Child Murders True Crime

An estimated 800,000 children are reported missing each year in the United States. Only one in 10,000 are found dead. Yet unsolved child murders are almost a daily occurrence - of nearly 52,000 juvenile homicides between 1980 and 2008, more than 20 percent remain open. Drawing on FBI reports, police and court records, and interviews with victims’ families, this book provides details and evidence for 18 unsolved cases from 1956 to 1998.

Over 13 months in 1976­-1977, four children were abducted in the Detroit suburbs, each of them held for days before their still-warm bodies were dumped in the snow near public roadsides. The Oakland County Child Murders spawned panic across southeast Michigan, triggering the most extensive manhunt in US history. Yet after less than two years, the task force created to find the killer was shut down without naming a suspect.

When Sasha’s son Simon vanishes, she teams up with Beth, a former FBI agent, to find him. Their investigation leads them to Tyler, a mysterious newcomer whose guarded behavior only deepens their suspicions. As they uncover a chilling pattern of boys aged 7 to 9 disappearing every December within a 100-mile radius, they also unravel the town’s tangled web of secrets and deception. In this tight-knit community, friends and neighbors harbor hidden motives and dark pasts, where trust becomes a luxury Sasha can't afford.

I start all of my true crime books with a quick word of warning. Most news articles and television true crime shows skim over the vile details of truly horrible crimes. In my books, I don’t gloss over the facts, regardless of how disgusting they may be. I try to give my listeners a clear and accurate description on just how demented the killers really were. I do my best not to leave anything out. The stories included in these books are not for the squeamish.

"This book will blow you away!" - Edna Buchanan, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter & bestselling mystery author. As featured on ABC's 20/20,Dateline NBC, Unsolved Mysteries, Time Magazine, People Magazine, The New York Times and many others: the riveting inside story of a mother's fearless search for her missing daughter, Without a Trace -- A Mother's Search for Justice went through four sold out printings and spent 12 weeks as the #2 True-Crime book on Amazon! On March 5, 1974 -- the same day that rival motorcycle clubs roared through suburban Miami in celebration of their annual "Bike Week"...

In 1962, Jerry Sherwood gave up her newborn son, Dennis, for adoption. Twenty years later, she set out to find him - only to discover he had died before his fourth birthday. Harold and Lois Jurgens, a middle-class, churchgoing couple in picturesque White Bear Lake, Minnesota, had adopted Dennis and five other foster children. To all appearances, they were a normal Midwestern family, but Jerry suspected that something sinister had happened in the Jurgens household. She demanded to know the truth about her son's death.

A sinister secret lies buried—one that swallows two young teens into an abyss of mystery. When two young teens at a county fair are drawn to desperate cries emanating from the House of Horrors, their world spins into chaos. They never enter, but suddenly, they're gone—vanished into thin air. Thus begins a baffling mystery into which rookie detective Teresa Simmonds and veteran Allan Yeats are thrown headfirst into a maze of secrets and lies. As they unravel the web of secrets and cover-ups, the question haunts them: What happened to Yasmine and Jerry, and why does no one want the truth ...

Perhaps the most compelling murder case of our day, the death of six-year-old JonBenet Ramsey galvanized the nation - and years after it occurred, the mystery still endures. Who killed the young beauty queen and why? Who is covering up for whom, and who is simply lying? In JonBenet, the most authoritative and comprehensive study of the Ramsey murder, a former lead Boulder Police detective, Steve Thomas, explores the case in vivid and fascinating detail.

Eight true crime stories of murder and mayhem. In my first audiobook as a true crime author I've started with a few of the stories that have haunted me for some time. Some of these stories are unbelievable in their brutality while others are astounding in the stupidity of the killers. This collection of stories are from all around the globe and have no common thread between them other than that they are both thought provoking and disturbing. The stories included in this anthology are dark and creepy and will leave you with a new understanding of just how fragile the human mind can be.

Four children were abducted and murdered outside of Detroit during the winters of 1976 and 1977; their bodies eventually dumped in snow banks around the city. J. Reuben Appelman was six years old at the time the murders began and had evaded an abduction attempt during that same period, fueling a lifelong obsession with what became known as the Oakland County Child Killings. There were few credible leads and equally few credible suspects. That's what the cops had passed down to the press, and that's what the city of Detroit and J. Reuben Appelman had come to believe.

Early in the morning of Monday, July 8, 1895, 13-year-old Robert Coombes and his 12-year-old brother, Nattie, set out from their small, yellow-brick terraced house in East London to watch a cricket match at Lord's. Their father had gone to sea the previous Friday, the boys told their neighbors, and their mother was visiting her family in Liverpool. Over the next 10 days, Robert and Nattie spent extravagantly, pawning their parents' valuables to fund trips to the theatre and the seaside. But as the sun beat down on the Coombes house, a strange smell began to emanate.

To solve a high-profile abduction, one former police officer must confront a dark past. A child's abduction reveals a frightening pattern within a small town where nothing is as it seems. Katy Dowry's world shatters when her son, Denny, is abducted from his school. Amidst heavy snowfall and rising tensions, Katy uncovers a web of secrets involving the disappearance of the child.

The tragic story of Susan Powell and her murdered boys, Charlie and Braden, is the only case that rivals the Jon Benet Ramsey saga in the annals of true crime. When the pretty, blonde Utah mother went missing in December of 2009 the media was swept up in the story - with lenses and microphones trained on Susan's husband, Josh. He said he had no idea what happened to his young wife, and that he and the boys had been camping in the middle of a snowstorm.

In 1988 a troubled young man and his flamboyant mother were arrested for murdering a wealthy widow in her New York City mansion. Suddenly America was transfixed by a pair of real-life film noir characters. The media couldn't get enough of the twisted relationship between Sante Kimes and her 23-year-old son Kenny. But the most chilling story of all was never told - until now. Kent Walker, Sante's elder son, reveals how he survived 40 years of "the Dragon Lady's" very special brand of motherly love and still managed to get away.

In this revelatory, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful memoir, Gypsy-Rose Blanchard shares the painful realities she grew up with and the details of her life that only she knows. A victim of her mother’s Munchausen by proxy and child abuse survivor, Gypsy-Rose Blanchard’s unique and controversial case made headlines across the world. Now, she’s finally free to start living her life on her terms—and to tell her own story as only she can.

When Julia Henry's daughters disappear, she uncovers a web of secrets rooted in their birth mother's past. Every mother's nightmare becomes Julia Henry's reality when her daughters, Jewel and Opal, vanish without a trace. The secret to their abduction might lie buried in a dark past, tangled in a web of secrets and deceit of their birth mother. As Julia digs deeper, she uncovers secrets that stretch to her own doorstep, challenging everything she knows about her life. In a race against time, Julia must navigate a maze of lies to rescue her daughters.

After surviving the horrors of the Holocaust - in ghettos, on death marches, and in concentration camps - a young couple seeks refuge in Canada. They settle into a new life, certain that the terrors of their past are behind them. They build themselves a cozy little cottage on a lake in Muskoka, a cottage that becomes emblematic of their victory over the Nazis. The charming retreat is a safe haven, a refuge from haunted memories. That is, until a single act of unspeakable violence defiles their sanctuary.

A mother's desperate search for her abducted twins leads her into the heart of a shocking family conspiracy. When twins Emily and Erica vanish from their family's farm, their mother, Susan, is shattered. Defying police skepticism, she courageously tracks their estranged aunt, Paula, uncovering a chilling plot. In a race against time, Susan's relentless pursuit leads to a dramatic rescue from an underground trap. Facing Paula's twisted revenge, Susan's strength prevails, uniting her family in healing and hope.

When the past whispers secrets, two strangers must listen to save the future. Immerse yourself in a gripping thriller where historian Angus Cunningham and Detective Jackie Moralez join forces to unravel a sinister mystery. Two teenagers disappear from the state fair, leading to a harrowing investigation into a centuries-old ritual sacrifice plot. Experience the rush as Angus’s deep historical insights and Jackie’s intense police work collide, racing against time to save the victims from a dark fate. Brace yourself for a whirlwind of suspense and unexpected twists.

Sharon Marshall was a brilliant and beautiful student whose future was filled with promise—until her murderous, fugitive father drew her into a lifetime of deception that became one of the most baffling cases in the annals of American true crime.