At the FBI, Peter Klismet was truly part of an elite force. He became a psychological profiler long before the box office smash movie Silence of Lambs starring Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster that highlighted the FBI's efforts to track down serial killers like the fictitious Hannibal Lechter. In real life, Klismet's highly specialized training as psychological profiler was put to the test in February 1985. He boarded a plane and flew into … [Read more...]
Nebraska AG Jon Bruning: Some Didn’t Want To Believe The Beatrice 6 Are Innocent
A staunch conservative and prominent Republican, Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning never anticipated he would find the media spotlight for exposing the nation's largest wrongful conviction case right in his backyard. In November 2008, Bruning made a shocking announcement to all Nebraskans- his state agency had uncovered irrefutable proof that a terrible injustice had been committed nearly 20 years earlier in Beatrice, a small community … [Read more...]
Who Was Helen Wilson’s Killer If The Beatrice 6 Are Innocent? Read The Book
It might be Alabama or Alaska, Tennessee or Texas, Michigan or Minnesota. The name of state doesn't really matter. Most wrongful conviction cases have a similar theme - Person A gets arrested for a shockingly heinous killing. He's vilified in the media. The victim's family hates him. The judge throws the book at him. The convicted killer goes off to prison. The media coverage stops. Ten years pass, maybe a lot longer. Then, like a piano … [Read more...]
Prosecutor Proved The Beatrice 6 Innocent And That Their Confessions Were False
John Ferak’s new book "FAILURE OF JUSTICE" about Beatrice, Nebraska brings to mind those strange days when we came face to face with the reality that five people had falsely confessed to participating in a murder. That case confirmed a belief that I have held throughout my career as a prosecutor and as defense counsel. Interrogation is not investigation. The successful solicitation of a confession is no substitute for thorough … [Read more...]
Did A Psychic Help Solve The Helen Wilson Rape-Murder in Beatrice, Nebraska?
As of February 1988, the Helen Wilson murder investigation was in need of a fresh set of eyes - like a psychic, perhaps? By 1988, more than a hundred potential suspects had been interviewed, examined and excluded. Mostly these were southeastern Nebraska residents, but some were out of state serial rapists from the likes of Kansas and Colorado as well. It didn't matter. Wherever the Beatrice Police Department seemed to go looking, … [Read more...]
FAILURE OF JUSTICE: A Brutal Murder, An Obsessed Cop, Six Wrongful Convictions; A True Crime Thriller By John Ferak
'MAKING A MURDERER' TIMES SIX! If the dubious efforts of law enforcement that led to the case behind MAKING A MURDERER made you cringe, your skin will crawl at the injustice portrayed in FAILURE OF JUSTICE: A Brutal Murder, An Obsessed Cop, Six Wrongful Convictions. Award-winning journalist and bestselling author John Ferak pursued the story of the Beatrice 6 who were wrongfully accused of the brutal, ritualistic rape and murder of an elderly … [Read more...]
“Making A Murderer,” FAILURE OF JUSTICE Shine Light on Wrongful Convictions
Millions across the globe have watched 'Making a Murderer' on Netflix. It's the story of Wisconsin's Steven Avery. He goes to prison in the 1980s. He's a victim of a wrongful conviction for a brutal rape. Years later, he goes back to prison for murder and people are now debating whether he was victimized by a broken criminal justice in Wisconsin - again. My new book chronicles the terrible saga of Nebraska's Beatrice 6. FAILURE OF JUSTICE is … [Read more...]
John Ferak Set To Discuss BODY OF PROOF On Two Radio Shows Saturday
WildBlue Press true-crime author John Ferak continues to make the media rounds this summer answering questions about his most recent best-seller, BODY OF PROOF: Tainted Evidence in the Murder of Jessica O'Grady? wbp.bz/bop On Saturday morning, Ferak will tape an appearance on Donna Gore's popular Shattered Lives Radio Podcast as part of the WildBlue Press Author Series. This weekend's show will be hosted by Donna's sidekick, Delilah Jones. … [Read more...]
Discredited CSI Commander At The Heart of John Ferak’s True Crime BODY OF PROOF
Tainted Evidence In The Murder of Jessica O'Grady? Jessica O’Grady was a tall, starry-eyed co-ed in search of finding her Mr. Right. Christopher Edwards was a 19-year-old deceitful and darkened soul. David Kofoed was a veteran crime lab commander who was on the prowl for more high-profile sensational murder cases to keep his prestigious forensics lab in the media spotlight. include … [Read more...]
Ferak explains how 3 nagging questions led him to write BODY OF PROOF
Back in the summer of 2006, one murder case shook the city of Omaha like no other that year- - the disappearance of 19-year-old University of Nebraska at Omaha student Jessica O'Grady. Jessica was gone. Nobody could find her. Yet her car turned up days later. But where did her killer hide her? The community outpouring toward finding Jessica was something I would never forget. I was a journalist at the Omaha newspaper at the time. The … [Read more...]