Torrey Pines Murders


Book Description

A True Crime anthology featuring some of the more mysterious murders of the past twenty years... The Torrey Pines beach killings are two of the most hideous, savage murders in California history, made seemingly worse by the beautiful location at which they took place. But, as time has failed to heal the wounds torn into families by these horrific events, it now seems as though the crimes that took place could have claimed a third, and maybe even a fourth, victim.By day, the beautiful, stunning beach in San Diego, Southern California is a hot spot for sun seekers, surfers and those looking for a walk by the sea. The glittering ocean is contained, it appears, within the magnificent nearby cliffs and the long, wide soft sandy beach sneaks slowly towards an esplanade, complete with inevitable parking lot. The arches of a wide bridge provide a touch of privacy and quiet. Life towers offer safety from the waves.As wonderful as Torrey Pines is during the day, at night it changes. The dark brings out shadows. And those shadows became a lot deeper after the night of August 12th, 1978.




The Torrey Pines Murders


Book Description

By day, the beautiful, stunning beach in San Diego, Southern California is a hot spot for sun seekers, surfers and those looking for a walk by the sea. The glittering ocean is contained, it appears, within the magnificent nearby cliffs and the long, wide soft sandy beach sneaks slowly towards an esplanade, complete with inevitable parking lot. The arches of a wide bridge provide a touch of privacy and quiet. Life towers offer safety from the waves. As wonderful as Torrey Pines is during the day, at night it changes. The dark brings out shadows. And those shadows became a lot deeper after the night of August 12th, 1978.




Twisted Tour Guide to San Diego: Shocking Deaths, Scandals and Vice


Book Description

Avoid The Tourist Herds. What could be more uninspiring than seeing the identical attractions that everyone else has for decades? This Twisted Tour Guide escorts you to the places locals don’t want to talk about anymore…the same places people once couldn’t stop talking about. Long after the screaming headlines and sensationalism has subsided, these bizarre, infamous and obscure historical sites remain hidden awaiting rediscovery. Each visitation site in this guide is accompanied by a story. Many of the narratives defy believability, yet they are true. The profiled cast of characters feature saints and sinners (with emphasis towards the latter). Notorious crimes, murders, accidental deaths, suicides, kidnappings, vice and scandal are captivating human interest tales. The photography from each profile showcases the precise location where each event occurred. The scenes can seem ordinary, weird and/or sometimes very revealing towards clarifying the background behind events. If you’re seeking an alternative to conventional tourism, this Twisted Tourist Guide is ideal. Each directory accommodates the restless traveler and even resident looking for something unique and different. Historical Scandals: Dead Man’s Point, Old Town’s Flawed Jail, Hanging A Horse Thief, A Rouge Litany of Flawed Mayors, The Rainmaker, Abraham Lincoln’s Love Letters, Kumeyaay Forced Relocation, Children’s Hospital Tainted Blood, Strippergate, Big Boom Bust and Del Mar Racehorse Fatalities. Flawed Personalities: Count Agoston Haraszthy, Davis’ Waterfront Folly, The Future Duchess of Windsor, Beach Boy Brian Wilson’s Vagrancy Arrest, Actor Desi Arnez’s Parking Shooting, Bird Rock Bandits Fatal Beating, Distancing From Aviator Charles Lindbergh, Junior Seau, Kellen Winslow II, Online Influencer Ali Abulaban and Unconventional Dr. Seuss. Architecture With A Distinctive Past: Stingaree District, The Golden Poppy Brothel, U.S. Grant Hotel, Cabrillo Monument, Escondido Bomb Factory, 101 Ash Street Skyscraper and Horton Plaza Hospitality and Hauntings Casa de Estudillo, Cosmopolitan Hotel, Whaley House, Villa Montezuma, El Cortez Hotel and Del Coronado Resort Hotel, Financial Sleights of Hand California National Bank Bust, Anti-Gambling Crusade, C. Arnholt Smith’s Crumbled Empire, J. David Investments and the Foreign Currency Scam, Congressman Randy Cunningham, Drug Money Laundering Sting of a Political Fixer, Congressman Duncan Duane Hunter and Gina Champion-Cain Legacies and Notorious Events Southern California To Phoenix Road Race, Balboa Park’s Nudist Colony, Japanese-American Internment, Elvis Presley’s 1956 Concert, El Cajon Boulevard Drag Racing Riots, Del Coronado Bridge Suicides, Baseball’s Roberto Clemente Abduction, Midair Collision of PSA Flight #182 and Cessna aircraft and Menacing Runaway Tank. Infamous Murders Ruth Sackett Muir, Morse and Goedecke Family Murders, Tara Rand, Donald Tubach, Mobster Frank Bompensiero, Robert Alton Harris, Torrey Pines Beach, Brenda Spencer, San Ysidro McDonald’s Massacre, Broderick versus Broderick, John Morency, San Diego State Graduate Student Kills His Professors, Comic Publisher Todd Loren, Charles Keever and Jonathan Sellers, Father Louis Gutierrez, Heaven’s Gate Mass Suicide, Santana High School Shooting, Serial Killer John Albert Gardner III, Ryan Jenkins, Trading Places With Your Murder Victim, Vanishing McStay Family, Death at Speckles Mansion, Suburban Bondage Killing, Murder and Abduction By A Trusted Family Friend, Homeless Serial Killer, Poolside Party Shooter and Poway Synagogue Shooting Law Enforcement Related Killings Fatal City Jail Fire, Hub Loan Shoot Out, Grape Street Park, Officers Christopher Wilson, Jeremy Henwood and Jonathan DeGuzman, Demetrius DuBose and Daniel Chong’s Isolation Hell.




Murder in California: Serial Killers and Famous Unsolved Murders


Book Description

Murder in California: Serial Killers and Unsolved Murders profiles some of California’s most infamous murder cases. The edition photographically transports you to actual murder sites along with images related to the case and perpetrator(s). The images and accompanying profiles offer a descriptive account and follow-up aftermath providing an important understanding into the far-reaching effects of each crime. Convicted killers and their confirmed victims are identified. For criminals still living, their current incarceration location is provided. A directory of precise crime site locations is included. The captured snapshots portray visual testimonies of extinguished lives removed by acts of violence. Crime scenes often revert back into unremarkable landscape or unassuming buildings over the ensuing years and decades. Several have altered little since their moment of infamy. Many are passed daily by pedestrian and vehicular traffic unaware of a location’s unique significance. California has been the site for many notorious serial killers. The following are portrayed in this edition: Zodiac Serial Killer: Public and media taunting Charles Manson’s serial killing clan Dorothea Puente: The elderly and frail targeted and eliminated for profit Efren Saldivar: Caregiving medical homicide The Unabomber: His UC Berkeley experience Zebra Killings: San Francisco’s racially targeted genocide Heaven’s Gate Cult mass suicide Edmund Kemper III: Monstrous hitchhiking murders Bittaker and Norris: Torture van murders Juan Corona: Migrant workers serial killer Richard Trenton Chase: The vampire killer The Speed Freak Killers and their burial bone yards Herbert Mullin: Killing for earthquake preventiveness David Carpenter: The devil behind bifocals and a stutter Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple Massacre: Lost in a jungle mass suicide The Hillside Strangler Duo: Killing Cousins Rodney Alcala: A beastly killing machine slaying beauty Richard Ramirez: Satan’s ambassador Golden State Killer: The triumph of forensic tracking A Black Hand of Death and Inhumanity (Jose Manuel Martinez) A Killing Rampage Preying On Society’s Most Vulnerable Population (Jon David Guerrero) The Santa Rosa Hitchhiking Murders: preying on the innocent David Nadel: The death of a man and rebirth of a performance icon Torrey Pines Beach: Sands, Secrets and A Butterfly Dancer The continued fascination with the Black Dahlia Murder Fatty Arbuckle’s sex and homicide scandal A Classic Mob Contract Killing Of An Unwanted Distraction Was a 1963 beachfront slaying a prelude to future Zodiac terror? Geneva Ellroy: The transference of tragedy into literary expression A Double Tragedy Complicated By Mysterious Scenarios (Spreckels Mansion Death) Kym Morgan: Death by classified advertisement Kevin Collins: A solitary bus bench memorial to every parent’s nightmare Unauthorized Celebrity Biography Comics and A Founder’s Murder (Todd Lawrence) Ted Healy: The suspected homicide of the fourth Stooge The Resolute Will to keep William Desmond Taylor’s murder unsolved A Contract Killer Terminated By His Own Profession (Frank Bompensiero) Ramona Irene Price strolls innocently into a vanished past Raymond Washington: A cycle of senseless violence devours the Crips gang founder The Senseless Murder of a Catholic Priest on Holiday (Monsignor Louis Gutierrez)







La Jolla Shores Murders


Book Description

A Bury the Hatchet party in a wealthy enclave north of San Diego, California, ends with a hatchet buried in the head of the hostess. Bishop Bone takes the case at the request of ex-client, Vivian, who is actually being blackmailed. She wants Bone to solve the case before the police can link her to the dead woman. A homeless man was seen lingering around the edges of the party, but a ring of burglars was also active in the area at the time of the hostesss death. Suspects abound. Bone goes undercover as a homeless person to find the truth, but before he can do that a second womanalso a party attendeeis found dead. Both corpses were involved in the recently resolved, very controversial campaign to rid the childrens pool in La Jolla of seals. The victims were also substantial investors in a medical implant company founded by Vivians ex-husband. Bone soon realizes there is a lot more to this matter than murder, but by then, hes already become the next target.




Treachery at Torrey Pines


Book Description

"Shank" MacDuff embodies Southern California ease-a dashing blond Newport Beach surfer who makes good money working for a PGA golfer. Yet his world is shaken when friend and fellow caddy Buddy Franks dies dramatically. Buddy's widow recruits Shank to discover what really happened. The amateur sleuth draws upon his Caltech smarts and FBI Academy training to hunt for the killer. As he roams places like ocean-front La Jolla, colorful Las Vegas, and historic Del Mar race track digging for clues, challenging questions emerge: Are the unpredictable widow's intentions pure? Which is more slippery, the tournament director or his gelled hair? Is Buddy's mysterious past the cornerstone? Amidst interviews and incriminations, Shank risks his life while struggling to fill the deep-rooted void that lies at the center of his heart. Treachery at Torrey Pines is a dynamic thriller with intense action, tender moments, and tantalizing twists.




Criminal Investigation on the Street


Book Description

Criminal Investigation on the Street presents investigative principles and techniques—and applies them to solving real-world crimes—in an engaging, student-friendly style centered on the Investigative Triangle: legal aspects, evidence, and behavioral analysis. Students and instructors alike will benefit from this book’s comprehensive coverage and accessible writing style. Along with the Investigative Triangle model, which provides a solid framework for approaching investigations, students will also learn about Criminal Investigative Analysis, a range of behavior-based services and strategies to help solve crimes. Chapters 1–7 (Section I) present the principles and techniques of criminal investigation—history and theory, legal background, forensics, crime scene, witnesses and informants, interviews and interrogations—including a chapter on crime analysis and Criminal Investigative Analysis. Chapters 8–13 (Section II) apply these principles and techniques to specific types of crime, beginning with assault and death investigations and a separate chapter on culpable homicide. Section II also covers sex crimes; theft, burglary, robbery, and arson; enterprise and white-collar crime, and terrorism. The book is illustrated throughout with a variety of Exhibits: photographs and drawings, flowcharts, facsimiles of police documents, and other instructive visuals. Each chapter begins with an engaging vignette, some based on high-profile news articles and others drawn from the author’s extensive experience. Interactive features—Case Focus, You Call It, and You Write It—occur at strategic points in every chapter, challenging students to answer questions and apply concepts to actual cases and fictional scenarios. Each chapter ends with a return to the Investigative Triangle, assessing how it applies to the chapter’s main topics. Chapters 1–7 (Section I) each include a list of Important Cases (court decisions relevant to the chapter’s key concepts). At the end of every chapter (Sections I and II), the Investigate Further feature provides an annotated list of readings, films, and other resources appropriate for class projects, term papers, and special assignments. Each chapter concludes with review questions and a chapter summary. This book is geared to students in the Criminal Investigation course at both two- and four-year institutions, and will appeal to those aspiring to a career in any field related to criminal investigation.







The Crime Book


Book Description

Investigate 100 of the world's most notorious crimes, including the Great Train Robbery, the Lindbergh kidnapping, and the murders of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Were the perpetrators delusional, opportunist, or truly evil? Find out what really happened and how the cases were solved. Discover conmen with sheer verve, such as Victor Lustig who "sold" the Eiffel Tower to scrap dealers in 1925, adrenaline-fuelled escapes, and mind-bending exploits of pirates, kidnappers, and drug cartels. The Crime Book demystifies malware, cybercrimes, and Ponzi schemes and sets out the terrifying ploys of mass murderers from 16th-century Elizabeth Báthory who drained young girls' blood to the more recent exploits of Rosemary and Fred West. Like a virus, crime mutates and adapts. The Crime Book explains how pivotal moments in history opened up new opportunities for criminals, such as the smuggling of alcohol during the American Prohibition era. It also charts developments in justice and forensics including the Innocence Project, which used DNA testing to exonerate wrongly convicted convicts. It examines how the forces of law and order have fought back against crime, explaining ingenious sting operations such as tracking down the jewel thief Bill Mason and the final capture of murderer Ted Bundy. With a foreword from bestselling crime author Cathy Scott, The Crime Book is an enthralling introduction to humanity's darker side. Series Overview: Big Ideas Simply Explained series uses creative design and innovative graphics, along with straightforward and engaging writing, to make complex subjects easier to understand. These award-winning books provide just the information needed for students, families, or anyone interested in concise, thought-provoking refreshers on a single subject.