Hush Little Baby

by Jim Carrier

It was almost too horrible to imagine. How could a nice young air force wife like Darci Kayleen Pierce kill another woman and steal her baby? Yet, something seemed terribly wrong that afternoon of July 23, 1987 when she arrived covered in fresh blood at an Albuquerque hospital emergency room. Darci claimed to have just given birth in her car to the premature infant crying in her arms, but refused all medical treatment. Suspicious of her story, the admitting staff called the police, and after hours of interrogation, the ugly truth became known.

That morning, Pierce had kidnapped Cindy Lynn Ray, twenty-three, a Mormon mother in her ninth month of pregnancy and driven her to a remote rural area. First strangling Ray unconscious, Darci used a car key to perform a crude Cesarean section on her, stole her baby, then left her to bleed to death..

In this electrifying true crime account, Jim Carrier dramatically recreates the bizarre life and events that compelled Darci to turn her tortured dream of motherhood into a hideous nightmare of unnatural violence and death!

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

279 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1992

About the author

Jim Carrier is an award-winning writer and filmmaker, known for his adventure, nature and science writing. His writing has appeared in the National Geographic, the New York Times, The Denver Post, magazines and anthologies, including the Best American Science and Nature Writing. He has roamed by jeep through the American West and by sailboat across the Atlantic and Mediterranean. His reporting from the West, as the Rocky Mountain Ranger, took him through 500,000 miles, 7,665 sunsets and 87 pairs of Levis. Carrier was founder of IntelliTours, a GPS-guided audio tour company.

Reviews

[Misty Marie Harms · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1987, New Mexico, Darci Pierce, wife of an Air Force MP, is expecting her first child. After telling her husband, family, and friends she is going to be induced she has a problem. She needs a newborn baby. Darci isn't pregnant and has been living a lie for 14 months. In desperation Darci kidnaps expectant mother, Cindy Ray, drives her to a remote location to perform a ruthless C-Section with a car key. After being transported to the hospital nurses and doctors start to realize Dari hasn't given birth and the baby she is holding isn't hers. For a small book it was a excellent read. I couldn't put it down.

🐱🐱🐱🐱

[Fishface · Rating 4 out of 5]

An atrocious story, well worth the read because it's an education about the lengths some people are driven to in order to get what they want. This, in turn, drives the people around the desperado to grasp at any bizarre explanation they can come up with to try to make sense of the crime, as you'll see in here. Not for the weak of stomach.

[Jewelianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though I keep saying I'm going to stop reading true crime because it always upsets me, I keep reading it anyway. This book was definitely disturbing/upsetting. But I actually think it was much better written than the majority of the true crime that I've read, especially in paperback.

For me, the most interesting part of true crime is always the psychology of the killer or criminal, and sometimes the victim. This book spent a lot of time on that topic, and much less on the tedium of the trial. It also didn't focus too heavily on the actual crime itself, which is good because it definitely is not the type of crime you want to read lots of details about if you are at all squeamish. I was very pleasantly surprised that the book was much more thoughtful and interesting than it was sensationalist. Perhaps that's because it was written in the early 1990s, and everything is seemingly more sensationalistic now!

[Sydney Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

For what appears to be a cheap little true crime paperback I actually REALLY enjoyed this book. Some of the court stuff was covered, but it didn't dominate half the book like some other true crime books, which tends to be the most boring part. A lot discussed the psychology and background of the murderer, which can be really interested. Definitely recommend for those that enjoy true crime, and it's a generally quick read.

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably the book that sparked my interest in reading. I love true crime. This is the very heartbreaking story of a woman's desperate need to have a child and the monstrous act she performs to get one.

[Mary Whidden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story and characters. Interesting plot. Liked that it was a factual story, but done sort of like fiction. Made for a good read.

[Leah Efferson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Jacki · Rating 3 out of 5]

good book, views the emotional states throughout a crime as well as analyzing the crime itself. Leads you through the lives and trials of both families torn apart. Trying to give understanding to what happens in the mind of a murderer.