True Crime Stories

This case is one of the most unusual that I have ever come across. There are some who believe that anyone who can murder someone has to have some sort of mental health issue, and maybe that is true to some extent. While people who have not dealt with people who do truly suffer from mental health issues cannot fathom or understand that stance I personally can see that on some level. However, that does not mean that everyone who commits a murder should be allowed to use mental health as a defense. I am a firm believer that every case, and every defendant is different, no matter the charge and that each case should be looked at as such. Even still there comes a time when you have to ask if the person truly is mentally ill, to what extent that illness expands, the attitude of the person who committed the crime and what risk they are of re-offending. Again, mental illness, at least for me is not an absolute defense. For example I believe that Andrea Yates, the mother who drown...

I am currently reading the book Such Good Boys by Tina Dirmann. Not surprisingly I read almost exclusively true crime books. My problem is that I do most of my reading when I go to bed and I have trouble staying awake so it often takes me a very long time to read a book despite the fact that I read very fast. This book is not taking me as long as it normally would because the story is keeping me engaged longer. I believe that most people could argue that unless you live inside a home you have no idea the extent of what goes on. That is doubly true when you live with someone who has a mental illness. Some people may get a glimpse now and then that the person may not be completely living in reality all of the time but again, unless they live with the person they really have no idea. Those with mental illnesses often have periods where they are well and seem normal. A lot of the time when they are having periods in which they are not they isolate themselves in the ho...

Just like many of these old cases, after researching I am left with many questions and inconsistencies that have been reported over the years. This case is no different.   The short, quick facts of this case is that a 12 year old girl, Marian Parker, the daughter of a prominent Los Angeles banker, Perry Parker, was kidnapped from her school on December 15, 1927.  Her kidnapper was 19 year old William Edward Hickman.  Four days later after her father delivered the demanded ransom, Hickman delivered him his daughter, who was now dead and dismembered.  After a manhunt that lasted just a few more days Hickman was arrested, tried and convicted.  He was hung at the gallows at San Quentin prison on October, 19, 1928. On December 15, 1927 William Edward Hickman went to Marian's school telling the principal that her father had either become ill or was in an accident (reports vary) and he was to fetch her.  Hickman did not know that Marian had a tw...