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The Dreams of Ada
For fans of Serial and Making a Murderer, the true, bewildering story of a young woman’s disappearance, the nightmare of a small town obsessed with delivering justice, and the bizarre dream of a poor, uneducated man accused of murder.On April 28, 1984, Denice Haraway disappeared from her job at a convenience store on the outskirts of Ada, Oklahoma, and the sleepy town erupted. Tales spread of rape, mutilation, and murder, and the police set out on a relentless mission to bring someone to justice. Six months later, two local men—Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot—were arrested and brought to trial, even though they repudiated their “confessions,” no body had been found, no weapon had been produced, and no eyewitnesses had come forward. The Dreams of Ada is a story of politics and morality, of fear and obsession. It is also a moving, compelling portrait of one small town living through a nightmare.“A riveting true story of a brutal murder in a small town and the tragic errors made in the pursuit of justice.”—John Grisham
512 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1987
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August 29, 2020
5.0 stars - “The Dreams of Ada” by Robert Mayer was published several years ago, but garnered renewed interest with the publication of John Grisham’s “The Innocent Man” and the release of the Netflix documentary by the same name that also delved into the same subject matter as “Dreams”. The author does an excellent job of providing in-depth coverage of the investigation into the kidnapping and murder of Denise Haraway and the subsequent arrest and trial of two local men, Tommy Ward and Dennis Fontenot. The author lays out all of the evidence in a way that the reader is able to make up his or her own mind about whether the defendants were guilty or innocent. This is so different from what the authors of books and articles do today when writing about an event in that they advocate a position rather than just allowing readers to decide for themselves what happened. The access the author had to Tommy Ward’s attorney’s investigator really added a new dimension to the book in that alternative suspects and evidence were presented to the reader that the attorney had to decide whether to use at trial. The author also published the two defendants’ confessions verbatim so that the reader got a better idea of what the defense attorneys had to overcome when attempting to get an acquittal. I absolutely loved this book and would put it with “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote as one of the top two true crime books I have ever read.
January 4, 2019
“Where was the judge he had never seen? Where was the High Court he had never reached? He raised his hands and spread out all his fingers. But the hands of one of the men closed round his throat, just as the other drove the knife deep into his heart and turned it twice.”
- Franz Kafka, The Trial
“Ada is…pecan country; on the outskirts are commercial pecan orchards; in the grassy yards of many houses are one or more pecan trees. In the fall, when the pecans are ripe, the adults knock them off the trees with long poles. The children gather the fallen ones from the ground. The nuts not intended for commercial use are taken to the pecan cracker. There, in the small white building, the pecans are dumped into the funnel-like tops of machines…One by one the hard pecans fall into moving gears. The top set of gears cracks open the largest pecans. Smaller pecans fall through, untouched, to another set of gears. These mesh closer and crack apart the smaller pecans. Still some escape and fall again: to another set of gears. These gears mesh tighter still; like steel claws they crack apart even the smallest pecans. Few pecans are too small, few shells too hard, to be cracked and broken…”
- Robert Mayer, The Dreams of Ada
“They say I killed a girl…They told me I killed her and that I’ll get the death penalty. But I didn't do it…I didn't confess…I told them a dream I had. It was only a dream. But they say it’s true…”
- Tommy Ward, convicted murderer of Donna Denise Haraway
I practiced criminal law as a public defender for almost nine years. It is the kind of job that requires constant explanation to family, friends, and people you meet at parties. Whenever I told someone what I did, I received a variation of the same response: How can you defend guilty people? My answer, depending on how much I’d been drinking, coalesced around this reply: How do you know they’re guilty?
Doing a job like that (and I won’t claim I was great at it), requires a lot of skepticism, a certainty that there is no certainty, and a willingness to accept that yes, a lot of the people you meet are, in fact, guilty.
Also, though, a lot of people are not.
Of course, if a crime isn’t serious, you will find that a lot of defendants would rather take a plea bargain for a shorter sentence than validate their constitutional rights in a slow-moving and uncertain process. Thus, a lot of the day-to-day work of criminal justice is comprised of folks holding their noses and pretending the system works just fine.
Often, it takes a hard case – a tough murder – to show you the systemic flaws.
The murder of Donna Denise Haraway was just such a case.
Robert Mayer’s The Dreams of Ada covers it with meticulous research, expansive scope, and a keen sense of place.
In April 1984, Haraway disappeared from her job at a convenience store in Ada, Oklahoma. Two young men, Karl Fontenot and Tommy Ward, were eventually accused of her rape and murder, despite a lack of hard evidence (including her body, which had not been found). Unfortunately, Karl and Tommy were not the freshest sandwiches in the picnic basket. They were brought into the police station and interrogated for hours and hours and hours. During that time, they never said the magic word (hint: it starts with "L" and ends with LAWYER), and so were at the mercy of law enforcement’s coercive techniques.
At the end of the ceaseless badgering, both men copped to the crime, despite the fact that their stories were contradictory, implausible, and unsupported by physical evidence. The twist in this tale is that the “confession” of Ward was extracted after he mentioned a dream he’d had. That dream became reality for the police, and an unending nightmare for Ward. With so little to go on, the putative admissions of the defendants were the linchpin of the cases against them.
(It is worth noting, for those who believe they’d never falsely confess: twenty-five percent of convictions overturned as a result of DNA testing were based on false confessions. It does happen. It does happen a lot).
As crazy as the "dream confession" sounds, it was also the basis of another conviction in Ada, that of Ron Williams, accused of raping and killing a woman named Debbie Carter two years before Haraway’s death. Eventually, Williams had his conviction and death sentence, a story told by John Grisham in his estimable The Innocent Man.
The lesson, I suppose, is stay clear of Ada if you have an active nocturnal subconscious.
The Dreams of Ada is a sad, tragic book. There are no winners, just a string of losers: a young, missing woman; two men with stunted futures convicted by an overzealous prosecutor, with incompetent defense counsel; the multiple families mourning the losses of their sons and daughter; and justice itself, masquerading as infallible. You see, in The Dreams of Ada, how hard people will try, how far they will go, to protect the system, and their place within it. The men and women in the machinery do not matter. They are the pecans, poured into the cracker. It is the illusion that matters. The illusion that our scheme of justice is not riddled with fault lines that typically swallow the most vulnerable: the poor; minorities; the developmentally challenged; the young.
Mayer does a fantastic job with this material. There's a real feel for the town and its small-time dreamers. It's like Friday Night Lights filtered through Dateline and mixed with CSI, if every cast-member of CSI used the constitution to wipe their noses. More than that, he makes a huge effort at explaining all the steps along the way, without dumbing anything down. For instance, at one point, he takes us all the way back to 1909, to tell the story of the first no-body murder case in Oklahoma.
The best way to explain The Dreams of Ada is to say it is absorbing. When I read it, it enveloped me. It also infuriated me.
Nothing about the case against Tommy and Karl feels right. The story they told was ridiculous, and it kept changing. The cops kept searching the area where they said they buried the body and found nothing. They said they burned her. They said they stabbed her. Years later, after the trial, Haraway’s body was found by hunters. She had died from a single gunshot. No bone-scarring from a knife. No signs of burning. The confession was a dream, not just of Tommy and Kirk, but of a law enforcement organization bent on attaining a conviction.
Innocent people are jailed. Innocent people have been executed. Those exonerees who manage the Sisyphean task of overturning their convictions typically have a lot of help, help that often comes in the form of outside interest. The West Memphis Three, for example, needed the Dixie Chicks and Peter Jackson. The case of Tommy Ward and Kirk Fontenot never really became a cause célèbre. That may change now that Netflix has turned Grisham’s The Innocent Man into its latest installment of prestige true crime.
Even with the publicity, it is unlikely that Ward and Fontenot will be sprung, barring a miracle. They have rotted in prison for decades, despite all the flaws and errors that put them there in the first place. Too much is stacked against them. Not just the careers and reputations of those who prosecuted them, but the fantasy that a guilty verdict is really as meaningful as we pretend.
- Franz Kafka, The Trial
“Ada is…pecan country; on the outskirts are commercial pecan orchards; in the grassy yards of many houses are one or more pecan trees. In the fall, when the pecans are ripe, the adults knock them off the trees with long poles. The children gather the fallen ones from the ground. The nuts not intended for commercial use are taken to the pecan cracker. There, in the small white building, the pecans are dumped into the funnel-like tops of machines…One by one the hard pecans fall into moving gears. The top set of gears cracks open the largest pecans. Smaller pecans fall through, untouched, to another set of gears. These mesh closer and crack apart the smaller pecans. Still some escape and fall again: to another set of gears. These gears mesh tighter still; like steel claws they crack apart even the smallest pecans. Few pecans are too small, few shells too hard, to be cracked and broken…”
- Robert Mayer, The Dreams of Ada
“They say I killed a girl…They told me I killed her and that I’ll get the death penalty. But I didn't do it…I didn't confess…I told them a dream I had. It was only a dream. But they say it’s true…”
- Tommy Ward, convicted murderer of Donna Denise Haraway
I practiced criminal law as a public defender for almost nine years. It is the kind of job that requires constant explanation to family, friends, and people you meet at parties. Whenever I told someone what I did, I received a variation of the same response: How can you defend guilty people? My answer, depending on how much I’d been drinking, coalesced around this reply: How do you know they’re guilty?
Doing a job like that (and I won’t claim I was great at it), requires a lot of skepticism, a certainty that there is no certainty, and a willingness to accept that yes, a lot of the people you meet are, in fact, guilty.
Also, though, a lot of people are not.
Of course, if a crime isn’t serious, you will find that a lot of defendants would rather take a plea bargain for a shorter sentence than validate their constitutional rights in a slow-moving and uncertain process. Thus, a lot of the day-to-day work of criminal justice is comprised of folks holding their noses and pretending the system works just fine.
Often, it takes a hard case – a tough murder – to show you the systemic flaws.
The murder of Donna Denise Haraway was just such a case.
Robert Mayer’s The Dreams of Ada covers it with meticulous research, expansive scope, and a keen sense of place.
In April 1984, Haraway disappeared from her job at a convenience store in Ada, Oklahoma. Two young men, Karl Fontenot and Tommy Ward, were eventually accused of her rape and murder, despite a lack of hard evidence (including her body, which had not been found). Unfortunately, Karl and Tommy were not the freshest sandwiches in the picnic basket. They were brought into the police station and interrogated for hours and hours and hours. During that time, they never said the magic word (hint: it starts with "L" and ends with LAWYER), and so were at the mercy of law enforcement’s coercive techniques.
At the end of the ceaseless badgering, both men copped to the crime, despite the fact that their stories were contradictory, implausible, and unsupported by physical evidence. The twist in this tale is that the “confession” of Ward was extracted after he mentioned a dream he’d had. That dream became reality for the police, and an unending nightmare for Ward. With so little to go on, the putative admissions of the defendants were the linchpin of the cases against them.
(It is worth noting, for those who believe they’d never falsely confess: twenty-five percent of convictions overturned as a result of DNA testing were based on false confessions. It does happen. It does happen a lot).
As crazy as the "dream confession" sounds, it was also the basis of another conviction in Ada, that of Ron Williams, accused of raping and killing a woman named Debbie Carter two years before Haraway’s death. Eventually, Williams had his conviction and death sentence, a story told by John Grisham in his estimable The Innocent Man.
The lesson, I suppose, is stay clear of Ada if you have an active nocturnal subconscious.
The Dreams of Ada is a sad, tragic book. There are no winners, just a string of losers: a young, missing woman; two men with stunted futures convicted by an overzealous prosecutor, with incompetent defense counsel; the multiple families mourning the losses of their sons and daughter; and justice itself, masquerading as infallible. You see, in The Dreams of Ada, how hard people will try, how far they will go, to protect the system, and their place within it. The men and women in the machinery do not matter. They are the pecans, poured into the cracker. It is the illusion that matters. The illusion that our scheme of justice is not riddled with fault lines that typically swallow the most vulnerable: the poor; minorities; the developmentally challenged; the young.
Mayer does a fantastic job with this material. There's a real feel for the town and its small-time dreamers. It's like Friday Night Lights filtered through Dateline and mixed with CSI, if every cast-member of CSI used the constitution to wipe their noses. More than that, he makes a huge effort at explaining all the steps along the way, without dumbing anything down. For instance, at one point, he takes us all the way back to 1909, to tell the story of the first no-body murder case in Oklahoma.
The best way to explain The Dreams of Ada is to say it is absorbing. When I read it, it enveloped me. It also infuriated me.
Nothing about the case against Tommy and Karl feels right. The story they told was ridiculous, and it kept changing. The cops kept searching the area where they said they buried the body and found nothing. They said they burned her. They said they stabbed her. Years later, after the trial, Haraway’s body was found by hunters. She had died from a single gunshot. No bone-scarring from a knife. No signs of burning. The confession was a dream, not just of Tommy and Kirk, but of a law enforcement organization bent on attaining a conviction.
Innocent people are jailed. Innocent people have been executed. Those exonerees who manage the Sisyphean task of overturning their convictions typically have a lot of help, help that often comes in the form of outside interest. The West Memphis Three, for example, needed the Dixie Chicks and Peter Jackson. The case of Tommy Ward and Kirk Fontenot never really became a cause célèbre. That may change now that Netflix has turned Grisham’s The Innocent Man into its latest installment of prestige true crime.
Even with the publicity, it is unlikely that Ward and Fontenot will be sprung, barring a miracle. They have rotted in prison for decades, despite all the flaws and errors that put them there in the first place. Too much is stacked against them. Not just the careers and reputations of those who prosecuted them, but the fantasy that a guilty verdict is really as meaningful as we pretend.
September 6, 2017
It's always a little unsettling to say that I "loved" or even "enjoyed" a true-crime story. How can anyone love or enjoy true tales of abduction, rape, murder, torture or any number of heinous crimes? I'm not sure either of those words even actually describe my feelings about the book, so I'll just say I was absorbed in the story.
*Some spoilers for those who aren't aware of this case* - In 1984, a young woman named Donna Denice Haraway was allegedly abducted one evening from the convenience store in Ada, Oklahoma where she worked. A witness, driving up to the store, saw two men walking a woman out of the store and into a pickup truck. Based on descriptions of the men, Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot were later arrested and convicted of her kidnapping and murder, even though her body had not been located even by the time they went to trial. Both men had confessed to the murder, although Tommy Ward insisted that his confession was merely a dream that he had told the police, and Karl Fontenot stated that his confession was only given due to interrogation tactics. Neither confession matched the actual details of what was later determined to have happened.
Much of the book deals with the trials of these two men, and although this was a little tedious, I also found it interesting and typical of what we see at times in regard to some lawyers and their tactics and antics both in the courtroom and in preparation for trial. There were horrible missteps within the Ada police department, some intentional and some not, and there were also what seemed to be prejudicial actions by the court itself. One such action was glaring and incredulous to many, in that both men were convicted of murder although no body had been found, so there was no proof the woman was actually dead.
Although it may seem from my comments above that by the end I was convinced that both men were innocent, but that's not the situation. I thought the author did a good job of presenting both sides of the case, the details, the evidence or lack thereof, and the pain of the family members of all. I found myself consistently going back and forth on whether I thought the defendants were guilty or innocent. I would never even assume to make that judgement anyway, as I wasn't there, I don't know all the facts, and as I indicated above, neither the defense team nor the prosecution team seemed to be above twisting things to suit their purpose. But the author did a good job giving us the details as he found them.
For those who don't know the outcome (and I didn't before I read the book), I won't give anything else away. Make your own decision on guilt or innocence, if you will. But certainly make your own decision about whether you liked the book or not. I thought it was...absorbing.
*Some spoilers for those who aren't aware of this case* - In 1984, a young woman named Donna Denice Haraway was allegedly abducted one evening from the convenience store in Ada, Oklahoma where she worked. A witness, driving up to the store, saw two men walking a woman out of the store and into a pickup truck. Based on descriptions of the men, Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot were later arrested and convicted of her kidnapping and murder, even though her body had not been located even by the time they went to trial. Both men had confessed to the murder, although Tommy Ward insisted that his confession was merely a dream that he had told the police, and Karl Fontenot stated that his confession was only given due to interrogation tactics. Neither confession matched the actual details of what was later determined to have happened.
Much of the book deals with the trials of these two men, and although this was a little tedious, I also found it interesting and typical of what we see at times in regard to some lawyers and their tactics and antics both in the courtroom and in preparation for trial. There were horrible missteps within the Ada police department, some intentional and some not, and there were also what seemed to be prejudicial actions by the court itself. One such action was glaring and incredulous to many, in that both men were convicted of murder although no body had been found, so there was no proof the woman was actually dead.
Although it may seem from my comments above that by the end I was convinced that both men were innocent, but that's not the situation. I thought the author did a good job of presenting both sides of the case, the details, the evidence or lack thereof, and the pain of the family members of all. I found myself consistently going back and forth on whether I thought the defendants were guilty or innocent. I would never even assume to make that judgement anyway, as I wasn't there, I don't know all the facts, and as I indicated above, neither the defense team nor the prosecution team seemed to be above twisting things to suit their purpose. But the author did a good job giving us the details as he found them.
For those who don't know the outcome (and I didn't before I read the book), I won't give anything else away. Make your own decision on guilt or innocence, if you will. But certainly make your own decision about whether you liked the book or not. I thought it was...absorbing.
September 21, 2018
Two significant books about the same miscarriage of justice are set in the same Oklahoma town (Ada) and concern the same scapegoat (Ron Williamson), who was unfairly sent to jail for a local murder. One of those books was THE INNOCENT MAN by John Grisham (2006); this one, by Robert Mayer, was first published in 1987.
THE DREAMS OF ADA is all about the downside of a bad rep in a small town. Ada isn't a very large town (population about 16,000 during the time these unfortunate events take place), and even though it boasts a public four-year college, it does not seem to rank very high in jurisprudence. This book is a little more detailed; John Grisham's, unsurprisingly, shows its sympathy more obviously (and was the celebrated author's first nonfiction book). Either -- or both -- are well worth reading, though I prefer this one: it offers more depth and analysis.
Personally I intend never to set foot inside Ada, Oklahoma, if I can help it.
THE DREAMS OF ADA is all about the downside of a bad rep in a small town. Ada isn't a very large town (population about 16,000 during the time these unfortunate events take place), and even though it boasts a public four-year college, it does not seem to rank very high in jurisprudence. This book is a little more detailed; John Grisham's, unsurprisingly, shows its sympathy more obviously (and was the celebrated author's first nonfiction book). Either -- or both -- are well worth reading, though I prefer this one: it offers more depth and analysis.
Personally I intend never to set foot inside Ada, Oklahoma, if I can help it.
December 11, 2016
3 1/2 stars rounded up
On April 28, 1984, Donna Denice Haraway vanished from McAnally's, a convenience store in the small town of Ada, OK. Three men arrived at the store and saw a young couple leaving. When the men entered the store, they found that the clerk, Denice, is missing and the cash drawer was open and nearly empty. The police immediately tried to locate the light-colored, older model pickup that was seen leaving the area. This is just the beginning of a case that will haunt Ada for years.
Two young men, Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot, were charged with Denice's death, though her body had not been found at the time of their initial trials. Though the men insisted on their innocence, they also provided damning video statements admitting their guilt. There were some problems with the confessions, though. Initially, Odell Titsworth, a Native American, was implicated as the driving force behind the crime. However, he had a broken arm at the time, and had been unable to take part in the alleged abduction, rape, and murder of Denice Haraway. Ward was provided with an alibi by relatives.
There was photographic proof that Ward and Fontenot had short hair at the time of Denice's disappearance, while the suspects were described as having long hair. There were several other men who were identified as possible suspects in place of Ward and Fontenot, including a pair (given pseudonyms in the book for legal reasons) who appeared to be very good suspects. Then there was Denice's body - when it was found, it was discovered that she had been shot, not stabbed like Ward and Fontenot had claimed in their confessions.
Mayer's book makes a compelling argument for the innocence of Ward and Fontenot. I'm really amazed that Fontenot was even convicted due to the weakness of the witness identification (or complete lack of it). John Grisham wrote a non-fiction book, The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town, based on an eerily similar case in Ada involving many of the same players. Fortunately, the two men in that case, Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz, were cleared. Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot remain in jail, though they are no longer on death row.
Why the 3 1/2 star rating? The book's focus is on Tommy Ward and his family. We get to know all of them - Miz Ward (the family matriarch), Tommy Ward, and his seven siblings, especially Tricia, his oldest sister. Karl Fontenot shows up periodically for what I would call "cameos." He's not a terribly likeable character, and I never really cared about him. There is slight emphasis on the Haraways and Denice Haraway's family. They and Denice never really come to life at all. They are just names. We actually see more of Tommy Ward's defense team than we do of the victim's family.
I have the Kindle edition of this book and I have noticed some typos in it - It's Lovelady, not Love Lady, and Mercury Grand Marquis, not "Mercury Marquee" (seriously?). Better proofreading would have helped.
Overall, a good, interesting book and a quick read, but missing something. It's basically a book about Tommy Ward and his family.
On April 28, 1984, Donna Denice Haraway vanished from McAnally's, a convenience store in the small town of Ada, OK. Three men arrived at the store and saw a young couple leaving. When the men entered the store, they found that the clerk, Denice, is missing and the cash drawer was open and nearly empty. The police immediately tried to locate the light-colored, older model pickup that was seen leaving the area. This is just the beginning of a case that will haunt Ada for years.
Two young men, Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot, were charged with Denice's death, though her body had not been found at the time of their initial trials. Though the men insisted on their innocence, they also provided damning video statements admitting their guilt. There were some problems with the confessions, though. Initially, Odell Titsworth, a Native American, was implicated as the driving force behind the crime. However, he had a broken arm at the time, and had been unable to take part in the alleged abduction, rape, and murder of Denice Haraway. Ward was provided with an alibi by relatives.
There was photographic proof that Ward and Fontenot had short hair at the time of Denice's disappearance, while the suspects were described as having long hair. There were several other men who were identified as possible suspects in place of Ward and Fontenot, including a pair (given pseudonyms in the book for legal reasons) who appeared to be very good suspects. Then there was Denice's body - when it was found, it was discovered that she had been shot, not stabbed like Ward and Fontenot had claimed in their confessions.
Mayer's book makes a compelling argument for the innocence of Ward and Fontenot. I'm really amazed that Fontenot was even convicted due to the weakness of the witness identification (or complete lack of it). John Grisham wrote a non-fiction book, The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town, based on an eerily similar case in Ada involving many of the same players. Fortunately, the two men in that case, Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz, were cleared. Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot remain in jail, though they are no longer on death row.
Why the 3 1/2 star rating? The book's focus is on Tommy Ward and his family. We get to know all of them - Miz Ward (the family matriarch), Tommy Ward, and his seven siblings, especially Tricia, his oldest sister. Karl Fontenot shows up periodically for what I would call "cameos." He's not a terribly likeable character, and I never really cared about him. There is slight emphasis on the Haraways and Denice Haraway's family. They and Denice never really come to life at all. They are just names. We actually see more of Tommy Ward's defense team than we do of the victim's family.
I have the Kindle edition of this book and I have noticed some typos in it - It's Lovelady, not Love Lady, and Mercury Grand Marquis, not "Mercury Marquee" (seriously?). Better proofreading would have helped.
Overall, a good, interesting book and a quick read, but missing something. It's basically a book about Tommy Ward and his family.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 15, 2008
I read this book before "the Innocent Man" by John Grisham came out. Mayer actually wrote the Dreams of Ada quite a while ago (the 80s I think), but it took Grisham's work of popular non-fiction to draw attention to Mayer's book. (Describing a different wrongful conviction in the SAME SMALL OKLAHOMA TOWN!!) And Mayer's book is an intense book indeed. Mayer describes the disappearance of a young girl, and the wrongful convictions of two Ada outcatsts for her "murder." His writing is very good, and you will NOT get bored.
But unlike the "Innocent Man," the accused in Mayer's book are never exonerated. At least one of them still sits on death row today. This book is a disturbing testament to how the presumption of innocence has been lost. How do we find it again? Will these two lost souls EVER have their names cleared?
But unlike the "Innocent Man," the accused in Mayer's book are never exonerated. At least one of them still sits on death row today. This book is a disturbing testament to how the presumption of innocence has been lost. How do we find it again? Will these two lost souls EVER have their names cleared?
August 28, 2015
What a fascinating read. Such a good insight into our legal system and how dichotomous thinking can be the most detrimental thing for all involved.
March 15, 2021
In 1984, in the “town” of Ada, Oklahoma, Denice Haraway left her job at a convenience store/gas station with a man (they simply looked like a couple). When the people who saw them leave went inside, the clerk (Denice) was no where to be found. It appeared that the place had also been robbed. It was only later that they realized the woman they saw leaving was the clerk.
When composite sketches brought Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot to the attention of the police, they were brought in and questioned. When both confessed on camera, that pretty much sealed the deal. It wasn’t long before they recanted – said they thought their confessions (given under pressure) would easily be exposed as lies. But, despite a LOT of inconsistencies in those confessions, the two were arrested and charged.
I didn’t know the outcome of this. I may have when I heard about the book, but by the time of reading it now, I didn’t remember. I don’t want to say too much if anyone wants to read the book to see what happened and not find out things ahead of time. Even behind my spoiler tag, I haven’t specifically said, but I expect one might be able to figure it out, so you are warned!
There were parts in the book that were a little more dry – sections that included things written by Tommy (he’s not very literate), and other legal details – but overall, it was interesting, particularly once they had the private investigator on the case. And suspenseful during the trials. This was originally published in 1987, but a new edition (with a new afterword) was published in 2006; the 2006 is the one I read.
When composite sketches brought Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot to the attention of the police, they were brought in and questioned. When both confessed on camera, that pretty much sealed the deal. It wasn’t long before they recanted – said they thought their confessions (given under pressure) would easily be exposed as lies. But, despite a LOT of inconsistencies in those confessions, the two were arrested and charged.
I didn’t know the outcome of this. I may have when I heard about the book, but by the time of reading it now, I didn’t remember. I don’t want to say too much if anyone wants to read the book to see what happened and not find out things ahead of time. Even behind my spoiler tag, I haven’t specifically said, but I expect one might be able to figure it out, so you are warned!
There were parts in the book that were a little more dry – sections that included things written by Tommy (he’s not very literate), and other legal details – but overall, it was interesting, particularly once they had the private investigator on the case. And suspenseful during the trials. This was originally published in 1987, but a new edition (with a new afterword) was published in 2006; the 2006 is the one I read.
January 26, 2012
This story was related to the Innocent Man by John Grisham that I previously reviewed. Its about another set of men that the same prosecutors and detectives decided were guilty of rape and murder despite a lack of evidence AND evidence to the contrary. Like the "confession" in the Innocent man, the detectives convinced two poor men with less than average intelligence that a crime had been committed the way that they apparently believed. Initially the detectives got the two men to implicate a third, but it was literally impossible that the third man was involved in the rape and murder because he had broken his arm in a fight with Ada's finest only two dates before the crime occurred. The detectives were undeterred by that inaccuracy-despite the fact that the third gentlemen was purportedly the aggressor who actually killed the woman. The detectives left the third man in jail claiming he had been arrested on an unrelated charge.
The detectives refused to follow up on any other leads. The crime itself was a kidnapping and murder of a convenience story clerk. The detectives literally ignored the string of kidnapping/murders of other convenience story clerks and the evidence that indicated that the defendants could not have done it. In the end, not a SINGLE part of the dream confessions were true..the woman had been shot in the head and left in the woods-not stabbed and left in the field, as the defendants "confessed." Neither the prosecutors nor the detectives cared.
There are so many disturbing aspects of this story, I had to wait awhile before I could review it. It scares me that the detectives and prosecution want a certain set of people to be guilty, they ignore the truth and valid evidence and let a SERIAL KILLER roam free. Just like in the Innocent Man, the mob mentality of people who refused to think for themselves prevailed.
The main difference between this book and the Innocent Man is that this really is an epic failure of the system. The defendants are still in jail, despite the fact that it is abundantly obvious that neither of the defendants could have committed this crime. The difference? THese defendants were sentenced to life, not to be executed. They dont get the automatic appeals and extra review processes that those on death row get. Who would ever think it's actually better to be sentenced to death, then to life in prison, if you are an innocent man.
After I finished the book, I started pondering if the death penalty SHOULD be abolished given all the checks and balances in place. I truly believed that the defendants would walk free if they were afforded more appeals. THere is just too much evidence that they could not have committed this crime. But I guess the greater question I have now is-should it matter how the court system ends a life before you are afforded the appeals that those on death row are afforded? Isnt your life over whether you live it out in prison or are eventually executed after at least a decade, and maybe more, on death row? Shouldnt we have the same checks and balances in place for an innocent man sentenced to life in prison in his twenties? The abuse of power and mob mentality apparently rampant in Ada, Oklahoma ended these men's lives...just in a different way.
The Innocent Man left me angry. The Dreams of Ada left me feeling feeling sad and hopeless and like our system really doesnt work.
The detectives refused to follow up on any other leads. The crime itself was a kidnapping and murder of a convenience story clerk. The detectives literally ignored the string of kidnapping/murders of other convenience story clerks and the evidence that indicated that the defendants could not have done it. In the end, not a SINGLE part of the dream confessions were true..the woman had been shot in the head and left in the woods-not stabbed and left in the field, as the defendants "confessed." Neither the prosecutors nor the detectives cared.
There are so many disturbing aspects of this story, I had to wait awhile before I could review it. It scares me that the detectives and prosecution want a certain set of people to be guilty, they ignore the truth and valid evidence and let a SERIAL KILLER roam free. Just like in the Innocent Man, the mob mentality of people who refused to think for themselves prevailed.
The main difference between this book and the Innocent Man is that this really is an epic failure of the system. The defendants are still in jail, despite the fact that it is abundantly obvious that neither of the defendants could have committed this crime. The difference? THese defendants were sentenced to life, not to be executed. They dont get the automatic appeals and extra review processes that those on death row get. Who would ever think it's actually better to be sentenced to death, then to life in prison, if you are an innocent man.
After I finished the book, I started pondering if the death penalty SHOULD be abolished given all the checks and balances in place. I truly believed that the defendants would walk free if they were afforded more appeals. THere is just too much evidence that they could not have committed this crime. But I guess the greater question I have now is-should it matter how the court system ends a life before you are afforded the appeals that those on death row are afforded? Isnt your life over whether you live it out in prison or are eventually executed after at least a decade, and maybe more, on death row? Shouldnt we have the same checks and balances in place for an innocent man sentenced to life in prison in his twenties? The abuse of power and mob mentality apparently rampant in Ada, Oklahoma ended these men's lives...just in a different way.
The Innocent Man left me angry. The Dreams of Ada left me feeling feeling sad and hopeless and like our system really doesnt work.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 23, 2018
I read this because of the advertisement comparing it to the documentary "Making A Murderer." There are definite similarities! By the end, I was convinced the the Ada D.A. is a lying sack of shit, deciding the fates of all who cross his desk himself and manipulating the cases to make sure it all turns out to fit his vision. The poor people of Ada have suffered plenty at his hands. The doubt cast on the convictions of Ward and Fontenot is sufficient to amount to "reasonable doubt." I'm not convinced they did it, yet I still don't understand the confessions... I'm not entirely sure they were completely innocent. They didn't come across as stupid, or as naive as the nephew in the "Making A Murderer" film, so why confess? Just for attention?
Anyway, all that said, the book was tedious. Too detailed, too verbose, too repetitive, too much in the defendants' vernacular. I plowed through to the end, but it bored me.
Anyway, all that said, the book was tedious. Too detailed, too verbose, too repetitive, too much in the defendants' vernacular. I plowed through to the end, but it bored me.
April 22, 2011
This case is very close to my heart as I am related to the victim. I can appreciate the detail spent describing the trials that the Ward family has gone through, but it consumes the entire book. Not once did the author even ask to interview the Haraway family and continually portrayed them throughout the book as uncaring and as "high-society" snobs. Why would two men give seperate and similar accounts of what happened to Denice if they were not involved? These two sickos definately deserve to be where they are today.
February 24, 2023
Where do I begin? This book is so compelling but it had so many facepalming moments. This is why you don’t let local small town police forces handle big cases. The amount of mistakes made by the police comes full circle into wrongful convictions I came into it thinking they were not guilty and there is not one ounce of physical evidence on them and the “confessions”(biggest air quotes I’ve ever done) are wrong don’t match the evidence and the true killer is still out there.
I could not put this book down it’s so gripping and compelling and it’s worth it.
I could not put this book down it’s so gripping and compelling and it’s worth it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 17, 2018
I read this after reading The Innocent Man by John Grisham. It was not as gripping but the injustice of the case described kept me interested and appalled.
January 2, 2010
DNA fingerprinting or profiling was first used around 1985. At that time, the technology wasn't developed enough to replicate a small (or degraded) evidence sample into a larger size that could be more thoroughly analyzed, which means that sometimes evidence was collected (and saved) but couldn't be analyzed. That's the situation with most prisoners who you read about being exonerated by the Innocence Project or other groups: there was evidence from which DNA could be extracted and analyzed in theory (hair, semen), but the techology wasn't there yet. Once the technology caught up, DNA testing became more routine and now we're in the CSI era. It seems unlikely that people suspected of crimes that involve DNA evidence will be wrongly convicted in the future. In the meantime, there remains a narrow (and shrinking) subset of people convicted at the time of the old technology who can now prove, after the fact, that they didn't do it. That gives us the opportunity to look at how those people were convicted in the first place. One example is the emerging consensus that eyewitness identification is highly fallible, which has led to studies on more effective techniques (such as double blind identifications or sequential line-ups - see http://www.law.yale.edu/news/2727.htm; http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200708...). Personally, I think interrogation techniques, particularly the freedom the police have to lie to suspects, deserve a harder look. In any event, on to the description of the book.
This book serves as about the most direct case study of this phenomenon that you could think of. Mayer details the investigation into the disappearance of a young woman in Ada, Oklahoma, and the subsequent trial of the two suspects who were identified. When I say detailed, I mean detailed - I now know a lot more about eastern Oklahoma than I ever expected to (pecans are apparently a big thing there), and perhaps more than was strictly necessary to move the story forward. There was also a ton of personal information, intended, I imagine, to make the reader more invested in the characters, particularly the suspects and their families. It probably could have used a stronger editor, but the details worked - I cared about the characters and I enjoyed the read for the most part.
** slight spoiler alert **
The reason this book is so interesting has to do in part with another book, this one written by John Grisham. I haven't read the Grisham book, but it describes another Ada crime, the investigation, and conviction of two local suspects. Those suspects were later exonerated by DNA evidence. In the Mayer book, there was no body recovered by the time the suspects went to trial (itself an interesting fact, at least from a lawyer's perspective), so there was no DNA. However, because the two crimes took place very close in time, many of the characters, including the lead local investigator and the prosecutor, were the same. Knowing that those same people got it wrong in the Grisham book, Mayer explores whether they also got it wrong here.
** bigger spoiler alert **
The guys Mayer writes about are still in jail, one without possibility of parole. There's a lot in the book that suggests they are innocent, and a lot to suggest that they're not. For example, both suspects confessed. As an intelligent adult with legal training, it's hard for me to imagine any reason why a person would confess to a crime he didn't commit. But on the other hand, DNA has proven that it happens, and I think there's plenty of material in the book that hints that these men were mentally not quite right, and not very bright to boot.
To sum up this foolishly long review, I think this book is unique in that it examines a crime that has all the trappings of the now-familiar wrongful conviction theme, except that we don't know the answer for sure. It's much more difficult to consider police techniques and prosecutorial choices without the security of 20/20 hindsight. It's also going to be more difficult to pay attention to these issues at all, as the number of provable wrongful convictions dwindle over the next few years.
This book serves as about the most direct case study of this phenomenon that you could think of. Mayer details the investigation into the disappearance of a young woman in Ada, Oklahoma, and the subsequent trial of the two suspects who were identified. When I say detailed, I mean detailed - I now know a lot more about eastern Oklahoma than I ever expected to (pecans are apparently a big thing there), and perhaps more than was strictly necessary to move the story forward. There was also a ton of personal information, intended, I imagine, to make the reader more invested in the characters, particularly the suspects and their families. It probably could have used a stronger editor, but the details worked - I cared about the characters and I enjoyed the read for the most part.
** slight spoiler alert **
The reason this book is so interesting has to do in part with another book, this one written by John Grisham. I haven't read the Grisham book, but it describes another Ada crime, the investigation, and conviction of two local suspects. Those suspects were later exonerated by DNA evidence. In the Mayer book, there was no body recovered by the time the suspects went to trial (itself an interesting fact, at least from a lawyer's perspective), so there was no DNA. However, because the two crimes took place very close in time, many of the characters, including the lead local investigator and the prosecutor, were the same. Knowing that those same people got it wrong in the Grisham book, Mayer explores whether they also got it wrong here.
** bigger spoiler alert **
The guys Mayer writes about are still in jail, one without possibility of parole. There's a lot in the book that suggests they are innocent, and a lot to suggest that they're not. For example, both suspects confessed. As an intelligent adult with legal training, it's hard for me to imagine any reason why a person would confess to a crime he didn't commit. But on the other hand, DNA has proven that it happens, and I think there's plenty of material in the book that hints that these men were mentally not quite right, and not very bright to boot.
To sum up this foolishly long review, I think this book is unique in that it examines a crime that has all the trappings of the now-familiar wrongful conviction theme, except that we don't know the answer for sure. It's much more difficult to consider police techniques and prosecutorial choices without the security of 20/20 hindsight. It's also going to be more difficult to pay attention to these issues at all, as the number of provable wrongful convictions dwindle over the next few years.
January 26, 2016
This is a haunting, true and bewildering story of a young girl gone missing from a small town. The town must deliver justice even though the two young suspects are poor and uneducated men. I find it heartbreaking and I am sure it happens multi-times over in every corner of the world. It stayed with me and how sad for everyone...this author did a truly remarkable job in bringing all the town folks to life.
He detailed every moment and especially near the end at 'count down' time. I highly recommend it.
He detailed every moment and especially near the end at 'count down' time. I highly recommend it.
January 8, 2012
I am not a fan of true crime, but since I have spent the last few years living in Ada, I chose to read about it. This book is a sad commentary on our justice system, and the predujices between classes of people. Even after having said that, I could not put the book down until I had finished it. And, I had the mistaken notion thst it would be more on the lines of Innocent Man, by John Grisham; another book about Ada. I recommend this book for everyone.
January 16, 2016
For such a renowned book this was very hard to get through -- at times all the legal maneuvering, and the looooooooong semi-literate letters by one of the suspects, made it feel as if I were pushing a car uphill...with a rope. But the take-home message, about how wrong the justice system can be when it really tries, kept me going.
November 18, 2015
Another John Grisham helper...... he takes wayyyy to long to describe things.. his descriptions bore me...I'm sorry don't know how people can read his books without getting distracted... Robert probably should have written it without John's help!
July 7, 2009
Refer to Grisham's Innocent Man.
See http://www.innocenceproject.org and http://www.wardandfontenot.com
See http://www.innocenceproject.org and http://www.wardandfontenot.com
August 12, 2016
An unbelievable insight in the way justice in a small town in Oklahoma sends two men to prison. Written in such a way that I could not put it down . Breathtaking !!
January 5, 2019
A very objective account of the murder of a young woman back in 1984 and the conviction of two men that have since proclaimed their innocence all along. I think what struck - and horrified - me the most was just how these men might be judged guilty on the basis of the evidence to hand and, not just that, initially sentenced to death (one has since had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment, apparently by one juror being determined to ensure that a death sentence could not be passed). What appears to me to be a most unsound verdict mirrors another in the same small town highlighted by John Grisham's work 'An Innocent Man' in which two men who were initially found guilty were then confirmed to be anything but, one being literally days from sentence being carried out. Quite incredibly, Mayer mentions the existence of a third such case where a man was given 25 years imprisonment, only for that to be overturned too.
August 13, 2024
i just had to read this book after reading john grishams an innocent man this is the real story of what happened when tommy told the police about a dream he had about a murder...and his friend karl who was also charged with murder when there was no body or anything tying them to the crime but tommys dream. both figured if they gave a confession the police would see that its a lie but thats not how it worked 2 trial where they are found guilty and got the death penlity and as of today tommy ward is still in jail for a crime he never committed and the real murderers are out there somewhere this was an amazing book to read and i really recommend it if you read an innocent man that was based on tommy wards life
February 17, 2019
This is a very slow burner, more of a character study than a crime book. Don't expect gore and police chases. But this is an important book, as it shows, with more than reasonable doubt, how vulnerable people can lose their freedom and even liver over crimes they most likely did not commit. Overall it is a sad story of a murder and of its ramifications. Both suspects and their families are tormented over the years, while the family of the victim may yet to hear what really happened. A necessary read for anyone interested in wrongful convictions, fake admissions of guilt and police procedure, as well as the psychology of a small community.
November 17, 2023
This true crime book was very very good. It goes into more detail than almost any other true crime book I have read. The amount of research done is amazing. Not a focus on the perpetrator, this crime book focuses on the crime and how it affects each and every person in Ada, Oklahoma, including the two men accused of the crime. It is a tragic story, and one that will leave you dis-satisfied with the outcome. Yet, it is also a morality tale...do not EVER admit to something you didn't do, for any reason at all. And, perhaps, don't trust in the human ability to reason beyond what appears to be the truth.
July 26, 2025
This was a long read for me. The writing style reminds me of Truman Capote's 'In Cold Blood'. The story became as much about the town of Ada, as of the two young men convicted of a convenience clerk's killing. The case is still active in the news, and the two men are trying to have their confessions thrown out in federal court. Their initial case was tried without the murder victim's body. The book concludes with defense attorney's trying to get a re-trial. John Grisham's 'The Innocent Man' is based on this case.
November 17, 2025
I know this is the one and only true crime book that Robert Mayer wrote; however, I hope down the line that if he writes another one, I would totally read it. The text's use of real words and confessions was a real 'page-turner' - it kept me engaged from start to finish! It's a grave injustice that these two men have spent decades in prison for a crime I'm convinced they didn't commit - and it's heartbreaking to think they're still incarcerated in their 60s. I'm still fuming that this case remains unsolved, and discovering a documentary about it years later only adds to my frustration.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 8, 2017
Interesting book but many, many unnecessary details making it painful to get through. Personally, I don't believe the guys who were charged committed the crime. I googled more recent information about this case, and additional evidence found after their convictions reinforced my belief in their innocence.
March 21, 2018
The moral of this story is if you live in a small town, not very smart, and poor, don’t let the local police question you without a lawyer. Two hapless 20 somethings are tried for murder with no body and no forensic evidence. Tommy and Karl are found guilty and given death sentence in the mid 1980s. Questions still surround the investigation.
March 14, 2019
I admit to some skimming as I found this case of two not-too-smart young men found guilty of murder. I didn’t find very many smart people on either side of the courtroom. Wasn’t really sure what I thought. It seemed so unlikely that these guys would have been found guilty that I wasn’t sure if I believed all I was reading. Anyway I don’t recommend this one
March 4, 2024
If you read "Innocent Man" by John Grisham, you must also read this book because it's a similar story (different victim) with the same prosecutor, same pattern of prosecution, and what many believe to be a miscarriage of justice. This is much longer that and includes a lot more court details so it is a longer read, but very good.
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