Deadfall

by Robert Scott

John Annibel, 40, was the bad half of a set of twins. James stayed out of trouble...but John, with his hair-trigger temper and paranoia, was different. On Thanksgiving weekend, 1998, Debbie Sloan, 42, sat down next to a stranger in a bar. She wound up gasping her life away, slowly strangled to death by Annibel. He then dumped her nude body in a ravine in North California's secluded redwood forests. In September, 1999, thanks to the efforts of Mendocino County investigators, Annibel was convicted of Debbie Sloan's murder. But what of his other alleged crimes? In 1976, 15-year-old Sherry Lynn Smith was last seen alive heading toward Annibel's car. In 1980, Annibel's live-in girlfriend Andrea LaDeRoute vanished - until her skull was discovered in 2002. Georgina Pacheco was found raped and strangled in 1988. When the sisters of Sherry Lynn Smith and Andrea LaDeRoute teamed up to uncover the truth behind why earlier investigations of Annibel's activities in Humboldt County failed, what they found was possibly a trail of lies and criminality that defied the wildest fiction. As layer upon layer of deception was stripped away, new questions would be Why were so many people willing to protect this man - and would he ever be brought to justice?

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

304 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Robert Scott was an investigative journalist and crime expert.

Reviews

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 3 out of 5]

People!, exactly where do you think all of these mannequins come from that y’all keep finding in stagnant water and underbrush? Riddle me this-how often do you think mannequins are randomly taken from a mall and just tossed in the wilderness like some dreadful non-April April fools joke?
ITS NEVER A MANNEQUIN, OKAY?! In fact I can even recommend someone on Etsy who will make you a T-shirt if you need a tangible reminder. I wear mine all the time to give people that reminder. Please if you find what kinda might look like a sorta human body part just tell yourself it is and call 911. This is the end of my public service announcement.

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting case, but keeping track of the names was tough. Check out this sentence from page 80: 'The carnival worker was named Anthony Johnson (no relation to Nog Johnson, Carl Johnson, or Robin Johnson).'

[Marsmannix · Rating 2 out of 5]

meh. nothing special

[Karen Bullock · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a strange & bizarre tale that tells the reader the story of an unbalanced & often described as "weird" man, shunned by both his twin brother & his older brother growing up & unable to cement a romantic relationship with the girl of his dreams.
Nowhere in the midst of his crime spree did I really understand why he started killing; being a belligerent alcoholic does not necessarily make a person a serial rapist/killer.
Sad for the victims who crossed paths with someone who cared so little for life, & disappointed that the police were unable to detain him earlier on, especially when his name kept coming up upon the disappearance of each victim. Too many coincidences that were perhaps overlooked.
I've only rated this a 3 star effort because it seemed the writing got really bogged down on details in the beginning and so many names were introduced into the disappearance of one of the victims that I had to reread it twice just to keep myself straight.
This does not deter me from reading any other true crime novels by this author. He is an excellent writer.

[Paula Corregan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting book!

This is a detailed account of the hunt for justice by the relatives of several women and girls who were killed in Mendocino and Humboldt Counties, California. I would recommend it to other true crime readers.