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    Knox County Murder Stories
    Knox County Murder Stories
    Knox County Murder Stories
    Ebook104 pages59 minutes

    Knox County Murder Stories

    By David Boyer

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Radio personality Paul Harvey once said, "If you want to get away with murder, just go to Knox County, Indiana."

    Between the years 1974 and 2004, for almost three decades, his words, although not very flattering to our local authorities, rang true.

    Then, in the late 90s and early 2000s, through more advanced DNA technology, seasoned police and detectives's determination, and, in some cases, even willful confessions to the crime, our community had begun to see more positive results, and the closing of cold cases that had laid dormant for too long.

    The cases profiled here are THOSE cases, some solved, some still dormant, but all of them too close to home.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDavid Boyer
    Release dateMar 2, 2024
    ISBN9798224530816
    Knox County Murder Stories
    Author

    David Boyer

    David Boyer is the Christian author of over 20 books and novellas, 50 Short stories, and numerous essays on Christianity, politics, and the human condition. He lives in Vincennes Indiana with his cat, Holly Jean, who is a constant inspiration for a good story. 

    Read more from David Boyer

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      Book preview

      Knox County Murder Stories - David Boyer

      Knox County Murder Stories:

      True Crime Stories From Knox County, Indiana

      Introduction

      The naive, happy innocence of a child before it is ripped away.

      That is what the killers profiled in this book have stolen from their victims. Their youth, their innocence, any happiness and normalcy associated with growing up in a world they thought they'd be safe in.

      True crime isn't only about serial killers and rapists and pedophiles and organized crime. It is also about the victims left behind to serve their own life sentence, often times without anyone to help them make it through the awful ordeal.

      These types of experiences was I’m sure enough to make one question their faith In God. Crimes like these – unexpected, violent, and forever – are hard enough to bear without the fact that the victim’s killer has yet to be brought to justice. The feelings you would have to endure – anger, denial, disbelief, social with-drawl, and then even guilt, must have made the victim's survivors feel as though they were almost powerless over their own destiny.

      One question does come to mind in the midst of all this horror and heartache, as the victim's family members face the accused in court: Were the perpetrators victims of parental abuse themselves as children?

      Not that it would give them any excuse for their actions, but it might just go a long way in understanding the origins, and therefore the motives behind their crimes.

      Ted Bundy, one of the prolific serial killers in history {and the man who literally coined the term 'serial killer'} in one of his last in depth interviews, just hours before his execution, warned of the long lasting and possibly deadly ramifications that can be associated with prolonged exposure to parental and sexual abuse as well as pornography:

      The most damaging kind of pornography - and I’m talking from hard, real, personal experience - is that that involves violence and sexual violence. The wedding of those two forces - as I know only too well - brings about behavior that is too terrible to describe.

      Although he used hard-core porn as a prime example, he did not necessarily condone his actions, using them as an excuse for his terrible crimes:

      Before we go any further, it is important to me that people believe what I’m saying. I’m not blaming pornography. I’m not saying it caused me to go out and do certain things. I take full responsibility for all the things that I’ve done. That’s not the question here. The issue is how this kind of literature contributed and helped mold and shape the kinds of violent behavior.

      Regardless of the fact of whether they had an abusive childhood, one fact remains the same in the end. The young men and women who were victims of their crimes are now gone forever – except in the hearts and minds of their surviving family members, who must now begin their own healing process, if there even is such a thing under these circumstances. I myself believe that the human heart and mind is capable of healing itself with time – but will never forget why they are here in this deep, dark place to begin with.

      God bless them and God speed their recovery.

      ––––––––

      David Boyer / September, 2023

      Shine on, You Crazy Diamond

      – the Brook Baker Case

      "Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.

      Shine on you crazy diamond.

      Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.

      Shine on you crazy diamond."

      Pink Floyd, ‘Shine on You Crazy Diamond’ 

      #

      The autumn wind of an Indiana night blows across the cemetery. It plays a malevolent, whistling tune through the trees of the cemetery as Tom Jones stands motionless, surveying the soft, brown earth that holds his 19-year-old granddaughter, Brook Baker. Tears well up in his eyes as he gazes down upon the inscription on her gravestone: Shine on you crazy diamond.

      Tom wipes the tears from his eyes and swallows the lump in his throat as he steps closer, touching the grave stone, stroking it gently with his fingers. I miss you, little diamond, he says.

      He comes here a lot now, reminiscing over all the good times he had with Brook, and their private conversations. One in particular comes to mind now, one that revealed the depth of her humanity and warmth at such a young age; the naïve innocent happiness of a teenager before it was ripped away.

      The conversation running through his mind right now had gone like this; he and Brook had been sitting on the back porch sipping lemonade and watching the sunset. Right out of the blue, she’d asked, Gramps, what’s your view on the death penalty? she’d asked him, right out of the blue. Brook was usually so laid back it had caught him off guard.

      Why do you ask that? he’d said, sipping his lemonade.

      She had looked out at the oncoming sunset

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