Kill for Thrill: The Crime Spree that Rocked Western Pennsylvania

by Michael W. Sheetz

This is the horrifying tale of the random crime spree that shocked residents of southwestern Pennsylvania in 1979. During the winter of 1979, southwestern Pennsylvania was rocked by a series of sensational murders, sparking a thirty-year criminal justice saga. A week of brutal, seemingly random killings culminated in the provocation and fatal shooting of Patrolman Leonard Miller, an officer new to the town of Apollo's police force and only twenty one years old. Little more than a year later, two men were convicted of the rash of homicides and sentenced to death-- yet both are alive today. Incorporating details of the central characters' personal lives as well as the state's court system, criminologist Michael W. Sheetz here relays the awful story of the so-called ""kill for thrill"" crime spree with the drama of a novelist and the insight of an officer of the law.

112 pages, Paperback

First published February 23, 2009

About the author

I am a south Florida writer specializing in crime and criminal justice topics including true crime and criminal investigations."

Reviews

[MK · Rating 1 out of 5]

If he devoted as much of this book to the other three victims as he did Leonard Miller, maybe I'd give him more stars. Four people were abducted, tortured, and brutally murdered by Lesko and Travaglia, and the only time the other three were mentioned was in graphic detail of their deaths, he waxed poetic about Miller for so much of the book it got old and became unnecessary. Too much bootlicking across the board for my taste.

Also. If you say in the intro you're presenting an unbiased account, odds are you're coming into this with a hell of a lot of bias.

I have thoughts and opinions, and not many of them are good.

[Kylie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am giving this book 4 stars. It is based close to where I live and often travel to streets mentioned in the book. Some of the information was not 100% accurate as far as distances from on location to the next. The book seemed to jump around and had little flow, I often found I had to flip back in the book to understand what was being discussed. While I understand one of the convicted murderer is still living and appealing; I feel it would have been worth while to see if others who handled the case police, witnesses, or even counterparts who were granted immunity who have spoken in the book add background and dialogue rather than just saying this occurred and that occurred. It was interesting however it could have been way better.

[Nora · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short book but full of information. It details the week crime spree of two men in areas around Pittsburgh and the 30 year battles in the legal system to sentence them. The author did a good job of reporting the information, though the book jumped around a bit and the writing was a bit overly dramatic at times. My real issue is that I felt that all the victims deserved the same sincerity as Officer Miller, the cop killed at the end of the spree. Even if you didn't realize before it's obvious that Sheetz is an ex cop as he really focuses on Miller through out the book when there were 3 other victims who deserved the same.

[Laraine Reedy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted this book to be thought provoking, partially because the murders took place in western Pennsylvania from where I hail. Unfortunately, Michael Sheetz has not done that. Instead, Kill for Thrill is a morass of sophomoric prose that interferes with itself so often I wanted to pull out a red pen and start editing. It strays from its, so called, nonfiction, true crime intent and reads more like pulp fiction. Instead of insightful complexity, it is more self righteous bombast and sermon. I slogged my way through it because I belong to a true crimes book club, but this was not worth the few hours I felt shackled to the reading task. I do not recommend.

[Beckyp · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may be biases with this read. I live very close to where this all happened. Overall, this is well written and definitely a “can’t put it down”.
The book keeps moving with great details. One can picture the scenes very easily. This is true even with the places I am not familiar with. The characters almost come to life as you become part of the book.
A must read!

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Locations were kind of inaccurate and the story jumped around a lot. Great story overall but the bootlicking was off putting. I didn’t lower a star for that since it wasn’t written recently but just a warning

[Sabrina Velez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so good, very well written. I really enjoyed it, because it was close to home and it's crazy to think how this all played out.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mean, lean (only 112 pages) true-crime/procedural about an unfortunately little-remembered/known quadruple murder on the outskirts of Pittsburgh at the dawn of the 80's.