Eat the Evidence

The Bar Jonah Trilogy #1

by John C. Espy, John E. Espy

Considered an expert in the area of psychopathic behavior, Dr. Espy has interviewed more than 30 serial murderers throughout the world including Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy.

But when he was assigned to be the lead evaluator for Montana State Prison inmate Nathaneal Bar Jonah, an already once convicted serial child molester and attempted murderer in Massachusetts, Espy encountered a parasitic personality beyond imagination: a modern-day Cronos, the Greek mythological figure who devoured his children.

Weighing over 375 pounds, Bar Jonah worked as a short order cook at Hardy’s, carried a stun gun, impersonated police officers, told masterful lies, wrote unbreakable codes, cooked and shared with friends strange-tasting chili and spaghetti sauces, and was thought by Montana State detectives to have murdered and cannibalized at least one victim, 10-year-old Zach Ramsay.

Culled from hundreds of hours of exclusive interviews with Bar Jonah, dozens of others who either knew or were involved with him, Montana State investigators and prosecutors, and Zach Ramsay’s mother, Espy retells Bar Jonah’s entire life—from the time before he was conceived to after his death—and those who were harmed by him in unparalleled detail and scope.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, Biography

296 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 7, 2014

Reviews

[Eclectic Review · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Bar Jonah liked to break his victims. To create a fissure in their being that would last a lifetime so that when the thin-membrane scar of the crevasse was ruptured, the hydra would re-emerge and consume them once again from the inside out. At least with one victim however, he not only broke him, he also ate him."

I chose this book because I had not heard of Bar Jonah and am one who has been horrified and fascinated by the minds of these sick and evil predators for years. This book did not disappoint.  Though this is book one, I don't want to read any further and just be resigned to the fact the man was caught and is now deceased.

As an infant, Nathaneal Benjamin Levi Bar Jonah (christened David Paul Brown) was diagnosed with hydrocephaly where spinal fluid builds up in the brain impeding it to grow and develop normally. He also had a very high fever for several days that could have caused even more brain damage. In his teens he was diagnosed with hypofrontality, 'his ability to be able to discern right from wrong in the moment was broken as was his ability to foresee the consequences of his behavior before he did it."

Bar Jonah hid his depravity for boys by pretending to be a good Christian and believed he was sent by God "to punish those children who enticed good men to commit evil." "He said Dracula, along with Christ, were his only heroes."

His mother was the "understanding" parent who was naive enough to think her son could be helped even though at seven years old he tried to strangle one of his playmates. When he was in the hospital with a near fatal wound to his leg due to a sledding accident, the nurses said he was a "spooky little kid".

After manipulating the system for years, he was finally incarcerated in 1977 for attempted murder and kidnapping given the maximum sentence of 18-20 years on all account after confessing his crimes. Five years later he petitioned and was moved to Bridgewater State Hospital (BWSH) in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, which was known in the pedophile community as "graduate school. You could go in as a freshman child molester and come out with a doctorate in pedophilia."

In 1991, Bar Jonah manipulated the system once again and spoke to two Christian psychologists who recommended he be paroled and with the help of a seedy judge, Bar Jonah was let loose in Montana to live with his brother and family, and his mother.

In 1996, a young boy, Zach Ramsey, disappears in Great Falls, Montana, and that's where the story just gets even stranger. The incompetence of the judicial system and the stupidity and naivety of the people around him astounds me. They had so many clues to this man's depravities but did nothing about it.

Though Book One does not cover his arrest, I read elsewhere he was arrested in 1999 for carrying a fake gun in a police uniform and after searching his home, was arrested for Zach's death. Bar Jonah died in 2008.

I don't need to tell you how disturbing and unsettling this book is; however, Dr. Espy covers the incredulous life of a serial pedophile from interviews with Bar Jonah and others who knew or were involved with him. All I can say, if you have a bad feeling about someone, trust your instincts! A must-read for law enforcement personnel, parents, and true crime fans.

Thank you to Dr. Espy and BookGlow for giving me the opportunity to review this book with no expectations of a positive review given.

More book reviews at The Eclectic Review

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an advanced copy to review. I have read many true crime novels and have always found them fascinating. With the internet nowadays, you can go and find so many versions and details at the click of a button, which is why I found this being a trilogy disappointing. It was a very easy read - I finished in less than a day. It is oddly written. It's almost as if it's being spoken allowed. Sometimes it's written more in evidence detail and some as if the character is speaking. Like if the person has bad English/poor education, it was written that way. I don't know if it was intended because when it was written more like evidence/police notes/facts it was still poorly written. Maybe the author was trying to write this way? It's hard to describe. Sometimes I felt like I was reading a fictional story, due to the amount of detail and description given that, unless the author was physically there, I found it hard to not think it was embellished. A lot of work and research was put into this. More than this sick individual ever deserves, but it was definitely a page turner and very disturbing.

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

On one hand, the writing for what is obviously just a collection of case notes was abysmal and desperately needed a ghostwriter. On the other hand, it is a gift that no ghostwriter prevented bonkers captions like “the garage where Bar Jonah buried the bones and held his puppet shows.” Only true crime book I have ever witnessed where the center photo section includes the killers’ literal nudes and I can’t decide which side of the fence that goes on.

[Aurora Dimitre · Rating 2 out of 5]

i... don't know how to rate it. because i have to give espy props for this being absolutely repulsive, probably the most disgusting thing i've ever read... but i feel like he should not have written like he was writing a porno??? that was maybe. i mean that was a choice. maybe we don't describe the rape scenes in such detail, maybe.

[Glenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the whole trilogy, so I guess I was engaged enough or curious enough to finish the story. I mostly finished the series because I actually live in Montana and somehow missed this whole episode of our criminal history. The story of Bar Jonah is certainly fully fleshed out and terrifying in the amount of evil that he consisted of. Obviously, the author had a great level of detail from him in order to do this. But, I was really offended in the manner in which virtually ever individual in this series was depicted as deeply crazy, insane, damaged, developmentally disabled, a poor parent, corrupt, inept or incapable of doing their jobs. The number of times that Montana was noted as being a state known for its vigilantism was offensive. I guess the author should share with me when was the last time we Montanans saddled up and shot someone in a vigilante action. Because it has been no time in my lifetime. I think, and especially in the first book of this series, the absolute awful monotone delivery of detail of the crimes was meant to mimic Bar Jonah's perspective and that accounted for the lack of literary interest. However, when the author switched to anyone else's perspective, the writing didn't improve. The series was repetitive. It could have been shortened by at least one of the books to convey the same information. I agree with the author that the justice system really failed in protecting its citizens from a monster like Bar Jonah. But, the author's level of disdain against the justice system in this series was so biased as to be offensive also. I got the most out of the author's interview which is found at the end of each of the books wherein he details his dealings and beliefs about serial criminals and pedophiles in particular. That part was very sobering and terrifying. I had been a mother in the 90's when Bar Jonah was afoot in Montana and always nervous for my children. I guess now that I am less ashamed at what I thought was "hovering" at the time. So, yes I read the series and it was full of pretty frightening realities, but I feel the author could have couched the whole series in better writing finesse than he did.

[Gabrielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was 4yrs old when Zach went missing in the town 80 miles from where I lived. Granted I was too young to know at the time, but I distinctly remember my mom and step dad talking about the articles in the paper about the case in the morning before school when I was a bit older. In my late teens and early adulthood I became a true crime junkie, with random remberings of the "guy who ate a kid in Great Falls", only fleeting memories of those school mornings and my parents talking quietly. Now that I'm 30, I decided to deep dive into the case that was so close to home and holy hell.
What really gets me, is all the places in Great Falls I know, which makes it even spookier. I travel there numerous times a week for medical care for my sons. Knowing that for a long stretch of time I was eating Hardee's for lunch... the same Hardee's where Bar Jonah worked.... 🤮 I know where the apartments are and where Whittier school is, it's all so surreal and goose pimple inducing.

What a wild case, what a sick monster, and a colorful group of background characters as well. Phew!!

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy shizz what did I just read? That was pure crazy. There are 2 things that stuck out to me.
1. Bar Jonah is always described as being a gross, hugely obese man who was always hungry. He had rotten teeth and greasy, scraggly hair and beard, who was always smoking. He preferred the company of young boys and was always seeking them out. How does this translate into a trustworthy person? He impersonated a cop and a federal marshal. Like, really?!!
2. He seems to really believe that he’s doing something good. That God wanted him to remove boys that “tempted” good men into doing bad things. When people did confront him or decline his offers of help he acted like they were in the wrong for calling him on his bullshit.

[Elizabeth Mellen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was (expectedly) graphic and horrifying, and the information gathered was interesting and seemed to cover many sides to one interaction. It was frightening to see how often Bar seemed convinced he was innocent and a hero, when others’ perspectives show what really happened was different than his perception. And especially upsetting to see him freed over and over again, through lies and mishaps.

That said, I didn’t care for the actual prose much, especially how often a sentence started with “Bar Jonah did [action].”

[Rachelle Hinkley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genuinely the scariest book I have ever read. I'm moving on to book two, I'm going to not make the mistake of eating while I read it.

[Hana Correa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eat The Evidence is book one of a trilogy that follows the life and exploits of Bar Jonah, a violent pedophilic serial killer who quietly stalked the children of the neighborhoods he lived in from the time he was a child until his eventual arrest in the late ‘90’s. The novel is equal parts disturbing and fascinating. It has many aspects that are completely shocking. I did find it disturbing and frustrating that authorities had this violent, sexual predator in their crosshairs so many times and he eluded proper justice. It does beg the question how much extra suffering was caused by the obvious failures of the criminal justice system? A must read for any true crime fan. Not for the faint of heart or the easily offended.

[Lureta Whitewing-Porter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark mind of a Pedophile

I've read numerous true crime, and serial murderer stories. This is one of the top disturbing criminal sociopath books I've ever read. Will leave you with nightmares.