In April 1991, four men attacked sisters Julie and Robin Kerry and their cousin Tom Cummins on the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge in St. Louis. The men forced the sisters into the Mississippi River, where they drowned, while Tom survived a sixty-foot fall. Jeanine Cummins, Tom’s sister, documents the subsequent police investigation and the legal proceedings that followed. She details how detectives initially targeted Tom as a suspect, the eventual capture of the real killers, and the long-term psychological impact on her family during the execution of the perpetrators.
True crime readers and students of the American legal system read this book to understand the specific failures of criminal interrogations and the reality of victimhood. It provides a detailed look at how law enforcement can fixate on the wrong individuals and the way the judicial process affects surviving family members. Readers finish the account with a factual understanding of how false confessions are elicited and the procedural difficulties of navigating a high-profile death penalty case over several decades.
Clear-cut; an easy read.
Best for readers like The Curious Generalist. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2004
- Language
- EN
