true crime Archives

Hell’s Half Acre: The Untold Story of the Benders, America’s First Serial Killer Family

The Benders: Fact or Fiction? Author: Susan Jonusas It’s 1873, Labette County, Kansas and the West is still very much wild. It’s no surprise then that a family of serial killers could remain, preying off lonely travelers, for years. It’s also no surprise that this family, knowing that they were finally discovered, were able to easily disappear, leaving police, investigators, and heartbroken relatives of the murdered to chase answers and justice for two decades with few results and no real answers. Even still, the story of the infamous Benders is more legend than fact, speculation piled on top of a [...]

Frances Carden2026-09-13T17:17:30-07:00September 13th, 2026|Tags: book review, history, read, reading, serial killer, true crime|

Small Sacrifices

The Story of Diane Downs Author: Ann Rule May 19, 1983, began as any normal day would. It ended with a blood-spattered car, two children critically wounded, one dead, and a surprisingly calm, barely injured mother arriving at the McKenzie-Willamette Hospital in Springfield, Oregon. At the hospital, the desperate staff fought to save the two children who were still barely alive: Danny Downs (aged 3) and Christie Downs (aged 8). Meanwhile their mother, Diane Downs, who was suffering a minor gunshot wound to the arm, calmly walked police through the events of the night: a mysterious shaggy-haired stranger, an attempted carjacking [...]

Frances Carden2026-07-04T15:41:09-07:00July 4th, 2026|Tags: ann rule, Anne Rule, book review, Diana Downs, Diane Downs, read, reading, true crime|

Hunt: The True Story of Alaska’s Most Notorious Serial Killer, Robert Hansen

The Story of the Man Who Hunted Women Author: Ryan Green The story starts in the mind of a victim in the middle of chase that will end in murder. But at the moment, she is still alive, barely clothed, abandoned in the wilderness, surrounded by snow and cold. She’s trying to figure out how to survive, how to navigate this barren terrain and find the town again. That’s when she sees him, gun cocked, emerging from the snow. The hunt has begun. Robert Hansen began his reign of terror with rape. Then he escalated to murder, to silence his victims. [...]

Frances Carden2026-05-25T16:21:16-07:00May 25th, 2026|Tags: book review, read, reading, Robert Hansen, true crime|