Publisher's Synopsis
AN ANTHOLOGY OF TRUE CRIME CENTERED AROUND MISSING YOUNG WOMENTHE DISAPPEARANCE OF APRIL PITZERCommunities are few and far between, and it is a land of wanderers, of hermits, of people finding their way in life - or finding themselves increasingly lost, mentally as well as geographically. The land is as much of a roller coaster as the emotional journey many of its inhabitants face; the Mojave contains the hottest place in the US - Death Valley - and the lowest (near Badwater). The region itself seems full of unhealed wounds - the ground is pitted with mines, mostly abandoned. It is in one of these that, it is believed, the body of a young, beautiful woman now rests.The disappearance of April Pitzer, missing for so long that she has been officially declared as being dead, is an especially tragic story. It is a tale of girl who makes one bad decision. From that a promising life ends in death and an eternity to be endured most probably deep down a mine shaft. The body as abandoned as the pothole in which it lies. This story co-stars a mother who will not give up hope that her daughter's body might someday be found.THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MAURA MURRAYThe case of Maura Murray's disappearance is one that has left police and conspiracy theorists baffled for more than a decade. Her sudden disappearance is one that makes very little sense and the available information regarding who she is as a person and her motive behind her attempt to leave town prior to vanishing isn't easy to wrap our brains around.Maura has been missing since February 9, 2004. From the time of her disappearance, there have been no credible sightings of Maura. The last person to see her alive, a passing motorist, noticed her oddly calm demeanor following a car crash, but she was gone by the time the police arrived on the scene.Her family is devastated that they haven't gotten closure, but is also skeptical that she could still be alive. Laurie and Fred, Maura's mother and father, have had nothing to add regarding their daughter's disappearance, and have no idea what thought pushed her into taking some personal belongings, withdrawing over $200 in cash, and attempting to leave town under the guise of "grieving over a death in the family."To get an understanding of the case, it's important to understand who Maura is, what she did and said in the days prior to her disappearance, and her strange behavior moments before vanishing into thin air.BETHANY DECKER - Nothing about Bethany seemed out of the ordinary...Until she disappearedJOYCE CHIANG - Joyce was an American attorney who worked for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. She had been missing for three months, and now, her badly decomposed body was being dragged from the Potomac River. JODI HUISENTRUIT - Jodi Sue Huisentruit was a news anchor for KIMT, a station based in Mason City, Iowa. On June 27th, 1995, she called the station and told her co-worker that she was on her way to work after she overslept. It would be the last time anyone heard from her. PATRICIA MEEHAN - The story of Patricia Meehan is a very strange and puzzling one. She seemingly disappeared into the night with little reason. The case has remained unsolved since 1989. With few witnesses, the full events are sketchy at best. KELSIE SCHELLING - The disappearance of Kelsie Schelling is one of the biggest mysteries in Colorado. This young pregnant woman was last seen in February of 2013 and the case is still open to this day.NATALIE HOLLOWAY - The vacationing teen disappeared in Aruba and has not been seen since. JENNIFER KESSE - A beautiful Florida woman who disappeared in the parking lot of her apartment building.
