Volume 1, Number 10
Ann Rule, P.O. Box 98846, Seattle, WA 98198
Last Updated, October, 2003

Printable Version of Ann's Newsletter

DEAR READERS,
I've been home and writing for the last six and a half months, finishing the two latest books while I enjoyed Seattle's warmest, driest summer since 1957! My flower garden, tomatoes, blackberries, and apples all had a bumper crop--but my zucchinis rotted on the vine again. Does anyone have a hint on how to avoid that? Was it because I planted them in containers, and not in the ground? I had excellent results with most of the seeds, corms, tubers and rhizomes you readers have sent me: four-o'clocks, dahlias, cannas, daisies, columbine, Shirley poppies, iris, astilbe, coleus, lavender, and cosmos. They mean a lot to me because you sent them. Still not having much luck with Southwestern native plants, even with a long, hot summer. The plant that thrives around Seattle, even in clay and gravel, is foxglove (digitalis). Nothing daunts them and they grow six feet tall where I live with spikes of pink, purple and white flowers. I guess you can tell I really love to garden? Although I don't live too far from downtown Seattle, wild animals keep dropping in. I'm used to the red foxes, sea gulls, eagles, otters, seals, an occasional whale pod cruising by, but for the past year a trio of raccoons have chosen to drop in for nightly snacks in my little writing cabin. They co-exist with my cats, and sometimes peek in the window at me in the daytime. I've become part of the scenery for them. Sometimes, they bring a "gift" of a dead mouse to show they're doing their part. Not so welcome are the coyotes who have been driven to the shores of Puget Sound by too much human construction in their natural habitats. I was shocked to see one run by me on the beach early one morning! No more night roaming for my five cats. I scramble every night to count kitties, some of whom are indignant at having a curfew. We have a new puppy! Holly, my 17-year-old collie, died two years ago and left a big empty place in my heart. I was finally ready to find a new buddy for Lucy last Spring. Willow and her ten brothers and sisters were born on February 23--purebred Bernese Mountain Dogs. It was really hard to choose which of them was the cutest, but she kept ending up in my lap when I crawled into the giant doggie play-pen. Willow is the sweetest dog and is the least troublesome puppy I've ever had. She is a perfect "writing dog," always right next to my desk. After half a day with her nose out of joint, Lucy decided Willow wasn't so bad after all. She just can't figure out why Willow--who will weigh about 85 to 100 pounds--is already bigger than she is. Not to sound like Bob Barker, but I hope you will consider adopting a puppy or kitten if you are without a pet.

BOOK TOPICS: I get about 25 suggestions every day by mail or email on homicide cases. Most of them are about really high profile cases like Laci Peterson, Chandra Levy, JonBenet Ramsey, or Nicole Simpson. Of course, I have heard of them, but cases that garner so much media saturation don't make good subjects for me. There is nothing left to tell, and certainly no way to create any suspense in a book. For every murder mystery that the media falls in love with, there are, sadly, a hundred just as--or more--interesting. And those are the stories I choose to tell. Other things that rule against a book are homicides that are unsolved, too easily solved, too gruesome, or even if they happened too long ago. Sometimes, I have to pass on a truly fascinating trial because the timing is wrong, and I'm already researching another case. But I do choose my book subjects from readers' suggestions; they just have to have the right ingredients and the complexity to demand a 700 page manuscript. And I can only write one book every nine or ten months. Right now, I have contracts to write seven new books, and I'm hoping my autobiography will be one of them. Then I can tell all the back stories of my life that never quite fit into my other books! Just have to convince my editors that my own life has been interesting!

GUEST BOOK: We added our Guest Book to this website several months ago, and it's been a lot of fun. You can post your comments there and read what other people have to say about my books and about possible cases for me to write. We are getting about 2500 posts there each month, and I read every single one. It's a great way to start my own day with a smile. (Well, MOST of the comments are nice.) It also helps me when email piles up too high. You can see how difficult it is to answer 2500 emails a month, and write, too! Sometimes, other readers can answer the questions that people ask on the Guest Book site. I answer when I can, of course. If any of you get unwanted spam or any unsolicited mail through my Guest Book, please let either me or my webmaster know about it!

SOME FREQUENT QUESTIONS:

HOW DO I CHOOSE BOOK TOPICS? My last six books have come from readers’ ideas. I get suggestions from readers, detectives, victims, even the families of killers. I probably go through 500 cases for every case I select for a book. My books are over 800 pages long in manuscript form, so I have to choose a very intricate, convoluted, case. I never want to “pad;” I look for true stories where, just when you think nothing else bizarre can happen, it does. I have written fiction in the past, but what real people do is far more compelling than anything a novelist can think up! (And, by the way, except for Possession, I don’t write “novels.” Novels are fiction, and I write non-fiction--real life stories.) If you send me an idea for a book, it really helps if you can enclose newspaper clips, and let me know before a case goes to trial?

There are many reasons I can’t write a case. Sometimes, (1) there isn’t enough there to fill a full-length book: (2) the characters are just not interesting; (3) the case has been over-publicized (Jon-Benet, O.J., etc.); (4) the story is too sad (I spend a year of my life immersed in each book, and some cases are too hard to live with), or (5) the person who sends an idea wants to co-author the book with me. I don’t collaborate; it would be akin to riding a bicycle built for two--in opposite directions! And then, (6), the timing of a case may be wrong because I am already attending other trials or writing other books. Remember, I’m not an investigative reporter who goes in and solves a case where there has been no arrest, nor am I a private detective or “Jessica Fletcher” from “Murder She Wrote.” I have to wait until an arrest has been made and a case is headed for trial. From there on, it’s a gamble; if the defendant should be acquitted, I probably couldn’t write the book.

Most of you know I don’t write about gruesome, grisly, ugly cases that revolve around decapitation, freezers, fires, etc. I don’t want to spend a year of my life immersed in a case that is newsworthy only because it deals with sickening torture or dismemberment--so please don’t send me that kind of story!  I am drawn, rather, to cases where the suspect(s) is NOT the classic murderer. I’ve learned that my readers are as interested as I am in the psychopathology of the criminal mind. If a person has all those things that most of us long for--physical beauty, wealth, charm, intelligence, talent, love--and still wants more and more. . .and more, he (or she) may be an antisocial personality, someone who has no empathy for other human beings at all. These people, who often wear a perfect mask, make the best book subjects for me. Find me more of those!

WHY CAN’T I ANSWER LETTERS MORE COMPLETELY? Right now, I have a dilemma. Writing is the easiest part of my job. My computer screen is full of unanswered e-mails and my desk is piled high with letters. I’m thrilled that I receive a couple of thousand letters a month, but frustrated that I can’t answer them all and I hope that you do understand. We have had more than 400,000 hits on my website and this newsletter now goes out to almost 50,000 people. I’ve finally come to a point where I have to decide whether to write new books or answer mail. I want so much to respond to EVERY piece of mail—but I just can’t. My office has a very part-time staff. Usually the only creatures on duty are the cats: Fluffbutt, Mrs. Baby, Beanie, Bunnie and Toonces and the dogs Willow and Lucy—and me. The first seven don’t write letters. My daughter, Leslie Rule, tries to keep up with the e-mail while I’m away. Leslie Rule's email address . I will try to update the newsletter more often, but I won’t be able to answer all the mail, although I will READ—as always—every single letter and e-mail. Your wonderful, supportive, messages are important to me, but I hope I’ve guessed right in thinking you would rather have more new books than answers to every letter? Many of you write with specific requests, and, when I can, I try to help. But this one woman-7 cat-two dog office has its limitations! I do try to answer people with special and urgent problems.

DO I HAVE BAD DREAMS? A lot of people ask me how I cope with the grim tragedies I have to write about and they expect me to have nightmares. Oddly,  I don’t have nightmares; I think we have bad dreams about things we repress--and writing about subjects that might cause nightmares brings them out in the open. I try to surround myself with happier things: my garden, wind chimes, prisms (to cast rainbows over my desk), pets, and my collection of more than a hundred angels. I usually listen to an “oldies music” radio station when I write or to Dr. Joy Browne. (I do NOT listen to Dr. Laura Schlessinger because her self-righteous and demeaning lectures to people in trouble would give me nightmares!)

I know I am in the right career when I hear from women who feel their lives have been saved by something they read in one of my books. I never want to scare you, but I want my readers to be alert--and not to fall for any of the ruses and devices that killers and rapists use to throw you off guard. Always lock your car doors. Always take a beat to consider a request for help from a stranger--and if you agree, call 911, WITHOUT letting him/her into your home or your car. Sometimes the danger readers face lies in a destructive relationship with someone they thought they knew--and several of my books have given women, particularly, a “heads up” about signs to look for.

ARE YOU REALLY STRANGE FOR READING TRUE CRIME? If your only problem in a relationship is that your husband (wife) thinks you’re totally weird because you like to read true crime books, you can relax; my readers are the gentlest people in the world, most of whom wouldn’t kill a spider. But we (and I am like this, too) are endlessly curious about what makes bad people bad. If we don’t discover the cause of antisocial behavior, we cannot hope to stop it before it becomes full-blown.

WHAT’S AHEAD FOR TRUE CRIME? There are critics who regularly declare that “true crime writing is obsolete,” but nothing could be further from the truth. There will always be those of us who want to explore the intricacies of a criminal mind and who look for books that approach the subject thoughtfully and with sound research--just as there will always be grisly and gory books written in a sensational fashion. The writers who inspired me  were Thomas Thompson and Truman Capote (although Capote did, I fear, have a tendency to fictionalize when facts didn’t suit him.) However, they both demonstrated that factual material could be written in a flowing style that was as easy to read as good fiction. Some of my favorite true crime books are: Blood and Money, Bitter Blood, Two of a Kind, Never Let Them See You Cry, The Cop Who Wouldn’t Quit, The Boston Strangler, Evidence of Love, and Bitter Almonds.  An easy way to pick superior true crime books is to simply avoid those with photographs on the cover. They are far more likely to be exploitive and poorly written. (O.K., I admit that Small Sacrifices still has a photo on the cover, but that’s an exception!)  The classic true crime books don’t have the victim’s picture on the cover. (A photograph section inside the book is essential. I always look back dozens of times when I read books to see what the characters looked like.)

WHAT DO I READ WHEN I’M NOT WRITING? Before I published true crime, I used to read it. Now, I read it only when I’m on vacation; if I write about murder all day and lecture on it, I need to stay away from it for my leisure reading. I do prefer non-fiction over fiction, and I reach for biographies and auto-biographies, books on medical discoveries and medical investigation and on animals. When I read novels, I look for superior writing; my favorite novel of all time is To Kill a Mockingbird. I think Anne Tyler is a wonderful writer, and I also like Wally Lamb. I laugh with Fanny Flagg, Garrison Keillor and Carl Hiassen. I think Edna Buchanan’s crime novels are great and of course I’m partial to Leslie Rule’s books, and those by my best friend, Donna Anders.  And, my secret vice--I’ll admit it--is to read the tabloids faithfully every Friday night. 

DO TRUE CRIME BOOKS DO ANYBODY GOOD? I asked myself this question often when I first started in this genre. Yes, absolutely! Sometimes people turn their noses up at true crime writing and readers wonder if there's something wrong with them for finding this subject so interesting. My readers tend to be very gentlepeople; it's just that we are all tremendously curious about what makes some babies grow up to be savage criminals and others law-abiding citizens. If we don't know what causes aberrant behavior, we will never be able to prevent it. I write about it because I love to, because it's my job, and because I'm curious about psychopathology, too. But I also want to help victims, their families, and to save potential victims. Of all the causes I support, the groups that grab my attention are those that support battered and abused women and children. I didn't set out to write about battered women (or, in some cases, battered men), and yet my last four books have been about emotional and physical abuse that ended in horror. Many abused women are also mothers, and their children suffer too. Many of them grow up angry.     Frightened women write to me about their yearning to escape unhealthy relationships. Years ago, when I was a police officer, there was no place for them to go. While women were still bleeding and bruised, they called us for help--but so often they changed their minds. Without an income or a place to live, leaving was a scary prospect. They usually went back to the men who had beaten them. It wasn't always a matter of economics; it was about keeping up a facade to hide their shame. Today, domestic abuse still crosses all demographic lines. It doesn’t matter how rich or poor you are, or how well educated. You should not be ashamed or alone. Abuse can happen to anyone--but it doesn’t have to be fatal.     There are resources to help. Call the Y.W.C.A. or the Crisis Clinic in your town, or call the National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-SAFE. Use your computer if you have one, or go to the library where you can use one. One way to start on-line is to go to www.google.com, and then type in "Domestic Abuse" or  "Battered Women" into the search slot. Help is so close. I already have far too many terrible cases I could write about, and I don't want to write yours. For those of you caught in an abusive relationship, here is a link that I hope will help you: Dangerous Mates.

WHEN AM I COMING TO YOUR TOWN? This goes hand in hand with another FAQ "Why don't I write faster?" I'm writing as fast as I can, and because of that, it's difficult to travel as much as I would like to. I go on one book tour every year, and my publishers try to vary the direction they send me. (Sometimes, I think they spin a bottle on a big map and send me where it’s pointing!) I've probably been to most big cities in America once or twice, and, for lectures, I often visit more out-of-the way spots. I also try to visit bookstores and libraries when I'm in a city to attend a long trial. As soon as I know where I'm headed, I always post it on my website pages at www.annrules.com. 

"I WANT TO BE A TRUE CRIME WRITER. HOW DO I START?" The main criteria is that you have to care about people sincerely, and realize that you can hurt them more or give them some serenity by what you write. You have to be self-motivated, and willing to sit on rock-hard benches day after day at a long trial, spend hours in a library periodical room, approach virtual strangers to ask very personal questions, and, sometimes, visit convicted killers in prison. Crime writing isn't for sissies or for "lazies." You must figure out how to find the whole story, and yet you never will; if you're lucky, you will ferret out about 80% of the truth. More practically, where to start? Go to a trial. Anyone can attend a trial, unless it's a juvenile proceeding. Get to know the families--but don't intrude on their private sorrow. Watch the seasoned reporters in trial and they will often lead you to the clerk's office in the courthouse where you can copy information in the public domain. Don't expect trial transcripts to be free; some cost up to $3 a page, so take the best notes you possibly can during the trial! Save all the newspaper clippings and videotape television coverage. Only after the trial is over, and if the defendant is convicted, can you set up interviews. Send detectives, prosecutors and witnesses respectful notes and ask to speak with them. Then, follow up with a phone call. Try to tape your interviews, and keep your promises. If you are told something off the record, keep it there. The writing part is up to you, but don't give away the ending on the first few pages, and don't let your book sound like a stark police report. An excellent book for beginning writers in all genres is The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Published by Sheree Bykovsky.

WHY AREN'T MY SHORT CRIME FILES CASES LONGER AND/OR WHY ARE MY HARDCOVER BOOKS SO DETAILED? I read all the reviews and critiques of my books on-line and pay attention to my email, although some comments hurt. Most true crime books are under 350 pages long, and the main stories in my Crime Files series are about that length, but I add a bonus of several shorter cases, memorable stories that are often from my days as a crime reporter, but I would have to pad them to make them longer, and I won't do that. They are all designed to be quick reads that support a central theme. The long books are much more complicated and detailed and it usually takes over 800 manuscript pages to tell those stories. Some readers prefer one long case, and some like several cases. Happily, most of you like both. Happily, there will be another book along in about nine months. I feel like I'm "pregnant" all the time!

WHY HAVEN'T YOU ANSWERED THE EMAIL I SENT YOU? As I write this newsletter, I've been answering 150 emails a day and I'm still not caught up. When I'm writing a book or out on tour, there is no way I can keep up; my laptop is too heavy to carry from city to city. I tried--and the airlines broke it between Boston and Chicago. . . When too many emails stack up, they fall off my computer and vanish. I answer when I can, so please don't feel I’m ignoring you; I may never have received your email. Please try again or wait until June?

WHAT BECOMES OF THE SUGGESTIONS YOU SEND ME FOR FUTURE BOOKS? I get at least a dozen suggestions every day, and I consider them all. The reasons a case won't work for me are: it's too gruesome and grisly; it happened too long ago; it was never solved; no arrest was ever made; it involves the four areas I won't write about (drug rings, organized crime, cults and motorcycle gangs); the killer is already out of prison; it is a "slam-dunk"--easily solved and required no detective work; it is so infamous (O.J. or Jon Benet) that a dozen writers are already writing about it; it is going to trial at a time when I am committed to another project. There may be other reasons, but these are the ones that come up most often. I know that I often miss out on some very interesting stories, but I would need to be cloned in order to write them all. I do appreciate your thinking of me and sending ideas. My last eight books have been suggested by readers.

HOW TO GET SIGNED BOOKS, PHOTOS, DONATIONS TO CHARITIES, ET AL. I am glad to sign books for you if you will include a self-addressed, stamped mailer and a note on what to say when you send them to me. I will send autographed photos (5x7) if you send me an SASE. I can donate books to charities, but NOT to school or athletic fund-raisers (I have to buy my own books for this purpose.) Please send me a letter on the group's stationery with the particulars. My address is P.O. Box 98846, Seattle, WA 98198. If you want me to send this newsletter to your relatives and friends, just send me their addresses? If you have information that you would like to give to police, I will be glad to serve as your middle-man if you are timid. Just fax the information (My fax number is 206-241-5542), email me at www.annrules.com, or write to me at P.O. Box 98846, Seattle, WA 98198. I will keep your identity secret.

WHO ARE MY FAVORITE TRUE CRIME WRITERS? There are a lot of truecrime books out there, but few really superior true crimewriters. I read books in my own genre, even though sometimes I look for "escape" reading. I look for authors who are great researchers and have a solid knowledge of forensic science, police procedure and criminal law. You really can't go wrong in reading any books by: Jim Neff, Jerry Bledsoe, Kathryn Casey, Thomas Thompson, Darcy O'Brien, Edna Buchanan (both fact and fiction), Shana Alexander, Vincent Bugliosi, Edward Humes, Clark Howard and Dennis McDougal. The combination of seasoned writers telling their own stories is also gripping. Carlton Stowers wrote about his own tragedy in Sins of the Son and I found Mikal Gilmore's Shot in the Heart about his brother, Gary, remarkable. James Ellroy's book about his mother's murder--My Dark Places--was also excellent. My friend, Lois Duncan, chronicled her terrible loss in "Who Killed My Daughter” about her murdered daughter, Kait. She is still trying to find the killer or killers.

UPDATES:

Unlike books of fiction, the final chapters of non-fiction books, especially books about true crime, are always changing. I get a lot of emails and letters from readers who wonder "What ever happened to . . .?" I do keep in touch with almost all the families and witnesses from my earlier books, although the convicted killers--with some exceptions--don't write to me. Just as well!

The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy's life ended on January 24, 1989, when he was executed in the electric chair in Raiford Prison in Starke, Florida, but the myths and truths about him persist. I still hear from a few women every month who feel sure they managed to escape from Ted--or from a prowling killer who operated just as he did. So I update this book every once in awhile, adding the new stories. It's hard to believe that Ted's crimes happened thirty years ago, but it has been that long so the women who call me are in their fifties, still afraid of the man who stalked them when they were in their teens or twenties. Ted's daughter, conceived in Raiford Prison in Starke, Florida, is in her early twenties now. People often asked me how she and her mother, Carole Ann--who divorced Ted a few years before he was executed--are doing. I can truthfully say I don't know because I've made it a point not to find out where they live or what they are doing. They deserve privacy.

Possession: This is my only fictional book, my only novel. (Novels are made up: True crime, like the genre, is real.) Possession was based on a real Oregon case, and I later wrote that as a true case with the actual details in Ann Rule's Crime Files: Vol.7. It's the last case in Volume 7, and it's called "The Stockholm Syndrome."

Lust Killer: Jerome Henry Brudos remains in the Oregon State Prison, sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for the torture murders of three young Oregon women, and the prime suspect in several more. He is in his sixties now, and recently signed up with an on-line company that connects prisoners to women (or men) who want to write to them.

The Want-Ad Killer: Harvey Carignan is also still in prison, and in poor health, in Stillwater, Minnesota. It is extremely unlikely that he will ever be paroled. Mary Miller, the mother of one of his young victims--Kathy Miller, 15 when she died in 1973--has worked with Families and Friends of Violent Crime Victims in Washington State ever since. Thirty years later, this support group fights for justice and offers comfort and advice to victims and/or their bereaved families. If you need help dealing with the loss of a loved one to violent crime, write to them at "Families and Friends," P.O. Box 1949, Everett, WA 98206-1949. Phone:1-800-346-7555. www.fnfvcv.org. It's a wonderful non-profit group, and donations from those who can help them financially will help them a lot.

The I-5 Killer: Randall Woodfield, one-time star athlete, and probably the most prolific rapist I've ever written about, was convicted of both rape and murder in the early 1980's. He is in his early fifties now, but keeps in shape in prison, always proud of his muscular body. Randy married for the second time last year, both prison "weddings." I'm not sure if he is still writing to dozens of women around America, telling them that he is going to college in Oregon, or that he will be out of prison soon. He asks them to send money, and, in the past, many of them did. Please be very careful if you correspond with someone whose address is in pen pal columns or on www.prisonpenpals.com. Don't believe everything that your correspondents tell you. Of course, the chat rooms and newsgroups on the Internet have also become a whole new area of danger--especially for the naive. And, above all, be aware of who your children and teenagers may be exchanging emails with!

Small Sacrifices: 2003 marked the 20th anniversary of the night Diane Downs shot her three children near Eugene/Springfield, Oregon. Cheryl died instantly, and both Christie and Danny were terribly injured. Readers tend to think of Diane's surviving children as still being very young, but Christie and Danny are both in their twenties now, both graduated from college, and still very much a part of Fred and Joanne Hugi's family. The former Lane County prosecutor and his wife adopted Christie and Danny in 1984, and gave them the happy life they deserved. Christie regained her health a long time ago, and was engaged to be married the last I heard. After his mother fired a bullet into his spine, Dan was left with permanent paralysis from the chest down, but he swam on the varsity swim team in college, and he is a whiz at computers, an industry where he works now. Diane Downs herself is still in prison. She is currently held in the Valley Prison for Women in Chowchilla, California, and still claiming that a "bushy-haired stranger" shot her and her children. None of her appeals for clemency or a new trial have been granted, but Diane will come up for parole consideration in about six and a half years. Like Randy Woodfield--to whom she was once "engaged" by mail--Diane receives many letters from admirers of the opposite sex. She will be 54 years old if she is released on her first try for parole. Chances are she will not be freed on her first try. The daughter she carried throughout her trial in 1984, put up for adoption, would have been 19 in July, 2003. A few young women have contacted me, claiming to be that child--but I am doubtful. Many people from Diane's distant past have contacted me, and, someday, with their permission, I will add another chapter to Small Sacrifices.

If You Really Loved Me: David Arnold Brown is still locked up in New Folsom Prison in California, although he is reportedly engaged to a woman who started writing to him. His father has passed away, and, until recently, his daughter Krystal, lived with his mother. Krystal, David's child with his murdered wife, Linda, 23, is in her late teens, almost as old as her mother was when she was shot fatally. She has recently moved away from the grandmother who raised her and begun life on her own. Cinnamon Brown is 32 now and she has been out of prison for more than a decade. She has a family of her own and a very responsible job with a large corporation. Patti Bailey, 35, has also been free for years. She regained custody of her toddler daughter, Heather, remarried and gave birth to twin boys. In the dozen or more years since I left Orange County, California and David Brown's trial, I have lost touch with the prosecutor and the detectives who brought justice to Cinnamon. My last email from one of the detectives said only, "Much has changed," but no more than that. Sometimes, even I lose track of people.

Everything She Ever Wanted: Patricia Vann Radcliffe Taylor Allanson Taylor was paroled from prison in Georgia several years ago, and returned to live with her stepfather, Retired Colonel Clifford Radcliffe. Her mother "Boppo" succumbed to lung cancer while Pat was in prison, and Colonel Radcliffe married her younger sister, Aggie, a few months later. Aggie passed away of an unknown illness this year. Pat's only son, Ronnie, also died in 2003 of unspecified causes at the age of 44. Pat, 66, remains in the house in McDonough with "The Colonel," who is now 90 years old. Pat is back in touch with her first husband, Gil Taylor, who has been in ill health. Susan Alford remarried several years ago and lives on the west coast. She has absolutely no contact with her mother or her mother's family--or, sadly, with her own older son, although occasionally distant relatives let her know what has happened back in Georgia. She has no wish to return there. Tom and Liz Allanson have had a long happy marriage, and Tom has consulted with everyone, up to the governor of Georgia, on prison ministry. He is very active in the Full Gospel Church and has spoken to groups scores of times about the need for God in prison and out. In the summer of 2003, however, Tom was injured when a woman backed out of a shopping mall without looking and slammed into his truck. At first, it seemed he had suffered only a concussion, but Liz insisted on more X-rays. Tom proved to have a perilously broken neck. While he was undergoing treatment to prevent paralysis due to spinal damage, he suffered a small stroke. He is finally home and recovering slowly, although he must live with a "halo" support for his neck. He has long since reconciled with his two children by "Little Carolyn." She passed away a few years ago. Through my book, Tom has also reunited with some old friends.

Dead by Sunset: In February of 2002, Brad Cunningham was granted the right to a new trial by the Oregon Court of Appeals. They ruled that some vital testimony by Cheryl Keeton's mother, Betty Troseth, in his 1994 trial was to be considered hearsay. This ruling threw out the shocking testimony about Cheryl's last phone calls an hour before she was murdered, calls in which she told her mother that she was going to meet Brad to retrieve her sons from a court-ordered visit. Even though Cheryl's battered body was found an hour later, close to the gas station where she intended to meet Brad, her last cry for help is now considered to be only hearsay. In a stunning ruling, the Court of Appeals did not find Cheryl's calls to be "excited utterances" or a death bed statement. The Oregon Attorney General's Office, the Washington County District Attorney, Cheryl's law firm of Garvey, Schubert, and many others are fighting to prevent a re-trial for Cunningham. He remains in prison, and he will be locked up if and when he becomes the defendant in another murder trial. Whether he will choose to represent himself again is a question. If he should go to trial for murder again, and should he be acquitted of Cheryl's murder, he will walk free. Most Oregon residents are unaware of the Appeals' court's ruling. Cheryl's and Brad's three sons have grown up into fine young men, cherished by their "adopted" mother, Sara. The two older boys have finished college, and the youngest is in high school.

Bitter Harvest: Debora Green is still locked up in the Women's Prison in Topeka, Kansas. She writes to me occasionally, and feels that she was heavily influenced by drugs prescribed for her as she began her prison sentence, and that "I am me again!" After working in helper dog training, she was assigned to the prison library. Her daughter, Lissa, in college now, has continued to visit Debora through the years, and Debora has made some friends among women who either visit or write to her. Of all the convicted killers I've written about, she remains the most puzzling, a woman whose background is either forgotten or deliberately obscured. She is anxious to win a new trial, but that could be very dangerous for her. Should she be convicted, she could very well face the death penalty. Prosecutor Paul Morrison of Johnson County, Kansas, has prosecuted yet another sensational case--that of multiple-killer John Robinson who lured women to his home over the Internet, killed them, and hid their bodies in barrels.

And Never Let Her Go: Tom Capano remains in prison in Delaware, but his attorneys continue to file a steady series of appeals. Their arguments contain, among other points, the perception that a man cannot be sentenced to death unless the jurors are unanimous. Only 11 of Capano's jurors voted for the Death Penalty, and Judge William Swain made the decision, which was lawful, to sentence Capano to lethal injection. Like most prisoners with much notoriety, Capano receives loving letters from a number of women. But Debbie MacIntyre has never written to him; he is only a bad dream in her past. She graduated from college with straight A's and works in Wilmington in the medical research field. Everyone who was involved in the case, however peripherally, still lives in Wilmington. Prosecutor Ferris Wharton still prosecutes cases. Colm Connolly is now the U.S. Attorney in Delaware, and Anne Marie's family remains close to one another. Only Michael Scanlon has moved away. He touches base with Annie's family often, though. Annie would be almost forty now. Her sister and brothers never let a holiday or her birthday go by without thinking of what might have been.

Every Breath You Take: Allen Blackthorne narrowly escaped death at the first federal prison he was sent to in Beaumont, Texas. He was stabbed multiple times by other inmates, and nearly lost an eye and a kidney. He was moved to a prison in Atlanta, Georgia, where he remains. He granted an interview to a San Antonio television reporter a while back, appearing in wrinkled jail garb rather than his preferred expensive sports clothes. He was, however, his old smooth-talking self, and continues to pursue avenues of appeal. Maureen Blackthorne still lives in the big pink mansion, but she has been charged with income tax evasion. It's rumored that she did not pay the taxes on the money she made by selling the Blackthorne's stock in RS Medical. Allen's father, Guy Van Houte, died of cancer. His half-brother, Nick Van Houte, was arrested for failing to ship items he had advertised on eBay and received payment for. Jamie Bellush and Sheila's family sued Allen in civil court and were awarded an unspecified amount in an out-of-court settlement, with Bellush being awarded the majority of the amount. Sheila's widower has remarried, and his new wife is reportedly a wonderful step-mom to his and Sheila's quadruplets, who will be eight in December. In Oregon, Stevie Bellush, 19, is working and attending college part time, while Daryl, 18, has started college in Florida where she is taking a pre-med course.

Empty Promises: Steven Sherer, convicted in 2001 of murdering his wife, Jami, although she disappeared in 1991 and her body has never been found, was sent to prison in Walla Walla, Washington. His first appeal was turned down, and things didn't look bright for him. They look even dimmer now. Prison intelligence uncovered a plot that Sherer was hatching with a fellow inmate who was about to be paroled. Sherer assured the man that he had hidden thousands of dollars worth of jewelry under his mother's house, and that he could have it if he agreed to set fire to his former in-law's house! Shockingly, Sherer's own son lived in that house. Detectives met the would-be arsonist as he got off the bus, and gave him a choice of telling them the truth or facing a very long prison sentence. A fake "house fire" was set up, with smoke and fire sirens, and even a blue tarp over the roof of Judy and Jerry Hagel's house. Local papers agreed to write an article about the alleged fire, and that was sent to Sherer in prison. He was elated to think his plan had worked. Instead, he was charged with conspiracy and it is unlikely that he will ever again see the world beyond prison walls.

Last Dance, Last Chance: Debbie Pignataro and her children continue to thrive, while Dr. Anthony Pignataro serves his long prison sentence for deliberately poisoning Debbie with arsenic. Both Ralph and Lauren Pignataro are at the top of their classes, and Debbie is so grateful that she survived to raise her children to adulthood. I have heard from a number of doctors who met Tony Pignataro in med school and in his residencies, and they have all agreed that he was completely unsuited--both in scholastic achievement and in caring--to become a physician. One said, "He was the worst resident I ever encountered." Financially, it is still difficult for Debbie and her children, but they are making it. They are surrounded by the love of Debbie's family and her friends, all the people that Tony tried to cut out of her life during their marriage.

There are so many cases in the first eight of my True Crime Files series that it's almost impossible for me to keep up with all the people in them. If you have a specific question about one of the cases in A Rose for Her Grave, You Belong to Me, A Fever in the Heart, In the Name of Love, The End of the Dream, A Rage to Kill, Empty Promises, or Last Dance, Last Chance, please write to me at Ann Rule's email address and I will try to find the answer for you.

MOVIES:

Small Sacrifices and Dead by Sunset show quite often on the Lifetime Network. And Never Let Her Go should air soon again on CBS. The Stranger Beside Me, A Fever in the Heart, and Every Breath You Take are now in pre-production at the U.S.A. Network,. Watch your TV guides and I'll have the exact dates on my website.

WEB SITES:

http://www.realcrimes.com/

The Real Crimes web site above is for families and friends of crime victims who have never found justice, here is an excellent forum to state your case. It is on-line, thanks to author Lois Duncan Arquette and her husband Don, who lost their daughter Kait, 18, in a still-unsolved murder. Perhaps it will help you. I hope so.

Those of you who may have information on Kait's murder, please go to http://kaitarquette.arquettes.com

If you would like books autographed through the mail, I'll be glad to do that. To send books to be signed the address is P.O. Box 98846, Seattle, WA 98198. Please remember to enclose a self-addressed, stamped mailer and a note on what to say?

All my best!

Ann Rule