When news broke of three-year-old Caylee Anthony's disappearance from her home in Florida in July 2008, there was a huge outpouring of sympathy across the nation. The search for Caylee made front-page headlines. But there was one huge question mark hanging over the case: the girl's mother. 
As the investigation continued and suspicions mounted, Casey became the prime suspect. In October, based on new evidence against Casey―her erratic behavior and lies, her car that showed signs of human decomposition―a grand jury indicted the young single mother. Then, two months later, police found Caylee's remains a quarter of a mile away from the Anthony home. Casey pled not guilty to charges of murder in the first degree, and she continues to protest her innocence. Did she or didn't she kill Caylee? This is the story of one of the most shocking, confusing, and horrific crimes in modern American history.

Mommy's Little Girl: Casey Anthony and her Daughter Caylee's Tragic Fate

Biographies & Memoirs

FANNING, DIANE

True Crime

St. Martin's True Crime

A beautiful nurse. A lethal injection. A gruesomely charred corpse. Nothing could have shocked the sleepy community of Morgantown, West Virginia, more than the lurid details that surfaced after a house fire claimed the life of Shelly Michael's husband Jimmy. Local authorities suspected possible arson. Then they discovered that Jimmy had been dead before the fire even started―paralyzed by a fatal dose of muscle relaxant…
Did Shelly Michael, a respected nurse and mother, kill her second husband and torch her own home? Were the rumors true that she'd had an affair with her husband's employee only two weeks before the murder? Or did she kill Jimmy simply for the insurance money? Charged with first-degree murder and first-degree arson, Shelly would never stop claiming her innocence―even to this day

Playing With Fire: The True Story of a Nurse, Her Husband, and a Marriage Turned Fatal

GLATT, John

On the morning of May 4, 2003, a well-loved, hard-working freshman student named Katie Autry was found dead in her dormitory room at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green. She had been raped, stabbed, drenched in hairspray, and set on fire. The story of Katie's horrific murder made local headlines-and there was a huge public outcry to bring her killer to justice...
Stephen Soules, an unemployed high school dropout, had given Katie a ride home from a party on the night of her murder. With him was Lucas Goodrum, a twenty-one-year-old, sometime drug dealer with a known history of domestic abuse. Soules claimed that Goodrum forced him to participate in the crime, and received a life sentence in a plea deal. But what really happened in Katie's dorm room that night? And which of the two accused is the real killer? Cruel Heart is the true story of a crime that sent shockwaves through a small Southern town-and the mysteries that still remain...

Cruel Heart: The True Story of a Beautiful Co-ed, a Vicious Murder, and the Trial that Tore Apart a Town

Van Meter, William

Alec Krieder knew his best friend's family never locked their doors―making Kevin Haines and his family the perfect targets for a crime. One night, he waited until they were asleep…then entered the house with a knife. Alec burst into the master bedroom and stabbed Tom and Lisa Haines first. Then he attacked Kevin, who fought for his life. Meanwhile, at the end of the hall, Kevin's sister Maggie awoke to the sound of violence―and was the only one who made it out alive. Clean-cut and academically gifted, Alec seemed to have no motives, no history of psychosis―and no remorse. Some believed he was a serial killer in the making, a soulless monster plagued by "demons." Now, for the first time, acclaimed author Michael W. Cuneo shares the inside story―with shocking details of Alec's confession to his father, disturbing messages to his classmates, and chilling excerpts from his diaries―and takes you inside the dark, troubled mind of this teenage killer.

A Need to Kill: Confessions of a Teen Murderer

Cuneo, Michael W.

Dr. John Yelenic was a successful dentist in a small Pennsylvania town. When he met Michele Kamler, he thought he'd finally found the woman of his dreams. She was beautiful, intelligent, and seemed to want all the same things out of life as he did. Michele married Yelenic in 1997. But by 2002, the relationship fell apart…and what followed was a bitter, three-year-long battle in which Michele made demands for Yelenic's money and even accused him―falsely, it would later be shown―of sexual abuse. Michele began dating Kevin Foley, a Pennsylvania State Trooper. When, in 2006, Yelenic was found murdered―slashed to death in his own home―Foley was the prime suspect. At the time of Yelenic's death, Michele was listed as beneficiary on more than $1 million in insurance benefits. Did Foley believe Michele stood to inherit this money? Or did this well-known hot-head act alone? This is a shocking true story of greed, corruption, and cold-blooded murder.

Dying for Love: The True Story of a Millionaire Dentist, his Unfaithful Wife, and the Affair that Ended in Murder

Smith, Carlton

As an exotic dancer at The Great Alaskan Bush Company in Anchorage, Mechele Hughes Linehan knew how to captivate men. Three of them were convinced she was engaged to them. Then one spring morning in 1996, one man, Kent Leppink, was found in the snow, shot in the head… 
Days before his death, Kent had removed Mechele's name from his million-dollar life insurance policy. He wrote a letter to his family stating that, should he meet foul play, Mechele would likely be among those involved. But she wasn't charged with Kent's death. She married a doctor, moved to Olympia, Washington, and began a new life. 
For years, Mechele's suburban friends never suspected a thing. She went to school meetings, hosted backyard barbeques, and was beloved by her neighbors. But authorities eventually found enough evidence to mount a case against her and an alleged accomplice. Did Mechele conspire to kill her ex-fiancé? Or is she the innocent victim as she claims? Seduced by Evil is the shocking true story about a love triangle that ended in mystery―and murder…

Seduced by Evil: The True Story of a Gorgeous Stripper-Turned-Suburban-Mom, Her Secret Past, and a Ruthless Murder

Fleeman, Michael

Then, in August 2009, a registered sex offender named Phillip Garrido appeared on the University of California, Berkeley campus alongside two young women whose unusual behavior sparked concern among campus officials and law enforcement. That visit would pave the way for shocking discovery: that Garrido was Jaycee Lee Dugard's kidnapper…
Jaycee's story was revealed: For eighteen years, she had lived in an outbuilding on the Garrido property in Antioch, CA, just two hours away from her childhood home. Kept in complete isolation, she was raped by Garrido, who fathered her two daughters. When news broke of Jaycee's discovery, there was a huge outpouring of relief across the nation. But questions remain: How did the Garridos slip past authorities? And how did Jaycee endure her captivity? This is the story of a girl-next-door who was Lost and Found.

Lost and Found: The True Story of Jaycee Lee Dugard and the Abduction that Shocked the World

Kathleen Savio was married to Drew Peterson for eleven years before filing for divorce in 2003. The next year, she was found dead in her bathtub. Her drowning appeared to be an accident―and for years, no one had reason to question it. But when Peterson's next wife, Stacy―thirty years younger―went missing, the tough-talking and wise-cracking former Illinois cop came under suspicion….
With Stacy Peterson missing―and presumed dead―authorities exhumed Kathleen Savio's body, looking for answers. A new autopsy pointed to homicide, and a 2002 letter was revealed in which Savio wrote that Drew, "knows how to manipulate the system, and his next step is to take my children away. Or kill me instead." He was arrested for Kathleen's murder, and is a prime suspect in Stacy's disappearance, Peterson continues to protest his innocence. New York Times bestselling author Carlton Smith digs deep into the mystery behind the two Peterson wives―and sheds some light on one of the most complex crime cases in modern American history.

Cold as Ice: A True Story of Murder, Disappearance, and the Multiple Lives of Drew Peterson

Annie Le seemed to have it all. A beautiful graduate student at one of the world’s most prestigious universities, she was also deeply in love. But just days before she was set to get married, Annie went mysteriously missing…and her fiancé started to fear the worst.
Raymond Clark III seemed like an average, all-American boy next door. He was a sports hero in high school, adored by friends and family. But he had a secret dark side—and a history of violence that was about to come to light.
Annie and Ray worked in the same lab facility. Security records indicated that, on September 8, 2009, Annie entered a restricted basement area…followed by Ray. On the thirteenth, the date of her wedding, Annie’s lifeless body was found. DNA evidence at the crime scene was eventually linked to Ray. Why did he do it? What did Annie do to set him off? This is the shocking true story of a Murder at Yale.

Murder at Yale: The True Story of a Beautiful Grad Student and a Cold-Blooded Crime

Sands, Stella

Phoenix, Arizona, 2004. Former stripper turned suburban housewife Marjorie Orbin filed a missing person's report on her husband. She claimed that Jay, a successful art dealer, had left town on business after celebrating their son's birthday more than a month before. Jay loved his family more than life itself―and no one believed he would ever abandon them. Authorities suspected foul play…
A WIFE LYING IN WAIT The search for Jay made local headlines. But key elements in Marjorie's story still weren't adding up: Why did she wait so long before going to police? If Jay was away on business, as she claimed, why were there charges made to his credit card in Phoenix? Then, the unthinkable happened.
A SHOCKING DISCOVERY Jay's headless, limbless torso was discovered on the outskirts of the Phoenix desert―and all evidence pointed to Marjorie as the killer. Soon, an exhaustive investigation would reveal surprising new details about her life―six previous marriages, an ongoing and passionate affair with a man from her gym, alleged ties to the New York mafia, a drug habit―and lead to her conviction for the murder and dismemberment of her seventh husband.
Shanna Hogan's Dancing with Death includes 8 pages of dramatic photos

Dancing with Death: The True Story of a Glamorous Showgirl, her Wealthy Husband, and a Horrifying Murder

Hogan, Shanna

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