True Crime Stories

I am sometimes surprised when I stumble upon a case I have never heard of before. And, I stumble across this one in a very strange way. I was going through my list of cases, looking for one to research next, and I was searching the perpetrator of another case. The perpetrator had the name Andrew Gustafson, which happens to be the name of the husband and father in this case who found his family murdered back in 1987. It did not take long to confirm they were two different people but this case seemed quite interesting on many levels. First, you have the issue of the grisliness of the crime in which has put Daniel LaPlante in prison and has currently served over thirty years. Then there is the issue of his prior crime that while there seems to be a little bit of conflicting evidence since it is said his crimes have become urban legend, but it is just creepy in and of itself no matter which version you tell. Next from a legal standpoint became the issue that the Supr...

When I sit down to research a case to blog I generally have at least a little information about the case.  In some case I know quite a lot.  Going into this one I felt like it fell into the latter category but I was very wrong.  As a teenager in the 1980's, especially one that kept up with current events and news, as well as being an adult that some say is obsessed with true crime, I of course know about what is called the "day care sex abuse hysteria" that occurred.  It was kind of hard to miss, especially when you added that to the added Satan Worshiping hysteria that often tied in with it. The McMartin Preschool Scandal fell into these categories and as I said I thought I knew quite a lot about this case, which in all honesty I did, but there was also so much more I did not know.  This turned from what I thought would be a quick case to research into a day and a half of research and one in which I have had to force myself to stop except to answer an...