How well do you know your neighbors? Maybe you should get to know them
better! Growing up, we are taught that monsters are easy to identify,
but the truth is very different. Too often, the serial murderer does not
stand out. Otherwise, he, or she, would get caught.
The contrast between the ordinary-seeming lives that provided cover for
their cruel secrets is exposed in The Serial Killer Next Door: The
Double Lives of Notorious Murderers. To their coworkers, neighbors,
and others who knew them, they led unremarkable lives. They had careers
as military pilots, police officers, landscapers, small business owners,
farmers, realtors, reporters, authors, veterinary technicians, nurses,
doctors, handymen, painters, and chefs, while they simultaneously
stalked city suburbs, college campuses, trailer parks, and red-light
districts. This chilling book looks at the horrifying stories of nearly
30 malevolent killers (and hundreds of innocent victims) who were
mistakenly trusted, including ...
- Genene Jones, a nurse responsible for the murder of 60 infants and
children in her care. She's said to be the inspiration for Stephen
King's iconic character of Annie Wilkes, in Misery - and her nephew
broke into King's home, threatening to blow up the writer and his
family because of it!
- Robert Lee Yates, a helicopter pilot in the Army National Guard who,
when caught, buried one body outside his bedroom window as his wife
slept.
- Gary Ridgway, also known as the Green River Killer, went undetected
for 20 years, working for 30 years as a painter for a truck company
and married for 17 years.
- Kathleen Folbigg, whose three children were at first thought to have
died from natural causes. She only got caught when her husband found
her personal diary.
- Joseph James DeAngelo, who worked various jobs, including as a
police officer and a truck mechanic. He went on a decades-long crime
spree and was finally caught with the help of DNA evidence. His case
was instrumental in the establishment of California's DNA database.
- And dozens of other serial killers!
It's chilling to realize that many serial killers have created second
lives that are completely divorced from the brutality and evils they
commit. It's incomprehensible to think that they are able to flip a
switch, transforming them from apparently loving, ordinary men and women
into torturous, homicidal slaughterers. With more than 120 photos and
graphics, The Serial Killer Next Door is richly illustrated. Its
helpful bibliography and extensive index add to its usefulness. We trust
our neighbors, coworkers, and acquaintances. Of course, we do. It's
ominous to think that we can't!
