Stow - The Real-Life Murder Clubs: Citizens Solving True Crimes

NICOLA STOW is a bestselling and award-nominated writer, the co-author of a number of books, which have received hundreds of five-star Amazon reviews. These include One Chance: Surviving Londons Gangs, No Safe Place: Murdered by our father, Above and Beyond: Secrets of a Private Flight Attendant and Cabin Fever: The Sizzling Secrets of a Virgin Air Hostess . She has over twenty years of experience as a journalist, covering crime, news and investigations. She has written for numerous national publications and websites including the Sun, Daily Mail (Scotland), Sunday Mail, Sunday Post, Daily Record, The Times , the News of the World and womens magazines, such as Take a Break and Thats Life .

In loving memory of Clive Dennier a rare beauty of a man.

autopsy The dissection and examination of a dead body to establish the cause of death and to evaluate diseases or injuries for research and educational purposes. The procedure, also known as post-mortem examination or necropsy, is performed by a pathologist.

bioinformatics Describes the science of storing, retrieving and analysing large amounts of biological data. It involves using computer technology to collect, store and publish biological information like DNA and amino acid sequences or annotations of sequences.

cold case An unsolved criminal investigation that remains open pending new evidence.

composite sketch A police drawing of a suspect based on descriptions from witnesses that could help identify or eliminate said suspect.

data mining The process of analysing large databases to generate new information.

EARONS An acronym for East Area Rapist (EAR) and Original Night Stalker (ONS), nicknames coined by the media for the killer-rapist who terrorised California, known as the Golden State, in the seventies and eighties before he was renamed the Golden State Killer and identified as Joseph DeAngelo.

endangered runaway The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children defines an endangered runaway as a child under eighteen whos missing and whose whereabouts are unknown to their parents or legal guardians.

endogamy When many people from a small population have married within that population over many years, making it difficult for genealogists to establish how people are related to one another.

exhume To remove a dead body from the ground post burial, particularly to extract DNA evidence.

family tree A chart showing members of different generations of a family and their relationship to one another.

genetic genealogy Combining genealogical DNA tests and profiling with traditional genealogical methods to establish genetic relationships between people.

GSK Abbreviation for Golden State Killer, Joseph DeAngelo.

human genome A human beings complete set of DNA encoded in the twenty-three chromosome pairs in cell nuclei and in a DNA molecule found in individual mitochondria.

IP address IP is an acronym of Internet Protocol, the rules governing the format of data sent online. An IP address identifies a device on the internet, making it accessible for communication.

Jane and John Does Law enforcement agencies in America use placeholder names Jane and John (for males) Doe for unidentified corpses.

mandible Human lower jawbone that holds the bottom teeth in place. An important bone that helps in the identification of remains.

Midazolam One of three drugs used in a lethal injection. Midazolam knocks the prisoner unconscious.

mitochondrial DNA analysis Used by forensic scientists when samples such as bones, teeth and hairs without follicles are collected from crime scenes. A mitochondrial DNA test (mtDNA test) traces a persons matrilineal or mother-line ancestry using his or her mitochondria.

Mother Lode Nickname coined by independent detectives Paul Haynes and Michelle McNamara to describe forty years evidence relating to the crimes of the Golden State Killer.

MySpace The most popular social networking site between 2005 and 2008.

Palynology The study of spores and pollen grains.

Ping map A tracking chart based on mobile phone evidence to pinpoint a persons whereabouts at given times.

potassium chloride The third, and final, drug used to stop a prisoners heart in a lethal injection.

reconstruction A term used to describe a clay model or sketch of a dead, unidentified victim.

sequenced DNA A massive, compressed text file detailing base-pairings of ACTG (an acronym for the four bases found in a DNA molecule adenine, cytosine, thymine and guanine).

State sunshine laws The laws in individual US states that govern public access to governmental records. They are collectively known as FOIA laws, after the federal Freedom of Information Act.

sock-puppet account A fictitious social media identity created to deceive others.

The 5150 A violent gang formed around 2003 in the LA Sierra region of Riverside, California. The gang terrorised the community and, within three years, had committed a plethora of offences from assaults and stabbings to murders.

vecuronium bromide A drug in a lethal injection which stops the inmate from breathing.

victim impact statement A written account read in court outlining how a victim has been affected by a crime. A victim impact statement is presented at the sentencing of the defendant.

Have you ever come home from work and thought, Tonight Ill scour the internet, see if I can identify that decayed head found in a bucket of cement? Or worked through the night drawing digital pictures from autopsy photographs of an unidentified teenager found murdered in a field thirty years ago? Has it ever occurred to you to compare lists of unidentified corpses with those of missing people? If not, then welcome to the surprising world of citizen sleuths.

When asked to write this book, I half-wondered whether Id find myself discussing a murder or two over tea and cake with a group of candyfloss-haired pensioners much like the characters in Richard Osmans The Thursday Murder Club . But unlike Osmans fictional depiction of citizens solving crimes, the real version, I discovered, is grittier, inhabited by obsessive, intrepid souls who delve into some of the most gruesome cases in true crime history, while seeking justice and truth for both loved ones and strangers.

The real-life citizen sleuths dedicate thousands of hours of their spare time, usually around their day jobs, searching the internet for clues that might lead to a breakthrough in a cold murder case, or help them to find a missing person. They create family trees and pore over court records, police reports, court documents and databases dedicated to the dead and missing hoping to give names back to victims buried in unmarked graves.

The lengths to which some of these armchair detectives go in their pursuit of answers astounded me. Take Todd Matthews, a former factory worker from Tennessee (youll meet him later in the book). He spent almost eleven years searching for a name for a dead woman known only as Tent Girl, nicknamed after the canvas circus bag that imprisoned her decayed, eyeless corpse. Todds obsession led to him sleepwalking around his home, armed with a butchers knife, haunted by visions of Tent Girls decomposed face.

Another internet sleuth in this book even considered luring her daughters killers to a remote spot and shooting them throughout her decade-long fight for justice. While a duo on a mission to unmask a serial killer pulled off an Oceans Eleven