A shocking true story of a double life undone by murder. When North Carolina farmer Stuart Taylor died after a sudden illness, his 46-year-old fiancée Velma Barfield, was overcome with grief. Taylor's family grieved with her-until the autopsy revealed traces of arsenic poisoning. Turned over to the authorities by her own son, Velma stunned her family with more revelations. This wasn't the first time the born-again Christian and devout Sunday school teacher had committed cold-blooded murder. Tried by the "world's deadliest prosecutor," and sentenced to death, Velma turned her life around and gained worldwide attention. With chilling precision, New York Times bestselling author Bledsoe probes Velma's stark descent into madness. From her harrowing childhood to the shocking crimes that incited a national debate over the death penalty, to the dark, final moments of her execution-broadcast live on CNN-Velma Barfield's riveting life of crime and punishment, revenge and redemption is true crime reporting at its most gripping and profound.
She led an almost perfect life, and committed an almost perfect crime. Barbara Stager appeared to be a devoted mother, loving wife, and dedicated church leader in her Durham, North Carolina community. When she "accidentally" shot her husband, popular high school coach Russ, the police were inclined to believe her-until they found out ten years earlier her first husband had died in a strangely similar way. Detective Rick Buchanan's relentless investigations into Stager's life revealed a stunning vortex of compulsive lying, obsessive spending, and sexual promiscuity. With every shocking new discovery, more of Barbara's impeccable image unraveled. But the greatest shock-a damning piece of evidence Russ Stager left behind-revealed the nightmare truth about Barbara. New York Times bestselling author Jerry Bledsoe takes us deep into one of the most spellbinding cases of double life, lethal lust, and almost perfect murder.
The terrifying #1 New York Times bestseller about the unbreakable ties of blood. The first bodies found were those of a feisty millionaire widow and her daughter in their posh Louisville, Kentucky, home. Months later, another wealthy widow and her prominent son and daughter-in-law were found savagely slain in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Mystified, police first suspected a professional in the bizarre gangland-style killings that shattered the quiet tranquility of two well-to-do southern communities. But soon a suspicion grew that turned their focus to family. The Sharps. The Newsoms. The Lynches. The only link between the three families was a beautiful and aristocratic young mother named Susie Sharp Newsom Lynch. Could this former child "princess" and fraternity sweetheart have committed such barbarous crimes? And what about her gun-loving first cousin and lover, Fritz Klenner, son of a nationally renowned doctor? In this powerful and riveting tale of three families connected by marriage and murder of obsessive love and bitter custody battles, Jerry Bledsoe recounts the shocking events that ultimately took nine lives, building to a truly horrifying climax that will leave you stunned.
From the New York Times bestselling author of Bitter Blood, comes the story of a greed so powerful it led to an unspeakable crime. Wealthy Lieth von Stein lay dead and his wife Bonnie near death in their North Carolina home after a vicious assault with a knife and baseball bat as they slept. The crime seemed totally baffling until police followed a trail that led to the charming von Stein stepson, Chris Pritchard, and his brilliant, drug-using, Dungeons-&-Dragons playing friends at N.C. State University. Blood Games is the shattering true story of degraded young minds-and a son's gruesome greed turned horrifyingly real. Jerry Bledsoe masterfully reconstructs the bloody crime and its aftermath, as he takes us on a riveting journey into the secret twisted hearts of three young murderers.
If even a small part of a child still lives within your heart, The Angel Doll can't help but captivate. It is a timeless, deeply moving Christmas classic about the greatest gift of all: the lesson of love. Set in a North Carolina manufacturing town in the 1950s, this is the story of two young boys, best friends, both ten years old. One has a four-year-old sister, desperately ill with polio, whose favorite book is The Littlest Angel. She longs for one thing: an angel doll for Christmas - something nobody in town has ever seen. The boys set out to get her one, at great cost and even greater reward.
