case studies

To their family, neighbors, and online friends, Louise and David Turpin presented a picture of domestic bliss: dressing their thirteen children in matching outfits and buying them expensive gifts. But what police discovered when they entered the Turpin family home would eclipse the most shocking child abuse cases in history. For years, David and Louise had kept their children in increasing isolation, trapping them in a sinister world of torture, fear, and near starvation. In the first major account of the case, investigative journalist John Glatt delves into the disturbing details and recounts the bravery of the thirteen siblings in the face of unimaginable horror.

"On October 1, 1993, a 12-year-old girl was kidnapped at knifepoint from her bedroom in Petaluma, California, during a sleepover with two friends, while her mother slept soundly in the room next door. This rarest of all kidnappings--a stranger abduction from the home--triggered one of the largest manhunts in FBI history. Riddled with red herrings, grave mistakes, dead ends, and false leads, from fake ransom calls to junior high pranks to dramatic SWAT raids, the 65-day search for 'America's Child' became every FBI agent's--and every parent's--worst nightmare"--Provided by publisher.

"Recounts the case histories of patients lost in the . . . apparently inescapable world of neurological disorders. Tells the stories of individuals afflicted with . . . perceptual and intellectual aberrations: patients who have lost their memories and with them the greater part of their pasts; who are no longer able to recognize people and common objects; who are stricken with violent tics and grimaces or who shout involuntary obscenities; whose limbs have become alien; who have been dismissed as retarded yet are gifted with uncanny artistic or mathematical talents"--OCLC.

Describes how Russ Faria was wrongfully prosecuted and convicted for his wifes 2011 murder, despite having an alibi supported by surveillance video, receipts, and friends testimony and that her friend, Pamela Hupp, had recently replaced him as her insurance beneficiary.

"A . . . look at the state of abortion access in America and the first long-term study of the consequences--emotional, physical, financial, professional, personal, and psychological--of receiving versus being denied an abortion on women's lives"--Provided by publisher.

"What happens to consciousness during the act of dying? The most compelling answers come from people who almost die and later recall events that occurred while lifesaving resuscitation, emergency care, or surgery was performed. These events are now called near-death experiences (NDEs). As medical and surgical skills improve, . . . procedures can bring back patients who have traveled farther on the path to death than at any other time in history. Physicians and healthcare professionals must learn how to appropriately treat patients who report an NDE. It is estimated that more than 10 million people in the United States have experienced an NDE. Hagan and the contributors to this volume engage in evidence-based research on near-death experiences and include physicians who themselves have undergone a near-death experience"--Provided by publisher.

"From John Douglas--the . . . FBI criminal profiler . . . --comes a . . . journey inside the mind and crimes of Larry Gene Bell, one of the . . . serial killers Douglas confronted, and the desperate effort to identify and catch him"--Provided by publisher.

"Two thieves posing as Boston Police officers gain entry to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Once inside, they steal thirteen pieces of art, including several rare Rembrandts. Eighty-one minutes later, these men walk off with $500 million worth of art. This heist is the single largest private property theft in the United States--and despite decades of investigation and dozens of false leads, the case remains unsolved to this day"--Provided by publisher.

Mystery. Manipulation. Murder. Cults are associated with all of these. But what really goes on inside them? More specifically, what goes on inside the minds of cult leaders and the people who join them? Based on the hit podcast Cults, this is essential reading for any true crime fan. Cults prey on the very attributes that make us human: our desire to belong; to find a deeper meaning in life; to live everyday with divine purpose. Their existence creates a sense that any one of us, at any time, could step off the cliffs edge and fall into that daunting abyss of manipulation and unhinged dedication to a misplaced cause.

"Profiles the most notorious serial killers of the 1980s, including the Night Stalker, the BTK Killer, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Aileen Wuornos, revealing the facts about their crimes along with the advances in forensics that helped lead to their capture"--Provided by publisher.