that I’d made—one side was mine, the other side my brother’s. Papa and his wife Rosalia had another bedroom to themselves.

What is your greatest dream?

To be a Senator or Congresswoman, but I’m happy enough as a committeewoman for now.

What kind of person do you wish you could be? What is stopping you?

I wish I could be calmer and slow down. I do too much—run the household because I refuse to hire help, raise our 3 kids, work and invest our savings. I follow the stock market and purchase stocks that have long-term growth potential. What’s stopping me is my drive to get ahead.

Who was your first love?

Tom, of course. My father tried to throw me together with ‘a nice Italian boy’ Roberto Riccadonna whose family owned a music store and was ‘well off’ – but he was arrogant and controlling. He threatened me when I told him I wasn’t interested in him. He and Tom got into fisticuffs when I found Roberto under my boardinghouse window singing “O Sole Mio” with a mandolin. He had a nice voice, but Tom was hardly impressed.

What’s the most terrible thing that ever happened to you?

When Papa and my brother Butchie were arrested for the murder of Tom’s cousin Mike. It tore me into pieces, because Tom didn’t want to believe Papa and Butchie were the killers, but evidence pointed to them. We made it our quest to find the real killer, and we did. It created a huge rift in our relationship of course, but we overcame that as we got through all the other hardships and prejudices that tried to keep us apart. 

What was your first job?

I started out as a sweatshop worker sewing ‘shirtwaists’ (blouses), and now I’m a committeewoman, with a view to being New York City’s first female mayor.

What’s your level of schooling?

I left school at 16 to go to work in a lampshade factory.

Where were you born?

Sassano, Italy, near Naples.

Where do you live now?

Greenwich Village, in a brownstone on East 14th Street.

Do you have a favorite pet?

They’re all favorites, two mongrel pups, Charlie and Shirley, two cats Romeo and Juliet, and assorted goldfish whose names we can’t keep up with!

What’s your favorite place to visit?

Coney Island, to sit on the beach, frolic in the ocean, eat those delicious hot dogs and fried dough, and stroll the boardwalk!

What’s your most important goal?

To see my three children become successful, respectable citizens. Doing all right so far—my daughter Assunta (Susan) owns a clothing store, my son Virgilio (Billy) writes Broadway musicals and my youngest Teresa (Tessie) wants to be a baby doctor.

What’s your worst fear or nightmare?

That the stock market will crash again or some other disaster will plunge us back into poverty.

What’s your favorite food?

My homemade lasagna with my grandmother’s sauce recipe (it’s a secret)

Are you wealthy, poor, or somewhere in between? 

We’re finally members of the solid middle class.

What’s your secret desire or fantasy?

To sing in one of my son’s musicals.

What would you do if you won the lottery?

I’d buy my own airplane and give the rest to charity.

A Review From Romantic Times:

Immigrant Vita Caputo escapes New York’s Italian ghetto and secures a job in a Wall Street bank, along with a room in a Greenwich Village boarding house, thanks to Irish police officer Tom McGlory. With her new beginning, Vita even joins the Industrial reform movement.

Tom is an honest cop, with little interest in women until he meets Vita. When Tom’s cousin is murdered and Vita’s father and brother are arrested for the crime, the two team up to investigate and soon discover that they are falling in love.

Vita and Tom face economic problems, prejudice, and cultural differences. Ms. Rubino’s research is obvious.—Kathe Robin

From Rhapsody Magazine:

FROM HERE TO 14th STREET by Diana Rubino is all that and then some. Everything about this book is what writing should be–original and wonderfully executed. Bravo!—Karen L. Williams 

From Book Nook Romance Reviews:

Diana Rubino has done a masterful job of researching the life of Italian and Irish immigrants in turn-of-the-century New York, its society and politics and crime. She paints a vivid picture of the degradation immigrants of Italian descent suffered, particularly at the hands of the earlier Irish immigrants they succeeded. Barred from all but the most menial jobs, forced to live crammed into the worst slums, she makes it easy for the reader to understand why many of them turned to a life of crime and violence. Not only can the reader see what Vita and Tom see, they can smell it, hear it, and taste it.

Vita is a delightful heroine, as full of vivid life as the city she lives in. Stubborn, determined to escape the ghetto in which she lives and make something of herself, she never loses her commitment to and love for her family. That very devotion, however, threatens her growing relationship with Tom, since the Irish and Italians are the Capulets and Montagues of 19th century Manhattan. Although she cannot help falling deeply in love with him, she knows that her father and brothers will never permit her to spend her life with him. And, in a departure from the usual super-masculine hero, Tom is a sensitive, secret poet as well as a cop.

If you like vivid characters and a book that carries you effortlessly back to an earlier time, FROM HERE TO 14th STREET is a good choice. –Elizabeth Burton

MORE ABOUT THE LOWER EAST SIDE:

One fascinating place to visit is the Lower East Side Tenement Museum

at 97 Orchard Street, once an actual tenement. They have tours describing life as it was back then, with each floor of the building decorated (if you want to call it ‘decorated’) to depict each time period when immigrants lived there.

I read a lot of books to research this story. One book I remember reading as a kid is How The Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis, a photographer and reformer of the time. The photos in his 1901 book vividly illustrate the poverty and deprivation of the times, for adults and children alike.

ABOUT ME:

My passion for history and travel has taken me to every locale of my stories, set in Medieval and Renaissance England, Egypt, the Mediterranean, colonial Virginia, New England, and New York. My urban fantasy romance, FAKIN’ IT, won a Top Pick award from Romantic Times. I’m a member of Romance Writers of America, the Richard III Society and the Aaron Burr Association. I live on Cape Cod with my husband Chris. In my spare time, I bicycle, golf, play my piano and devour books of any genre. Visit me at www.dianarubino.com, www.DianaRubinoAuthor.blogspot.com, https://www.facebook.com/DianaRubinoAuthor, and on Twitter @DianaLRubino.

Purchase FROM HERE TO FOURTEENTH STREET

Amazon Kindle

Amazon Paperback

getbook.at/FromHereTo14Audio

 

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February 12, 2019 · 9:55 am

Author Interview with J.A. Kazimer / New Release ~ Cuffed: A Detective Goldilocks Mystery

Please help me welcome today’s guest, J.A. Kazimer…

Good morning, J.A. So happy to have you as my guest today. Please tell us a little about yourself, where are you from? Where do you live now? Family? Pets?

Thank you, Alicia. So excited to be here.

I’m originally from Cleveland, Ohio (home of the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame and the only river that’s ever caught on fire, more than once). I moved to Denver, CO so many years ago that I feel like a native. My family consists of a 14-year-old Weimaraner, a 7-year-old (thirty pound) Chihuahua, and a 6-month-old Minnie mutt. In case it’s not obvious, I am that friend on Facebook. The one who drives you nuts with puppy pictures. You’re welcome.

Was there anything unusual, any anecdote about this book, the characters, title, process, etc, you’d like to share?

I’m a sucker for twisting the typical version of a fairytale characters. In this case, I focused my attention on Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

I asked myself, what would have happened if the last line in the fairytale (And she never returned to the home of the three bears), didn’t exist? How would that have changed it? Would the bears, acting as talking bears often do, have called the cops?

I also needed to know why one bowl of porridge too hot and the other too cold? Furthermore, what bear in its right mind would leave a perfectly good porridge sitting out for an interloping blond to eat?

As you can obviously see, this brought me to a grownup Goldie Locks and her adoptive bear family. She now a homicide detective happily dating the fairest man in all the land, until the one man who jumped over a candlestick and out of her life years before returns to win her back. Or to commit murder. I always forget which.

What book have you read that you wish you had written?

Anything by Susan Elizabeth Phillips or Julie Garwood’s historical romances. I love any romance with wit, and humor.

Do you have another occupation, other than writer? If so, what is it and do you like it?

I used to work as a private investigator. It was both fun and humanity destroying. I since moved on to working at a university, which, oddly enough, is also fun and humanity destroying. Kids today…Get off my lawn…

What was your first job?

When a person goes to jail, they can buy things from the commissary. I was the 15-year-old kid filling those orders. It was much like being a file clerk. Good thing I was young and dumb enough not to realize that I don’t like to file.

What do you want readers to come away with after they read [your book]?

Honestly, I want readers to live happily ever after. If my novel makes someone happy, even if just until they finish it, then my role as an author is complete.

Would you rather have a bad review or no review?

I’m the author of over 15 books. Some received plenty of reviews. Others very few. Some bad. Most good. I can firmly attest to the fact that getting any review beats not getting one. Silence is far from golden for authors.

What is your favorite quote?

“The world is a stage and the play is badly cast.”
– Oscar Wilde 

What do you want your tombstone to say?

Roses are red,

I’m pretty sure I’m dead.

But would you mind checking?

How did your interest in writing originate?

I loved books since I picked up my very first Johanna Lindsey novel. I believe it was Heart’s Aflame. But being a writer? That was madness. I could barely spell.

Then one day a character’s voice came into my head.

So I had two choices. Either become a writer or face the possibility that I was crazy. Writer seemed easier, and included less electrical shock therapy.

 

Now, I’d like to turn the tables. What is your favorite fairytale? And why?

Hahaha, loved the interview, J.A. You’re so funny! Your book sounds fantastic. As for my answer to the question, I think mine might be Little Red Riding Hood because it has a creepier vibe than many of the others.

 

Detective Goldie Locks isn’t looking for just the right bed. Or any bed for that matter.

She’s on the hunt for a killer.

When she discovers the fingerprints of a once-upon-a-time lover, a man who jumped over a candlestick and out a window to leave her facing some serious trespassing trouble alone, at a crime scene, she vows to see him in handcuffs.

Jack B. Nimble has other ideas.

He threatens her adoptive family if Goldie doesn’t help him clear his villainous name, much to the chagrin of her current boyfriend and quite possibly the next mayor, Beau White, the fairest man in all the land.

Trying to prove his innocence turns out to be harder than she expected, especially when Jack refuses to aid in his defense, and instead, starts a campaign to ‘win’ her back. Goldie might be a blond, but she’s far from dumb enough to fall for his charms a second time.

Or so she tells herself every time his lips meet hers.

The deeper she plows into the rabbit hole and Jack’s soul, the more she learns about his motives for returning to the city—Destroying her perfectly crafted life.

Excerpt –

Chapter 1

“My, my, what big…,” my eyes slowly slid from his mouth downward, taking in every inch of his bulging physique, finally settling on his very large and furry fingers, “…hands you have.”

His lips curled into a lecherous grin as he lifted the chains around his wrists. “The better to…” He waggled his eyebrows.

I tilted my head, letting my hair brush my shoulders. “To what? Kill innocent women wearing red hoods?” Pushing from the hard metal chair, I rose to my full five-feet, eight-inch height to stare down at the guy accused of stalking and murdering a young woman who went missing on her way to her grandmother’s house. The brutality of the crime sharpened my tone. “We’ve got your DNA all over her goodies.”

He huffed in a harsh breath, a telling reaction.

I smiled. We had the right guy. Now I just needed to break him.

The best part of my job.

I drew in a breath, ready to pluck the truth from him like a plum from a pie. The interview room door opened halting my interrogation. Irritation churned inside me, but I suppressed it, barely, as Captain Jingleheimer Schmidt stuck his head through the doorway. “Detective Locks,” he said in a whey-soaked voice. “A word.”

I glowered at the big, bad-smelling wolf, following my captain out of the institutional grey-colored room. He crossed the bullpen bursting with villains and cops, heading to his office on the other side of the New Never City police station. An office as crammed with files and arrest reports as deep, and smelling just as bad, as an old lady and all of her numerous offspring who lived in a shoe.

Motioning for me to sit on the worn chair the captain dropped into his own seat behind a wobbly desk, clasping his fingers in front of him. I wrinkled my nose at the stench wafting around me, and then sat. Like a lady, and not of the night variety, I crossed my legs, waiting. Captain Jingleheimer Schmidt was a man of few words and most of those started with the letter F. I doubted the conversation would take long.

“Goldie,” he began.

My back arched at the use of my given name. Whatever he was about to say wasn’t good, likely for me. In fact, the last time the captain had called me Goldie I’d ended up losing my back right molar to a delusional fairy. The two dollars and seventy cents left under my pillow was of little consolation. I took a calming breath, waiting for the other glass slipper to drop.

 

Bio –

J.A. (Julie) Kazimer lives in Denver, CO. When she isn’t looking for a place to hide the bodies, she devotes her time to playing with a pup named Killer. Other hobbies include murdering houseplants. She spent a few years stalking people while working as a private investigator before transitioning to the moniker of WRITER and penning over 15 titles. Visit her website at jakazimer.com and sign up for her THIS LITTLE PIGGY WENT TO MURDER Readers’ Group.

 

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February 7, 2019 · 9:51 am

Crime Time ~ People Magazine Investigates ~ “Connecticut Horror Story”

#CrimeTime with Alicia Dean ~ 

 

People Magazine Investigates, Season 2, Episode 4, “Connecticut Horror Story”

Cheshire, Connecticut July 23, 2007

Jennifer Petit and her eleven-year-old daughter, Michaela, were shopping for groceries for Jennifer’s birthday dinner, which Michaela planned to prepare. Unbeknownst to them, they were spotted by Joshua Komisarjevsky . He and his pal were planning to find a rich family to rob, and the Petits fit the bill. He called his friend, Steven Hayes, and the plan was put into motion. Supposedly, they only planned to rob them and leave. They waited until the wee hours, while the family was sleeping. When they arrived, they found the father, William Petit, asleep on the sofa. They beat him over the head with a bat they found in the yard, then tied him up in the basement. They then went upstairs and bound and gagged Jennifer and her two daughters, Michaela, 11, and Hayley, 17.

The criminals robbed the home but were not satisfied with their haul. They found a bank book showing the balance in the account, and decided to have Jennifer withdraw money for them. The bank would not be open until 9 a.m., which was 7 hours away. With the family tied up, they drove the family’s vehicle to a nearby gas station and, using the Petits’ credit card, filled gas cans with $10 worth of gas. Then, they returned and spent all that time in the home with the family as they waited for the bank to open. From what I understand, during that time, there was no abuse, no sexual assault. They treated their victims decently.

At nine a.m., Hayes drove Jennifer to the bank. The teller told Jennifer she was unable to withdraw the money without her husband present as well. Jennifer wrote a note on the withdrawal slip stating that her children were being held hostage and would be killed if she didn’t get the money, and that if the police were called, her children would be killed. The teller contacted the bank manager. The manager spoke to Jennifer who showed her a picture of her daughters. A mother herself, the bank manager knew Jennifer was being truthful. She approved the withdrawal but went into her office and called the police. As she was on the phone with them, Jennifer left the bank.

The police first showed up at the bank, thinking there was a situation there. When they learned there was not, they headed to the Petit house. By this time, William Petit had escaped the basement through the doors which led into the yard. He called out to a neighbor who rushed over to help him. The police spotted the men and thought at first they might be the perpetrators. Mr. Petit told them his family was in the home, in danger. When it was established these men were not the criminals, Mr. Petit was rushed to the hospital.

The police were formulating a plan and setting up a perimeter around the home. While this was taking place, the home went up in flames. The criminals tried to escape in the family’s SUV, but were quickly apprehended. Jennifer, Hayley and Michaela were found dead inside the home. They’d been raped and strangled and suffered smoke inhalation.

A lot of criticism was aimed at the police for their handling of the situation. They never tried to make contact with the criminals. They wasted too much time without taking action. It appears that the sexual assaults and murders happened after the police had arrived. From the time the bank manager called to the time the house was set on fire, 50 minutes or so had passed. Critics assert that the police could have acted more quickly and saved the family.

Authorities later learned that the criminals saw the police outside the home and doused it with gasoline and set it on fire.

I am certain things could have been done differently by many of those involved. I have to wonder a few things…

  • If the bank manager hadn’t called the police at all, would the killers have let the family live? I have my doubts. They purchased the gasoline hours earlier, obviously they had a purpose in mind.
  • If they had delayed Jennifer in the bank, would the police have been able to stop the crime?
  • If the police had ascended on the home, would the murders not have happened? My thought is that they likely still would have. The killers took action when they knew police were there, so I’m not sure that converging on the home would have made a difference. In hindsight, it would have been worth a try.
  • Why did the killers only commit the rapes and murders the next morning, when police were outside, when they had all night? I assume it was because they had to keep the women calm in order to get Jennifer to make the withdrawal.
  • Why on earth would the killers go ahead and murder the family, knowing they wouldn’t get away? At that point, they had only committed home invasion/kidnapping/robbery. Why add murder charges?

When the cowardly, sick, evil monsters were interviewed, they blamed one another. Komisarjevsky  confessed to sexually assaulting 11 year old Michaela. He called her ‘KK’, a nickname the family gave her, which somehow makes the horror even more sickening. He also took photos of the sexual abuse.

His interview with police, during which he gleefully recounted the tragic details of his assault on the child, was played during his trial. His three court-appointed defense lawyers asked the judge to call a mistrial citing the grief shown on the faces of the Petit family members in court as the interview was played unfairly affected the jury. What???? Wow. Yes, let’s not be unfair to a murdering, heartless POS.

Both ‘men’ were convicted and sentenced to death. However, in 2015, Connecticut abolished the death penalty, and their sentences were commuted to life.  Jennifer’s sister was interviewed on the show, and she said she had always been against the death penalty, but she changed her mind after what her sister and nieces suffered. She thought the killers should be executed.

Later, in a diary Komisarjevsky kept, an entry was found where he called William Petit a coward and said he could have stopped it any time. Wow. The nerve.

William Petit managed to rebuild his life. The home was torn down and he built a beautiful memorial garden in its place. He remarried in 2012 to Christine Paluf, with whom he has a young son. In 2016, he was elected to the Connecticut legislature.

How do you think you would have acted had you been the bank manager? Jennifer? The police? Would you have done anything differently?

[I love true crime shows, and I watch them every night. (Since I write suspense, thriller, and mystery, it’s not a waste of time…it’s research, right? 🙂 ) I love Investigation Discovery and watch many of the various shows, although some are a little too cheesy. However, there are plenty of shows that are done well enough to feed my fascination with murder. Each week, I’ll blog about some of the recent episodes I’ve seen and I’d love to know your thoughts.]

 

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January 28, 2019 · 8:51 am

Crime Time ~ Your Worst Nightmare ~ “When the Lights Go Out”

#CrimeTime with Alicia Dean ~ 

 

Your Worst Nightmare, Season 1 Episode 2, When the Lights Go Out

Pocatello, Idaho, September 22, 2006

Seventeen-year-old Cassie Jo Stoddart is house-sitting for her aunt and uncle one weekend. On Friday night, her boyfriend comes over to hang out with her, and he invites a few friends over. The friends only stay for a brief time, then decide to go to a movie. Later, Cassie and Matthew are watching TV, and the lights go out. Matthew searches the house but finds nothing amiss. The lights come back on, and the teens decide it’s just the wiring, since the house is old. Cassie is a little freaked out and wants Matthew to stay, but his mom will not let him. She tells him that Cassie can come stay at their house, but Cassie refuses. She’s made a commitment to her aunt and uncle, and she’s going to go through with it.

The family comes home on Sunday, and Cassie’s 13-year-old cousin discovers Cassie’s body in the living room. She has been stabbed repeatedly. The police begin the investigation. They start with her boyfriend, and he tells them the details of that night. The police then speak with the two friends, Torey Adamcik and Brian Draper, both sixteen. They state they were at a movie. The detective asks what actors were in the movie, they can’t answer. He asks what the plot was about, and they can’t answer. These two boys are obsessed with movies, especially horror movies, and it’s rather suspicious that they are clueless about a movie they supposedly watched two days prior.

The police turn up the heat and Brian Draper cracks. He comes into the station and begins crying, telling the police that they did it, but it was Torey, not him, and he thought they were just going to scare her. He takes them to a spot where they buried evidence. Police recover several articles of black clothing, three knives, two masks and a homemade videotape. When they play the tape, they are horrified to discover that it is of the teens, planning and laughing about the murder, then afterward, discussing it.

Here is a partial transcript of the tapes:

****************

Before the murder, Adamcik told Draper, “we’re not going to get caught,” to which Draper replies, “we’re going to make history,”

The transcript includes conversation between Adamcik and Draper referencing horror-slasher films like “Scream” and comparing themselves to serial killers like Ted Bundy, the Hillside Strangler and the Zodiac Killer.

“Those people were mere amateurs compared to what we are going to be,” Adamcik said.

In another segment of the transcript, Draper says “I feel like I want to kill somebody. Uh, I know that’s not normal, but what the hell.”

Adamcik replied, “I feel we need to break away from normal life.”

Adamcik and Draper were laughing while the camera was rolling, and during one segment, Draper said the two had tried, unsuccessfully, to kill on eight or nine previous occasions.

“But they’ve never been home alone,” Draper said.

And Adamick replied by saying, “Or when they have, their parents show up.”

Draper said he and Adamcik identified Stoddart as their victim the day before the murder, despite claiming she was their friend.

“We’ll find out if she has friends over, if she’s going to be alone in a big dark house out in the middle of nowhere. How perfect can you get?” Draper said.

“I’m horny just thinking about it,” Adamcik replied.

***************

How sickening is this? The sorry bastards. Catching these monsters most likely saved a lot of lives.

The two are arrested, tried and convicted of first degree murder. They are sentenced to life without parole. They have attempted over the years to have their sentences overturned. Adamcik claimed he had ineffective counsel and that his sentence was cruel and unusual punishment. What an evil little weasel. What about the cruel and unusual punishment Cassie suffered at his hands? It is irrelevant that they were only sixteen. They were certainly old enough to know what they were doing was so wrong. And, they did it with malicious glee.

The entire family has suffered so much. The aunt and uncle could not go back into the home. They moved away, and the house wouldn’t sell because of the horror that took place there. Cassie’s cousin who found her was a mess and later attempted suicide. Such a shame and a tragedy.

[I love true crime shows, and I watch them every night. (Since I write suspense, thriller, and mystery, it’s not a waste of time…it’s research, right? 🙂 ) I love Investigation Discovery and watch many of the various shows, although some are a little too cheesy. However, there are plenty of shows that are done well enough to feed my fascination with murder. Each week, I’ll blog about some of the recent episodes I’ve seen and I’d love to know your thoughts.]

 

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January 24, 2019 · 8:03 am

Author Interview with Kara O’Neal & New Release: Destiny’s Secrets

Please help me welcome friend and fellow author, Kara O’Neal with a fun interview and her brand new release…

 

What is your greatest temptation? Hmmm…well, I think right now it would be Emma Swan and Killian Jones’ love story in Once Upon A Time. I made a YouTube playlist of videos of them. Concerning, right? But I just love their journey to each other. It was wonderful to watch.

What is your greatest weakness? Netflix.

If you could have any kind of car, what would it be? A 1950s Ford Truck with a Dodge engine

Your dream home – mountains or ocean? Neither. I want to live in the Texas Hill Country where the bluebonnets grow.

What inspired you to become a writer? I love stories. I soak them up. They have the ability to teach, to inspire, to warn and to relieve stress. I wanted to tell them, too. And I loved the Little House series. I wanted to create my own town with its quirky, imperfect and loveable characters.

Do you have a daily writing routine?  If so, please share.  Not really. I just sit down and write. It’s not helpful, I know. But the scenes play in my head while I am at work, and I can’t wait to get to my computer so I can write them down. It’s a release for me.

What is your favorite book? Pride and Prejudice

What is your favorite movie? It’s Pride and Prejudice. Ha! I am a creature of habit!

Who is your favorite historical figure? Joshua Chamberlain. He is the reason the Union Army won the Battle of Gettysburg. I also love Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, and John Henry.

In your books, who is your favorite hero and please introduce him? My favorite hero is Lonnie Davis. He is in several books, but he is the hero in Love’s Redemption. He’s calm, steady, smart and unbreakable. He’s tough. And very loyal. If I could compare him to another fictional character, it would be Captain America.

Who is your favorite heroine and please introduce her? Oh, goodness. I have several. But if I have to pick one, I really enjoyed writing Sherry Forrester. She is a no-nonsense lady who loves life and lives it on her terms. She’s tough, as well. And funny. I had a lot of fun writing her.

What do you have out now?  My newest release is book 11 in the Pike’s Run Series – Destiny’s Secrets. It came out on January 22nd.

New releases anytime soon?  I hope to release book 12 – Mr. Pierce’s Hero – in the summer.

Where can eager fans find you?

My website: www.karaoneal.com.

My facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/KaraONeal84/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/karaoneal7/

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Kara-ONeal/e/B00FL19TH8/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1465007993&sr=8-1

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/kara+o’neal?_requestid=845025

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7278350.Kara_O_Neal

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KaraONealAuthor

Blurb:

Andrew and Ben Lonnigan, brothers and private investigators, have accepted an important case—to reunite the long-lost DuBois daughters with their rightful inheritance. Abducted from their childhood home in New Orleans when they were three and two-years-old, Jo and Charlotte were adopted by separate families.

Andrew heads north to find Josephine Tatum—a pants-wearing, spitfire veterinarian who challenges his mind and captures his heart. Ben travels south to find Charlotte Ryan—the financial mind behind her father’s ranch, with a sweet disposition and, unfortunately, a fiancé.

As the sisters journey toward destiny, Charlotte must guard her heart against Ben, a man too daring to ever return her love. And Andrew must hide his feelings from Jo, a woman determined to carve her own path. While the foursome battle feelings, they must also war with a villain from the sisters’ past, one with the will and the means to destroy everything the DuBois daughters hold dear.

Excerpt:

The moonlight shining through the window above the sink bathed the dark room in a silver glow. He wished he’d brought a lantern in order to better see her face. Quiet settled around them, and he cleared his throat. “Did…Did you have a good time?”

“Yes.” She leaned against the counter, putting several feet of space between them.

“You weren’t scared?”

“I was.”

His mouth tipped up at the corners. “But you went anyway?”

“Yes.”

He tried to imagine her sitting in a saloon and couldn’t wrap his mind around it. “What’d you do?”

She pushed her hands behind her back. “Played cards.”

“Poker?”

“Yes. The owner found us spots, and we used some of Jo’s money. I only played two hands because I wasn’t comfortable betting.” She waited a beat. “That’s not a game someone should learn while using someone else’s coins.”

He had no reply and ached to move closer to her. He wished he could gather her in his arms. The last several hours had been pure torture, and his pulse raced at finally being in the same room with her.

“I also drank some whiskey.”

Her statement had him gaping. “Really?”

She didn’t expand and asked a question of her own. “Is this what you wanted to speak to me about?”

“No, I…” How in the hell did he begin? Why bring this up when she so obviously wanted to avoid it? But he couldn’t handle a chasm in their friendship. Even though he might not see her after Tuesday, he had to fix the tension between them.

“I’m sorry for what I did,” she blurted. “I shouldn’t have done it, especially without asking for permission.”

Permission? Her sweetness punched him in the gut. Before he could respond, she went on.

“I have feelings for you, Ben. Strong ones. I didn’t want you to know because I’m very aware I’m not a lady you’d ever be interested in, but I don’t want to hide my regard anymore.” She pushed away from the counter. “I love you.”

His breath caught at her honesty. Her courage.

“You’re probably confused because I was engaged only a short time ago, but…” She shook her head. “I didn’t love him. Not like I should have. I agreed to marry him to give my family some happiness after the death of my mother.”

Her words came with authority, shocking him into further silence.

“You came into my life, and you dazzled me. You’re so kind,” she said with reverence. “So caring. So…handsome. I’m glad I met you. I don’t regret losing my heart to you, but it’s going to take some work to get it back, and I need your help with that.”

What did she want of him?

“I need space. Distance.” She took a moment. “I’d appreciate it if we just said goodbye now.”

Already? Rebellion reared its head like a fire-breathing dragon.

When she said no more, he realized she waited for his agreement. How could he give her what she wanted?

But why would he hesitate? Her request should be easy to grant. He understood it. Respected it.

“Ben?” she prodded.

“Yes,” he rasped.

“Yes? You’ll honor what I’m asking?”

The hopeful, grateful note in her tone was like a knife to his heart. “Of course.”

Even in the darkness, he easily detected the slump of her shoulders. “Thank you.”

He couldn’t respond. It was impossible.

She shuffled forward a few steps, and he sensed her looking at him expectantly.

“So,” he uttered. “This is goodbye, then.”

“Yes.”

He heard her heartache, the tears she tried hard to hold back. He didn’t want this. He couldn’t lose her already.

“Goodbye,” she said softly, her voice breaking.

He swallowed. “Goodbye.”

One second more, then she swept past him, and he quaked with the force it took to keep from yanking her into his arms. He didn’t turn as she walked out of his life.

Bio:

Born and raised in Texas, the state had to be the setting for my first series. From the food to the fun, like floating the rivers, it is the fire in my blood that inspires me. My family and friends take center stage in my books. My sisters and best friends are my heroines, and my husband created my favorite hero. Love and family are the point of my stories, and I seek to entertain, relieve stress, and inspire people. Books can take one on a journey that one can relive over and over. I am extremely grateful to those authors who did that very thing for me. I learned and I fell in love with their words and characters. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Please visit me at www.karaoneal.com.

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January 20, 2019 · 8:07 pm

Crime Time ~ Murder Comes to Town ~ “He’d Do it Again”

#CrimeTime with Alicia Dean ~ 

 

Murder Comes to Town, Season 2 Episode 5, He’d Do it Again

South Bend, Washington November 2, 2010

On the morning of November 3, 2010, Tim Moore’s best friend receives a call from Tim’s son, Devon, saying he doesn’t know where his father is. The friend searches for Tim but is unable to find him. They call police, who cannot consider him missing until he’s been gone 24 hours. Once that deadline passes, police begin investigating. They learn that Tim is a stable, good man and a loving, single father. Devon lives with Tim, and Tim supports Devon’s mother, Tim’s ex-girlfriend, because he is afraid if he doesn’t, she will go after custody of Devon, and Tim wants his son to live with him. From what police can gather, Tim has no enemies and no one has a reason to wish him harm, nor would he just disappear and abandon his son.

The police question Tim’s son, his friends, his ex, but receive no information that leads them to Tim’s whereabouts. They use a sniffer dog to try to pick up Tim’s scent. The dog leads them to a garage where he appears to get a hit. The garage belongs to a known drug offender with a record. The police think they have a solid lead, but it turns out to be a dead end.

The investigators are slightly suspicious about Devon’s manner. He doesn’t seem distraught that his father is missing, but they are aware that people, especially teenagers, don’t always show the expected emotions. When they question Devon, he tells them that he and his father had watched TV together the night before he discovered him missing until 11:30, when Devon went to bed. When he awoke the next morning, his father was gone, and his bed was made, leading Devon to believe he hadn’t slept in it.

The police learn that Devon’s ex has moved into the house with Devon, which seems a little suspicious. They go to the home to speak with her again, but since she doesn’t own the home and Devon isn’t 18, neither of them can give permission for the authorities to search the house. This fact surprised me. I wasn’t aware that was a law, or would even be an issue. I suppose it’s different in various jurisdictions.

A few weeks after Tim’s disappearance, hunters find remains in the woods near his home that turn out to be his. It’s apparent that the victim was shot in the head. Once the body is found, police are able to get a warrant to search the home. They find blood droplets in the garage and when they enter Tim’s bedroom, they see sheets that match the ones found with the body. They turn over the mattress and find a large blood stain. They speak to Devon once again, and ask if he heard the shots the night before his dad disappeared. The coroner determined he’d been shot four times. The police don’t understand how Devon could sleep through that. He states that he’s a heavy sleeper. The police determine that a silencer was used, so it would make sense that the boy hadn’t heard the shots. The blood in the garage turns out to be deer blood, but the blood on the mattress belongs to Tim.

A break comes when the police chief, who is a friend of the missing man, is having dinner with his family. His son mentions a friend of his who has this awesome shotgun with a silencer. The chief asks him if he’s sure, and the son says definitely. The chief goes to talk to the friend and asks if he can see the shotgun. The kid shows it to him, and it indeed has a silencer. The chief asks him how long he’s had the gun, and he tells him a week. By now, it’s been five months since Tim Moore was murdered. The chief asks where he got the shotgun. The kids tells him he got it from a friend. The chief asks for the friend’s name, and the kid tells him it’s Devon Moore.

Police bring Devon in for questioning once more and tell him they know what happened, now is his chance to tell his side of it. At first, Devon sticks to his story, although he does mention that he and his dad argued. But, he insists he went to bed and awoke the next morning to find his father gone. With a little more pressure by police, Devon finally tells the truth. He says he and his father argued, his father had told him he could drive the truck as long as he was on the honor roll. He fell off the honor roll, and his dad took his driving privileges away. He said that, after his father went to bed, he got the shotgun and went into his room. He placed the barrel near his dad’s skull and pulled the trigger. It was a bolt-action shotgun, so he had to manually open and close the breech, eject the spent casing and load a new one. He had to do that three more times, which shows slow, deliberate calculation. The police asked if he had any remorse and he said no, and if he had it to do over again, he’d do it again. They ask him why, and he says that his dad wasn’t the great guy everyone thought he was, he’d been abusing him his entire life. However, there was no indication at all of the abuse. No marks whatsoever on Devon, no medical reports, no complaints to officials, nothing, ever. It appeared that Devon simply was tired of his dad’s parental control.

Devon was tried as an adult, found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to the max, which is 31 years. I’m always baffled when a first degree murder charge does not result in a life sentence, if not the death penalty. How can you cold-bloodedly murder your own father, a father who loved you and sacrificed for you, and be able to walk out of prison when you’re fifty years old? It’s so disturbing when a child kills a parent. What is missing from their humanity that they would do something so heinous?

A question I have that wasn’t answered in the episode is why the sniffer dog hit on the garage. I don’t know if Tim had been there for some reason, or if the dog had a false hit. It bugs me when there are unanswered questions. 😊

 

[I love true crime shows, and I watch them every night. (Since I write suspense, thriller, and mystery, it’s not a waste of time…it’s research, right? 🙂 ) I love Investigation Discovery and watch many of the various shows, although some are a little too cheesy. However, there are plenty of shows that are done well enough to feed my fascination with murder. Each week, I’ll blog about some of the recent episodes I’ve seen and I’d love to know your thoughts.]

 

 

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January 15, 2019 · 8:38 pm

Crime Time ~ Murder Calls ~ “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing”

#CrimeTime with Alicia Dean

 

Murder Calls Season 1, Episode 1, Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

May 28, 2007, Ogden, Iowa

A 911 call comes in to Boone County dispatch. The caller is a man who identifies himself as Michael Hill. The actual 911 call was played on the show. It was eerie and sad.

Hill: “I shot myself.”

Dispatcher: “Where?”

Hill: “I don’t know, I can’t move.”

Dispatcher: “How were you shot?”

Hill: ”I don’t know, I shot myself, the gun just went off. ”

He said he was going after a wild dog that was killing sheep. He worked for the farmer and was taking care of the sheep. He was trying to scare off the, but he said the gun went off and shot him. He tells them that he is at the back of the sheep farm, by a John Deere tractor. Then he says, “Please hurry, I can’t feel my legs. Oh, I gotta go. Going out.”

His friend, John Blair races to the farm. Michael, who they call Shane, had called him. John told him to call 911 then heads to the farm. When he arrives, the EMTs are working on Shane. John said he was working about 20 miles away and Shane called him. John told him to call 911, then heads over. John calls Shane’s mom, who goes by to pick up Shane’s wife, Jessica. The two women speed to the scene.

As they watch, the EMTs announce he’s gone.

He was shot in the center of his back and in the shoulder and leg. A loaded handgun was lying beside him. It’s the same type of gun that he told the dispatcher he’d shot himself with.

The next day, it was discovered that, six minutes after the first call, Shane calls 911 again. He doesn’t know it, but this time, his call was routed through Green County. He says his phone went dead and asks for the person he spoke with before, but that person is not at that location. Shane has to tell the story over again.

During that call, another shot can be heard. Shane says, “Oh F—. This thing went off again. I just blew a hole in my F—- arm. Oh my God, Oh my God.”

The investigating detective listens to that second call again, over and over, and realizes that second shot was from a rifle, not a handgun and that it came from a distance. He now knows there is more to the case than it first appeared.

The autopsy indicated that the shot came from above him. And, they pulled out a 30 ought 6 slug from Shane’s body.

They question John Blair, his friend who arrived just after police. They ask why he didn’t just call 911 himself. He said he was freaked out and just rushed over. John’s alibi checks out.

John was being interviewed during on the show, and he, along with his brothers, told what a good person Shane was, that he would give you anything you needed. Everyone also said that Shane loved his wife and children very much, that he was a doting husband and father.

The police interview with Jessica is shown on the episode. One of the detectives knows Jessica personally. He asks about Dan Blair, John’s brother. Dan was a good friend of Shane’s and a few years before, when Dan was down on his luck, Shane let him move in. Shane was working out of state, and did some work in Oklahoma for a period of time. He didn’t like leaving his family but felt they were in good hands with Dan.

Before long, Dan and Jessica begin having an affair. In the police interview, Jessica says, “Don’t every leave your best friend to take care of your wife and children, because the bond grows very, very quickly.”

Six months into the affair, Shane grew suspicious. One night, he pretended to leave for a job but parked his truck down the road and walked back. He caught them in bed together and went nuts. He kicked Dan out. He and Jessica split up

Jessica said in the interview that they were closer than brothers and she came along and screwed it up

Shane still loved Jessica and was broken hearted being away from her and the kids. They got back together. Over the next two years, they worked on their marriage. She told the police that the affair had been over with for some time and she made the right decision to go back to Shane. Shane forgave Dan and they tried being friends again.

They interview Dan. They ask if they’d ever had physical altercation with Shane and he said when I slept with his wife. Police ask about Dan’s roommate, Aron Moss. He said the day of the murder, the two of them had gone to a bar to shoot pool. The police interview Aron and he said he doesn’t know Shane and wouldn’t have any reason to hurt him.

The police were going to release the 911 calls to media and wanted Shane’s family to hear them first. His mom lost it and couldn’t keep listening. I don’t blame her, no way could I stand to listen to that.

After the murder, Jessica is staying with Shane’s mom. She’d been using the laptop. His mom got on the computer and saw a message from Dan to Jessica, which said, “You don’t have to worry about it, he’s not ever coming back.”

Shane’s mom takes the laptop to police. Several back and forth messages are found between Dan and Jessica, a lot of ‘I love you, I miss you’ etc, even though Jessica had said things were over between them.

Police call Jessica back in. When they tell her they found the messages between her and Dan, her tone changes. She admits that it wasn’t over with Dan. She said she complained to him about Shane, about him only wanting her for sex and not being grateful. She told Dan she wished he wouldn’t come home, then she wouldn’t have to worry about him anymore. She said it was just one of those things you say, you don’t think anything will come of it. The police ask her if she texted Daniel that morning. She said yes, she told him when Shane left, what he was driving, where he was going. She said she didn’t ask Dan to kill Shane, she just said she wished he was no longer around. The cops said, “Did you know that he would do anything for you?” She said, “He always said he would.”

They call Dan in and tell him that they know he was involved in Shane’s shooting. He says, “How?” They say, “We don’t think this is something you saw yourself involved in, but you allowed your love for Jessica to drive you. You love her, right?” Dan says, “I’ve always loved her.”

When he realizes that they have more information, he starts to provide details. He says he couldn’t shoot Shane, because even though they had their problems, he loved him like a brother. The police say, “Then who did you have shoot him? Who was with you that day?” He finally tells them it was Aron Ross. He gives a full confession.

He and Shane were hiding in a barn, watching Shane. When Shane pulls the trigger, they do the same. Shane’s shot masks their shot. Shane thought he shot himself. They see Shane lying on the ground and that he’s still alive. They move closer and shoot him again. Aron never admitted to anything. Authorities had trouble figuring out why he did it but they assume it was because Dan was his friend and he had a problem. Aron helped him make the problem go away.

They were both charged with first degree murder. The detectives arrested Jessica at Shane’s funeral. She is charged as well.

Dan is sentenced to life, and Aron and Jessica were each sentenced to fifty years. She appeals and her charges are reduced to conspiracy and accessory after the fact. Her sentence is changed to 12 years and she was released on parole in 2012.

I feel Jessica deserved to spend much longer in prison. Without her involvement, Shane would still be alive. What do you think?

 

[I love true crime shows, and I watch them every night. (Since I write suspense, thriller, and mystery, it’s not a waste of time…it’s research, right? 🙂 ) I love Investigation Discovery and watch many of the various shows, although some are a little too cheesy. However, there are plenty of shows that are done well enough to feed my fascination with murder. Each week, I’ll blog about some of the recent episodes I’ve seen and I’d love to know your thoughts.]

 

 

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January 7, 2019 · 5:30 pm

Crime Time ~ Ice Cold Killers ~ “Hitchhike to Hell”

#CrimeTime with Alicia Dean

 

Ice Cold Killers  Season 2, Episode 4, Hitchhike to Hell

February 1994, Thornton, Colorado

This show, Ice Cold Killers, holds an extra appeal for me, because of my love of cold, snowy weather. Things are even creepier when it’s dark and icy. All of the episodes I’ve watched so far have been interesting.

In the early morning of February 1994, Jaquie Creazzo is on her way to pick up her father for breakfast. She sees two cars pulled off to the side of the road with a man and woman standing outside them. She slows, and the woman runs toward her car. The woman isn’t screaming, but she has a look of desperation and fear on her face. Jaquie picks her up, and the woman says the guy rammed her car and kidnapped her and raped her for two hours.

Jaquie speeds off as fast as she can on the icy roads. The man comes after them. They are almost to the Thornton Police Department when he pulls up beside Jaquie’s car and fires several shots, hitting Jaquie in the knee, spine, and face. She loses control of the car and swerves across the median onto the lawn of the police department. The man parks and approaches the car. He and Jaquie exchange looks, but she is paralyzed and can only move her eyes. He is out of bullets so he can’t kill Jaquie, but he warns her that if she tells anyone what happened, he’ll kill her. He pulls Rhonda from the car and drags her away. Police and EMTs arrive and begin giving Jaquie aid. She tries to tell them about Rhonda, but they are focused on saving her life. Later, in the hospital, she is able to tell the police about the kidnapped woman, and they begin searching for Rhonda and her abductor.

Rhonda Maloney is a married mom, working at a casino and planning to become a police officer. The authorities question her husband, however, in addition to not fitting the description of the suspect—a young, clean-cut black male—he is genuinely distraught. He has a solid alibi and is quickly eliminated as a suspect.

One of the detectives who wasn’t available during the initial visit to the crime scene wants to check it out.  While there, the officers hear a buzzing sound and locate a pager in the snow. It contains a pre-recorded message with instructions to turn the pager into the Denver PD if found. Authorities are shocked as they consider the possibility that a police officer might be behind the murder. As it turns out, the owner of the pager is a twenty-year veteran and does not fit the description Jaquie gave. The detectives look into his background and discover a prior incident where he shot his wife in the stomach, but she survived and it was ruled an accident. He has a son and a nephew who have both been in trouble with the law. His son, Robert Harlan, had shot a man to death but only served five years. Police bring him in for questioning. At first, he claims he knows nothing about Rhonda. Then he finally admits he was with her. He states that she bought cocaine from him. They partied and did the cocaine together, then parted ways, and he has no idea what happened after that.

Detectives bring a photo lineup to Jaquie that includes Harlan. She identifies him without hesitation. She tells the detective that she survived so she could help stop him. She says that, when she was in surgery, she saw a white light. A voice said she could go into the light or stay. She said she knew she had to stay because she could identify the killer.

They continue to investigate, looking for evidence to tie Harlan to the crime. His father turns in a bag of evidence, including a gun. The search for Rhonda continues. They still don’t know if she is alive, but in the ice cold weather, her chances of survival are slim. A week after the incident, Rhonda’s body is found. She has been badly beaten and shot three times. The ballistics are a match to the gun Robert’s father turned in. Autopsy reveals no drugs in her system, proving Harlan lied about the two of them doing cocaine together.

Harlan is found guilty of the kidnap, attempted first degree murder, and first degree murder of Rhonda Maloney, and the attempted murder of Jaquie Creazzo. During deliberations on the sentencing, some of the jurors brought Bibles into the jury room, consulting the passage from Leviticus about an “eye for an eye,” that says: “He who kills a man shall be put to death.” They determined that the death sentence was an appropriate sentence. Later, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled 3-2 that bringing in Bibles was improper. It overturned the jury’s verdict, sparing Harlan the death penalty and leaving him to serve life in prison without parole.

Jaquie is a hero. Not only for risking herself to try to help Rhonda, but for fighting to survive so she could stop a killer. I’m not sure how many of us would have put our lives in jeopardy to help a stranger. Do you think you would have stopped for Rhonda?

Isn’t it crazy how lucky the police were? What if the detective hadn’t wanted to go back to the scene and/or the pager hadn’t buzzed while there? They might never have found it and never been led to Harlan. It is believed that Harlan is responsible for other murders and no doubt he would have killed again had he not been caught. Poor Rhonda was not so lucky. Can you imagine how it must have felt for her to think she’d been rescued, only to be dragged back into hell and further tormented before she was killed?

Interesting side note; in 2002, Jaquie was at her daughter, Hannah’s, house. Hannah’s former fiancé showed up, a gun in each hand, waving them around at Jaquie and her daughters. Jaquie told her daughters to get in the house and pulled out a gun she kept in a bag in her wheelchair and shot him in the leg. He survived and was arrested.

[I love true crime shows, and I watch them every night. (Since I write suspense, thriller, and mystery, it’s not a waste of time…it’s research, right? 🙂 ) I love Investigation Discovery and watch many of the various shows, although some are a little too cheesy. However, there are plenty of shows that are done well enough to feed my fascination with murder. Each week, I’ll blog about some of the recent episodes I’ve seen and I’d love to know your thoughts.]

 

 

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December 30, 2018 · 2:06 pm

Crime Time ~ Evil Stepmother ~ “Not My Mom”

#CrimeTime with Alicia Dean

Evil Stepmother,  Season 1, Episode 1, Not My Mom

September 8, 2002, Dickson, Tennessee

Kimberly Mangrum became stepmom to two children when she married their father, Terry Mangrum, Sr.  During the episode, Kimberly’s stepson, Terry, Jr. is interviewed. He spoke about life with his stepmom. In the beginning, Kimberly worked hard to win his and his sister’s affection. But she soon begins to exhibit mood swings, lashing out for no reason. Kimberly’s main source of contention is the children’s mother, Lee Ann Mangrum, who had full custody. The kids visited their dad on the weekends, but Kimberly wanted full control. She insisted that she begin doing the drop-offs to limit the contact her husband had with his ex. Kimberly uses those dropoffs to taunt and start arguments with Lee Ann.

Lee Ann is a loving mother, but Kimberly engages in conflict with her and tries to undermine her role as a mother, every chance she gets. Somehow, and this I never understood, Lee Ann ends up losing custody to the children to Terry and Kimberly. This gives Kimberly even more of an opportunity to terrorize and abuse them. She would have the kids phone their mother and call her awful names and tell her she was a horrible mother. One day in September, Terry Sr. receives a notice to appear in Court. Lee Ann is filing to get custody of her children. Kimberly is enraged.

Lee Ann Mangrum

The next day, a fisherman finds a body and a vehicle submerged in Turnbull Creek. Police learn that the dead woman is Lee Ann Mangrum. Authorities speak to the family and are told by Kimberly, Terry Sr. and the kids that Lee Ann came over the night before,  with a man named Bob. She was drunk and demanding that Kimberly give her Klonopin. Kimberly did so, and Lee Ann finally left.

The police discover Lee Ann’s trailer has been ransacked. They find her son’s DNA in the house and they find cigarette butts outside that contain Kimberly’s DNA.  When police question Terry, Jr, he says that when his mom was at the house that night, he wanted to talk to her. After she left, he took Kimberly’s car and drove to her house. She flips out on him and attacks him. In self-defense, he kills her.

Believing there is more to it, the police push him. He finally tells the entire story.

The night that Kimberly receives the letter that Lee Ann is filing for custody, she goes into the children’s rooms (the daughter was 11 and the son, 15) and wakes them. She tells them to ride with her to the store to get cigarettes. Kimberly drives to the convenience store and after she gets the cigarettes, she tells the kids they are going to make one more stop. She drives them to Lee Ann’s. Terry Jr. is relieved when his mom isn’t home, but as they are leaving, a car passes. It’s Lee Ann. Kimberly turns around and parks behind her. She grabs a bat from behind the driver’s seat and tells the kids to get out of the car. She then begins screaming at Lee Ann. Lee Ann locks the doors, but Kimberly breaks the window with the bat. She pulls Lee Ann out of her vehicle and begins beating her with the bat. She hands Terry Jr. the bat and tells him to finish her. He then beats his mother. Kimberly holds a knife to his side and tells him to help get his mother into her car. Afraid for his life, he does as she says. She instructs him to drive Lee Ann’s car and follow her, and he does. She leads them to a creek. They pull Lee Ann from the vehicle and Kimberly drives it into the water. She orders Terry Jr. to kill his mother and threatens to kill him and his sister if he doesn’t. He places his foot on his mother’s body and holds her underwater until she drowns.

They head back to Lee Ann’s trailer. Kimberly forces her stepdaughter to call her grandmother from Lee Ann’s phone, saying, “I’m scared, please help me.” I’m not sure for what purpose, unless it’s to make it appear she is being attacked. Kimberly holds a knife to the children’s throats and tells them if they ever tell anyone what happened, she’ll kill them both, and their entire family.

After Terry Jr.’s confession, police arrest Terry Sr. and Kimberly. Terry Sr. is convicted of accessory after the fact and sentenced to 10 years. Terry Jr. is sentenced to 8 years and Kimberly is sentenced to life. The daughter, Alyshia, is not charged.

Terry Mangrum Jr.

What a crazy, messed up, tragic story. I am a little reluctant to totally defend the boy. He was 15 or 16 at the time, and a big kid. I’m sure the stepmom had some psychological control over him, but that’s a bit extreme. Surely, he could have driven his mother to the hospital instead of following Kimberly. He’d have had protection from police. Regardless of all that, there is no punishment too severe for the evil Kimberly Mangrum.

What are your thoughts?

[I love true crime shows, and I watch them every night. (Since I write suspense, thriller, and mystery, it’s not a waste of time…it’s research, right? 🙂 ) I love Investigation Discovery and watch many of the various shows, although some are a little too cheesy. However, there are plenty of shows that are done well enough to feed my fascination with murder. Each week, I’ll blog about some of the recent episodes I’ve seen and I’d love to know your thoughts.]

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December 16, 2018 · 1:57 pm

Crime Time ~ A Crime to Remember, “Bye Bye Betty”

#CrimeTime with Alicia Dean

A Crime to Remember,  Season 3, Episode 8, “Bye Bye Betty”

Odessa, TX, 1961:

One of the most captivating and disturbing cases I’ve watched on IDGo is that of Betty Williams. She was a high school girl who was reputed to be promiscuous and dated a lot of different boys. One of those boys was Mack Herring. After Mack broke up with her, Betty spiraled into depression. She began making comments to her friends about wishing to die so she could leave this world for a better place. She said she would take her own life, except she didn’t have the courage. She asked a few of the boys to kill her, but they refused. None of this was taken seriously by her friends.

One morning in March, 1961, Betty’s parents reported her missing when she didn’t show up for breakfast or for school. Police began interviewing her classmates. A boy named Ike Nail stated he had driven her home from drama rehearsals the night before her disappearance and dropped her off at around ten. Betty asked him to return in half an hour and meet her in the alley behind her house. He did and she climbed into his car, wearing pajamas. In a few minutes, Mack Herring pulled up behind them. Betty said, “I didn’t think he’d come. I’ve got to call his bluff, even if he kills me.” She got out of Ike’s car and into Mack’s.

Police interviewed Mack, who claimed he’d dropped Betty off at home later that night. Some of the story was inconsistent and the details did not quite add up. The detectives pushed him, and he finally broke down and told them what had happened—or at least what he claimed had happened.

He led the police to a stock pond in a secluded spot on the outskirts of the city. Once they arrived, he waded into the water. Shortly, he headed back toward them, dragging Betty’s body with him.

He claimed he had shot her because she begged him to. He said that when he picked her up that night, they drove out to the pond where they parked the car and discussed the killing. She then exited the vehicle, seeming to be happy Mack had agreed to her request. “Give me a kiss to remember you by,” he had said to her. They kissed and when she pulled away, she got down on her hands and knees and told him ‘Now’. Mack Herring raised the shotgun and fired, killing her instantly. After she was dead, he wrapped her body up, weighed it down with a heavy object, then dumped it in the stock pond.

At the hearing for Mack Herring, the defense showed Betty’s letter, which was written in her own handwriting.  This is a transcript of the letter:

“I want everyone to know that what I’m about to do in no way implicates anyone else. I say this to make sure that no blame falls on anyone other than myself. I have depressing problems that concern, for the most part, myself. I’m waging a war within myself, a war to find the true me and I fear that I am losing the battle. So rather than admit defeat I’m going to beat a quick retreat into the no man’s land of death. As I have only the will and not the fortitude necessary, a friend of mine, seeing how great is my torment, has graciously consented to look after the details. His name is Mack Herring and I pray that he will not have to suffer for what he is doing for my sake. I take upon myself all blame, for there it lies, on me alone!—-Betty Williams.”

Mack was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Some people say that Betty’s request to Mack was actually a ploy to make him see how much he cared for her. She hoped he would refuse to kill her and instead declare his love. How sad and tragic. Young girls that age can be dramatic and immature. In Betty’s case, it cost her her life.

What do you think? Should Mack have been found not guilty, or should he have been punished for his crime?

To read more, check out this fascinating, detailed article that shares other notes by Betty and further information.  https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/a-kiss-before-dying/

[I love true crime shows, and I watch them every night. (Since I write suspense, thriller, and mystery, it’s not a waste of time…it’s research, right? 🙂 ) I love Investigation Discovery and watch many of the various shows, although some are a little too cheesy. However, there are plenty of shows that are done well enough to feed my fascination with murder. Each week, I’ll blog about some of the recent episodes I’ve seen and I’d love to know your thoughts. Let me know if you’ve seen the episode and, if so, what you thought about it.]

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