A Deadly Silence: The Ordeal of Cheryl Pierson: A Case of Incest and Murder

by Dena Kleiman

The Piersons. They were the family next door - picture-book America, close, loving, prosperous, observing conventions, upholding decent values. Then the father, James Pierson, was shot dead in the driveway of his suburban Long Island home, and the truth began to come out. The first horror was that his sweet high school cheerleader daughter Cheryl had hired the killer. The next was why she did it....

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Fishface · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story behind the murder of Jim Pierson, a notorious Long Island contract killing from the mid-1980s that was all over the front pages for a year and was even made into a episode of "21 Jumpstreet." Kleiman does an excellent job of telling this story, full of half-truths, unanswered questions and deeply troubling family secrets, which you'll find are on about the same level as the ones in Leslie Walker's SUDDEN FURY, Carmichael and Yaw's FAMILY SKELETON, or Dennis McAuliffe's BLOODLAND. Maybe even McDougal's MOTHER'S DAY. Just when you think you know everything, someone else comes out of the woodwork with fresh information -- some of it shattering. Don't miss this one.

[J.H. Moncrieff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sad story that happens much too often. Mother becomes ill, and after a long battle, dies. Father begins turning to his eldest daughter for love, getting more and more inappropriate until he's sexually abusing her.

The difference in this story is that the daughter had her father killed.

It's difficult to feel any sympathy for her father, James Pierson. Even if he didn't sexually abuse his daughter, this was a man who shot sparrows when he was bored, and beat his wife and children regularly. His wife's kidneys failed because of his recurrent beatings. He was a monster, and his overly doting mother didn't help matters. His mother was actually proud of the fact that her son's daughter and wife were "jealous" of her strangely close relationship with her son. She sounded like the mother-in-law from hell.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" People hammered that question at the daughter over and over again, with no acknowledgement of how shameful and embarrassing that revelation would have been for a teenager. In spite of the fact that dozens of adult witnesses admitted they suspected the truth and did NOTHING. In spite of the fact that Cheryl's own grandmother didn't believe her. How sad that Cheryl's abuse--not her actions because of it--was the most questioned part of her story. Why on earth would she lie about such a terrible, embarrassing thing?

I hope Cheryl Pierson was able to live in peace after the dust settled. Shame on the adults who did nothing to help her. The only person who tried was another teenager.

[Jill H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cultural taboo that reaches around the world is incest.......an unspeakable crime which ruins the lives of all concerned. This book tells the story of a young girl who murders her father or, rather, has him murdered, and the trial that resulted. According to the young woman, her father had been sexually molesting her for several years and was now turning his attention to her younger sister. In order to protect her sister, she engaged the help of a high school friend to shoot her father. Why he agreed to commit murder is part of the questions raised, as well as the veracity of the girl's story.

The community and family were split as to what really happened and the statements by the young woman and her friends contradicted each other and kept shifting. It leaves the reader wondering if the incest actually occurred or was it a spoiled daughter's spite against her father for unknown reasons. It is a disturbing and unpleasant tale and the author spends just a bit too much time on the pretrial and trial. This book is not for everyone.

[Maddie Sanchez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poorly written with grammar and spelling mistakes. Details are confusing and limited in areas. Names get switched around with no clarification. Dates and ages seem to get mixed up. The story is heartbreaking and it shows how the justice system and communities often fail to help victims of childhood abuse.

[Cheryl Schibley · Rating 4 out of 5]

True crime.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of repetition of events and flicking back & forth of the timeline

[Barbara Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rather liked it. Kept me in a state of questioning what really happened.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love true crime, I do. This wasn't one of my favorite of the genre though.

I disliked a few things:

I hated how we had to learn the geneology of both cheryl fathers side of the family, and also their mother. I realize the author was trying to give a dynamic of what made them the way they were, but I think it fell flat, because I think back on what I read, and was just like, why do I care that his grandmother cheated on his grandfather, or whoever it was?

I hated how it would jump time frames, one paragraph would be a long huge rambling geneology of his family the next paragraph would be some sort of story of something in the not so distant past, then the next would jump to a different character and what he was doing at the time of the murder, it got confusing sometimes.

I still don't know for sure if she was abused or not. or what the story is. I have no clue.

This book was written in 1988. I wish i'd been able to find a "where they are now" cause it'd be interesting to see.

[Famous · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this on the street and it kinda like reading an expanded version of the post. Can't help but read it if it's there, but it ain't literature. i was laid up last night feeling unwell and read the whole thing. Gruesome story, sensationalized -in itself, gruesome. Local interest story for me tho (been working out on long island some), and the psychological explorations extensively done through the court proceedings are nuanced and illuminating. But really, it was just the kind of true-crime trash novel that kept me on the couch drinking tea when i didn't feel well.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked up a few true crime books at a yard sale. This one gave me pause. A truly terrible topic to be sure. I almost set it aside a few times because the picture it paints of this dysfunctional family is just horrifying.

[Kristen Doherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Asad story about a 16 year old girl that was sexually abused and took matters into her own hands.

[Jean Darroch · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was a very quick, i am still not sure if she was abused or not. the book is a true story about a young girl who hired a class mate to kill her father.