Non-Fiction Books
On Christmas Eve in 1985, a hunter found a young boy's body along an icy corn field in Nebraska. The residents of Chester, Nebraska buried him as "Little Boy Blue," unclaimed and unidentified-- until a phone call from Ohio two years later led authorities to Eli Stutzman, the boy's father. Eli Stutzman, the son of an Amish bishop, was by all appearances a dedicated farmer and family man in the country's strictest religious sect. But behind his quiet façade was a man involved with pornography, sadomasochism, and drugs. After the suspicious death of his pregnant wife, Stutzman took his preschool-age son, Danny, and hit the road on a sexual odyssey ending with his conviction for murder. But the mystery of Eli Stutzman and the fate of his son didn't end on the barren Nebraska plains. It was just beginning. . . Gregg Olsen's Abandoned Prayers is an incredible true story of murder and Amish secrets.
Stella Nickell's small-time world was one of big-time dreams. In 1986, her biggest one came true when her husband died during a seizure, making her the beneficiary of a $175,000-plus insurance payoff―until authorities discovered Bruce Nickell's headache capsules had been laced with cyanide. In an attempt to cover her tracks, Stella did the unconscionable. She saw to it that a stranger would also become a "random casualty" of cyanide-tainted painkillers. But Stella's cunning plan came undone when her daughter Cynthia notified federal agents. And troubling questions lingered like the secret of bitter almonds... What would turn a gregarious barfly like Stella into a cold-hearted killer overnight? Why would Cynthia, a mirror image of her mother, turn on her own flesh and blood? Did Cynthia reveal everything she knew about the crimes? The stunning answers would unfold in a case that sparked a national uproar, dug deep into a troubled family history, and exposed an American mother for the pretty poison she was. Gregg Olsen's Bitter Almonds is true crime writing at its best.
In and out of hospitals since birth, angelic nine-month-old Morgan Reid finally succumbed to what appeared to be Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Morgan's Texas-born mother Tanya, a nurse and devoted wife, pulled up stakes with her grieving husband Jim, and moved on. It was the best way to put the past behind them. Until their son Michael, a boy who by all accounts was terrified of his mother, began showing signs of the same affliction that stole the life of his baby sister... First, the suspicion: Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. Then, Tanya was charged and convicted with felony child abuse of her son. She was later tried and ultimately convicted for first degree murder of Morgan. It would become a landmark trial that unfolded in a series of reversals and bizarre twists of fate as it gradually revealed another side of Tanya Reid-of her own troubling childhood and the dark secrets that drove a woman to the cruelest deception of all...
In this true story—a haunting saga of medical murder set in an era of steamships and gaslights—Gregg Olsen reveals one of the most unusual and disturbing criminal cases in American history. In 1911 two wealthy British heiresses, Claire and Dora Williamson, arrived at a sanitorium in the forests of the Pacific Northwest to undergo the revolutionary “fasting treatment” of Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard. It was supposed to be a holiday for the two sisters, but within a month of arriving at what the locals called Starvation Heights, the women underwent brutal treatments and were emaciated shadows of their former selves. Claire and Dora were not the first victims of Linda Hazzard, a quack doctor of extraordinary evil and greed. But as their jewelry disappeared and forged bank drafts began transferring their wealth to Hazzard’s accounts, the sisters came to learn that Hazzard would stop at nothing short of murder to achieve her ambitions.
When the body of 45-year-old Glen Harrelson was found in his Denver home, police tried to contact his wife, but soon they made a startling realization. She had played the part of grieving widow once before: her previous husband also had died a mysterious accidental death... In a true story as shocking as any fiction, The Confessions of an American Black Widow is the amazing account of Sharon Lynn Nelson, a wild, beautiful preacher's wife who couldn't get enough-enough sex, enough money, or enough of her rugged "Mountain Man" lover, Gary Adams. Nelson was so consumed by greed that she convinced Adams to killed two of her three husbands in order to cash in on their insurance policies. Here is a compelling portrait of a woman driven by the darkest forces to mate, then kill--an American black widow who ultimately got snared in her own twisted web...
Teacher's Pet Within hours of giving birth to her sixth child, Mary Kay Letourneau had her baby daughter whisked from her arms. She was then shackled and returned to her jail cell. Just a few years ago, the pretty, personable Seattle schoolteacher was living a life many would envy—she had a handsome husband, four beautiful children, and a beloved following of students. Then she was accused of child rape, and her whole world turned upside down. Rapist Or Victim? How did a 34-year-old married teacher fall in love with one of her sixth-grade students? Was it a complete lapse of judgment, or—as she contends—the meeting of two soulmates? Were the two planning to run away together—before police caught them in a parked car? Did the couple have illicit sex in every room of the Letourneau house, as the teenager told the tabloids? Read about the case that shocked the world and rocked the headlines—about the lonely life of Mary Kay Letourneau and the young object of her obsession, the boy who fathered two of her children. You may think you know the story of Mary Kay Letourneau—but you don't know the whole story until you've read If Loving You Is Wrong , by veteran true crime writer Gregg Olsen. Includes interviews with Mary Kay Letourneau.
“A vividly detailed, heartbreaking tale about a dark, alien place, the people who loved working there and a town that has never been the same. He brings to life the hot, dirty, treasure-hunt environment where danger was a miner's heroin." — Seattle Times “Investigation at its best.” — Tucson Citizen On May 2, 1972, 174 miners entered Sunshine Mine in Kellogg, Idaho, on their daily quest for silver. From his office window, safety engineer Bob Launhardt could see the air shafts that fed fresh air into the mine, which was more than a mile below the surface. Sunshine was a fireproof hardrock mine, full of nothing but cold, dripping wet stone. There were many safety concerns, but fire wasn’t one of them. So when thick black smoke began pouring from one of the air shafts, Launhardt was as amazed as he was struck with fear. When the alarm sounded, less than half of the dayshift was able to return to the surface. The others were too deep in the mine to escape. Scores of miners died almost immediately, but in one of the deepest corners of the mine, Ron Flory and Tom Wilkinson were left alone and in total darkness, surviving off a trickle of fresh air from a borehole. The miners’ families waited and prayed, while Launhardt refused to give up the search until he could be sure that no one was left underground. In The Deep Dark, Gregg Olsen looks beyond an intensely suspenseful story of the rescue and into the wounded heart of Kellogg, a quintessential company town that has never recovered from its loss.
New York Times bestselling author Gregg Olsen investigates the sensational story of a minister who seduced four of his female congregants, and hatched a cold-blooded plot to murder his wife. On December 26, 1997, near the affluent community of Bainbridge Island off the coast of Seattle, a house went up in flames. In it was the shy, beloved minister's wife Dawn Hacheney. When the fire was extinguished, investigators found only her charred remains. Her husband Nick was visibly devastated by the loss. What investigators failed to note, however, was that Dawn's lungs didn't contain smoke. Was she dead before the fire began? So begins this true crime story that's unlike any other. It investigates Nick Hacheney, a philandering minister who had been carrying on with several women in the months before and just after his wife's death. He would be convicted for the murder five years to the day after the crime. From one of the foremost names in true crime, Twisted Faith is a gripping and truly unforgettable story of a man whose charisma and desire rocked an entire community.
Another volume in the New York Times bestselling series Notorious USA about infamous crimes in every state. Now its Texas, where crimes are as outsized as the state. Bestselling authors Gregg Olsen and Kathryn Casey take a new look at some of the Southwests most heinous crimes, including drag queen Cliff Youens (who went by the name Brandi West on stage), convicted of stabbing his/her girlfriend 39 times; Hurley Fontenot, a junior high school principal accused of killing his rival, the football coach, over the love of a school secretary; and Tanya Reid, the first Munchhausen Syndrome By Proxy mother most Americans ever heard of. Edited by New York Times bestselling author and frequent Olsen collaborator Rebecca Morris.
In If I Can't Have You , bestselling author Gregg Olsen and co-author Rebecca Morris investigate one of the 21st Century's most puzzling disappearances and how it resulted in the murder of two children by their father. Every once in a great while a genuine murder mystery unfolds before the eyes of the American public. The tragic story of Susan Powell and her murdered boys, Charlie and Braden, is the only case that rivals the Jon Benet Ramsey saga in the annals of true crime. When the pretty, blonde Utah mother went missing in December of 2009 the media was swept up in the story – with lenses and microphones trained on Susan's husband, Josh. He said he had no idea what happened to his young wife, and that he and the boys had been camping in the middle of a snowstorm. Over the next three years bombshell by bombshell, the story would reveal more shocking secrets. Josh's father, Steve, who was sexually obsessed with Susan, would ultimately be convicted of unspeakable perversion. Josh's brother, Michael, would commit suicide. And in the most stunning event of them all, Josh Powell would murder his two little boys and kill himself with brutality beyond belief.
With Photos! From the dark and bloody ground of Kentucky, to the peaceful Amish communities of Pennsylvania, to the cities and towns crisscrossing Ohio, murder and mayhem has been a part of it all. Within the pages of this latest volume in Notorious USA's New York Times bestselling series you'll discover how the unsuspecting succumbed to the evil that caught them by surprise, and what the authorities had to do to stop the madness. Cases include: Kentucky Sarah Hansen - A cheerleader and all-around good kid, she met a nightmarish death. Heather Teague - A young woman is abducted from a beach and is never seen again. Margaret Seitz - A mother of five, she killed two of them and then herself. Dr. John Strange - A newlywed disposes of his bride but doesn't know what to do with her head. James Sefchick and Danny Tetrick were drive-in killers, and no ticket-taker was safe. Jessica Thornsberry - Only 12, she went to her friend's house for a sleepover and wound up dead. Pennsylvania Alec Kreider - He had a hunger for murder and started with his best friend's family. Charles Carl Roberts - loving husband, father, and killer of young Amish girls. Gary Heidnik - A collector of women, and it was death to those who complained. George Sodini - He never found the love of a woman, so he made women a target for murder. Ohio Anthony and Nathaniel Cook - A murdering duo, they terrorized Toledo for years. Death of an Amish Wife - What happened to Ida Stutzman? Donald Harvey - An ordinary looking man, he earned the title: Angel of Death. Della Sutorius - She loved the book, The Bad Seed, and guided her life accordingly.
New York Times bestselling author Gregg Olsen and true crime journalist Kevin M. Sullivan travel down a bizarre trail of murder into notorious Pennsylvania. A seemingly normal husband father of two decides to kill young girls after storming an Amish schoolhouse, and sex many have been the prime motivator. A young high school student has a secret desire for murder, and decides a middle of the night visit to his best friend’s house will do nicely to satiate his hunger to kill. A seedy individual living in an even seedier part of Philadelphia decides to populate his basement with kidnapped women for sex and the bearing of children, and it is death to those who do not submit.
New England is best known for its covered bridges, immaculate town greens and Revolutionary War history. Yet an evil presence has hidden behind the 17th-century stone walls and clap-boarded homes of CT, Mass. and Rhode Island for centuries. New York Times bestselling author M. William Phelps takes a look at some of the most terrifyingly true stories in New England history.
New York Times bestselling authors Gregg Olsen and Rebecca Morris investigate the 2009 death of an Amish wife and mother found murdered in her own bed. At just 30 years old, with dark-blonde hair and freckles, Barbara Weaver was as pretty as the women depicted on the covers of her favorite "bonnet" stories - romance novels set in Amish America. Barbara had everything she'd ever wanted: five beautiful children, a home, her faith, and a husband named Eli. But while Barbara was happy to live as the Amish have for centuries - without modern conveniences, Eli was tempted by technology: cell phones, the Internet, and sexting. Online he called himself "Amish Stud" and found no shortage of "English" women looking for love and sex. Twice he left Barbara and their children, was shunned, begged for forgiveness, and had been welcomed back to the church. Barb Raber was raised Amish, but is now a Conservative Mennonite. She drove Eli to appointments in her car, and she gave him what he wanted when he wanted: a cell phone, a laptop, rides to his favorite fishing and hunting places, and, most importantly, sex. When Eli starts asking people to kill his wife for him, Barb offers to help. One night, just after Eli had hitched a ride with a group of men to go fishing in the hours before dawn, Barb Raber entered the Weaver house and shot Barbara Weaver in the chest at close range. It was only the third murder in hundreds of years of Amish life in America, and it fell to Edna Boyle, a young assistant prosecutor to seek justice for Barbara Weaver.
A #1 Wall Street Journal , Amazon Charts, USA Today , and Washington Post bestseller. #1 New York Times bestselling author Gregg Olsen’s shocking and empowering true-crime story of three sisters determined to survive their mother’s house of horrors. After more than a decade, when sisters Nikki, Sami, and Tori Knotek hear the word mom , it claws like an eagle’s talons, triggering memories that have been their secret since childhood. Until now. For years, behind the closed doors of their farmhouse in Raymond, Washington, their sadistic mother, Shelly, subjected her girls to unimaginable abuse, degradation, torture, and psychic terrors. Through it all, Nikki, Sami, and Tori developed a defiant bond that made them far less vulnerable than Shelly imagined. Even as others were drawn into their mother’s dark and perverse web, the sisters found the strength and courage to escape an escalating nightmare that culminated in multiple murders. Harrowing and heartrending, If You Tell is a survivor’s story of absolute evil―and the freedom and justice that Nikki, Sami, and Tori risked their lives to fight for. Sisters forever, victims no more, they found a light in the darkness that made them the resilient women they are today―loving, loved, and moving on.
Read the Wall Street Journal bestseller from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of If You Tell --an absolutely unputdownable and chilling true-crime story of Stella Nickell—a mother and wife who did the unthinkable… and the unforgiveable. At 5.02 pm on June 5, 1986, an emergency call came into the local sheriff’s office in the small town of Auburn, Washington State. A distressed housewife, Stella Nickell, said her husband Bruce was having a seizure. Officers rushed to the Nickell’s mobile home, to find Stella standing frozen at the door… Bruce was on the floor fighting for his life. As Stella became the beneficiary of over $175,000 in a life insurance pay-out, forensics discovered that Bruce had consumed painkillers laced with cyanide. A week later, fifteen-year-old Hayley was getting ready for another school day. Her mom, Sue, called out ‘I love you’ before heading into the bathroom and moments later collapsed on the floor. Sue never regained consciousness, and the autopsy revealed she had been poisoned by cyanide tainted headache pills. Just like Bruce. While a daughter grieved the sudden and devastating loss of her mother, a young woman, Cindy, was thinking about her own mom Stella. She thought about the years of neglect and abuse, the tangled web of secrets Stella had shared with her, and Cindy contemplated turning her mom into the FBI… Gripping and heart-breaking, Gregg Olsen uncovers the shocking true story of a troubled family. He delves into a complex mother-daughter relationship rooted in mistrust and deception, and the journey of the sweet curly-haired little girl from Oregon whose fierce ambition to live the American Dream led her to make the ultimate betrayal. Originally published as Bitter Almonds . Revised and updated edition.
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of If You Tell comes the chilling, unputdownable story of Sharon Nelson, the minister’s wife whose two husbands mysteriously ended up dead. Colorado, 1976. When Reverend Mike Fuller and his beautiful wife Sharon arrive in the sleepy town of Rocky Ford, local residents think something’s off about the new couple. The God-fearing minister is gruff and cold, while charismatic Sharon has her husband wrapped around her finger. It isn’t long before Sharon is charming her husband’s congregation, and finds herself in a tryst with local, married optometrist Perry Nelson . After the affair ends both their marriages, Sharon and Perry tie the knot. But shortly afterwards, Perry disappears. When his body is shockingly discovered the bottom of a canyon, his death is ruled an accident, allowing grieving widow Sharon to claim his substantial life insurance. Trying to move on from the tragedy, Sharon soon remarries fireman Glenn Harrelson . But when the charred remains of Glenn’s body are discovered with two bullet holes in his skull, the police can’t help but question if both men dying in such mysterious circumstances is one coincidence too many… Shocking, sensational and gripping, this is the true story of the black widow Sharon Nelson, a must-read tale of greed, sex and murder in a sleepy Colorado town that will have true crime fans of The Staircase , American Mother and Making a Murderer hooked from start to finish. This book was originally published as Confessions of an American Black Widow and Bitch on Wheels . Read what everyone is saying about American Black Widow : “ Another winner from Gregg Olsen!!! If you really love a great, nail-biting true crime novel, THIS is it!! Once you start, it's darned hard to put down. Seriously. Mr Olsen again takes you on a twisty, narrow road… you just cannot put this book down .” Amazon reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “ Gripping … keeps you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end … peppered with shocking revelations, twists, and turns … captivating and spine-chilling .” Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “ Oh my goodness … I could not put this book down … fabulous. ” Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “You pick up this book and start to read. Suddenly you realize you cannot stop reading , you need to know what happened next… a page turner … this book deeply affected me and I eat true crime books for breakfast… amazing … one of Gregg Olsen's finest .” Amazon reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “ I read this book in one sitting. I couldn't put it down. ” Amazon reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “ I couldn't put it down. Brilliantly written. I just found my favorite author.” Amazon reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Olsen is an incredible author. I couldn't put it down . Excellent read! … Bravo!! ” Amazon reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “ Amazing… WOW! Another winner for Gregg Olsen!” Amazon reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “ Amazing … I literally could not put the book down .” Amazon reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “ Kept me riveted from the very beginning to the very last page! I strongly recommend this book for any true crime fan.” Amazon reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “ I couldn't put the book down . The author made all the characters come alive.” Amazon reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “ Once you start you don’t want to stop until you are done .” Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “ Amazing … a must read .” Amazon reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “ Loved the book! … I could not ask for a better read!” Amazon reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “ Excellent … kept me on the edge of my seat … You had better hang onto your hat for this read .” Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The #1 New York Times and Amazon Charts bestselling author Gregg Olsen solves a murder among the Amish and reveals the conspiracy to keep it a secret in a heartbreaking and horrifying true-crime story. In 1977, in an Ohio Amish community, pregnant wife and mother Ida Stutzman perished during a barn fire. The coroner’s report: natural causes. Ida’s husband, Eli, was never considered a suspect. But when he eventually rejected the faith and took his son, Danny, with him, murder followed. What really happened to Ida? The dubious circumstances of the tragic blaze were willfully ignored and Eli’s shifting narratives disregarded. Could Eli’s subsequent cross-country journey of death—including that of his own son—have been prevented if just one person came forward with what they knew about the real Eli Stutzman? The questions haunted Gregg Olsen and Ida’s brother Daniel Gingerich for decades. At Daniel’s urging, Olsen now returns to Amish Country and to Eli’s crimes first exposed in Olsen’s Abandoned Prayers , one of which has remained a mystery until now. With the help of aging witnesses and shocking long-buried letters, Olsen finally uncovers the disturbing truth—about Ida’s murder and the conspiracy of silence and secrets that kept it hidden for forty-five years.