Driven to Murder: The Blood Crimes at the Sam Donaldson Ranch

by Robert Scott

TV journalist Sam Donaldson hired Paul Posey as the new manager for his sprawling New Mexico ranch. Paul and his family settled into their new life. Then, in July 2004 Donaldson was stunned to discover that his ranch had become a blood soaked crime scene. The bullet-ripped bodies of Paul, his wife, and stepdaughter were found buried in a pile of manure. Paul's fourteen year old son Cody was soon in custody. But the shocking revelations had only just begun...

The Posey's appeared to be like any other ordinary American family. But did their carefully constructed veneer hide a dysfunctional family with dark secrets? Cody claimed he had suffered years of relentless physical and psychological abuse at the hands of his father, step-mother, and his step-sister...

Witnesses at the trial included Sam Donaldson, as well as neighbours who supported Cody's claims and others who disputed them. Was Cody a cold blooded killer - or separate the lies from the truth - and decide a teenager's fate...

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Mystery

385 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Robert Scott was an investigative journalist and crime expert.

Reviews

[Priscilla · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm on a real losing streak with new books lately, save for a rare gold nugget now and then. "Driven to Murder" is just another brick in the wall, or the road, or perhaps the next nail in the coffin. This is a 150-page story hidden in 384 pages of text. If you like or need highly repetitious repetition (yes, it deserves to be said twice), prefer your true crime with as little writerly shaping as possible, and have a craving for hundreds of pages of repetitive straight-from-the-transcripts testimony and court reports, then you have found your dream book.

In the words of a character from the book I picked up immediately after giving up reading this one to skim the last 180 pages last night, speaking like an omen after the fact (from Agatha Christie's "The Pale Horse", page 2), "I flicked back various pages...It all seemed uniformly bad - poorly written and singularly devoid of interest."

[Jeanine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave up at 93% and simply googled Cody Posey to find out what happened.. The psychiatric testimony drug in for way too long and was boring, boring, boring.

[Debra Komar · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the sort of book that gives the true crime genre a bad name.

[Lorie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Horrific case, yet settled well, imo

This book was not one of Scott's best work, but still an interesting case. Mostly court related information. As to Cody, he did commit a horrible act but I believe he was abused. The pictures that Grisham claimed showed Cody as smiling and proof that he wasn't abused is ridiculous, if you look closely you'll notice that his body language says a lot more. He stands apart and in one he clearly doesn't know what to do with his hands, showing discomfort.
I was glad to learn he might be rehabilitated.

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starts off okay, but the culprit is soon identified, and when the case gets to court it's the three victims who are put on trial (over hundreds of pages). A very frustrating read.

[CATHLEEN · Rating 2 out of 5]

Name that abuse, over and over again....

Just because of the identity of the owner of the ranch where this crime took place, a reader may be compelled to read this book. Who does not love a good crime story? Sadly, the author must have lacked enough material to make this an exceptional story. The author lists in detail the abuses suffered by the young man who turned to murdering his family. Those abuses are repeated over and over again. They are repeated by different persons before the crime, after the crime, during the crime, and after the trial. Less than halfway through, the reader is compelled to merely skim in hopes of reaching a place where the plot continues... And that place is never reached. The prolific repetition destroys what was otherwise a well written book by an author with obvious talent.

[Deborah Oates · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a rare read in the true crime genre that makes me want to stop reading and figure out how to get my time back but this one did it. I have perfected the art of skimming once again....for dozens of pages at a time. The author uses the name of Sam Donaldson like bait--don't fall for the celebrity tout! If you have an interest in this case, take the advice of another reader and google the results. This is so dull as to be painful. I kept reading in the hopes of something being written that could make me care about the main character, the victims, the police, the attorneys.....nope.

[Bob Addington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written

Well written and an advocate for abused children everywhere. For fear of retribution children and adults are afraid to talk about abused they suffer from their abusers. Law makers should make laws to protect them better The court issuing a piece of paper is no protection.

[Ann Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Justice for Cody

I liked the story, and felt much compassion for Cody. However, I scrolled quickly through hours of court proceedings which was a big turnoff. I scrolled on until the Judge announced his decision to put Cody in a juvenile facility ... thank goodness Cody has a chance for a normal life.

[Jane Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

True Crime Story

This is an interesting book. It tells the tale of a very young victim who has been severely abused by both his father and his stepmother until he kills his family. This book shows that at least New Mexico know how to treat juveniles.

[Viola Gray Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting story but got way too bogged down in repetition. The same evidence was given over, and over and over again. I almost quit reading it twice because I was getting very bored.

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Complex Case, Simplified

Would have liked to have read more about Cody, the person and heard more of his own voice. Everything written seemed to be from the outside looking in.

[Roger · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly written and frankly boring, I got through only about half this book before I said the hell it and closed it up. Not worth reading……….

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. I had heard about this case in the news. I also hear that Cody Posy has been released. It will be interesting to see how if he's productive. It was interesting to see how we as a socity see mental illness is a joke until it really hits home.

[Linnea · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book. couldn't put it down