In Colbert, Georgia, on June 5, 2000, local amateur bodybuilder, 38-year-old Doug Benton, disappears. Two weeks later, Benton is found shot and ‘stabbed,’ his body encased in cement inside a cattle trough, dumped on a remote stretch of farmland. Local law enforcement—with help from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation—launch what is later alleged to be a ‘targeted’ investigation, focused on one of their own—local deputy sheriff, 36-year-old Tracy … [Read more...]
M. William Phelps: In An Age of True Crime Excess
MY NEW BOOK, TARGETED, IS ABOUT A former Oglethorpe County Georgia sheriff’s deputy who claims to have been framed for a particularly brutal—for a female killer—murder.By whom, you ask?A few of her former fellow law enforcement officers—which has become somewhat of an ornamental and allegorical theme running through our (seemingly) “violent” and (seemingly) “corrupt” American law enforcement community today.We are living in an age of … [Read more...]
Chris Russo Blackwood
Chris Russo Blackwood has always had a passion for solving mysteries. In 2012, she became intrigued by the uncanny coincidences and drama surrounding My Brother's Keeper and began chronicling the myriad facts in this case that would become the basis for her first book. Working side-by-side with her friend, public relations executive Ann Edelman, and Ted Kergan, the victim’s brother and protege, whose dogged determination kept this case alive for … [Read more...]
MY BROTHER’S KEEPER Tells the Story of A Man’s Thirty-Year Quest to Bring His Brother’s Killers To Justice
If your big brother was killed by murderers who thoughtlessly tossed his remains, would you spend a fortune and 30 years to stalk those responsible and bring them to justice? Yeah, you might want to, but...From the moment he found out his brother was missing, Ted Kergan launched an unparalleled search and recovery mission that put him on a collision path with a teenage-prostitute-turned-registered-nurse and her much older grifter … [Read more...]
Man And Woman Killed In Miami Murder-Suicide
Isis Valdes Cruz, 40, was getting out of her car on Wednesday when she was approached by her estranged husband, Heriberto Garcia Ortega, 55, on 58th Court. They got into an argument and Heriberto slashed his wife's throat with a knife, then stabbed himself. Responding officers found Isis dead at the scene and Heriberto conscious but bleeding profusely. He later died at Jackson Memorial Hospital. More Florida Murder-Suicides Man Shoots Neighbor … [Read more...]
Neighborhood Blames ‘Squatters’ In Fatal Shooting
Neighbors claim a man’s death might not have happened last Tuesday if the city had listened to their cries for help with the rundown squatter home in the neighborhood. The house was an eyesore with an overgrown lawn and broken-in windows. Residents of the Northwood Hills Historic District say the house has been filled with squatters since the owner died a few months ago. Yet despite their many calls for help to police and city officials, the … [Read more...]
Relatives Fear Facebook Posts Led To Murder
It took the rags to riches mom, Makeva Jenkins, just two years to work her way from homelessness to financial success. Late Wednesday evening, she reached out and wrote the following post on FaceBook: “I’m in awe of how far I’ve come … Fast forward to now: We overcame being homeless in 2013/2014 to reaching my six-figure mark in 2015…” Early Thursday morning at around 2 a.m.—barely two hours after that post—a masked man knocked on the front door … [Read more...]
A Palm Beach Murder From My True Crime Book, DADDY’S LITTLE SECRET
Rodney Clark, a fifty-year-old man from Jackson, Miss., is being tried in Palm Beach this week after being charged with first-degree murder in the 1987 death of Dana Fader. It will be the first death penalty case to be tried in the county since Florida got a new death penalty law in March. This is a Palm Beach murder from my true crime book, Daddy’s Little Secret:“Detective Venetucci was not just a dedicated detective, he was also the drummer … [Read more...]
Dennis Flynn Gives A Brief History of Hostage Negotiations
The subject of ‘hostage negotiations’, or more commonly referred to by most agencies due to its accuracy as ‘crisis negotiations’, is a relatively new police concept, beginning in the early 1970’s. Considering the City of Boston began using night watchmen in the 1630’s and centralized policing started in the 1830’s, less than fifty years is relatively new.It is argued that hostage negotiations began in New York City during the early 1970’s. … [Read more...]
Author Dennis Flynn on Being A Crisis Negotiator and Why He Wrote HELD HOSTAGE
The topic of hostage/crisis negotiations has always been intriguing to me. As a young police officer, I was involved in several “stand-offs” (which is the media’s terminology for police usually dealing with a barricaded or suicidal individual). We would do our best to resolve the situation but the person we dealt with held the cards. They were the ones inside the house/business/car refusing to come out and we knew if we used force to get them … [Read more...]
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