True Crime Blog
Crimes are often deterred by only to the watchful eyes of off-duty cops. An officer’s demeanor, command presence, can at times, make a crook think twice. Most departments don’t require off-duty officers to take action when crimes occur in their presence. Generally, the cop is only encouraged to be a good witnesses rather than physically interceding…
Twenty-two years ago today, 18-year-old Angie Raye Dodge was killed as she slept in her upstairs apartment in the sleepy town of Idaho Falls, Idaho. At the time of Angie’s murder, DNA had become a household term thanks to the spectacle that was the O.J. Simpson murder trial in Los Angeles. Simpson’s 1995 acquittal should…
This week I wanted to answer a question often asked by those who follow my blog: What are you reading? Who are your favorite authors? Favorite Crime Authors Joseph Wambaugh When I was a young man just out of high school, I was introduced to Wambaugh novels by my good friend Johnny Babbitt. He asked if I…
“She’s going to kill us both.” The big man at the other end of my gun glanced over to see my partner pointing her gun at him—at us—the barrel bouncing in her shaking hands. He said, “I’m cool, man.”
Nada Lazarevic, a first-generation American, immigrated from Yugoslavia. The 67-year-old was a seamstress by trade who had built a steady and substantial clientele. Thrifty and hardworking, Nada saved until she could pay cash for her modest home and sensible car. She abhorred debt. Nada was living The American Dream, until she disappeared. That was the…
Crimson was twenty-two, single, and vivacious. The daughter of perhaps the most forgiving woman I’ve ever met. She had recently broken up with Derek. He was the macho sort who boasted of his combat experience as a paratrooper during Desert Storm. Which, as it turns out, was a lie. He wasn’t a paratrooper, he hadn’t…
The Greatest Job I ever Left SPI (pronounced “spy”), the acronym for Special Investigations Bureau, was a Detective Division assignment within the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. It has been renamed to Major Crimes Bureau. Personally, I liked SPI better. The bureau comprises several details: Metro, Prison Gangs, Biker Gangs, Vice, Surveillance, and Organized Crime.…
Hell found me. It seeped into my skin and flowed through my veins as I held the hand of a killer. The Interview “You’re not a bad girl, Valerie,” I told her, staring into the hollow eyes that shifted from me to the floor. I saw no remorse, no emotion. She seemed to be thinking, plotting…
As far as a homicide investigation goes, nothing is better than a callout when the suspect is already in custody. We call it a walkthrough. Homicide investigations are never simple, though some require less follow-up than others. With a suspect in custody, your case is “solved” before you’ve laced your wingtips. All that remains is the…
A robust Hispanic man stood unapologetically shirtless beneath the morning sun in East Los Angeles. My partner and I suffered in dress shirts and ties while we questioned him about a Mustang, a set of wheels, and a relative of his who we believed to be a suspect in our murder investigation. It was August…