A Beautiful Child

by Matt Birkbeck

Sharon Marshall was a brilliant and beautiful student whose future was filled with promise—until her murderous, fugitive father drew her into a lifetime of deception that became one of the most baffling cases in the annals of American true crime.A student at Forest Park High School near Atlanta, Georgia, popular blonde-haired Sharon Marshall was at the top of her class. Serving as a Lt. Colonel in the ROTC, she earned a full scholarship to Georgia Tech University to study aerospace engineering. She was the ultimate girl next door, sweet, generous, and well-adjusted. But Sharon had disturbing secrets so shocking and unique, they took more than a decade to unravel...This is the horrifying true story of a mysterious young woman caught in the violent web of the murderous fugitive she called her father—and a heartrending testament to the profound courage and perseverance of one woman trapped in the grip of extreme evil

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, Mystery, History, Abuse, Psychology

300 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Matt Birkbeck (born Brooklyn, N.Y.) is a bestselling author and journalist.
His debut work of fiction, The Wicked, was published in August 2025.

He is best known for his nonfiction books A Beautiful Child, which told the tragic story of "Sharon Marshall" and Franklin Delano Floyd, and the sequel Finding Sharon, which is a memoir about his ten-year effort, along with the FBI and National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, to find Sharon's true identity.

Both books were adapted by Netflix for the hit 2022 film Girl in the Picture, which Matt served as executive producer.

He is also known for The Life We Chose, about William "Big Billy" D'Elia, the former head of the Bufalino crime family; Deconstructing Sammy, about the life of Sammy Davis, Jr. and efforts to resolve his debts and his legacy; The Quiet Don, about Mafia boss Russell Bufalino; and A Deadly Secret, about New York real estate scion Robert Durst, who was accused of murdering his wife Kathie Durst and two others. A Deadly Secret was adapted in 2017 by Lifetime for the film The Lost Wife of Robert Durst.

He has also authored magazine pieces and features for Boston Magazine, Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Times, Reader's Digest, Playboy and others, and was a correspondent for People magazine focusing on crime and human interest stories.

Reviews

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is hard to rate for me! Michael Anthony Hughes was my foster brother!! I named my first child after him! Seeing his story unfold in print was a difficult thing to read. I knew he had been through a lot and I knew a little about how he came to be a foster child but to read about the things that I didn't know was heartbreaking.

For years I would look into the eyes of little boys wondering if they could be my Michael. 15 years later I still think about him often and I hope he knows how much we all love him!!!!

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 4 out of 5]

“My name is Warren and my wife is a whore in Las Vegas”
BIG WOW factor this entire book is one big WOW because it is unfathomable to me that that this went on as long as it did. It’s unforgivable and disgusting. And I’m obviously someone who can’t look away from a dumpster fire inside a train off its track because I can’t put this book down.

So I just read something in this book and I think it is bothering me. I don’t think this is at all a spoiler but rather a sad fact of life.
So the detectives are all getting up to speed on the Sharon Marshall case right? And they are studying photos. Well the first few pics that made the circle around the table were those of Sharon wearing “exotic” dancer outfits. Then one from her high school graduation popped up. So the detective says to himself that that photo would be the image he’d carry in his head-the graduation photo not those other photos, but this one when she looked fresh and young and beautiful with her whole life ahead of her. Sooo what?if the other team of detectives hadn’t found that one pic only the stripper photos they wouldn’t have worked as hard finding her? That she wasn’t valued as highly? What kind of message is that? I zoomed I. On that immediately and they should be ashamed of themselves.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find true crime books interesting to read once in awhile. The same way that I found my "social deviance" psychology class in college very interesting. To see how the brain can go so horribly wrong as a result of genetic anomaly (or more often as a result of abusive upbringing) is fascinating (while still sad and tragic.) Any way, true crime isn't a category of book that I would buy new or keep for my bookcase, but once and awhile I see one at a 2nd hand store or a thrift store and pick it up. This was one of those. It's the story of the one girl who was kidnapped at about 4 years old and raised by her abductor, who was a sick man (pedophile, murder, psychotic at a minimum.) She lived with him as his daughter until about the age of twenty, then he married her. Then at the age of 23 he killed her. She had a son left behind that went into the social services system. He kidnapped the son and within a month killed him too. The book was about the law enforcement officials multi-year investigation to try to figure out how many offenses this guy had done (including at least one other murder) and trying to figure out who this girl really was. She was kidnapped so young & lived under so many aliases it was about impossible. It was a horrible story, but interesting to read about the evolution of missing child legislation from the 1970s till today. Before the 80s all missing children were assumed to be runaways. Most were never even investigated. Most law enforcement offices had a required waiting period before they would even take down a written report (and they show that the quicker police pursue, the more likely they are found alive.) Anyway, if you find true crime interesting, it was well done.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Say your best friend is beautiful, smart and popular. But then you find out that her dad is crazy (like he bursts in the room during your sleepover brandishing a gun). You stay friends, but you know something's very wrong with her home life.
Imagine years later, you find out you didn't have an inkling of how bad it really was.
A Beautiful Child presents a true case of deception, murder and abuse that proves the adage truth is stranger than fiction.
It starts with the death of a young woman and follows the attempts of investigators (and the author) to find out who she was. But that's not even the half of it.
The true crime genre is filled with junk titles; books of poor writing and reporting that seem to have been produced to titillate. They have more in common with porn than literature.
But some are not that at all. Some, like A Beautiful Child, simply reveal a fascinating (if distrubing) story of the world around us.
SPOILER ALERT
This is something I would never do, but the book departs so radically from true-crime conventions that I can't help but address it. So, if you're still with me, what I'm trying to say is this: The mystery is unsolved. At the end of the book, "Sharon's" identity is still unknown, as is the body (or location) of her son. Floyd never confesses anything, nor does the DNA prove anything. The story is so bizarre and intriguing that it would be hard to argue this is a flaw. But as a reader, it's maybe the most shocking revelation of the book.

[Charlene Intriago · Rating 4 out of 5]

True crime. I was drawn to this story after hearing that some of the events took place in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Sad story of a child abducted and the life she lived, but well chronicled and well written.

[Anne Hawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story off a young girl who was abducted by a man (or she was given to him by her father) when she was about four to six years old. She was a beautiful child even then, but she managed to be an exceptional student who received a scholarship to Georgia Tech and a stunningly beautiful young woman. She wanted to be an astronaut and it appears as if she would have achieved that goal had she been allowed to. Instead, her father put her in stripper bars and basically became her pimp. Eventually he was implicated in her death.

I just finished this and found it to be impossible to put down. It is amazing to think about all "Sharon" accomplished in school, knowing what her home life was. I can't help but think of what she could have done in a nurturing home. Her abductor blamed all his trouble and bad behavior on his upbringing and yet he provided such a horrible life for her and she rose above it. What a tragedy all around.

My feelings about then end of the book are divided. It is amazing how much law enforcement has improved in the area of missing children. Where once there was little done nationally and local law enforcement didn't get involved until the child was missing 24 hours, now there are the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, America's Most Wanted, and numerous other groups to help families whose children are missing. Local law enforcement have the child's description on the police database within the hour, but still too many children are abducted and murdered.

[Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

Pretty good as far as "true-crime" books go. Concise yet does a decent job of presenting the case in an interesting way that humanizes the victim(s).

The story itself is a "best-seller" if only for the many unexpected twists and turns it takes. Absolutely harrowing and bizarre. "Sharon" (real identity still unknown) suffers at the hands of a severely disturbed pedophile "Warren" (who becomes her father after he kidnaps her as a young child, and eventually her husband after she gives birth to a son named Micheal whom Warren later kidnaps from foster care where the boy has been placed after Sharon is murdered--most likely by her kidnapper/father/husband Warren--and who is later also, authorities speculate, murdered by Warren). While serving his prison sentence he is tried and convicted of yet another crime, torturing and murdering a stripper who worked at the same club as Sharon--who btw, despite the abuse and dysfunctional childhood, achieved academic success while in high school, eventually earning a scholarship to Georgia Tech. Needless to say, she never went.

[♥ Marlene♥ · Rating 5 out of 5]

on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 I wrote about this book....


Wow this was such a good read.
Finished reading this on May 12th 2007
This was such a sad story . it grabbed me from page 1.
It is so shocking and unbelievable. Reading the description of the book you would not know
It is sad they still don’t know who Sharon really was. Where her real parents are , what happened.
I hope that one day this will be solved. Planning to check the authors site so now and then. He keeps us readers updated about the cases in his books.

I Highly recommend this book to True Crime Fans.
10

[Sabrina Rutter · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://www.mattbirkbeck.com/blog/fina... is one of the best written true crime books I have ever read! Birkbeck didn't just sit at his computer and let information flow to him, he went out and did his own research and interviews. Given the quality of writing and detail I would say Sharon Marshall's story effected him the way it effected all those involved with the Floyd investigation. It's a heartbreaking mystery that's impossible to not leave a lasting impression.
Sharon's story leaves so many asking how, why, who, and where. I myself started searching through missing persons files while reading this, even going so far as to join Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community to discuss this case with others who want answers. This is not a story that will be forgotten by those who read it. This is the kind of story that will shake you someplace deep inside and make you want to take action to help find the answers to all those questions.

[Heather Murphy · Rating 1 out of 5]

A terrible occurance. Do Not Read for fun! Only if you have to 'cause you're going through something similar and get some kind of therapy from realizing you are the only victum out there. I finished it in hopes to find some resolution. But all I came away with from reading this book is fear and sadness. It describes in much detail the actions and effects of a man that did horrific things to children. I would rather live my life in complete ignorance that people like that even exist.

[Rita · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read many, many TC stories that brutal in the telling but this story was heart-breaking. It left me breathless because it was so sad. I salute those dedicated detectives Bob Shock, Mark Deasaro, FBI Special Agent Joe Fitzpatrick and all the police agencies involved for their endless search to try and find Sharon's birth place, her beginnings and why it ended so horribly.

[Meconopsis Lingholm · Rating 4 out of 5]

absolutely harrowing.

[Dianne Landry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was familiar with this story before reading the book but wasn't aware of just how messed up it is. An interesting read.

[kutingtin · Rating 3 out of 5]

i really thought we’d find Sharon/ Tonya here.. This story needs to be told for the thousands of women out there who are silenced, tortured and traumatized by domestic abuse and sexual violence.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent investigative writing

A true crime page turner, well written and edited, chronicling the life of a beautiful child who was entrapped by evil, but never succumbed to it.

[Alyssa Albanese · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ugh, another heartbreaking and anger-inducing story! I can't believe I haven't heard of this one either. It's really awful that they still haven't figured out who Sharon is.

[Mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an incredibly sad story about a brilliant, likable girl who endured abuse at the hands of a man claiming to be first her father, then her husband for most of her short life. Although Matt Birkbeck is not an exceptional writer, "Sharon's" story is fascinating and heartbreaking enough to hold the reader's attention. Through my work with a volunteer organization (http://www.doenetwork.org), I was familiar with Sharon before reading this book. Though Birkbeck tends to skip around and use strange sentence structure, I appreciated his attention to detail in gathering all the information he could find about this unique case.

Yes, it's true. There is no happy ending. However, it does give us a reminder to speak up and listen to our instincts when we think there's something amiss.

[Ron Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book two weeks ago and I'm still thinking about it. It's the true story of a young woman who doesn't appeare to be what she says she is. That's all I can say without giving it away. It's an incredible story and a very, very good read. It's the kind of book that you won't put down. The author: Matt Birkbeck, is an investigative journalist and he does a remarkable job sorting out all the twists and turns and putting it into one cohesive storyline. It's a very disturbing story, but unfortunately it's all too real and true. I urge any parent or anyone who deals with children to read this. Amazing book.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heartbreaking story. I would find myself getting so angry while reading this book. I wanted to strangle this man. Death row is too good for him. No one ever found out who "Sharon" really was! Or where he buried her son's body. This man was a disease on the world. It was horrible that this girl had to live like that. This man should NEVER have been allowed to walk the streets has a free person again after molesting the 4 yr. old in the first place. This book opens your eyes to our law & legal system & it's not pretty.

[Dale Stonehouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the heartbreaking story of a young girl/woman with one of the most difficult soul missions I have ever seen. Universally liked and admired despite being a lifelong sexual and emotional abuse survivor, her spirit was damaged but never broken. Her death became an obsession of investigators in several states, but ultimately her identity was not known by book's conclusion. The story of Suzanne/Sharon/Tonya is unlike any other.

[Erika · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was probably the saddest book i have read in a very long time it was well written and it made this very complicated long story easy to follow and i have reccomended it to alot of people i dont know how anybody could live this way at all and i dont know why this story hasnt been on television considering its really riveting and unsolved

[Manisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating, impossible to put down, and very sad account of a kidnapper and his relationship with a missing child. Thanks to Dana Yelen for the recommendation. It was a very enjoyable read!

[Ted Haussman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Completely creepy true crime take that was well-written. The dedication of the folks seeking to unravel the mysteries was admirable. Although the truth would not be revealed until after this book was written, it is still well worth the read

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read it three times, and would read it again if people would give it back. The true crime book I ever read!!!!!!

[Unsolved ☕︎ Mystery · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a review posted but Goodreads ate it.

[Elizabeth Atwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love true crime books and this one did not disappoint. Very well written and researched, this story is incredibly astounding and heartbreaking.

[Fishface · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heartbreaking story of a girl who was raised, and kept as a slave, by the man who kidnapped her as a small child.

[Karen Belom · Rating 4 out of 5]

a tragedy

[Sherry Haning · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written. A very sad ending.

[Jaelyn Wingard · Rating 4 out of 5]

such a sad story and I feel awful for Tanya and Michael but DNF bc I don’t care about the abuser