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Notorious USA
Bodies Of Evidence (True Crime Collection): From the Case Files of Notorious USA
WITH PHOTOS
A New York Times bestseller by authors Gregg Olsen (“If Loving You Is Wrong,” “Starvation Heights”) and Rebecca Morris (“Ted and Ann – The Mystery of a Missing Child and Her Neighbor Ted Bundy”), authors of the upcoming “If I Can’t Have You – Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance and the Murder of Her Children” (St. Martins). Olsen and Morris take a new look at the Northwest’s most notorious crimes. Many of them made history. Two – Ted Bundy’s killings and Mary Kay Letourneau’s teacher sex scandal – made Time magazine’s list of the top crimes of the 20th century. Some are lesser known or have taken on new importance, such as one of the country’s first school shootings, in Moses Lake,
Washington.
Cases
Washington
Barry Loukaitis – Before Sandy Hook and Columbine, there was Frontier Middle School in Moses Lake, Washington.
Rosalina Misina Mendoza Dugeno Manthie Edmondson – She had many last names as she married and killed one husband after another.
Ruth Neslund – Her husband thought captaining a huge freighter right into the West Seattle Bridge was the worst that could happen to him. It wasn’t.
Mary Kay LeTourneau – She said they were “soul mates.” He made a bet with another student that he would sleep with her.
Ted Bundy – There’s only one “Ted” and he remains a part of our lives. Now we’ve learned more about his.
Kenneth Bianchi – Los Angeles’ most terrifying murders were finally solved 1,200 miles north in Bellingham, Washington.
With a bonus essay by Washington native Gregg Olsen on growing up in the shadow of serial killers Ted Bundy, Gary Ridgway, and Robert Lee Yates, Jr.
Oregon
Angela McAnulty – The mother tortured her teenage daughter until it was too late to save her.
Kyron Horman – The boy with the toothy grin disappeared June 4, 2010. Why hasn’t his step-mother been charged?
Jeannace Freeman and Gertrude Jackson – Central Oregon was as shocked by their lesbian affair as it was by the murder of Jackson’s two children.
Christian Longo – He failed in his own life, so he killed his family and assumed someone else’s.
With two bonus essays, one by Rebecca Morris about coming of age in Oregon as serial killers trolled I-5, and one about Gregg Olsen’s “date” with Oregon’s most notorious murderer, Diane Downs.
Idaho
Shasta Groene – the brave little girl was the only survivor of a random murder and kidnapping in Coeur d’Alene.
Jeralee Underwood – the eleven-year-old had the bad luck to meet a ruthless killer as she performed her favorite task of the day, delivering newspapers to her Pocatello neighborhood.
Robin Row – the only woman on Idaho’s Death Row, she set fires that killed her children soon after buying life insurance on them.
Angie Dodge – Carol Dodge grieved her daughter’s murder for years, until she became convinced the police had coerced a confession and convicted the wrong man. Now she’s working for Christopher Tapp’s release.
Lyda Trueblood – America’s first female serial killer liked to bake apple pies. She sprinkled in a secret ingredient – arsenic.
Sarah Johnson – The teenager with the blonde ponytail shot her parents with a rifle, then hid her blood-spattered pink bathrobe in the family garbage.
With a bonus essay from Olsen, author of the 2005 Idaho Book of the Year, The Deep Dark – Disaster and Redemption in America’s Richest Silver Mine.
A New York Times bestseller by authors Gregg Olsen (“If Loving You Is Wrong,” “Starvation Heights”) and Rebecca Morris (“Ted and Ann – The Mystery of a Missing Child and Her Neighbor Ted Bundy”), authors of the upcoming “If I Can’t Have You – Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance and the Murder of Her Children” (St. Martins). Olsen and Morris take a new look at the Northwest’s most notorious crimes. Many of them made history. Two – Ted Bundy’s killings and Mary Kay Letourneau’s teacher sex scandal – made Time magazine’s list of the top crimes of the 20th century. Some are lesser known or have taken on new importance, such as one of the country’s first school shootings, in Moses Lake,
Washington.
Cases
Washington
Barry Loukaitis – Before Sandy Hook and Columbine, there was Frontier Middle School in Moses Lake, Washington.
Rosalina Misina Mendoza Dugeno Manthie Edmondson – She had many last names as she married and killed one husband after another.
Ruth Neslund – Her husband thought captaining a huge freighter right into the West Seattle Bridge was the worst that could happen to him. It wasn’t.
Mary Kay LeTourneau – She said they were “soul mates.” He made a bet with another student that he would sleep with her.
Ted Bundy – There’s only one “Ted” and he remains a part of our lives. Now we’ve learned more about his.
Kenneth Bianchi – Los Angeles’ most terrifying murders were finally solved 1,200 miles north in Bellingham, Washington.
With a bonus essay by Washington native Gregg Olsen on growing up in the shadow of serial killers Ted Bundy, Gary Ridgway, and Robert Lee Yates, Jr.
Oregon
Angela McAnulty – The mother tortured her teenage daughter until it was too late to save her.
Kyron Horman – The boy with the toothy grin disappeared June 4, 2010. Why hasn’t his step-mother been charged?
Jeannace Freeman and Gertrude Jackson – Central Oregon was as shocked by their lesbian affair as it was by the murder of Jackson’s two children.
Christian Longo – He failed in his own life, so he killed his family and assumed someone else’s.
With two bonus essays, one by Rebecca Morris about coming of age in Oregon as serial killers trolled I-5, and one about Gregg Olsen’s “date” with Oregon’s most notorious murderer, Diane Downs.
Idaho
Shasta Groene – the brave little girl was the only survivor of a random murder and kidnapping in Coeur d’Alene.
Jeralee Underwood – the eleven-year-old had the bad luck to meet a ruthless killer as she performed her favorite task of the day, delivering newspapers to her Pocatello neighborhood.
Robin Row – the only woman on Idaho’s Death Row, she set fires that killed her children soon after buying life insurance on them.
Angie Dodge – Carol Dodge grieved her daughter’s murder for years, until she became convinced the police had coerced a confession and convicted the wrong man. Now she’s working for Christopher Tapp’s release.
Lyda Trueblood – America’s first female serial killer liked to bake apple pies. She sprinkled in a secret ingredient – arsenic.
Sarah Johnson – The teenager with the blonde ponytail shot her parents with a rifle, then hid her blood-spattered pink bathrobe in the family garbage.
With a bonus essay from Olsen, author of the 2005 Idaho Book of the Year, The Deep Dark – Disaster and Redemption in America’s Richest Silver Mine.
- GenresTrue CrimeNonfiction
172 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 4, 2013
163 people are currently reading
338 people want to read
About the author
Gregg Olsen
118 books7,170 followersThroughout his career, Gregg Olsen has demonstrated an ability to create a detailed narrative that offers readers fascinating insights into the lives of people caught in extraordinary circumstances.
A #1 New York Times bestselling author, Olsen has written ten nonfiction books, ten novels, and contributed a short story to a collection edited by Lee Child.
The award-winning author has been a guest on dozens of national and local television shows, including educational programs for the History Channel, Learning Channel, and Discovery Channel. He has also appeared on Good Morning America, The Early Show, The Today Show, FOX News; CNN, Anderson Cooper 360, MSNBC, Entertainment Tonight, CBS 48 Hours, Oxygen’s Snapped, Court TV’s Crier Live, Inside Edition, Extra, Access Hollywood, and A&E’s Biography.
In addition to television and radio appearances, the award-winning author has been featured in Redbook, USA Today, People, Salon magazine, Seattle Times, Los Angeles Times and the New York Post.
The Deep Dark was named Idaho Book of the Year by the ILA and Starvation Heights was honored by Washington’s Secretary of State for the book’s contribution to Washington state history and culture.
Olsen, a Seattle native, lives in Olalla, Washington with his wife and Suri (a mini dachshund so spoiled she wears a sweater).
A #1 New York Times bestselling author, Olsen has written ten nonfiction books, ten novels, and contributed a short story to a collection edited by Lee Child.
The award-winning author has been a guest on dozens of national and local television shows, including educational programs for the History Channel, Learning Channel, and Discovery Channel. He has also appeared on Good Morning America, The Early Show, The Today Show, FOX News; CNN, Anderson Cooper 360, MSNBC, Entertainment Tonight, CBS 48 Hours, Oxygen’s Snapped, Court TV’s Crier Live, Inside Edition, Extra, Access Hollywood, and A&E’s Biography.
In addition to television and radio appearances, the award-winning author has been featured in Redbook, USA Today, People, Salon magazine, Seattle Times, Los Angeles Times and the New York Post.
The Deep Dark was named Idaho Book of the Year by the ILA and Starvation Heights was honored by Washington’s Secretary of State for the book’s contribution to Washington state history and culture.
Olsen, a Seattle native, lives in Olalla, Washington with his wife and Suri (a mini dachshund so spoiled she wears a sweater).
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 16 reviews
October 1, 2016
A true crime book with about 20 cases in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, including Ted Bundy, Gary Ridgeway, Kyron Hormon and many more. Includes lots of b/w photos.
I've read books by Gregg Olsen and Rebecca Morris previously and have the same criticism for this book as the others - each author seems to take a small bit of information and basically repeat it over and over again. For example, The Confessions of an American Black Widow: A True Story of Greed, Lust and a Murderous Wife.
I've read books by Gregg Olsen and Rebecca Morris previously and have the same criticism for this book as the others - each author seems to take a small bit of information and basically repeat it over and over again. For example, The Confessions of an American Black Widow: A True Story of Greed, Lust and a Murderous Wife.
May 19, 2014
This is an interesting true crime set by Gregg Olsen and Rebecca Morris (author of "Ted and Ann", a book I read and reviewed a few months ago). These crimes run the gamut of dates from the 1800s to the current decade. I had already read about a few of these crimes, but many of them were ones I had not heard or read about. One of them even had a film made about it by Brad Pitt's production company in 2013 (the story about Christian Longo).
January 18, 2018
Different Take on True Crime
I love reading within the crossed genre’s of crime, legal, police procedural and psychological suspense. This book was recommended reading after reading 2 of Gregg Olsen’s psychological suspense/crime fictional novels.
I’ve read True Crime Nonfiction before but much of this series was written in a unique way by the authors proximity and how his life intersected with more than one serial killer- to grow up and live where so many serial killers operated I can’t imagine that it did not affect the author as well as every other family. I can only imagine the angst parents had in the time of Ted Bundy, the Green River Killer et al. Every time their children, especially daughters , left their homes.
I love reading within the crossed genre’s of crime, legal, police procedural and psychological suspense. This book was recommended reading after reading 2 of Gregg Olsen’s psychological suspense/crime fictional novels.
I’ve read True Crime Nonfiction before but much of this series was written in a unique way by the authors proximity and how his life intersected with more than one serial killer- to grow up and live where so many serial killers operated I can’t imagine that it did not affect the author as well as every other family. I can only imagine the angst parents had in the time of Ted Bundy, the Green River Killer et al. Every time their children, especially daughters , left their homes.
June 9, 2024
Guess I'm the sucker
I trusted Gregg Olsen based on Ann Rule's fervor for him. I trusted Rebecca Morris based on Olsen's. And here we are. Your books are well written but your trying to defend a baby killer has gone too far. You know the case. The one you tried to defend using drama sucking Michael Baden in. You smoothed through the painful autopsy results like it was cotton candy. I no longer trust you all, and by extension, Stephanie. You will no longer be recipients of my hard earned $3.98. Go ask Kim Cantrell for a five star vote.
I trusted Gregg Olsen based on Ann Rule's fervor for him. I trusted Rebecca Morris based on Olsen's. And here we are. Your books are well written but your trying to defend a baby killer has gone too far. You know the case. The one you tried to defend using drama sucking Michael Baden in. You smoothed through the painful autopsy results like it was cotton candy. I no longer trust you all, and by extension, Stephanie. You will no longer be recipients of my hard earned $3.98. Go ask Kim Cantrell for a five star vote.
November 14, 2021
Brief compilation of grizzly crime stories
This is a compilation of a lot of grizzly stories of terrible murders. If you are interested in being introduced to cases you might want to learn more about somewhere else, this may be an interesting resource for you. Coverage of each case is brief and cursory, and editing poor, which is annoying - seems like this was pretty hastily put together.
This is a compilation of a lot of grizzly stories of terrible murders. If you are interested in being introduced to cases you might want to learn more about somewhere else, this may be an interesting resource for you. Coverage of each case is brief and cursory, and editing poor, which is annoying - seems like this was pretty hastily put together.
December 31, 2023
Good read on the sad subject of murder. This book revolves around murders in the Pacific northwest. It was amazing to find out there were so many serial killers at work during the past. Men & women, young and old just crazy! Definitely a good read.
June 15, 2017
Interesting. I liked that the chapters were just quick summaries of what happened.
November 16, 2022
Read one book of the box set.
March 24, 2023
True Crimes Overview
An informative book going over the cases of multiple murderers. Interesting information if you are into true crime. Well written.
An informative book going over the cases of multiple murderers. Interesting information if you are into true crime. Well written.
January 11, 2014
This trilogy is about crimes in the northwest states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho. A majority of the crimes are murders and include well known cases like Ted Bundy and the Hillside Stranglers. There are also a number of crimes that were new to me. Included are crimes against children. These were graphic and really tore at my heart. A few are unsolved, including one that is most likely a wrongful conviction. There are a few photos at the end of each book. The book was well written. The cases were interesting. The authors did their homework.
January 2, 2020
Crime in Washington, Oregon and Idaho
This book contains some of the most sickening crimes imaginable: mothers brutally murdering their children on the flimsiest motives; senseless violence; home invasion with murder, kidnapping and rape; black widows; the first school shooting.
I am aware that all of these crimes are committed with nauseating frequency, but reading about them on an individual basis is sometimes overwhelming to the senses. If I thought Gertrude was a monster, it was because I hadn't met Angela.
31
This book contains some of the most sickening crimes imaginable: mothers brutally murdering their children on the flimsiest motives; senseless violence; home invasion with murder, kidnapping and rape; black widows; the first school shooting.
I am aware that all of these crimes are committed with nauseating frequency, but reading about them on an individual basis is sometimes overwhelming to the senses. If I thought Gertrude was a monster, it was because I hadn't met Angela.
31
January 26, 2014
A collection of crimes situated in the Northwest, Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
Well written but short not very detailed. Some famous names, Ted Bundy comes to mind. Also some personal notes from the authors about the times they 'encountered' the serial killers.
Well written but short not very detailed. Some famous names, Ted Bundy comes to mind. Also some personal notes from the authors about the times they 'encountered' the serial killers.
April 17, 2014
Interesting...but the stories are short and do not relate to each other
I like true crime stories so this boom was interesting. the stories were too short and sometimes contained a fiction like narrative.
I like true crime stories so this boom was interesting. the stories were too short and sometimes contained a fiction like narrative.
June 23, 2015
As a box set expected this to be longer, but it still was a good read. As a huge true crime fan, cases discussed were familiar to me but some of details were new information.
September 4, 2015
good stuff
Displaying 1 - 15 of 16 reviews