Karen Spears Zacharias - The Murder Gene: A True Story

PRAISE FOR

THE MURDER GENE

If you are looking for a heart-throbbing who-done-it and why-they-did-it book to read, look no further than The Murder Gene by Karen Spears Zacharias. This literary treasure skillfully combines the art of telling a gruesome story with a plausible scientific explanation for how ones genetic composition can result in the commission of horrific crimes against humanity. It questions the ethics of revealing genetic backgrounds associated with crime, especially the murder genebut it also gives us some solace in recognizing that nurture over nature can be a powerful persuasion. Once you start reading, you will not be able to put this book downuntil the end!

Dr. Mary J.C. Hendrix, cancer researcher and President, Shepherd University

Karen Zacharias relies on her dogged pursuit of facts to produce a dramatic and deeply reported account of seemingly disconnected murders. She weaves in science and psychology in a way that propels the story and pulls you along to see where her trail leads. The attention to detail and the resort to careful sourcing makes The Murder Gene a notable addition to the annals of crime reporting.

Les Zaitz Publisher/editor, Oregons Malheur Enterprise, Founder/editor, Salem Reporter

In a world of dime-a-dozen crime stories, Zacharias unearths one like no other Ive read. This exhaustively researched book is deep in its linking of two murders to nature as well as nurture, wide in its piecing together thousands of pieces to create a single puzzle, and chilling in its reminder that evil, unfortunately, abides. The result is a book that will make you reconsider the insidiousness of murder in an all-new way.

Bob Welch, author of Boy in the Mirror: An Athletic Directors Struggle to Survive Sexual Abuse as a Child

Karen Spears Zachariass page-turner The Murder Gene shines on a number of levels. We know who executed these murders and assaults, but why? And what are the odds a young man would commit nearly identical gruesome, unpredictable crimes as that of his grandfather? Is there something in DNA that could forewarn us? Written with compassion and insight, The Murder Gene comes off as a cross between Forensic Files and In Cold Blood. I love this book.

George Singleton, author of You Want More: Selected Stories

The Murder Gene is a thorough report that looks into the genesis of the killer s acts. Seasoned author Karen Spears Zacharias takes the reader on a journey that includes not only the compelling story of the victims and the crimes against them, but she also scientifically dives into whether the murderer could have been predisposed to kill.

Cathy Scott, Los Angeles Times bestselling author of The Killing of Tupac Shakur

The Murder Gene is proof, yet again, that Zacharias has a strong passion for the truth. Her in-depth research, along with her humanity for the victims she is writing about, make this book a compulsive read.

Angela Pursel, The Next Chapter Bookstore, Hermiston, Oregon

Award-winning author Karen Spears Zacharias has done it again with The Murder Gene . Using her expertise as a former investigative journalist and her writers gift of prose, Zacharias effortlessly weaves the science behind DNA with the intrigue of true crime. The result is a page turning by nature or nurture? The Murder Gene is bound to create robust discussions and will stay with the reader long after the last page has been read.

Michael Morris, author of Man in the Blue Moon

THE

MURDER

GENE

A TRUE STORY

KAREN SPEARS ZACHARIAS

PREVIOUS WORKS

Christian Bend (Mercer University Press)

Burdy (Mercer)

Mother of Rain (Mercer)

A Silence of Mockingbirds (MacAdam/Cage Publishing)

Will Jesus Buy Me a Doublewide? Cause I Need More Room for My Plasma TV (Zondervan)

Wheres Your Jesus Now? Examining How Fear Erodes Our Faith (Zondervan)

After the Flag Has Been Folded (William Morrow)

Benched: The Memoirs of Judge Rufe McCombs (Mercer)

Some of us who seem quite nice people may, in fact, have made so little use of a good heredity and a good upbringing that we are really worse than those whom we regard as fiends.

C.S. Lewis

PROLOGUE

W hen I think about how he stalked her, watching her move from room to room at the Travelodge, stripping beds and picking up damp towels, it is easy for me to regard Luke Chang as a cold-blooded killer.

Who knows how long hed stood on the steps outside Pendleton City Hall watching the dancers body move about with grace and intention? Amyjane Brandhagen had only worked at the Oregon motel for a few days. Had Luke noticed the cheerful auburn-haired sprite on her first day of work? Or was that Tuesday, August 14, 2012, the very first time hed seen her?

Had Amy, as homicide detectives later suggested, caught Lukes attention because she reminded him of Desiree, the wife hed left behind in California when he went AWOL from the Marines a month prior? Could Desiree have been the one true love of Lukes life? Desiree claims theirs was a loveless contract marriage, initiated out of compassion on Lukes end and desperation on hers.

Luke doesnt like to talk about Desiree. He wont confirm or deny Desirees side of the story that the two never had sex, never shared so much more than one kiss. Luke doesnt want to talk at all about Desiree, or Amyjane, or his best friend Casey, or the family who had loved him so well the entire time he was growing up back in Morganton, North Carolina.

I wrote to him at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem, where he is serving out his sentence for the 2012 murder of Amyjane Brandhagen, and requested an interview. Luke declined my request. Whatever he had to say about the violence hes wrought in his life, Luke said in his post-arrest interviews. We will get to that later.

Luke (Lukah) Chang is the son of missionaries. His parents, Jay (Ge) and Heidi, bring the good news of Jesus Christ to all those they consider lost. For a season during his high school years, Luke also served on the mission field alongside his parents and younger sister Leah. A picture of the missionary family hangs on the wall at New Manna Baptist Church in Marion, North Carolina.

The county seat, Marion is a rural historic community located about halfway between Morganton and Asheville. Void of the box stores on the outskirts of most suburbs and given its isolated locale, some might even consider it a holler. Comprised of mostly working-class white families, Marion is the hometown of the enigmatic stage actress and director Barbara Loden and former North Carolina Tar Heels Coach Roy Williams. Loden left Marion at age fifteen, seeking fame and finding it in New York City after she became the mistress, and then wife, of Elia Kazan. Loden made it known that the reason she left Marion was to find the glamorous life that she lacked in North Carolina.

Study the photo the Chang family sent out to help raise financial support for their work overseas, and it is Luke who appears to be the happiest. Leah, sitting next to him, is trying to smile without showing her teeth. Standing behind Luke, their mother Heidi is an imposing woman. Her shoulders and neck are tautly pulled back and her hips are thrust forward. She is clearly standing at attention like a good soldier in the Lords Army. She looms over her husband, who is shorter by a couple of inches. Jay, his hands clasped behind his back, has a friendly, engaging smile. Luke favors his dad. Leah does as well.

The Chang family photo is just one of dozens and dozens of other missionary photos displayed outside the churchs main sanctuary. New Manna is what some around these parts of North Carolina refer to as that mega-church. Its difficult to determine where all the people come from given that Marions population is barely over seven thousand and theres about a dozen churches in town, but the sizable parking lot is packed by the time Sunday morning service rolls around.