ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
S O MANY PEOPLE PARTICIPATE in the book-writing process in ways they do not realize, it is impossible for me to thank each of you individually. I believe you know who you are. In addition, please know how forever grateful I am for your contribution, however large or small, and your support.
My readers and fans: I bow to you. Thank you from the depths of my heart for continuing to support my career and interact with me on social media and share your love for what I do. Every complimentary note, comment, and hello is humbling. I read them all. I am honored. Truly.
It took some doing, but Bill Yoder opened up; he was honest, sincere, and willing to do whatever it took to get me the truth, whether it favored him and his son, Adam, or not. There is no doubt in my mind Mary Yoder was the love of Bills life. I thank him for his honesty and commitment to the facts of the case.
Liana Hegde is an inspiration. A class act. A doctor, Liana has opted right now to take on the toughest job in the world, which she does without reservation and, I gather from talking to her, would have it no other way: raising a family. And those children, I know, were the light of Mary Yoders life. Lianas help in understanding her mother and those days leading up to Marys death was essential. I cannot thank Liana enough for carving out time from what is a busy-beyond-belief life to talk to me.
To all the Yoder family members who helped, I appreciate the sacrifice, along with the courage you showed in reliving what is the toughest and most painful moments of your lives. I am honored, grateful, and fortunate for your willingness to trust me. My hope is that I told your stories with accuracy, fairness, and integrity. None of you deserved the utter BS you put up with before, during, and after the trials. The lies and rumors printed and spread about you, the absolute drivel disguised as social media conversation, were reprehensible. Without reacting or responding to any of it, again, shows class and restraint. All you ever asked for was the public to objectively consider the evidence.
Laurie Lisi, Stacey Scotti, and the OCSO were incredibly helpful getting me documentation and explaining the evidence, making themselves available for interviews, going above and beyond to be certain I understood the entire caseagain, whether or not it favored their side of the case. The countless e-mails all of you answered did not go without my utmost appreciation and gratitude.
On the investigation front, I need to say there were many instrumental playersinvestigatorsinvolved in working countless hours on this case. To include all of you in the narrative would have confused the reader and I opted instead to tell most of the OCSOs story through Detective Mark VanNamees point of view. But every single investigator and forensic expert (including those from the MEs office and PCC) deserve to be acknowledged for their professionalism and hard work. Without each and every one of you (I dont need to tell you), Mary Yoder and her family would not have received the justice they deserved.
Family, friends, and my literary agent/business manager/entertainment attorney, Matthew Valentinas, are always, of course, right there by my side encouraging and inspiring me in ways I could never explain here. You all know I love you because I tell you often. What I dont always share is how utterly grateful I am for your presence in my life.
Andrea Quick is someone I need to thank for changing my life and helping me realize there is light at the end of a dark and seemingly endless tunnel. Andrea is a special person in my life. Without her, I am not sure I would have been able to write this book or any that follow.
My good friend Paul Tieger has been someone who has both inspired and set me straight when I needed to hear it. I cannot thank Paul enough for his friendship, time, unconditional love, wisdom, and experience.
I would like to say how much I appreciate Jeremy Adair, my executive producing partner. Jeremys friendship and creative genius has been a blessing in my life. An Australian by birth, I am so proud Jeremy is now and American citizen. I consider his presence in my life over the past 15 years an honor.
And last, if you are into true-crime podcasts, please search for M. William Phelps wherever you get your podcast fix. Download my investigative, narrative, episodic podcast Paper Ghosts, the first season of which focuses on a series of cold cases Ive spent eleven years investigating: four missing girls and one confirmed murder in my hometown. It is available from iHeartRadio.
About the Author
New York Times bestselling, award-winning investigative journalist, executive producer, and serial killer expert, M. William Phelps is the author of more than forty-one nonfiction books and has made over three hundred television appearances. He created, produced, and hosted the series Dark Minds and is one of the stars of Deadly Women and Oxygens Snapped, Killer Couples, and REELZs Sex, Lies, and Murder . Radio America calls him the nations leading authority on the mind of the female murderer. The first season of his iHeartRadio investigative podcast, Paper Ghosts, which he wrote, directed, and executive-produced, debuted in the fall of 2020. Based on his 2017 book Dangerous Ground: My Friendship with a Serial Killer, Phelps is currently executive-producing and filming the limited do-cuseries Happy Face Killer for Oxygen Network. Look for it in 2021.
Touched by tragedy himself through the unsolved murder of his sister-in-law, Phelps is able to enter the hearts and minds of his subjects like no one else. He lives in Connecticut and can be reached at his website, www.mwilliamphelps.com .
EPILOGUE
T HIS BOOK WAS A project I had not imagined turning out the way in which it has. I dont mean the trumped-up is she guilty or innocent battle cry, and the prosecution having to go on and defend its work long after both verdicts. Almost immediately after I dug into the actual evidence, it was clear Katie Conley committed this crime. What interested me from the moment I started looking at it, instead, was the murder victim, Mary Yoder.
Marys voice needed to be heard. Her life story needed to be made available to as many people as possible within a culture of instant gratification, social media hatred, divisiveness, disunity, and societal anxiety and fatigue. Her story needed to play out against the utter dissolution of the traditional family within a culture shoving celebrity, wealth, power, and materialistic success down our throats at a rate we cannot keep up with or avoid.
