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Kill for Me Lib/E
His TargetAspiring model Sandee Rozzo's big mistake was being kind to Timothy "Tracey" Humphrey. After Rozzo refused the aroided-up ex-con's advances, she described how he imprisoned, raped, and brutalized her for two days. When the courageous woman pledged to testify against him, Humphrey knew he had to silence her. . .
His Weapon
That's when he turned to 19-year-old Ashley Laney. She had fallen in love with Humphrey, her personal trainer, and would do anything for him. On their wedding night, he made a strange request--one that would end with eight gunshot wounds and a dead body.
His Scheme
The police knew Humphrey was the likely suspect, but he had an alibi for the time of the shooting. How could they prove that, even if he didn't pull the trigger, he was the manipulative psychopath behind Sandee's murder? It would all come down to a prison escape, a manhunt for a killer, and an explosive trial. . .
"One of our most engaging crime journalists." --Dr. Katherine Ramsland
"Phelps gets into the blood and guts of the story"--Gregg Olsen
Case seen on "48 Hours "
Includes 16 Pages Of Shocking Photos
His Weapon
That's when he turned to 19-year-old Ashley Laney. She had fallen in love with Humphrey, her personal trainer, and would do anything for him. On their wedding night, he made a strange request--one that would end with eight gunshot wounds and a dead body.
His Scheme
The police knew Humphrey was the likely suspect, but he had an alibi for the time of the shooting. How could they prove that, even if he didn't pull the trigger, he was the manipulative psychopath behind Sandee's murder? It would all come down to a prison escape, a manhunt for a killer, and an explosive trial. . .
"One of our most engaging crime journalists." --Dr. Katherine Ramsland
"Phelps gets into the blood and guts of the story"--Gregg Olsen
Case seen on "48 Hours "
Includes 16 Pages Of Shocking Photos
Audio CD
First published September 1, 2010
120 people are currently reading
603 people want to read
About the author
M. William Phelps
88 books1,157 followersCrime, murder and serial killer expert, creator/producer/writer and former host of the Investigation Discovery series DARK MINDS, acclaimed, award-winning investigative journalist M. William Phelps is the New York Times best-selling author of 30 books and winner of the 2013 Excellence in (Investigative) Journalism Award and the 2008 New England Book Festival Award. A highly sought-after pundit, Phelps has made over 100 media-related television appearances: Early Show, The Today Show, The View, Fox & Friends, truTV, Discovery Channel, Fox News Channel, Good Morning America, TLC, BIO, History, Oxygen, OWN, on top of over 100 additional media appearances: USA Radio Network, Catholic Radio, Mancow, Wall Street Journal Radio, Zac Daniel, Ave Maria Radio, Catholic Channel, EWTN Radio, ABC News Radio, and many more.
Phelps is also a member of the Multidisciplinary Collaborative on Sexual Crime and Violence (MCSCV), also known as the Atypical Homicide Research Group (AHRG) at Northeastern University, maintained by NU alumni Enzo Yaksic.
Phelps is one of the regular and recurring experts frequently appearing on two long-running series, Deadly Women and Snapped. Radio America calls Phelps “the nation’s leading authority on the mind of the female murderer,” and TV Rage says, “M. William Phelps dares to tread where few others will: into the mind of a killer.” A respected journalist, beyond his book writing Phelps has written for numerous publications—including the Providence Journal, Connecticut Magazine and Hartford Courant—and consulted on the first season of the hit Showtime cable television series Dexter.
Phelps grew up in East Hartford, CT, moved to Vernon, CT, at age 12, where he lived for 25 years. He now lives in a reclusive Connecticut farming community north of Hartford.
Beyond crime, Phelps has also written several history books, including the acclaimed, New York Times bestselling NATHAN HALE: The Life and Death of America’s First Spy, THE DEVIL’S ROOMING HOUSE, THE DEVIL’S RIGHT HAND, MURDER, NEW ENGLAND, and more.
Phelps is also a member of the Multidisciplinary Collaborative on Sexual Crime and Violence (MCSCV), also known as the Atypical Homicide Research Group (AHRG) at Northeastern University, maintained by NU alumni Enzo Yaksic.
Phelps is one of the regular and recurring experts frequently appearing on two long-running series, Deadly Women and Snapped. Radio America calls Phelps “the nation’s leading authority on the mind of the female murderer,” and TV Rage says, “M. William Phelps dares to tread where few others will: into the mind of a killer.” A respected journalist, beyond his book writing Phelps has written for numerous publications—including the Providence Journal, Connecticut Magazine and Hartford Courant—and consulted on the first season of the hit Showtime cable television series Dexter.
Phelps grew up in East Hartford, CT, moved to Vernon, CT, at age 12, where he lived for 25 years. He now lives in a reclusive Connecticut farming community north of Hartford.
Beyond crime, Phelps has also written several history books, including the acclaimed, New York Times bestselling NATHAN HALE: The Life and Death of America’s First Spy, THE DEVIL’S ROOMING HOUSE, THE DEVIL’S RIGHT HAND, MURDER, NEW ENGLAND, and more.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
July 6, 2015
another awesome Phelps true crime read :)
December 25, 2018
4-5 stars for me. It is a very different, interesting read in the true crime genre. ...sad that someone would be so stupid and gullible to kill just to keep her man from leaving her.
March 30, 2013
Tracey Humphrey was a sexually confused personal trainer in Florida with a history of abusing women. One of his victims, Sandra Rozzo, began cooperating with law enforcement to put him in prison for kidnapping, torturing, and raping her for two days straight. Tracey vowed he would never go back to prison again, and now, with the threat of a 10 year sentence, he had to do something. Tracey was a master at controlling women-- and he began a plan that would allow him to insure the death of Sandra Rozzo without leaving any evidence of himself at the crime scene.
I really enjoyed it, as I do most true crime by M. William Phelps.
I really enjoyed it, as I do most true crime by M. William Phelps.
November 18, 2012
Phelps has become my second favorite true crime writer. I love how he uses sarcasm and inserts his own thoughts and opinions into the story.
This a crazy story about the power an abusive man can hold over the women in his lives. A womanizer, a rapist and ultimately, a killer. Glad to see his smugness and cockiness end after the trial.
This a crazy story about the power an abusive man can hold over the women in his lives. A womanizer, a rapist and ultimately, a killer. Glad to see his smugness and cockiness end after the trial.
May 9, 2016
Wow, what a great book! Mr. Phelps does another outstanding job researching and presenting this story of a real creep who manipulated everyone he came in contact with. I do not understand how a woman as pretty as Sandee Rozzo got involved in somebody as creepy as Tracey. This was a real page turner and I had a hard time putting it down. I highly recommend this book to all TC fans.
January 25, 2014
Very well researched and written
January 16, 2019
It’s hard to screw up a true crime story. I have a hard time giving high scores to them because it’s, basically, a recounting of true facts and not much imagination is needed.
There were a couple of indicators that a little more proofreading should have been done; not enough to be glaringly distracting, but a couple stuck with me. First, when the author was talking about how someone made a “360° change”. Since 360° means turning around and ending up in the exact same spot, I’m pretty sure he meant 180. The second proofreading chuckle I got was when talking about the change in Ashley’s “psychical” appearance with a recent weight gain.
The book is based on the true story of a very bad man who conspired with his wife to kill a very nice lady. If the case was familiar in any news outlets, people probably don’t need to wonder how things turned out. If I could, I would boost up my normal, run-of-the-mill 3 stars for true crime writing to 3.5 for two specific things. 1) The shocking twist of what happened to Andre Talley made me catch my breath. 2) The epilogue was outstanding and the best evidence of what a monster Tracy Humphrey was. (I only mention his name because of his claim, in the book, that he has a copyright on his name and will sue anyone who misuses it for $50,000 – bring it on, Tracey!”
There were a couple of indicators that a little more proofreading should have been done; not enough to be glaringly distracting, but a couple stuck with me. First, when the author was talking about how someone made a “360° change”. Since 360° means turning around and ending up in the exact same spot, I’m pretty sure he meant 180. The second proofreading chuckle I got was when talking about the change in Ashley’s “psychical” appearance with a recent weight gain.
The book is based on the true story of a very bad man who conspired with his wife to kill a very nice lady. If the case was familiar in any news outlets, people probably don’t need to wonder how things turned out. If I could, I would boost up my normal, run-of-the-mill 3 stars for true crime writing to 3.5 for two specific things. 1) The shocking twist of what happened to Andre Talley made me catch my breath. 2) The epilogue was outstanding and the best evidence of what a monster Tracy Humphrey was. (I only mention his name because of his claim, in the book, that he has a copyright on his name and will sue anyone who misuses it for $50,000 – bring it on, Tracey!”
February 26, 2021
I am normally a person who does not like to stray away from my favorite authors. I started true crime with the queen Ann Rule and slowly worked my way to Steve Jackson. Seeing Mr Phelps on a number of shows I started putting his books on my wishlist and finally jumped in with this one. He’s now going to be a regular for me. He is very detailed in his telling of the story. He doesn’t stay too long on the growing up or childhoods of those involved which was nice. I like knowing some of their childhood info but I don’t need to know every detail. Mr. Phelps did right by the family of Sandra in this book. He also was very thorough in his investigation of Ashley and Tracey. I believe had Ashley taken Mr Phelps up on his offer it would have done her more good than her interview with Piers Morgan. You can see the level of work Mr Phelps puts into his book. Excellent details and investigation. And I wanted to cheer at the end when he discusses correspondence with Tracey. I don’t believe there is anyway you could ever put Tracey in a good light. He destroys whatever good thoughts anyone may form.
October 7, 2020
This was an excellent true life murder thriller. The author did a detailed and exhausting research to write this book. The story centers on three main people involved in the murder of a young woman. The young woman had dated the man for a short time, but when she broke up with him,he became very angry, kept her a prisoner in her apartment for days, where beat and raped her multiple times. She was due to testify in court against this man just before she was shot to death in her car. The ex boyfriend by this time had met and married a young woman, who had a difficult childhood and he was able to manipulate her into murdering the woman for him if she wanted to remain with him. The third person involved was an older woman who met the couple at the gym where they worked and was going into the workout business with the couple. They used her as their alibi witmess, intimidating and frightening her for months. She started working for the police, though it was very scary for her until they went to court.
May 7, 2021
Kill For Me
A Chillingly Disturbed Young Man
Michael Phelps does another outstanding job researching and presenting this story of a real creep called Timothy "Tracey" Humphrey who manipulated everyone he came in contact with. I do not understand how a woman as pretty and smart as Sandee Rozzo got involved in somebody as creepy and violent as Tracey. After brutally abducting and raping Sandee he then gets his Young wife to commit a murder for him and seems to manipulate and control everyone he comes into contact with. A Chillingly Disturbed Young Man
This was a real page turner, and I Could not put this book down! A must read, in my opinion!!! I Highly recommend this book to all True Crime fans.
I am an ARC Reviewer on Goodread and BookSirens and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
A Chillingly Disturbed Young Man
Michael Phelps does another outstanding job researching and presenting this story of a real creep called Timothy "Tracey" Humphrey who manipulated everyone he came in contact with. I do not understand how a woman as pretty and smart as Sandee Rozzo got involved in somebody as creepy and violent as Tracey. After brutally abducting and raping Sandee he then gets his Young wife to commit a murder for him and seems to manipulate and control everyone he comes into contact with. A Chillingly Disturbed Young Man
This was a real page turner, and I Could not put this book down! A must read, in my opinion!!! I Highly recommend this book to all True Crime fans.
I am an ARC Reviewer on Goodread and BookSirens and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
October 22, 2019
Killing for love
Tracey Humphrey has a problem. Actually more than one. He is a bulked out, roid raged, woman hating bully who is looking at a ten year sentence if the woman he kidnapped, raped, and beat up testifies against him in an upcoming trial. His solution is to convince his new girlfriend/wife to kill the other woman, Sandee Rizzo. He uses all of his intimidation techniques to convince his young wife, Ashley, to do the deed for him. Somehow he never believed that law enforcement would eventually trace the deed back to him.
Phelps has done his usual masterful job of both weaving a story and researching thoroughly the story of how ignorant criminals can be especially when they go up against the best of law enforcement.
Tracey Humphrey has a problem. Actually more than one. He is a bulked out, roid raged, woman hating bully who is looking at a ten year sentence if the woman he kidnapped, raped, and beat up testifies against him in an upcoming trial. His solution is to convince his new girlfriend/wife to kill the other woman, Sandee Rizzo. He uses all of his intimidation techniques to convince his young wife, Ashley, to do the deed for him. Somehow he never believed that law enforcement would eventually trace the deed back to him.
Phelps has done his usual masterful job of both weaving a story and researching thoroughly the story of how ignorant criminals can be especially when they go up against the best of law enforcement.
March 12, 2019
Phelps does it again
with his in-depth investigation and reporting of Sandee's murder. I recently watched Killer Women on Netflix with Piers Morgan interviewing Ashley. After reading this book and comparing that interview, I was profoundly unsure of whether she truly regretted what she'd done, even having been manipulated to do so by Humphrey. But, I trust Phelps judgment on the matter, especially after his correspondence with Humphrey. I was disappointed that Ashley didn't take Phelps up on his offer to talk, that made her look worse, to me. They are both where they deserve to be. Great writing, again.
with his in-depth investigation and reporting of Sandee's murder. I recently watched Killer Women on Netflix with Piers Morgan interviewing Ashley. After reading this book and comparing that interview, I was profoundly unsure of whether she truly regretted what she'd done, even having been manipulated to do so by Humphrey. But, I trust Phelps judgment on the matter, especially after his correspondence with Humphrey. I was disappointed that Ashley didn't take Phelps up on his offer to talk, that made her look worse, to me. They are both where they deserve to be. Great writing, again.
October 30, 2023
3 stars
There’s really not enough of a “story” here for a 320 page book. How we get there is by repeating the ‘sensational’ facts ad nauseam. We know he did it, we know why he did it, and we know how he did it…pretty much from the word go. While it is interesting from a legal standpoint, we don’t get to the legal wrangling and trial until we’ve heard that we know what we know, and how we know it, at least 10 times. Okay, I didn’t count, but it felt like a lot.
I did enjoy the initial set up and the story unfolding from the killers perspective. That was fun. Then tedium, some trial fun, and a weird pissing contest between the author and subject to round it out. I won’t open that can of worms too wide, but neither man leaves victorious.
There’s really not enough of a “story” here for a 320 page book. How we get there is by repeating the ‘sensational’ facts ad nauseam. We know he did it, we know why he did it, and we know how he did it…pretty much from the word go. While it is interesting from a legal standpoint, we don’t get to the legal wrangling and trial until we’ve heard that we know what we know, and how we know it, at least 10 times. Okay, I didn’t count, but it felt like a lot.
I did enjoy the initial set up and the story unfolding from the killers perspective. That was fun. Then tedium, some trial fun, and a weird pissing contest between the author and subject to round it out. I won’t open that can of worms too wide, but neither man leaves victorious.
August 14, 2018
Crazy love
I really liked this book. The main characters are a crazy bunch who killed an innocent woman in such a diabolical manner from planning to execution. Reading their plans, mishaps, cover ups, insane thought processes , leaves a person shaking their head.. Tracey will rot in prison and Ashley will be an old woman if and when she is released.
I really liked this book. The main characters are a crazy bunch who killed an innocent woman in such a diabolical manner from planning to execution. Reading their plans, mishaps, cover ups, insane thought processes , leaves a person shaking their head.. Tracey will rot in prison and Ashley will be an old woman if and when she is released.
January 2, 2021
I do like true crime! I used to devour it in books, now-a-days my true crime media of choice is TV! This is a story I've seen on TV (48 Hours? Dateline? 20-20? All of them?) Anyway, I enjoyed a more in-depth dive into this story. Boy oh boy, sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. Phelps did a nice job in laying out the story.
January 24, 2022
This book was amazing. I never heard anything about this case but the depth in which M William Phelps researched it was amazing. It really made you hate Timothy and Ashley for what they did to Sandee. I could not put this book down and am very happy I sat down and read it as I am a true crime fanatic.
June 17, 2022
Another fantastic read
Phelps is such an amazing writer. His attention to detail is on point and he makes sure that the victim and not just the criminal has a voice in his writing. I've read four of his books so far and I cannot wait to read the rest of them. I hope he keeps writing because I can't get enough of his work!
Phelps is such an amazing writer. His attention to detail is on point and he makes sure that the victim and not just the criminal has a voice in his writing. I've read four of his books so far and I cannot wait to read the rest of them. I hope he keeps writing because I can't get enough of his work!
March 11, 2018
A well written book, it flowed throughout and did not become bogged down in repetitive detail.
The main character was a really nasty piece of work, no redeeming qualities and got exactly what he deserved, I didn’t really have much sympathy for the wife either. What a pair.
The main character was a really nasty piece of work, no redeeming qualities and got exactly what he deserved, I didn’t really have much sympathy for the wife either. What a pair.
July 27, 2021
It’ll make sit up and notice
Great investigative journalism focused on the manipulation of a young women by a criminal narcissist. It cost another women her life and both murderers are currently paying the price.
Great investigative journalism focused on the manipulation of a young women by a criminal narcissist. It cost another women her life and both murderers are currently paying the price.
June 23, 2023
Horrible person who did a horrible crime. Timothy “Tracey” Humphrey did many and then couldn’t believe it when he couldn’t talk his way out of this one too. Phelps, as always, gives much detail for the reader.
April 22, 2018
Another winner
from Phelps, who, imo, has taken Anne Rules place as #1 in true crime. Always look forward to his books.
from Phelps, who, imo, has taken Anne Rules place as #1 in true crime. Always look forward to his books.
May 9, 2018
Scary
A murder by his gf of witness against him. Haunting. A solid book, sometimes too detailed. A good true crime author I often read.
A murder by his gf of witness against him. Haunting. A solid book, sometimes too detailed. A good true crime author I often read.
July 18, 2018
Well written fascinating true account of a man who convinced his wife to murder his ex-girlfriend. The author wrote clearly about the search for the killer and the prosecution of the husband.
January 30, 2020
An awesome book about the biggest POS I've ever read about (ok maybe not ever, but he's definitely up there on the list lol)
February 28, 2021
Ah, what you see is what you get with these books.
June 13, 2022
All M. William Phelps are well researched, well written and fascinating reads
August 2, 2022
Rounded up to a three. Interesting topic. Lots of repetition, not always the easiest to read.
January 22, 2023
4 stars
September 28, 2024
Wow, Tracey will do anything within his power to silence Sandee. His poor wife never stood a chance with him. At the end he gets what is due to him.
May 30, 2025
What a story and thank you for telling her story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews