Death on Ocean Boulevard

Death on Ocean Boulevard
Author: Caitlin Rother
Publisher: Citadel Press
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2021-04-27
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 0806540907

“[This] is one of the great crime mysteries of modern times. It took an author of Caitlin Rother’s caliber to bring it into sharp focus. A riveting read.” —Gregg Olsen, #1 New York Times bestselling author “I got a girl, hung herself in the guest house.” The call came on the morning of July 13, 2011, from the historic Spreckels Mansion, a lavish beachfront property in Coronado, California, owned by pharmaceutical tycoon and multimillionaire Jonah Shacknai. When authorities arrived, they found the naked body of Jonah’s girlfriend, Rebecca Zahau, gagged, her ankles tied and her wrists bound behind her. Jonah’s brother, Adam, claimed to have found Rebecca hanging by a rope from the second-floor balcony. On a bedroom door in black paint were the cryptic words: SHE SAVED HIM CAN YOU SAVE HER. Was this scrawled message a suicide note or a killer’s taunt? Rebecca’s death came two days after Jonah’s six-year-old son, Max, took a devastating fall while in Rebecca’s care. Authorities deemed Rebecca’s death a suicide resulting from her guilt. But who would stage either a suicide ora murder in such a bizarre, elaborate way? Award-winning investigative journalist Caitlin Rother weaves stunning new details into a personal yet objective examination of the sensational case. She explores its many layers—including the civil suit in which a jury found Adam Shacknai responsible for Rebecca’s death, and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department bombshell decision to reconfirm its original findings. As compelling as it is troubling, this controversial real-life mystery is a classic American tragedy that evokes the same haunting fascination as the JonBenet Ramsey and O.J. Simpson cases. “Rother’s meticulous journalism shines through in this authoritative account of the Rebecca Zahau death incident. If you think you know this case, think again. And read this book.” —Katherine Ramsland, professor of forensic psychology and author of The Psychology of Death Investigations

Harnessing the Power of the Criminal Corpse

Harnessing the Power of the Criminal Corpse
Author: Sarah Tarlow
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 277
Release: 2018-05-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 3319779087

This open access book is the culmination of many years of research on what happened to the bodies of executed criminals in the past. Focusing on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it looks at the consequences of the 1752 Murder Act. These criminal bodies had a crucial role in the history of medicine, and the history of crime, and great symbolic resonance in literature and popular culture. Starting with a consideration of the criminal corpse in the medieval and early modern periods, chapters go on to review the histories of criminal justice, of medical history and of gibbeting under the Murder Act, and ends with some discussion of the afterlives of the corpse, in literature, folklore and in contemporary medical ethics. Using sophisticated insights from cultural history, archaeology, literature, philosophy and ethics as well as medical and crime history, this book is a uniquely interdisciplinary take on a fascinating historical phenomenon.

I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die

I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die
Author: Sarah J. Robinson
Publisher: WaterBrook
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2021-05-11
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0593193539

A compassionate, shame-free guide for your darkest days “A one-of-a-kind book . . . to read for yourself or give to a struggling friend or loved one without the fear that depression and suicidal thoughts will be minimized, medicalized or over-spiritualized.”—Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church What happens when loving Jesus doesn’t cure you of depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts? You might be crushed by shame over your mental illness, only to be told by well-meaning Christians to “choose joy” and “pray more.” So you beg God to take away the pain, but nothing eases the ache inside. As darkness lingers and color drains from your world, you’re left wondering if God has abandoned you. You just want a way out. But there’s hope. In I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die, Sarah J. Robinson offers a healthy, practical, and shame-free guide for Christians struggling with mental illness. With unflinching honesty, Sarah shares her story of battling depression and fighting to stay alive despite toxic theology that made her afraid to seek help outside the church. Pairing her own story with scriptural insights, mental health research, and simple practices, Sarah helps you reconnect with the God who is present in our deepest anguish and discover that you are worth everything it takes to get better. Beautifully written and full of hard-won wisdom, I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die offers a path toward a rich, hope-filled life in Christ, even when healing doesn’t look like what you expect.

Capital Punishment in Japan

Capital Punishment in Japan
Author: Petra Schmidt
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2002
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9789004124219

This book provides an overview of capital punishment in Japan in a legal, historical, social, cultural and political context. It provides new insights into the system, challenges traditional views and arguments and seeks the real reasons behind the retention of capital punishment in Japan.

Enigma Beyond Illusion

Enigma Beyond Illusion
Author: Richard Kydd, Jr.
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 166
Release: 2003-03-11
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 0595268145

In his third published book, Enigma Beyond Illusion , Richard D. Kydd Jr. again demonstrates his compassion and concern for his fellow man, his anger at life's injustices, his deep sense of family and community, and his spirituality. With his skillful and often musical touch he operates on many levels at once, frequently blending seemingly opposed emotions. In "The Shopper's Song," for example, he evokes both humor and identification in his description of a compulsive spender, yet the reader can hear Kydd's tone of frustration at the debt that is consuming the poor. "A Quiet Dissertation" is simultaneously hilarious and disturbing, and the chuckle that "Binary Code" evokes is an uneasy one. Kydd's range is wide, swinging from the caustic social comment of "Yo Romeo" through the philosophical introspection of "Solitary Man," and expanding into the spiritual vision of "Life Calling Forth." Although he calls life as he sees it and is sometimes grittily realistic, even cynical and full of apparent despair, it's notable that a number of his works are love poems. Although capable of painting a harsh reality, Kydd is essentially an optimistic poet, and he amply demonstrates his belief that in the end the spirit will triumph, as in "Oh Victorious." This collection of poems will give the reader a full taste of Kydd's broad human vision.

Mysterious Chicago

Mysterious Chicago
Author: Adam Selzer
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
Total Pages: 365
Release: 2016-10-25
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 151071345X

From Chicago historian Adam Selzer, expert on all of the Windy City’s quirks and oddities, comes a compelling heavily researched anthology of the stories behind its most fascinating unsolved mysteries. To create this unique volume, Selzer has collected forty unsolved mysteries from the 1800s to modern day. He has poured through all newspaper, magazine, and book references to them, and consulted expert historians. Topics covered include who really started the great Chicago fire, who was the first “automobile murderer,” and even if there was actually a vampire slaying at Rose Hill cemetery. The result is both a colorful read to get lost in, a window to a world of curiosity and wonder, as well as a volume that separates fact from fiction—true crime from urban legend. Complementing the gripping stories Selzer presents are original images of the crime and its suspects as developed by its original investigators. Readers will marvel at how each character and crime were presented, and happily journey with Selzer as he presents all facts and theories presented at the time of the “crime” and uses modern hindsight to assemble the pieces.

Ugly Prey

Ugly Prey
Author: Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Total Pages: 325
Release: 2017-05-01
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 1613736991

Ugly Prey tells the riveting story of poor Italian immigrant Sabella Nitti, the first woman ever sentenced to hang in Chicago, in 1923, for the alleged murder of her husband. Journalist Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi leads readers through the case, showing how, with no evidence and no witnesses, Nitti was the target of an obsessed deputy sheriff and the victim of a faulty legal system. She was also—to the men who convicted her and reporters fixated on her—ugly. For that unforgiveable crime, the media painted her as a hideous, dirty, and unpredictable immigrant, almost an animal. Featuring two other fascinating women—the ambitious and ruthless journalist who helped demonize Sabella through her reports and the brilliant, beautiful, 23-year-old lawyer who helped humanize her with a jailhouse makeover—Ugly Prey is not just a page-turning courtroom drama but also a thought-provoking look at the intersection of gender, ethnicity, and class within the American justice system.

Last Woman Hanged

Last Woman Hanged
Author: Caroline Overington
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2014-11-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1460703626

Two husbands, four trials and one bloody execution: Winner of the 2015 Davitt Award for Best Crime Book (Non-fiction) -- the terrible true story of Louisa Collins. In January 1889, Louisa Collins, a 41-year-old mother of ten children, became the first woman hanged at Darlinghurst Gaol and the last woman hanged in New South Wales. Both of Louisa's husbands had died suddenly and the Crown, convinced that Louisa poisoned them with arsenic, put her on trial an extraordinary four times in order to get a conviction, to the horror of many in the legal community. Louisa protested her innocence until the end. Much of the evidence against Louisa was circumstantial. Some of the most important testimony was given by her only daughter, May, who was just 10-years-old when asked to take the stand. Louisa Collins was hanged at a time when women were in no sense equal under the law -- except when it came to the gallows. They could not vote or stand for parliament -- or sit on juries. Against this background, a small group of women rose up to try to save Louisa's life, arguing that a legal system comprised only of men -- male judges, all-male jury, male prosecutor, governor and Premier -- could not with any integrity hang a woman. The tenacity of these women would not save Louisa but it would ultimately carry women from their homes all the way to Parliament House. Caroline Overington is the author of eleven books of fiction and non-fiction, including the top-selling THE ONE WHO GOT AWAY psychological crime novel. She has said: 'My hope is that LAST WOMAN HANGED will be read not only as a true crime story but as a letter of profound thanks to that generation of women who fought so hard for the rights we still enjoy today.' Praise for LAST WOMAN HANGED 'The story she tells ... is a useful challenge to any tendency to simple moral indignation' -- Beverley Kingston, Sydney Morning Herald 'This is a fascinating book, a terrific read, and an excellent reminder of who tells the stories, and whose stories are forgotten' -- Frances Rand, South Coast Register '... what's ... interesting is Caroline Overington's even-handed appraisal of Collins's alleged crime(s) that led her to become the last woman hanged in New South Wales in 1889' -- Launceston Sunday Examiner

Roman Crucifixion and the Death of Jesus

Roman Crucifixion and the Death of Jesus
Author: Woodrow Michael Kroll
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2023-01-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 1666739219

The Roman practice of crucifixion was so abhorrent that even the Romans didn't talk about it. Yet their government practiced crucifixion for centuries. What drew the crowds to the killing fields to watch people die such torturous deaths? What enabled those elite soldiers in the Roman killing squads to crucify their victims with the precision and skill of a hospital surgeon? These and many other questions are answered in this book. Of the thousands of people who fell victim to "the most pitiable of deaths," one is much better known than all the others--Jesus of Nazareth. Most Christians know something of Jesus' crucifixion because of the Gospel narratives, but to enhance our appreciation of the Savior's death, we benefit by knowing more about Roman crucifixion. Roman Crucifixion and the Death of Jesus provides a deeper understanding of how, where, and why someone could be crucified and helps to inform us of Jesus' crucifixion. Armed with a better grasp of Roman crucifixion, we can more fully appreciate Jesus' pain, his purpose, and his prayers from Calvary's cross.