True Crime Stories

On July 23, 2007 the Cheshire Connecticut police department received a phone call from a bank manager.   One of their patrons, Jennifer Petit had entered into the bank and made a large withdraw.  She had been able to tell the teller, that the man with her, later identified as Steven Hayes, was holding her and her family hostage.  According to the teller Jennifer seemed to believe that no real harm would come as long as the man received the money but obviously asked for help.  The bank manager was speaking to authorities as the two left the bank.   Authorities did not automatically go to the Petit home and let the perpetrator(s) know they were there or even it seems do much more than "assess" the situation and create a vehicle perimeter in the neighborhood. This went on for some time it appears because while they were doing that, Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky were inside the Petit home committing horrendous acts.   On July 22, 2007, the day before, Jenn...

Obviously the fact that I compose this blog based on true crime stories tells you that I am fascinated by them.  I am especially interested in stories I have not heard of and those that have been lost to history. Recently I have read several books that entail crimes from the late 1800's and early turn of the century crimes. I am currently reading "Psycho USA" by Harold Schecter.  Prior to this I read another of his books based on a woman serial killer, Jane Topper who poison her victims in the late 1800's.  Psycho USA is a book to show us that "The Good Ole Days" never really existed and that crimes ranging from Columbine to The Oklahoma City Bombing and people such as Susan Smith and Andrea Yates are not even close to being new. Schecter asked a curious question.  Why is it that we can remember the Halls/Mills murder but not the LeBoeuf/Dreher crime. Why is it we can remember names like Leopold and Loeb from the early 1900's but not the names of  St...