Hell in the heartland : murder, meth, and the case of two missing girls

Summary: "The stranger-than-fiction cold case from rural Oklahoma that has stumped authorities for two decades, concerning the disappearance of two teenage girls and the much larger mystery of murder, police cover-up, and an unimaginable truth... On December 30, 1999, in rural Oklahoma, sixteen-year-old Ashley Freeman and her best friend, Lauria Bible, were having a sleepover. The next morning, the Freeman family trailer was in flames and both girls were missing. While rumors of drug debts, revenge, and police collusion abounded in the years that followed, the case remained unsolved and the girls were never found. In 2015, crime writer Jax Miller--who had been haunted by the case--decided to travel to Oklahoma to find out what really happened on that winter night in 1999, and why the story was still simmering more than fifteen years later. What she found was more than she could have ever bargained for: jaw-dropping levels of police negligence and corruption, entire communities ravaged by methamphetamine addiction, and a series of interconnected murders with an ominously familiar pattern. These forgotten towns were wild, lawless, and home to some very dark secrets"--

Item details

ISBN: 9781984806307
ISBN: 1984806300
ISBN: 9781984806321
Physical Description: print
319 pages, 16 unnumbered leaves of unnumbered plates : map ; 24 cm
Edition: First Edition.
Publisher: New York : Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, [2020]
Copyright: ©2020

Contents / Notes

Formatted Contents Note:

Prologue -- Section 1: The fire. Mother, Kathy Freeman -- Daughter, Ashley Freeman -- Father, Danny Freeman -- Best friend, Lauria Bible -- One body -- One woman, Lorene Bible -- The scene of the crime -- The prime suspect -- Day two and the BBI -- Section 2: Corruption. The initial theories -- Son, Shane Freeman -- The alleged cover-up of Shane Freeman -- Boyfriend, Jeremy Hurst, and Pop Pop, Glen Freeman -- The last letter of Kathy Freeman -- The murder of DeAnna Dorsey -- Section 3: Drugs. The most toxic place in America -- The outlaw lands -- The outlaw lands (continued) -- East of Welch -- The ballad of John Paul Chapman -- The confessions -- Section 4: Later leads. The edges of Oklahoma -- Another avenue -- Chetopa -- The searches of Chetopa -- Revival -- "This place is ate up." -- Section 5: The arrests. The arrest -- Ronnie Dean "Buzz" Busick -- The insurance-verification card -- David "Penny" Pennington -- Like lightning -- No end.