Murder in the Thumb

by Richard W. Carson

One night in 1974, fifteen-year-old Robin Adams and her foster sister mischievously consulted a Ouija board. Robin asked the board how long she would live. The board told her she would die before her 17th birthday. About two years later, Robin disappeared from the Caro, Michigan, home where she worked as a live-in baby sitter. Local police thought she had run away. Her friends knew better. Robin was having problems with her former boyfriend, who, two weeks earlier, had beaten her. State Police questioned the nineteen-year-old ex-boyfriend about her disappearance. He produced a letter signed, Love, Robin, as evidence she had run away to California. Police suspected a forgery. However, with no eyewitnesses, no evidence of forced entry or struggle at the house and no body, the case went cold. In 1982, the case was reopened and assigned to a rookie detective. A psychic began assisting the detective. The psychic predicted that a surprise witness would come forward and identified another suspect who later failed a polygraph test. A break in the case came when the prime suspect s younger sister told a boyfriend that she helped commit the crime. She and her brother were charged with murder. A Roman Catholic priest represented the ex-boyfriend. The story might have ended after the trial, but it didn't. The sister's boyfriend suffered a series of injuries, which a medium blamed on black magic. Two trial witnesses died a year apart (same date) and several others connected to the case or members of their families were struck by tragedy. Was some dark force extracting vengeance for the shame brought on the killer s family? Murder in the Thumb is a powerful true story written by Richard W. Carson, a seasoned journalist who spent two decades poring over trial transcripts and interviewing more than 200 people in nine states and two prisons. Carson retired as editorial page editor of The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch in 2003.

563 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2009

About the author

Richard W. Carson grew up in Detroit, and graduated from Cooley High School. He attended Ferris State College at Big Rapids and appeared unspectacularly as Christian de Neuvillette in a campus production of Cyrano DeBergerac.
Carson later transferred to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and, having wisely abandoned his interest in the stage, majored in English.
In 1967, Carson joined the staff of the Huron Daily Tribune, a small daily in Michigan’s Upper Thumb area. There he worked as a general-assignment reporter, was promoted to editor, and received awards for excellence in editorial and feature writing as well as news, sports and feature photography.
Small-town life, which always appealed to the city boy, gave way to career opportunities in 1981. After nearly 15 years at the Tribune, Carson accepted a position as a section editor at The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch. Soon after, he was promoted to editorial writer and, in 1988, to editorial page editor. In the latter capacity, Carson supervised a nine-member staff of writers and editorial cartoonists.
In 2003, after 22 years with The Dispatch, Carson retired and began to pursue his passion for writing a detailed account of the Robin Adams murder case. In this connection, he refers to himself as “the writer of last resort,” given the persistent rumors that several others planned to write such a book soon after the murder trial ended, though, ultimately, none did.
Commenting on the timeliness of Fruit of the Poisonous Tree, Carson said, “I wish I could have finished the book sooner but I’ve learned painfully that writing non-fiction is like taking the wheel of a runaway train. You never know when the story will stop and I wonder if this one has even now.”
Carson, a widower, lives in Gahanna, Ohio, in close proximity to his three grown children, Denise, Rich and Danielle, and six grandchildren.

Reviews

[Herlinda Sanchez · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was longer than it should've been. In my opinion, at times the author used too many words to get out what he wanted to say. At times he was repetitive. All in all, it was a good book informing what actually happened to Robin Adams but I couldn't read it straight through. I knew Robin Adams, she was my friend so it was very sad and heartbreaking to know what she went through. I would start reading until it was too much, put it down, and then go back to it. Robin was a beautiful young lady, if she had any faults is was that she cared about everybody she met. Someday we will all see her again.

[Connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good story; a lot of details and it does all tie together.

[Mary Keroson · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I did enjoy the book, I found it to be repetitive. I enjoy reading a book with places I recognize and can identify. The murder took place two years before I came to the area, but I realize that I lived on the same street as the victim!

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read a copy of this through NetGalley under the title "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree".

I think a part of the problem I had with this book was that when it came up on my Kindle it was formatted strangely so it was difficult going. Otherwise the book was interesting enough. The writing wasn't very brilliantly done which detracted from what was actually a very interesting story. I struggled to get through the book and did skip through some parts.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, writing was very good, lots of details. I also felt obligated to read this book. Robin Adams and I are cousins. We both were born in Altoona. Her sister Dawn let me borrow the book . Thanks to DNA we found each other.

[Brandi Gulledge · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was very detailed to much details. A lot of the information was repeated several times in the book.