From a New York Times–bestselling journalist: The story of the murder of a California attorney at the hands of the lethally cunning wife he never doubted.
A wealthy and well-connected legal ace and the proud owner of a champion show horse, Larry McNabney had every reason to love his life. But when he disappeared in September 2001, his wife, Elisa, claimed he joined a cult.
When Larry's body was found in a shallow grave three months later, Elisa was already gone. In a red convertible Jaguar, her brown hair dyed blond, Mrs. McNabney was speeding toward a new life in Florida—and a brand new identity.
Who was Elisa McNabney? Beautiful, seductive, and ruthless, she had thirty-eight aliases and a rap sheet a mile long. Carlton Smith, coauthor of the true crime classic The Search for the Green River Killer, reveals one shocking surprise after another in this harrowing tale of broken vows and deadly betrayal.
A New York Times–bestselling journalist traces a string of unsolved murders—and the botched investigation that let the New Bedford Highway Killer walk away.
Over the course of seven months in 1988, eleven women disappeared off the streets of New Bedford, Massachusetts, a gloomy, drug-addled coastal town that was once the whaling capital of the world. Nine turned up dead. Two were never found. And the perpetrator remains unknown to this day.
How could such a thing happen? How, in what was once one of America's richest cities, could the authorities let their most vulnerable citizens down this badly? As Carlton Smith, a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his coverage of the Green River Killer case, demonstrates in this riveting account, it was the inability of police officers and politicians alike to set aside their personal agendas that let a psychopath off the hook.
In Killing Season, Smith takes readers into a close-knit community of working-class men and women, an underworld of prostitution and drug abuse, and the halls of New England law enforcement to tell the story of an epic failure of justice.
In the 1980s and 1990s, forty-nine women in the Seattle area were brutally murdered, their bodies dumped along the Green River and Pacific Highway South in Washington State. Despite an exhaustive investigation-even serial killer Ted Bundy was consulted to assist with psychological profiling-the sadistic killer continued to elude authorities for nearly twenty years.
Then, in 2001, after mounting suspicion and with DNA evidence finally in hand, King County police charged a fifty-two-year-old truck painter, Gary Ridgway, with the murders. His confession and the horrific details of his crimes only added fuel to the notoriety of the Green River Killer.
Journalists Carlton Smith and Tomas Guillen covered the murders for the Seattle Times from day one, receiving a Pulitzer Prize nomination for their work. They wrote the first edition of this book before the police had their man. Revised after Ridgway's conviction, The Search for the Green River Killer is the ultimate authoritative account of the Pacific Northwest killing spree that held a nation spellbound-and continues to horrify and fascinate, spawning dramatizations and documentaries of a demented killer who seemed unstoppable for decades.
From the bestselling author of The Search for the Green River Killer: a chilling true account of the dream husband who was every woman's nightmare.
Randy Roth was handsome, hardworking, kind, and in top physical shape. But for all his charm and good looks, he was seemingly cursed with the ladies. His first marriage ended in divorce before the couple's fifth anniversary; his second wife plunged to her death during a hike; and his third wife left him after less than five months.
But when Roth's fourth wife, Cynthia, drowned in an apparent speedboating accident in Washington State's Lake Sammamish just weeks after their first anniversary, a pattern of suspicious behavior finally caught up to him. As Roth set about collecting on a hefty insurance payout, the authorities were on to his game.
Roth had been careful-and so close to getting away with it. But, as chronicled by Seattle Times reporter and Pulitzer Prize finalist Carlton Smith, his lies were about to come crashing down around him.
The story of an Olympic wrestler allegedly murdered by the wealthy heir to the Du Pont fortune, Blood Money takes readers inside the bizarre world of a multi-millionaire, and lays bare the brutal shooting and tense police siege that riveted the nation.
Kathy Augustine was a controversial two-term Nevada State Controller. In 2003, her husband Chuck died of an apparent stroke. Only a month later, she married Chaz Higgs, an ER nurse who, it was later revealed, had attended to her late husband just before his death.
Three years later, fifty-year-old Kathy died after a heart attack—the result, her family and friends believed, of a stressful political campaign. But when an autopsy of Kathy's body revealed no signs of heart disease, investigators dug deeper into Kathy's case…only to find the presence of a powerful, paralyzing emergency-room drug in Kathy's system. A jury would later charge Nurse Chaz with murder in the first degree. But could Kathy's first husband also have been the victim of Chaz's treachery? And just how much did Kathy know? This is the shocking true story of a family torn apart by lies, medical crime, and POISONED LOVE.
From 1974 to 1991, someone in the midwestern city of Wichita was leaving behind slain tortured bodies and anonymously proclaiming himself to police and reporters as 'BTK' for 'Bind, Torture, Kill.' Then, for the next 14 years, BTK was silent. But when he began sending letters again, investigators would not miss their chance...
Stunningly, police arrested Dennis Rader, the president of his church board and the father of two. As a shocked community watched, evidence began to pile up. Then Rader coldly described how he went about 'his projects' as the families of his victims relived the horrific scenes this supposed pillar of the community had unleashed on their loved ones.
From the tricks he used to enter his victims' homes to the puzzles he sent the media and the key role his own daughter may have played in his arrest, The BTK Murders is the definitive story of the BTK killer. He was, as one victim's family member called him, 'a black hole inside the shell of a human being'—and the worst American serial killer since Ted Bundy.
Was he his brother's keeper?
Robert and Doris Angleton seemed to have the perfect life. Until she was coldly murdered in her own home, shot thirteen times in the head, chest, and abdomen . . .
Suddenly the ideal husband seemed anything but perfect: he was jailed, accused of hiring his older brother, Roger, to kill his wife for money-possibly as much as $2 million. However, without the crucial eyewitness testimony of Roger-who soon committed suicide in a Houston jail cell- the case against Robert rested entirely on circumstantial evidence. But the facts raise more questions than answers . . .
Doris Angleton-deeply involved in a secret love affair-had asked her husband for a divorce, which might have exposed him as a tax-skipping millionaire bookie and favored police informant . . .
Extensive handwritten and typewritten notes, coupled with a secretly taped conversation between Roger and another man outlining the murder, were found in a briefcase Roger Angleton was carrying when he was arrested in Las Vegas, Nevada. However, it was later concluded that the second voice on the tape was not Robert's . . .
Also in Roger's briefcase: $64,000 in cash, along with a money wrapper with Robert's fingerprint on it . . .
Ultimately Roger confessed to the murder in his suicide note, exonerating his brother of any guilt . . .
A Texas jury came to one conclusion.
Listen to this fascinating true-crime account of greed, deception, and cold-blooded murder-and decide for yourself.
Two Deaths
Port Angeles, Washington, is a small town of pretty houses and smiling people, surrounded by acres of pristine wilderness. Everyone thought it was the perfect place to live . . . until two local doctors made headlines.
Two Doctors
On a chilly January night, Dr. Eugene Turner hastened the death of a three-day-old baby boy who had been pronounced brain-dead. Six weeks later, ER physician Dr. Bruce Rowan hacked his wife to death with an axe, then tried to kill himself-claiming he snapped after witnessing Dr. Turner's euthanasia.
A Small Town Rocked by A Shocking Fatality
What really happened? What drove Dr. Bruce Rowan-a man who was entrusted to heal the sick-to so savagely take the life of his own wife? Acquitted by reason of insanity, Dr. Rowan was committed to a mental institution. And thought the trial is over, some fascinating ethical and legal questions have been raised by its outcome.
Now, bestselling true crime writer Carlton Smith reveals the never-before-told facts and the stunning truth behind two doctors, two deaths, a surprising trial, and the picturesque town standing in the shadow of a ghastly killing.
A DEVOTED HUSBAND
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.
A MANIPULATIVE WIFE AND MOTHER
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.
A LOVE TRIANGLE TURNED DEADLY
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 simply snap? This is a shocking true story of greed, corruption, and coldblooded murder.
Kristine Fitzhugh was a brilliant elementary school music teacher. She had a husband and two sons, a perfect family with a perfect middle class life. Until she was found in a pool of her own blood.
Her husband, Kenneth Fitzhugh, claimed her shoes were the cause of this fatal accident. However, that is not what the Palo Alto Police Department, the paramedics, or the coroner concluded. After all, tripping down stairs could not account for blood hastily wiped up in the kitchen, seven blows to the back of her head, and bloody running shoes found in the family car.
As the hunt for Kristine's killer unfolded, secrets that surrounded the family were exposed, uncovering more than one possible motive for her murder. A motive that pointed to her husband of 33 years. What lengths did Kenneth Fitzhugh take to keep those secrets hidden in the shadows?
