A true crime case that still interests

They called it "a shocking story of lust and murder in the American heartland"

Nice turnout tonight as I discussed the long-ago murder case that became the subject of my first book, Reasonable Doubt.

The presentation was at the public library in Bloomington, Ill., the city where the brutal slayings of a young mother and her three children, the subsequent conviction of the husband and father, and the later freedom won for him in a second trial all remain controversial.

Even after all these years, people with a pretty direct connection to the case always seem to be drawn to these sessions. This time we had the man who was a deputy coroner and among the first investigators inside the crime scene; the widow of the defendant’s first criminal defense attorney; a woman who was a classmate of one of the murder victims; and the woman whose family was first to re-occupy the murder house when the first trial was over.

A show of hands at the end of tonight’s events looked like 60 percent of those present believe the police had it right the first time; 15 percent definitely feel the husband and father is innocent; 25 percent are uncertain.

Check out my website, stevevogelauthor.com, click on the Reasonable Doubt section, and you’ll find lots of primary source material about the true crime case that continues to fascinate.