Mary found a nursery school in the Brookly area that focused on children who were deaf and had other disabilities such as Christopher.  While going to this school she became a part of a support group of other mother’s who had children with severe disabilities.  A good part of the book is spent with these mothers who are able to express thoughts and feelings with each other that they are not otherwise able to say or share.  Within this group not only Mary is admired, but many of the women are very impressed with Bob and how active he is in the support and advocation for Christopher.  Bob seemed to have reached an acceptance that enabled him to be a role model to others.

This all changed when Christopher was about ten years old.  At this time Bobby was also having some health problems that required him to use crutches a fair amount.  Bob took a new job that he was unable to learn and perform well in and he started having some severe mental health problems where he heard his deceased mother telling him to kill his family.  When he heard/dreamed this he was able to leave his home and eventually told Mary who sought treatment for him.  After a month of inpatient treatment and being put on some new medications Bob was released back home.  Part of his hurry to get home was concern about finances.  Bob lost his job and moved quickly between several jobs.  Mary went back to work to help support the family but Bob continued to show signs stress and depression.

One day when Bob was home with the three children (they had adopted a daughter) Bob systematically killed each of the children with his sons baseball bat.  In the book it spoke about how he tried to inflict the blows in the best way to kill the children quickly and without pain.  He then called Mary to come home from work and killed her. 

In the trial Bob was charged with murder and went with an insanity defense.  He was found not guilty by reason of insanity due to his mental health problems and the strain of caring for his disabled child.  Bob spent several years in a mental institution before being released and trying to start his life over again. 

Throughout this time Bob still had some support from the community.  Many were not supportive, but Bob did keep some friends who felt he truly was not responsible for what he had done due to his mental status.  Bob started a new life out of the mental institution and eventually got remarried and had another child.

This book was very interesting in exploring the cares and struggles of parents of children with disabilities as well as the tragedy that took place in the Rowe home.

The murder happened one night when the girls asked Reena to go to a party with them.  Once she got there she heard that there was a plan to beat her up and she tried to leave.  The girls and a crowd of kids who had been kicked out of the original party site followed Reena and surrounded her taking her to a place underneath a bridge.  Down there a group surrounded and savagely beat Reena until one girl finally spoke up that it was time to stop.  There were some kids who witnessed this beating and did not participate, yet no one called the police or reported anything to their parents.  The next day Reena was reported missing as she had never made it home.  The pieces of the puzzle started coming together, particularly because some of those involved were bragging and talking about beating her up and one told people that she had held Reena’s head under water until she died. 

Approximately a week after this happened the police had the names of some of those involved and began interviewing these 14-16 year olds.  Reena’s body was found floating in the river and the coroner reported she was beaten so badly it was as if she had been hit by a car.  Numerous students who had been involved with the beating or had been witness to it were able to say that they had seen the victim get up and start to walk across the bridge.  They were also able to identify two indivduals who they saw later walking back across the bridge.  It was later learned that these two had followed Reena and continued the beating so that she would not be able to tell on them, and then while she was unconcious the female suspect had held her head under water.

Six teenage girls were eventaully convicted of aggravated assault and served up to a year in detention centers.  The boy that was involved was convicted of second degree murder and went to prison for ten years, eventually being paroled in 2007.  There are several reports that he was very remorseful of his actions and eventually connected with the victim’s family to make peace.  The girl that was involved was convicted of second degree murder but it has gone through several appeal processes.  As far as I could tell from research on the internet she is currently in prison serving time for this murder. 

I’m always interested in true crime stories but this one was just incredible to think about.  A mob of teenagers, some who didn’t even know the victim, were willing to participate in such a serious beating…or ignore it and not report what had happened.  The mob mentality is something that we studied in psychology class and this seemed to be an example of no one being willing to accept responsibility or step apart from the crowd.  And a life was lost because of it.

Linda is killed one night in 1985 in her California home.  When the police come to investigate they find all of the evidence, including David and Patti’s accounts, pointing towards Cinnamon.  Cinnamon is found curled up in the doghouse in the backyard, in a pool of her own vomit, with a suicide note after overdosing.

The investigation takes place at Cinnamon is found guilty and goes to a youth prison.  However the investigator and others involved in the case feel like the pieces just don’t fall into place so they keep watching David Brown.  They watch as he moves into a much larger home and buys new cars all of the time.  They learn he collected $800,000 in life insurance from his wives death.  And they watch as Linda’s younger sister moves right into her place, wearing her clothing, taking care of Linda’s baby, and staying right by David’s side.

Years later it comes out through Cinnamon, and later Patti, that David had manipulated them into killing Linda.  He had told Cinnamon that Linda would kill him first if she didn’t do something about it, and kept telling Cinnamon, “If you really loved me…” you would do this.  Both Patti and David go to trial.

It was an interesting (and horrifying) story to read and it had me interested enough that I was looking up the people to find out what happened to them and where they are now.

H.H. Holmes is a man who works as a pharmacist and is a complete scam artist.  He buys land and builds himself a “hotel” close to where the Fair is held so that he has streams of mostly young, single women coming from out of town to exert their independence and explore the city.  It is still unknown how many women actually disappeared from this hotel.  Mr. Holmes was able to build the hotel into a house of horror with pipes to put gas into rooms, and torture chambers in the basement.  He was charming and good at telling a story and was able to seduce many women and gain the trust of many people.  It was later confirmed what he was doing when his partner’s children were missing and found dead after traveling in his company.

The other story that is detailed in this book is that of the Chicago World Fair.  This was actually a piece of history that I did not know much about.  France had hosted a similar type of exposition and the Eiffel Tower had been built.  America wanted to compete and put Daniel Burnham in charge of the near impossible job of turning the land selected in Chicago into the “White City.”  Buildings were built, grounds were landscaped, people were brought in from around the world to take part in exhibits, and the highlight was the Ferris Wheel that was unveiled for the first time.

The stories of Daniel Burnham and H.H. Holmes were at odds with each other although both men did have driving ambition and had a way of getting things done.  I actually wasn’t sure which was more amazing and unbelievable– how the World Fair was able to come together  or how H.H. Holmes was able to make so many women disappear without arising suspicion.  All in all it was a fascinating book and the detailed research that must have gone into it is apparent and appreciated.

Central to this story is the history and story of Mormonism.  I want to preface this by saying that Dan and Ron Lafferty were not Mormon.  They were a break away sect of fundamentalists.  In every religion their can be people who take things to an extreme and buck the values that are held by the mainstream faith.  I want to be clear that while the author tells of the history of the Mormon religion and key leaders in it, he does so to show the chain of how this fundamentalist group was developed and how they are able to justify the beliefs that they hold.

Among other principles, the main principle that this fundamentalist group was trying to bring back was that of polygamous marriage.  They claimed that as Joseph Smith took a revelation declaring it to be the holy way of live to take multiple wives, and it being something that the central Mormon church was not doing, they were trying to bring it back and live by it.  In this, there was also the principles of wives being quiet and submissive to their husbands.

Ron was the oldest of five brothers.  Ron’s wife and children eventually left him over the growing extremist views and abuse he was trying to enforce in his home.  After this all of the Lafferty boys began to get involved with the School of Prophets that studied the more fundamental beliefs and put a special focus on learning to receive revelations directly from God.  Allen, the youngest Lafferty boy, was not participating as actively due to his wife, Brenda’s, refusal to give in to it.

During this time Ron received a revelation that he believed to be from God that they needed to “eliminate” Brenda Lafferty and her baby as well as two others who had helped Ron’s wife when she was leaving him.  Ron shared it with the others in the School of Prophets and spoke about it openly in front of multiple people, including Allen, yet no one forewarned the potential victims or do anything other than protest that it was not a true revelation and it should not be acted on.  This gave Ron and Dan the chance to follow through with it months after he had received it.  Dan was the one who physically carried out the murders and in interviews he speaks of feeling overcome by a force he could not control and a complete calm with his actions because he believed to be following God’s orders.

This book delves deeply on how religion can create a certain atmosphere where things can be taken a different way.  Several sections of the book point out that their is a fine line between a revelation and a delusion.  “Whether a belief is considered to be a delusion or not depends partly upon the intensity with which it is defended, and partly upon the numbers of people subscribing to it.” (by Anthony Storr, Feet of Clay)  This story brought up examples of people who did take their religious beliefs to the extreme.  And those that suffer because of it.

This is one of my favorite books out of the True Crime genre.  My aunt introduced me to Ann Rule and this is the first book of hers that I have read.  I know that it’s a little strange to have an interest in serial killers but as a psychology major in college I was always interested in forensic psychology and this feeds right into that interest. 

In The Stranger Beside Me,  Ann Rule writes from an interesting perspective as she knew Ted Bundy when they worked together at a suicide hotline.  Through the years, including the time when he was dealing with legal issues and in jail, he kept in touch with Ann Rule through letters and phone calls.  He did this while knowing that she had been commissioned to write a book about the “Ted” killings whenever the killer was found.

This background gives the story a more personal note while still maintaining the professional outsider perspective when describing the crimes as she found out about them.  It shows first hand that Ted Bundy was able to act in such a way that many people doubted he could be capable of the horrific killings that took place accross at least five states.  The number of women he killed was numbered between 36 and over 100 yet many people still believed in his innocence til the day he was executed in Florida in 1986.  Yet in some of the “afterwards” in later versions of this book parts of his confessions are detailed.

If this is the type of book that you are interested then I highly recommend it.  Although read it in company as it can make you scared to walk across the street.