Forensics True Crime

I Will Ruin You: The Twisted Truth Behind the Kit Martin Murder Trial delves into the complex circumstances behind Martin's story. It looks beyond the sensational headlines and legal turmoil into the heart of this controversial case.

Audrey Edmunds was a happily married young mother of two with a baby on the way; the neighborhood soccer mom in a small Wisconsin town providing casual childcare when the unthinkable happened. An infant died in her care at the same time the unknown science of Shaken Baby Syndrome hit the media. Swept up in a media frenzy, Edmunds was accused of killing the child through SBS. She was stripped from her children and husband and sent to prison where she would fight for freedom 13 years before she was finally exonerated.

Fractured skulls. Gas masks. Brain buckets. Vats of acid. Pickled body parts. Not the usual tools of trade, but for chief forensic medical scientist Derek and forensic secretary Pauline they were just part of a normal day in the office inside the world-famous Department of Forensic Medicine at Guy's Hospital in London. Derek has played a pivotal role in investigating some of the UKs most high-profile mass disasters and murder cases.

Taking us from secure hospital wards to high-security prisons to courtrooms, Dangerous Minds offers compelling and deeply compassionate accounts of 10 people whose lives have been shaped by violence. From the impact of traumatic events in childhood to the evolutionary and cultural influences on the emergence of the social mind, this book is an insider's account of the origins of violence that asks its readers to re-evaluate all that they think they know about the people society deems most dangerous.

In 1984, Jean Road, a 49-year-old mother of three, awakes at home in Bath, Somerset, and wonders where her 17-year-old daughter Melanie can be. Her bed hasn’t been slept in. Just then, Jean and her husband, Tony, hear someone shouting through a loudspeaker: ‘Does anyone know Melanie?’ Jean runs to the police car outside only to discover that her daughter has been murdered in a nearby street as she walked home from a club in the early hours. Britain’s biggest manhunt begins.

For decades, when criminal cases of the most unprecedented nature went to trial, one woman took the stand to separate truth from fiction. Expert Witness is the extraordinary story of forensic and psychiatric pioneer Dr. Ann Burgess—inspiration for Hulu’s forthcoming docuseries Mastermind—and how she revolutionized what it means to be an expert witness in the American court system. Written through Burgess’ singular lens of compassion and lived experience, Expert Witness pulls back the curtain on some of the biggest cases in the last thirty years.

In September 1935, Dr Buck Ruxton strangled his wife, Isabella, whom he suspected of having an affair, in their Lancashire home while their three children slept in their beds. When the nanny, Mary Rogerson, disturbed him in the act, he killed her, too. To hide his crimes, he dismembered and chopped up the bodies, removing any distinguishing features, before he disposed of them in a ravine on the Scottish borders. It took the genius of professors Sydney Smith and John Glaister, and their groundbreaking forensic techniques, to piece together the identities of the bodies.

Seattle attorney and media legal analyst Anne Bremner takes us inside some of the biggest cases of recent times and offers her expert insights and analysis as our legal system faces unprecedented forces fighting to tip the scales of justice their way. Justice in the Age of Judgement is Bremner’s unparalleled and unflinching look at the captivating cases tried on Twitter and TV, where the burden of proof and fundamental legal tenet of “innocent until proven guilty” is under assault from the court of public opinion.

Kerry Daynes has worked with some of the most complex and challenging criminals in prisons and secure hospitals as well as the victims of crime. A large part of her day job is spent delving into the psyche of convicted men and women to try to understand what lies behind their actions and how to set them on the path to becoming law-abiding citizens. Welcome to the life of a forensic psychologist. No two days are the same. The people you work with are wildly unpredictable, sometimes frightening and often deeply frustrating.

Professor Angela Gallop has been at the forefront of forensics for more than 45 years. During her remarkable career, she has established and run forensic science laboratories and has worked on thousands of cases in the UK and across the world. In How to Solve a Crime, she describes some of her own and her colleagues most intriguing cases and the wide range of skills and techniques used to solve them.

Three young women abducted and brutally murdered. For years, their killer remained a mystery as the cases turned cold. Then a Crime Stoppers call led to his arrest. Charming and handsome, serial killer Oscar Ray Bolin married a member of his legal defense team, and he toyed with the criminal courts for decades while on Death Row. This is the first book written about Oscar Ray Bolin and his victims.

Each year, police officers kill over 1,000 people they've sworn to protect and serve. While some cases capture national attention, most victims remain nameless, their stories untold. The Coroner's Silence reveals a disturbing truth about these cases: coroners and other death investigators are often complicit in obscuring the violent circumstances of in-custody deaths. Through rigorous research—including critical records analysis, public health studies, and interviews with victims' families—this book unmasks the systemic failures within forensic medicine.

Ever been fascinated by the complex world of serial killers? It's so complex but also simple if you really think about it. Right? Want to get a deeper insight like, "What makes someone turn to cannibalism?" or "How do experts dissect a crime scene?" Well, "Serial Killer Trivia" will satisfy all those burning curiosities. And the ones you didn't know existed!

Some serial killers seem surreal, as if it's almost impossible to believe that an individual could do such horrific crimes. The Beast of Birkenshaw, a.k.a. Peter Manuel, was such a man.

Step into the hidden corners of the internet and witness the rise and fall of one of the most notorious online marketplaces in history. Follow the incredible journey of Ross Ulbricht, the visionary entrepreneur who dared to harness the power of cryptocurrency and Tor to create a covert empire that law enforcement struggled to penetrate. Dive into an expertly researched narrative that reveals: • The bold ideas and personal philosophies that fueled a groundbreaking—yet illicit—digital platform • Astonishing insider glimpses into the complex community of users who flocked to this ...

From a rare and deadly amniotic avalanche to a victim of roasted peanuts ... The bestselling author of The Cause of Death and The Quick and the Dead returns with more stranger-than-fiction stories of death, disease and murder—as well as new perspectives on high-profile cases, including the disappearance of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope, the trial of Mark Lundy, and the ill-fated journey of Ansett Flight 703.

A deep investigation into historical documents that prove the notorious outlaw Jesse James faked his own death The story of the notorious outlaw Jesse James’ assassination at the hands of Robert Ford has been clouded with mystery ever since its inception. Now, James’ great-great-grandchildren Daniel and Teresa Duke present the results of more than 20 years of exhaustive research into state and federal records, photographs, newspaper reports, diaries, and a 1995 DNA test in search of the truth behind Jesse James’ demise.

Helena Greenwood, a doctor with a Ph.D. in chemical pathology, was working in biotechnology when she was the victim of sexual assault. She survived and was scheduled to testify against her attacker until she was found brutally murdered in her garden. Everyone believed the killer was her past attacker; but there was not enough evidence to convict him, until ten years later when a local District Attorney working the "cold cases" used Helena's own DNA research to finally bring her killer to justice.

In the early hours of 7th August 1985, five members of the Bamber family were shot dead with a .22-calibre Anschutz rifle. Sheila Caffell, who was known to have struggled with mental illness, was at first thought to have murdered her twin sons and adoptive parents and then to have turned the gun on herself. Forensic evidence, however, told a different story and raised such questions as how Sheila could have received two shots in an act of suicide. A year later it was Jeremy Bamber, the only survivor, who was convicted of the callous murders of his entire family.

In the first half of the nineteenth century, an epidemic swept Europe: arsenic poisoning. Available at any corner shop for a few pence, arsenic was so frequently used by potential beneficiaries of wills that it was nicknamed "the inheritor's powder." But it was difficult to prove that a victim had been poisoned, let alone to identify the contaminated food or drink since arsenic was tasteless. Then came a riveting case.