Top products from r/UnresolvedMysteries

If you haven't noticed from my Casey series and other posts, I really like court cases and have more of a defense bent to me. I get really into cases where I believe there was a wrongful conviction or wrongful accusation so that's where most of the books I like fall. I really like Alan Dershowitz. He's a defense attorney and a famous public speaker. When he writes a book, he does the audible recording for it, so I always make sure to get the audible version. My favorite was Reasonable Doubts about the OJ Simpson case. Dershowitz played a minor role in the criminal trial as he was the attorney hired as OJ's appellate advisor in case of conviction, but the way he explained the evidence, I can see why they acquitted. I also really liked Fundamental Cases. Like I said, he's a defense attorney, so there's an issue with bias there, but he's a great speaker and it was really interesting listening to his explanation of these famous court cases.

If you're studying the OJ case, OJ is innocent and I can prove it provides some decent fodder for discussion, but is horribly written.

I also enjoyed:

It's Not About the Truth: The Untold Story of the Duke Lacrosse Case and the Lives It Shattered (Okay, not so much unsolved, but it was pretty controversial)

A beautiful child about Sharon Marshall (semi-solved case, but there are still a lot of mysteries)

I've read a number of books about the Casey Anthony case and I can't say there are any that cover the case in a completely unbiased manner. Baez's Presumed Guilty is the best written of the bunch (I actually really enjoyed it), but there are a number of facts he fudges to support his argument. Ashton's book Imperfect Justice is an interesting read from the perspective that he's off in lala land. He has no clue why they lost the trial and it's obvious from his writing. I wish Linda Drane Burdick would write a book. If you're studying that case, those two are interesting to read in tandem to get a feel for it.

Renner's book--I like the guy and enjoy his blog, but I went into it hoping there would be more about Maura. I felt like he knows more about Maura than what he said in the book and was hoping for a more thorough discussion. I realize he wrote it more as a memoir so maybe that's part of my disappointment. I was hoping it would be a different book than it was.

At least one of the reviews (I’m on mobile but I’ll find it later) lists all the things she says about the area which don’t match up to the reviewer’s knowledge of it.

I haven’t read the book, but there’s an extract on Amazon you can read. She does not come across as a reliable narrator.

ETA the review;
https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/0812983564/ref=cm_cr_unknown?ie=UTF8&filterByStar=two_star&reviewerType=all_reviews&pageNumber=1#reviews-filter-bar

I happened to add this book to my reading pile when at the library, not knowing much about it other than it was about a mom who turned her son's challenges into extraordinary abilities. After reading most of it, I commend her for all her hard work, dedication, and diligence in seeking the best life for her son.

What I didn't realize when selecting the book was the author lives in the same time as the library where I checked the book out! It made the book much more interesting to me as I recognized the name of the local hospital, large church where she created her sports club, and even had a hunch which Target store her husband likely works in. I live directly north of Carmel, I work Carmel and I am a lifelong resident of Hamilton County.

We are a county of suburban sprawl at its finest. Directly north of downtown Indy, the county is filled with strip malls galore, housing addition after housing addition, constant road construction, and lots of traffic. It is the most affluent county in the state, and one of the most affluent counties in the country. Carmel in particular, is constantly busting at the seams from the overpopulation of yuppy suburbanites. She paints a picture of a farm field being right down the road from her, and yes, I am sure there is one (Indiana is a farming state in the midwest, after all)...but the bulk of Carmel and surrounding towns' farmland was replaced with strip malls and housing additions in the late 90's.

The author's description of "single lane gravel roads through real farm country" to get to the town of Kirklin, Indiana actually made me laugh out of loud (a very small town where some of my family lives, so I am very familiar with it).

I'm not sure what route she was taking to get to her dilapidated building in Kirklin! She should consider purchasing a better GPS device, because while gravel roads do exist near Kirklin (easily passable by two cars, btw), there is no reason one would be traveling on one to get there from the Carmel area. Hamilton County in particular has not had a SINGLE gravel road in well over 25 years. Yes, Kirklin is north and a bit west of most of Hamilton County, but the area between Carmel and Kirklin is not exactly uninhabited. Although her description of "blink and you'll miss it" is correct, Kirklin's main street is also US Highway 421/Michigan Road. Yes, it's a very small town and yes, it is in a rural farming area, but it is located on a major highway that runs directly there from the west side of Carmel. Hardly the rustic, unknown lost town that no one has ever heard of!

If I weren't so caught up in the oddly majestic farmland oasis description of the area, I might have enjoyed it more. Mostly it seemed like the account of a dedicated mom boasting of all she's achieved (who can blame her?!) and overcome with her own children and genius young son, in particular.

As previously mentioned, The Gardner Heist by Ulrich Boser is a 'classic' in terms of art crime books. I would certainly recommend it,
along with The Art of Forgery by Noah Charney! Very, very informative, focuses on a lot of different cases. It's published by Phaidon, which can be a bit pricy, but I'd recommend checking out their website if your sibling is into art/history. They're notoriously good quality, and I'm sure you can find some of their stuff for cheaper on Amazon!

On a sidenote, I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but Caveat Emptor: The Secret Life of an American Art Forger by Ken Perenyi is also a good read. It's the autobiography of an art forger who was active largely in the 60's-70's. It's moreso a memoir than anything else, but there's still some good chunks of information in it, and he does discussing running into trouble with the FBI. Personally, I really enjoyed it.

Some more suggestions: Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures by Robert K. Wittman (haven't read it, but it gets good reviews on Amazon), The Art of the Con: The Most Notorious Fakes, Frauds, and Forgeries in the Art World by Anthony M. Moore (very basic, contains mostly well-known mysteries, but still good), Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art by Laney Salisbury, The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith (fiction, nonetheless a good read, focused on art forgery), The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (won the pulitzer prize for fiction a couple years back, one of my favorite books).

Hope this helps! I'll add more if I think of any! :)

Oh sure! :) Here it is:

Death of Nine: The Dyatlov Pass Mystery

Thank you so much for your interest! I hope you like it and please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you again!

There is an amazing book on listening to intuition and how it can save lives called the Gift of Fear. HIGHLY recommend it.

There are two books about this case, both of which I recommend: The Gardner Heist, by Ulrich Boser, and Master Thieves by Stephen Kurkjian. Both have their strengths and weaknesses, and neither are definitive, but you'll have a pretty good picture of the case once you've read them.

My grandfather had that book. I also absolutely loved it so he let me have it. Then one day in middle school I stupidly let a cute boy borrow it and he never returned it. I recently got it as a gift from a friend https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0895770288/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_23?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3W7UPGV208J4

I've been enjoying your contributions to this sub as a long time lurker but your news made me finally create an account so I could congratulate you - so, congrats and well done! Also, for the peoples in mainland Europe, the book can be bought in EUR right here

You might like The Cases That Haunt Us, by John Douglas. I read it a while ago and found it interesting, especially the section on JBR--he's one of the only experts I've found who honestly believes the parents didn't kill her.

It's probably showing some age now, but when I was a kid I loved Strange Stories, Amazing Facts. It's very much a "general mysteries of the world" book, it has short, accessible articles about subjects like the Voynicht Manuscript and supposed ghost hauntings, with lots of pictures. Nothing overly gory or violent but I think there might be a Renaissance nude painting or sculpture or two in it.

Fellow UK-er here, it is available on our Amazon here

edit - worked out how to add links properly - btw the book is only £2.83, amazing work u/Hysterymystery!!

Is it this book? https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Dead-Journey-Through-World/dp/1476739331

If so, it looks really interesting, thank you for recommending!

Posted this in my own comment, but good book on this is https://www.amazon.com/Gift-Fear-Survival-Signals-Violence/dp/0440226198

This Is The Zodiac Speaking by Michael Kelleher and David Van Nuys. Very informative, well written and engaging.
https://www.amazon.com/This-Zodiac-Speaking-Serial-Killer/dp/031336138X

Edit: Misspelled author's name.

There is an excellent book on this subject.

They might like this book? https://www.amazon.com/Stealing-Rembrandts-Untold-Stories-Notorious/dp/0230339905

In the recommended books there's also this one: https://www.amazon.com/Gardner-Heist-Worlds-Largest-Unsolved/dp/0061451843/ref=pd_bxgy_14_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0061451843&pd_rd_r=1Q9BEAD93T7CM3ZAGAB9&pd_rd_w=TH7c7&pd_rd_wg=3oa6j&psc=1&refRID=1Q9BEAD93T7CM3ZAGAB9

You may be watching the first ones to go up, which were the ones with Dennis Farina. The first season with Robert Stack is definitely there, as I'm on episode 3, with the Beale Cipher!

Hopefully this link works!

The Journalist and the Murderer, about the writing and aftermath of Fatal Vision, is also really good.

OP, I recommend The Cases That Haunt Us by John Douglas. He digs into a lot of the cases already mentioned here: Jack the Ripper, JonBenet Ramsey, Zodiac, Lizzie Borden... it's a very good read.

Have you ever heard of a book called "The Cases That Haunt Us" by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker? It has the most compelling explanation for who Jack the Ripper was that I've ever come across and I've read a good bit on him.

For anyone trying to find it, here's the link:

Unsolved Mysteries: Original Robert Stack Episodes https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NBWXMY5/ref=cm_sw_r_an_am_at_ws_us?ie=UTF8

The Gardner Heist by Ulrich Boser is an awesome book. I read it a couple years ago and was extremely intrigued when I heard Whitey Bulger was arrested. He was a main player in the book, I wonder if anything related to the art theft will come from his current trial.

There's also Dave MacGowan's 'Programmed to Kill'. I've read the book several times, and although it's highly speculative, I think it contains the best explanation for alot of these unsolved murders.
https://www.amazon.com/Programmed-Kill-Politics-Serial-Murder/dp/0595326404

I read this amazing book last year about death fraud called Playing Dead by Elizabeth Greenwood, and there's an entire part of the book dedicated to death fraud post-9/11 in New York. Apparently it was such an issue that there was an entire task force dedicated to the issue. I can't remember if she mentioned Sneha Phillips in it, but that's definitely what it brought to mind.

I highly recommend it to anyone who's interested in missing persons cases. She even spends a lot of time with John Darwin, the dude (I think) in the U.K. who faked his death for a good while before getting caught.

I highly suggest you read this book, it changed my mind about everything. We were very mislead by what the media was reporting vs what was actually said/presented at trial.

https://www.amazon.com/Everything-didnt-about-Casey-Anthony-ebook/dp/B079WKF7J8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1535916087&sr=1-1&keywords=SK+Patton

I just bought this book last week Murder in the Stacks by David DeKok. I haven't got around to reading it yet though. Here's a link to a live chat recap the author did. Live chat recap

Always was one of the most mysterious cases ever to me.

Here is the mobile version of your link

http://www.amazon.com/I-Choose-Live-Sabine-Dardenne/dp/1844082687

The person you're replying to did actually write a book on the topic, linked above: https://www.amazon.com/Death-Nine-Dyatlov-Pass-Mystery-ebook/dp/B07MSFVWS5/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1548951201&sr=8-4&keywords=dyatlov+pass

https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Stacks-State-Aardsma-Killer/dp/0762780878

https://www.amazon.com/Who-Killed-Betsy-Uncovering-Universitys/dp/0615498116/ref=pd_aw_fbt_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=WRHCSF7SQX8DEBWWTP26

Both books name Richard Haefner

If you haven't read this, OP, I think you should

https://www.amazon.com/Journalist-Murderer-Janet-Malcolm/dp/0679731830

She's got a book too!

https://www.amazon.com/Everything-didnt-about-Casey-Anthony-ebook/dp/B079WKF7J8

This is the book that covers the case.Suzanne's story

I believe Blood of Innocents is what you’re looking for.

If you haven't already, read The Gift of Fear. The author talks about not ignoring those subconscious messages we get when our brains detect danger.

That is insane, but you were absolutely right to listen to your fear and act on it. If you haven’t read The Gift Of Fear I highly recommend it. Your situation sounds like one he would cover. So scary

Not sure if this will work for everyone but here's the link I found for the Stack versions - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NBWXMY5/ref=sr_1_5?s=instant-video&ie=UTF8&qid=1485061427&sr=1-5&keywords=unsolved+mysteries

Death at the Priory: Love, Sex, and Murder in Victorian England by James Ruddick.

Wealthy, beautiful woman is accused of murdering her blackguard of a husband. The story is full of poison, abortions, and genteel deviousness.

Actually, it’d make a great Masterpiece Theatre feature, similar to last year’s Dark Angel, about Victorian serial killer Mary Ann Cotton, but with lovelier sets and costumes.

i had the same problem. see if you can find it on this link and add it to your watch list https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NBWXMY5/ref=cm_sw_r_an_am_at_ws_us?ie=UTF8

Did you read this post and the rest of the series? (She wrote a book, too) There's even more evidence pointing towards the pool which would mean the "foolproof suffocation" was to kill herself.

One of Dutroux's surviving victims, Sabine Dardenne, wrote an incredibly moving and impressive book about the whole ordeal. Her time in his basement cell, the guilt she felt for asking for "a friend" - which led to the abduction of Laetitia Delhez, which was seen by a nun and another witness, who ID'd Dutroux's van and it led to his final arrest - and much, much more. It's available on Amazon HERE, but I hate the translated title. "I Choose To Live" isn't half as strong as the original French title, which can be translated as "I was 12 and Biking to School".

I wouldn't call a gut feeling dumb luck. A bad gut feeling is often the reaction we have to behavioral red flags we pick up unconsciously. In this particular case, given that two officers had
the same reaction and no apparent motive to target this man, the kidnapper almost certainly acted in ways that subtly alarming.

Gavin de Becker's "The Gift of Fear" explains this well: https://www.amazon.com/Gift-Fear-Survival-Signals-Violence/dp/0440226198.

The first chapter is available online here: http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/becker-fear.html

you can download it online if interested. It offers a lot of insight into the CIA's involvement in the making of serial killers...for example..notice how many serial killers have had some kind of military background? Also the book reveals a lot of details not released to public about famous murders. The writer is David McGowan .

https://www.amazon.com/Programmed-Kill-Politics-Serial-Murder/dp/0595326404

Blood of Innocents

Abomination

And there is at least one other that I will not link because it was co-written by a convicted violent sex offender.

I am currently reading Deliver Us about the Killing Field and related I-45 murders. When I finish the book I will post a review. Thanks for the website link!

I like this theory, but it absolutely downplays the severity of their injuries. Here's a comment from u/wordblender that I think completely debunks this theory -

​



I've been researching this case for many years and don't believe this was natural phenomena.

Let's take a look at George's injuries. All the hikers had severe injuries just like George's.

Here's the field where Luda, Nicholas, Alexander, and Simon's body's were found. Luda and Simon had crushed ribs. These injuries have been blamed on a fall into a ravine. Yet, they were not found in a ravine. They were found in a field.

All nine bodies were found from a half mile to a mile from the tent. George, Yuri, Luda, Nicholas, Alexander, and Simon's bodies were a mile away. To get there they had to walk a mile, in the snow, at night, in their socks, and then climb a 15 ft. cliff. Here's a map of the area.

For reference, the hikers average speed during the days they were hiking was 1 mile per hour. Since their bodies were found a mile away, that means they walked for at least an hour in their socks or barefoot and climbed a 15 ft cliff. There was no sign of an avalanche. No trees were crushed, the hiker's footprints were found outside the tent- and not covered up as they would be from an avalanche.

Delicate items such as crackers, tins of food, and a cup of cocoa were undisturbed in the tent. There was a sandwich made and bits of a meal were laid out. These items were not crushed or out of place. Again showing there was no sign of an avalanche.

If the hikers heard an avalanche and panicked and rushed out of the tent, they would have turned around soon after. They would not have walked for an hour away from the tent. Not to mention, again the items in the tent show no signs of a panicked situation.

Most important of all is the histology test that was performed on Luda, Nicholas, Simon, and Alexander. Histology is the study of the microscopic structure of tissues. And in this case, the tissues were being examined to look for active bleeding at the injury site.

As already mentioned, Simon and Luda's chests were crushed. The histology test determined that those injuries happened while they were alive.

Both Luda and Simon were also found with their eyes missing. This histology test determined there was active bleeding at the time these injuries occurred. This means that Simon and Luda's eyes were removed while they were alive.

This, in and of itself, points to something more sinister than an avalanche or winds or ice slab or whatever.

I'm skeptical of this new investigation into the Dyatlov Pass mystery. In fact, it's a shame that the Russian officials want to pin this on weather or natural events or whatever. All those scenarios were ruled out almost immediately back in 1959. And there's still no sign of such events to this day. The evidence of the case is in complete contradiction to a natural event.

Edit: I'm getting PM's about the picture of George's injuries. I created that based on his autopsy report. I also did the same thing for the other eight hikers. I wrote a book about Dyatlov Pass and included those in there.

Edit: Here's a link to the original official reports.

Edit: Here's a link to the scans of the original official documents.

Edit: I hope I've been able to answer everyone's messages and replies. I apologize if I missed someone. If I have, then please let me know. I typed the OP out while babysitting my four year old grandson full-time, so I haven't been as attentive to this post as I'd like. Thank you all for your patience and time.

Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker

Deliver Us: Three Decades of Murder and Redemption in the I-45 Killing Fields by Kathryn Casey

I really enjoyed Who Killed Betsy? by Derek Sherwood. It's about Betsy Aardsma, who was stabbed once in the heart and killed in a library at Penn State University in November 1969. You can learn more at the author's web site

There's another book about the murder that I haven't read yet. It seems to come to the same conclusion. I need to read that one too.

Edited to fix a run-on sentence

In 2013, Kristine Barnett’s memoir, “The Spark: A Mother’s Story of Nurturing, Genius, and Autism” was published by Random House. NPR book critic Maureen Corrigan wrote in The Washington Post that the book was “compulsive reading,” adding, “Barnett not only fights heroically on Jake’s behalf, she also beats down every other obstacle that life hurls at her and her family.”

Meanwhile, not long after his 15th birthday, Jacob began taking classes at the prestigious Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario. His parents told the Star that they moved the whole family to Canada in the summer of 2013 so that he could follow his passion, putting their Indiana home on the market.

Around that same time, the Barnetts’ adopted daughter told police, her parents rented her an apartment in downtown Lafayette, Ind., near the home of Purdue University. She knew no one there. Michael Barnett later told detectives that he and his then-wife paid the rent on the apartment but didn’t provide the girl with any other financial support.

What happened next is unclear, though an anonymous law enforcement source told WLFI that the girl’s neighbors “took her under their wing.” Court documents obtained by WISH-TV show that she was evicted for not paying rent in May 2014, less than a year after her adoptive parents left her alone in the apartment. Since she left no forwarding address, court officers weren’t able to figure out where she had gone, or follow up with her for the money she owed.

That same year, the Barnetts filed for divorce, according to the station. Though Jake still lives in Canada, where he is pursuing a PhD in quantum gravity at the Perimeter Institute, both Michael and Kristine have moved back to Indianapolis.

In September 2014, the Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Office tracked down their adoptive daughter at the behest of a school principal who had raised concerns, WLFI reported. Based on the medical records cited in the affidavit, she would have been 12 or 13 at the time. Legally, however, she was well into her mid-20s. Authorities haven’t said what came of the meeting, and another five years would pass before the Barnetts were charged with neglect.

What happened in the intervening years, too, is a mystery. The police affidavit states that the girl left Lafayette and Tippecanoe County in February 2016. Additional court filings unearthed by WISH-TV show that 15 days after that, another couple petitioned to become her guardians. The Barnetts filed an objection. In January 2018, the station reported, the new couple changed their mind about the adoption, for reasons that weren’t specified. The Barnetts’ petition was subsequently dismissed.

Though charges were filed Wednesday, neither of the Barnetts has been booked or arraigned. Court records don’t indicate if either has an attorney. And authorities have hinted that there could be even more strange details to come.

“This is going to end up on a TV show,” an anonymous law enforcement official told WLFI on Thursday.

Gavin de Becker writes about these concepts in his books.

Protecting the Gift:

• In Protecting the Gift, Gavin de Becker shares with readers his remarkable insight into human behavior, providing them with a fascinating look at how human predators work and how they select their targets and most important, how parents can protect their children. He offers the comforting knowledge that, like every creature on earth, human beings can predict violent behavior. In fact, he says, parents are hardwired to do just that. -Source
  
  The Gift of Fear:
  
  
• Author Gavin de Becker says victims of violent behavior usually feel a sense of fear before any threat or violence takes place. They may distrust the fear, or it may impel them to some action that saves their lives. A leading expert on predicting violent behavior, de Becker believes we can all learn to recognize these signals of the "universal code of violence," and use them as tools to help us survive. The book teaches how to identify the warning signals of a potential attacker and recommends strategies for dealing with the problem before it becomes life threatening. -Source

Betsy Aardsma at Penn State in 1969 is an interesting one, in my opinion. She was a grad student attacked in the Pattee Library's "Stacks" one evening while researching, but nobody'd realized she'd been stabbed until she arrived at the hospital. Her red dress and minimal blood apparently led people to think she'd simply had a seizure.

It's also possible her murderer told people "Somebody better help that girl" as he fled the scene. Murder in the Stacks by David DeKok (2014) puts forward a fairly compelling theory about her potential attacker. Tragic to think such a high-profile murder with multiple possible witnesses has gone unsolved so long.

Sabine Dardenne and Laetitia Delhez were child molester and killer Marc Dutroux's only surviving victims.

The only reason Sabine was found alive is that, age 12, she was a spirited child and had, after having been held alone in captivity for months, she demanded Dutroux bring her a friend. Dutroux then went on to abduct 14-year-old Leatitia, but there were witnesses to that abduction and their statements eventually led police to arrest Dutroux and him bragging that to police that he could lead them to not one, but two girls... and so they found Laetitia and Sabine.

Sabine later wrote a book (she had been held captive for months) and I remember reading how authorities and even her own family had presumed her to be dead; their relationship never quite recovered after what she'd been through.

Neither of the girls ever opened up in public about Dutroux's abuses, but it's clear he was a monster: he had previously abducted and held two teenage girls who he drugged until they were unconscious and then buried alive, and two 8-year-old girls he had abducted starved to death in captivity while he was serving time in prison for other crimes.

Edit: spelling, formatting

IIRC the book's titled Why Johnny Can't Tell Right From Wrong by William Kirkpatrick (which I just saw downthread you spotted, sorry!) and everything I can find about it suggests it's a general "kids these days" conservative piece about the need for education reform, not actually about what to do when one of your children is doing bad things. (The name is a riff on Rudolf Flesch's Why Johnny Can't Read, a book advocating educational reform of a different kind.) To quote from its Amazon description:

>A hard-hitting and controversial book, WHY JOHNNY CAN'T TELL RIGHT FROM WRONG will not only open eyes but change minds. America today suffers from unprecedented rates of teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, suicide, and violence. Most of the programs intended to deal with these problems have failed because, according to William Kilpatrick, schools and parents have abandoned the moral teaching they once provided.

In general the books listed (including one by the guy from Focus On The Family!) suggest more that the family was politically/socially conservative, which is consistent with their religious stance to me, rather than being serious self-help books for disturbed children. It doesn't mean Burke (or JonBenet) couldn't have been disturbed or acting out, but I don't think the books are all they were made out to be. The feces seem like a more likely sign of some kind of disturbance to me.

I have a searing hatred for Kolar for this. Please go look at the actual descriptions of the books. Their titles sound alarming because Kolar misleadingly suggests they're linked to Burke's behavior. In reality, they are completely standard Christian books about raising godly children in a secular world. There is absolutely no reason at all to believe they reflect any violent or alarming behavior on Burke's part if you do anything more than read the titles. Kolar is a shitty investigator or a deliberate liar, as far as I'm concerned.

edit: A long time ago, I wrote out a long comment about each book Kolar lists, but I can't find it. But just off the top of my head, here is one example:

Kolar says "Well, the Ramseys had a book called Why Johnny Can't Tell Right From Wrong." Sounds suspicious, right? Well, here's the book blurb from Amazon:

>A hard-hitting and controversial book, WHY JOHNNY CAN'T TELL RIGHT FROM WRONG will not only open eyes but change minds. America today suffers from unprecedented rates of teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, suicide, and violence. Most of the programs intended to deal with these problems have failed because, according to William Kilpatrick, schools and parents have abandoned the moral teaching they once provided. In WHY JOHNNY CAN'T TELL RIGHT FROM WRONG, Kilpatrick shows how we can correct this problem by providing our youngsters with the stories, models, and inspirations they need in order to lead good lives. He also encourages parents to read to their children and provides an annotated guide to more than 120 books for children and young adults.

The table of contents lists: The Crisis in Moral Education, Drug Education, Sex Education, How Not to Teach Morality, Moral Illiteracy, Vision and Virtue, Music and Morality, and so on. Does that sound like a book about turning your budding-psychopath of a child around? Or does it sound like bog-standard Christian "What do I do about the increasing secularity of American society?" stuff that was prevalent during the '90s? Keep in mind that we know the Ramseys were practicing Christians. It would not be even remotely weird for them to have this kind of book.

Similar arguments can be made about every book Kolar lists. He either did not so much as crack these books open, or he deliberately lied about their contents in order to fit with his theory about Burke. This part of his argument is so egregiously misleading that nothing else he says should be taken at face value, as far as I'm concerned.

The Zodiac was one of two cases that brought me into the world of unresolved mysteries and even was somewhat of an impetus for me getting a criminal justice degree.

I don't think Cheri Jo Bates was a victim of his.

I think it is equally likely that the killer is a publicly unknown person as it is one of the named suspects.

The unsolved ciphers are nonsense meant to keep attention on himself.

I think the Paul Stine murder was significant and his close call with law enforcement afterwards affected him deeply. He finally was able to kill a male after failing his last two attempts, but also came face to face with the same people he had been taunting and running from.

I don't think he was a criminal mastermind. I think he was a very disturbed and attention craving individual who was very, very lucky.

If the Modesto Kathy Johns event was him, I think it shows that his impulse to actually go through with a kill was fading away.

Zodiac first and foremost fed off the media attention and the following public reaction. (Panic, the request for pins, his mocking tone, the ciphers) I almost want to say killing was just a means to an end to grab headlines and cause fear.

I think he either "retired," his drive to kill passed with time, he committed suicide, or he was imprisoned. I feel like he couldn't help but brag if he was imprisoned though. I think he is most likely dead. If he is still alive, he is probably very old and won't be around much longer. I don't like to say never when it comes to resolving cases, but I find it highly improbable that we will know all the answers in this mystery.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book if you like the Zodiac case and psychology: https://www.amazon.com/This-Zodiac-Speaking-Serial-Killer/dp/031336138X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1475249464&sr=8-1&keywords=this+is+the+zodiac+speaking