Stalking Justice: The Dramatic True Story of the Detective Who First Used DNA Testing To Catch a Serial Killer

by Paul Mones

Paul Mones, author of the acclaimed When a Child Kills, presents the first in-depth account of the pursuit and capture of "The Southside Strangler," based on extensive interviews and a graphically detailed examination of the evidence. STALKING JUSTICE focuses on the heroic efforts of the lone investigator who, by using his gut instincts and twenty-first-century technology, ended the vicious rampage of an elusive killer.

Detective Joe Horgas suspected that Susan Tucker's murder was connected to a similar case nearly four years earlier-a murder to which another man had already confessed. Horgas's theories were dismissed by superiors and colleagues alike; undaunted, he developed his own leads, and ultimately targeted a suspect. But he had nothing except semen stains from the crime scene to tie his suspect to the murder-nothing but a genetic code that, once deciphered, would break open the case. In a historic breakthrough for the U.S. criminal justice, DNA testing would be used to catch a killer.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime

314 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1995

Reviews

[Fishface · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read! Paul Mones always writes really good TC but this is a very unusual story. Being an attorney himself he explains legal aspects of the story that make it even more unusual and interesting than it would have been otherwise. There are NO spoilers on the jacket or in the photo section, which is great because this story offered a number of surprises. The writing was so focused on the important aspects of the crimes involved that even though there were no crime-scene photos, I came away feeling as if I had seen them. Be sure to read this one.

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Timothy Wilson Spencer was the first person convicted in the United States based on DNA evidence. DNA evidence collected from the body of Susan Tucker eventually led to the arrest and conviction of Spencer, who had raped or killed several other women in the same manner. The detective in Susan Tucker's case was relentless in his determination to capture the person responsible for these crimes and have them meet justice. He was relentless in his determination to have DNA evidence used. Without the efforts of Detective Joe Horgas, the sacrifices of these victims, and all of the scientists and members of the justice system who advocated for the use of DNA evidence, there would be far fewer people held responsible for their actions. DNA technology has advanced so much since this case, it is really amazing to see.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captivating, rivoting, unputdownable...this is the true story of the first rape/murder case that was solved using DNA testing in Virginia. It focuses more on the detectives (one in particular) and officers who diligently worked the cases (as there was more than one that went unresolved) in Arlington and Richmond, Virginia in the early 80's. This book is not your average "true crime" story - this one takes you into the lives and minds of mainly the lead detective who poured his heart, soul and life into arresting and convicting the perpetrator.

[BRNTerri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a decently written account of the crimes of the monster known as Timothy Wilson Spencer. More time was spent on the rape-murders than the rapes from 1983, if I'm remembering correctly. Thankfully not much time was spent on courtroom proceedings as that always bores me to tears. Lots of information was included on DNA, which was brand new at the time, having first been used a year before in England on the Colin Pitchfork case. That case was profiled on season 1 of Medical Detectives (Forensic Files.) Timothy has gone down in U.S. history as being the first person to have been convicted based on DNA evidence and he's the first person to have been executed based on a DNA conviction.

I wish the author had tried to interview Timothy. Now that I think about it that would have been as waste of time since he denies having any part of the crimes though he left his DNA (semen) all over crime scenes. I don't know why photos of the victims and Timothy weren't included. His family wasn't interviewed by the author either after the execution, which was 15 months before this book was published. I'd have loved to know their thoughts about all that went down. We weren't told of how law enforcement thought Timothy may have targeted his victims or if it was just random.

As for the killer himself, he was troubled from the start, at least from age 9 when he set something on fire at school. He seems to have just been a bad seed. There was no mention of him being abused as a child and I'm curious if he was maybe abused by someone as a child, before the fire incident at school, and his parents never knew about it.

I know of this case from the first season of Medical Detectives, which later became Forensic Files, " Season 1, episode 6, "Southside Strangler" , from 1996. A British documentary called  "Born To Kill?"  profiled this case on an episode called  "Timothy Spencer: The Southside Strangler"  in 2014. This documentary is very good, better than Forensic Files in some ways.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tough to get into. Had about one good chapter. Glad I'm done with it.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I watched the tv show that covered this book. Which was how I learned about the book. It’s a very interesting and informative read. One of the most important things about the story was how dna tests were just created helped bring the killer to prison. I truly enjoyed reading this one!

[Laurie Stoll · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting true crime book.

[jimmy scarborough · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was o.k.