The prize-winning, bestselling journalist provides a fascinating glimpse into the mind of “The Happy Face Killer” in the serial murderer’s own words . . .In February 1990, Oregon State Police arrested John Sosnovke and Laverne Pavlinac for the vicious rape and murder of Taunja Bennet, a troubled twenty-three-year-old barfly who had a mild intellectual disability since birth. There was just one problem. They had the wrong people.And the real killer wasn’t about to let anyone take credit for his kill. Keith Hunter Jesperson was a long-haul truck driver and the murderer of eight women, including Taunja Bennet. As the case wound through police precincts and courts—ending in life sentences for both Sosnovke and Pavlinac—Jesperson began a twisted one-man campaign to win their release. To the editors of newspapers and on the walls of highway rest stops, Jesperson scribbled out a series of taunting confessions. At the end of each admission, Jesperson drew a happy face, earning for himself the grisly sobriquet “The Happy Face Killer.”Based on access to interviews, diaries, court records, and the criminal himself, I: The Creation of a Serial Killer is Jesperson’s chilling story. It chronicles his evolution from angry child to sociopathic murderer, from tormentor of animals to torturer of women. It is also the story of the fate that befell him after two innocent citizens were imprisoned four years for one of his killings.In I: The Creation of a Serial Killer, Edgar Award winner Jack Olsen lets Jesperson tell his story in his own words, offering unprecedented insight into the twisted thought process of a serial murderer.

The story of a small town football hero whose obsession and steroid rage led to murder is revealed in “this fine true-crime tale” (Publishers Weekly).   A star athlete with a winning smile, Pernell Jefferson had no trouble attracting women. But his charming exterior belied his brutally violent tendencies. After walking away from a football career with the Cleveland Browns, he was addicted to steroids and nearly destitute. That’s when he set his sights on Regina Butkowski.   Pernell obsessively called and showed up to her home unannounced—and he battered her when she turned her attention toward other men. When Regina disappeared, the Butkowski family knew who was responsible. But even after police discovered Regina’s charred remains in a small Virginia town, they refused to question the man most likely linked to the brutal crime.   In Deadly Goals, veteran author Wilt Browning explores the devastating details of Pernell Jefferson’s past, the disturbing nature of his crimes, and the Butkowski family’s pleas for justice that led to his arrest.  Deadly Goals was previously published under the title Where the Wildflowers Grow.

From the bestselling author of The Search for the Green River Killer: The account of the family tragedy that became one of California’s most shocking murder cases. On a picturesque street in Sacramento County, California, three healthy saplings stand side by side. But what they symbolize are the deaths of three innocent people—two of them children. The man who took their lives, then planted trees in their honor, was their own husband and father.   Hearts went out to Jack Barron when his wife, Irene, died mysteriously in her sleep. Soon after, his two young children were also found dead in their beds. Barron claimed they suffered from the same rare genetic disorder as their mother. But when his fifty-two-year-old mother died, also of asphyxiation in her sleep, law enforcement officials finally took action: The fatal pattern was impossible to ignore.   Was this “devoted” father really a heartless murderer? Did he suffer from a bizarre syndrome known as Munchausen by proxy, whereby a parent kills a child to gain sympathy? With firsthand interviews and exclusive inside information, author Carlton Smith paints a chilling portrait of a man driven to commit the most unspeakable of acts.

The definitive insider’s account of the 2011 case of a Florida mother accused of killing her own daughter . . . and the verdict that shocked the nation.It was the trial that stunned America. On July 5, 2011, nearly three years after her initial arrest, Casey Anthony walked away, virtually scot-free, from one of the most sensational murder trials of all time. She’d been accused of killing her daughter, Caylee, but the trial only left behind more questions: Was she actually innocent? What really happened to Caylee? Was this what justice really looked like?In Imperfect Justice, prosecutor Jeff Ashton, one of the principal players in the case’s drama, sheds light on those questions and much more, telling the behind-the-scenes story of the investigation, the trial, and the now-infamous verdict. Complete with never-before-revealed information about the case and the accused, Ashton examines what the prosecution got right, what they got wrong, and why he remains completely convinced of Casey Anthony’s guilt.

The bestselling author delves into the twisted crimes of Wayne Adam Ford.“This kind of frightening and fascinating glimpse into a killer’s mind is rare.” —Ron Franscell, New York Times–bestselling author   On a chilly November afternoon in 1998, a tearful 36-year-old man walked into the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department in Eureka, California, and confessed to something horrible. “I hurt some people,” he said. Inside his pocket was the ghastly proof of his statement. But there was more to Wayne Adam Ford than the trail of mangled victims he left behind. More, even, than the twisted predator inside, which drove him to increasingly perverse sexual appetites.   Pulitzer Prize–nominated author Caitlin Rother draws on previously sealed testimony, interviews with the key players in the case, and the killer’s shocking confession to explore the demons that drove a damaged man to his unspeakable crimes. Her book is a harrowing psychological portrait and a haunting, unforgettable true-life thriller.  Includes dramatic photos  “Page-turning excitement and blood-curdling terror . . . Riveting, fast-paced, and sure to keep you up at night.” —M. William Phelps, New York Times–bestselling author  “Shocking, chilling, fast-paced . . . A book crime aficionados will be loath to put down.” —Simon Read, author of The Iron Sea  “Rother has produced a superior study of a serial killer and his lost and lonely victims.” —Carol Anne Davis, author of Couples Who Kill  “A must-read . . . Well-written, extremely intense; a book that I could not put down.” —True Crime Book Reviews

A true crime account of a brutal 1983 Texas murder and the ten-year hunt for the killer and the woman who placed a price on the victim’s head.“One of the most remarkable true crime books I’ve ever read.” —Ann RuleOn a fall afternoon in 1983, in an upscale Dallas suburb, Rozanne Gailiunas was found stripped, bound to her bed, and shot through the skull. Her four-year-old son has been napping peacefully in the next room when she was killed. Rozanne’s husband, Dr. Peter Gailiunas—and her lover, Larry Aylor—immediately fell under suspicion. Until a surprise informant identified the mastermind behind the murder as Aylor’s own wife, Joy—a woman so driven by jealousy and greed that she put out a contract on both Rozanne and later her own husband.On the run and managing to elude investigators for eight years, the two-year search for the socialite would eventually end in the south of France. There, authorities found the elusive femme fatale, living as comfortably among the world’s elite as she was among hired killers. At last, the authorities’ questions would be answered, to reveal a shocking insight into the heart of an unlikely killer, and a small-town Texas crime that made international headlines.“A masterpiece of murder and betrayal, Texas-style.” —Faye Kellerman, author of Grievous Sin“If Truman Capote invented the genre with In Cold Blood and Tommy Thompson improved on it with Blood and Money, Carlton Stowers has perfected the true crime story with Open Secrets.” —The Dallas Morning News“A must-read. Filled with more twists, surprises, and suspicious characters than even the most fertile imaginations could concoct . . . a difficult book to put down.” —Tulsa World