MARK OLSHAKER (left) is an Emmy Award–winning filmmaker, New York Times bestselling nonfiction author and critically acclaimed novelist who has worked with John Douglas for many years.
Both authors live in the Washington, DC, area. Please visit them at www.lawanddisorderbook.com.
Visit us at www.kensingtonbooks.com.
The first defendant to be convicted and executed in the Salem witch trials of 1692 and 1693 was Bridget Bishop. Like Damien Echols in West Memphis, Arkansas, three centuries later, she wore black and was considered “different.”
When I interviewed William Heirens in prison, I believed he had committed the murders to which he pled guilty. Now, I think I may have been wrong. He died on March 5, 2012 at age 83. (Courtesy of the Illinois Department of Corrections)
When I was in the FBI, we had to do much of our analysis from case files. But whenever possible, I like to visit the actual scene, as Mark and I are doing here. (© Philip Bermingham)
At Cameron Todd Willingham’s trial, a so-called expert witness claimed his tattoos and heavy metal posters showed his violent personality. He proclaimed his innocence up to the moment of his execution. Later, scientific evidence showed him to be innocent. (© Ken Light)
Suzanne Collins with her father, Jack, in West Redding, Connecticut. The photograph is dated July 1983, two years before she was murdered in Millington, Tennessee. (Courtesy of Jack and Trudy Collins)
Suzanne Collins with her Marine Corps recruiter, brother Steve, and mother Trudy in Springfield, Virginia, just before she left for boot camp, June 1984. (Courtesy of Jack and Trudy Collins)
A proud Suzanne Collins in her official Marine Corps photograph, taken just after completing boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, August 1984. (Courtesy of Jack and Trudy Collins)
Sedley Alley brutally murdered Suzanne Collins on July 12, 1985. By the time he was executed on June 28, 2006, he had managed to postpone his sentence longer than Suzanne was alive. (Courtesy of the Tennessee Department of Corrections)
Former United States senator and Florida governor Bob Graham served two terms in the Tallahassee state house, during which he signed a number of death warrants. When asked if he had questioned the justice of any of them before signing, he replied, “All of them.” Below, he explains his position on capital punishment to Mark Olshaker. (Courtesy of Mark and Carolyn Olshaker)
In matching sweaters, Patsy, JonBenet, and Burke Ramsey pose in front of their Boulder home during the 1994 Christmas season. The following Christmas, the beautiful JonBenet was murdered inside her home at age six. (Courtesy of John Ramsey)
The Ramsey family gathers for Thanksgiving in Atlanta, 1995. From left: John, JonBenet, Burke, Patsy, John Andrew, and Melissa. (Courtesy of John Ramsey)
This kindergarten photo shows the real JonBenet Ramsey, a far cry from the pageant images that prejudiced so much of the media, public, and law enforcement establishment against her grieving parents. (Courtesy of John Ramsey)
Employing the inspired and meticulous detective work that had been the hallmark of his celebrated career, Lou Smit came to the same conclusion I had: that an intruder had killed JonBenet. (Courtesy of Mark A. Smit)
The three eight-year-old murder victims in the West Memphis Three case. This composite was widely circulated after the boys went missing May 5, 1993, and came to represent the depraved murder of innocence. (Courtesy of Memphis Commercial Appeal)
Booking photos of Jessie Misskelley and Charles Jason Baldwin, two of the West Memphis Three. After analyzing the case, I concluded they were innocent. (Courtesy of West Memphis Police Department)
Booking photo of Damien Echols. (Courtesy of West Memphis Police Department )
Damien Echols, convicted as the ringleader in the 1993 West Memphis Three killings, liked to wear black as a teenager. (Photo by Bill Templeton, courtesy of The Jonesboro Sun)
Damien Echols still likes to wear black today. (© Mark Olshaker)
On November 17, 1993, Arkansas State Police divers recovered a large survivalist-type knife from a lake near Jason Baldwin’s home. Prosecutors claimed it was the weapon used to kill the three boys. Scientific experts ultimately concluded the wounds on the victims’ bodies were caused by postmortem animal predation. (Photo by Lisa Waddell, courtesy of Memphis Commercial Appeal)
At the 1994 trial of Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin, Judge David Burnett allowed self-proclaimed cult expert Dale Griffis to testify how Echols’s notebook showed involvement with Satanism, which lead to murder. (Photo by Robert Cohen, courtesy of Memphis Commercial Appeal)
John Mark Byers, stepfather of Christopher Byers and himself once a suspect, believed vehemently in the guilt of the West Memphis Three for years. After I convinced him of their innocence, he fought for their release and exoneration. (Photo by Matthew Craig, courtesy of Memphis Commercial Appeal)
Washington attorney Stephen Braga took over as lead attorney in Damien Echols’s appeal and came up with the Alford plea strategy that ultimately got the West Memphis Three out of prison. (© Mark Olshaker)
More than anything, what kept Damien Echols alive, sane, and hopeful throughout his years on death row was Lorri Davis, the woman who gave up her career and lifestyle to fight for his freedom. They married on December 3, 1999. (© Mark Olshaker)
After the West Memphis Three’s release from prison in August, 2011, Damien and Lorri went to New Zealand to visit Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson, who had become their key supporters, benefactors, strategists, and friends. (Courtesy of Fran Walsh)
I did not want to meet Damien Echols in prison, because I wanted to keep my objectivity. Once he was free and had had some time to gain perspective, we met for an extended time to review the case. Below, Damien shares a lighter moment with Lorri and me at Fran and Peter’s U.S. apartment. (© Mark Olshaker)
The floor plan of the upper floor of the house on Via della Pergola, on a hill near Perugia’s center. Meredith, Amanda, and two Italian women shared this floor. The lower floor, accessible by a separate entrance, was occupied by four male Italian students. (© Benjamin Cheshire)
The real Amanda Knox was neither “Foxy Knoxy” nor the beguiling temptress she was made out to be. She was a bright, industrious, fun-loving, and normal young woman looking to broaden her horizons with foreign study and travel. (© Madison Paxton)
Journalist Krista Errickson was assigned to interview me for the Italian daily Il Messagero. When editors received her story, which stated my confidence in Amanda Knox’s innocence, they demanded changes. Krista refused and the story never ran. (Courtesy of Guy Webster)
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