Erased

Missing Women, Murdered Wives

By: Marilee Strong

Narrated by: Deb Thomas

Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Based on five years of investigative reporting and research into forensic psychology and criminology, Erased presents an original profile of a widespread and previously unrecognized type of murder: not a hot-blooded, spur-of-the-moment crime of passion, as domestic homicide is commonly viewed, but a cold-blooded, carefully planned, and methodically executed form of erasure. These crimes are often committed by men with no criminal record or history of violence whatsoever, men leading functional and often successful lives until the moment they kill the women, and sometimes children, they claimed to love. A surprising number go on to kill a second or even third wife or girlfriend, often in exactly the same way. 

In more than 50 chilling case studies, Marilee Strong examines the strange and complex psychology that drives these killers, from the murder a century ago that inspired the novel An American Tragedy to Scott Peterson, Mark Hacking, Jeffrey MacDonald, Ira Einhorn, Charles Stuart, Robert Durst, Michael White, Barton Corbin, and many others. Erased also looks at how these men manipulate the legal system and exploit loopholes in missing persons procedures and death investigation, exposing how easy it can be to get away with murder.

©2009 Marilee Strong (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"With its blend of novelistic journalism and concise psychiatric research, Strong's exposé will appeal to more than just true crime fans." (Publishers Weekly)

Lots of recent references

Officially the first Audible I had to slow-down, at 0.9X. I enjoyed the different take on recent stories

An interesting study of a well known phenomenon

An interesting review of a wide variety of cases of spousal / domestic homicide. The deep study of the "core case" of the book, very through and detailed. What I personally find missing is a deeper look into the victimology. We get a well developed portrait for the "eraser killer" but a sketchy image of his victims. Why these women ended up with these men? What their friend and family could observe of their relationships? What tell tale signs there could have been before the offence? It would be very valuable to get a perspective from a survivor of such relationships, otherwise the narration is a bit lopsided. But I'm still happy with my purchase

Interesting hypothesis, some major begged questions

The author compiles a large number of cases,
Including the Peterson murder to hypothesize a new-ish kind of killer, the “eraser killer.”

The case descriptions are all universally interesting and well told.

However, the book sort of goes off the rails at the end with the author making pretty wild assumptions about the numbers of these kinds killings. She seems to think, and definitely suggests, her new class of killing is an epidemic of some kind. She offers no evidence of this. She just asserts it as if it is a fact. She then uses this “fact” to suggest a trampling of the rights of citizens.

This is an interesting and flawed book. It is certainly useful to the true crime reader despite it he books serious flaws.

Interesting Book

This was an interesting true crime book about various cases (with the main reference being to Scott Peterson), and the concept of “eraser killers.” Some of the cases I heard of and some were know. I was appalled at the legal barriers described in the book that favor the killers.

Hopscotch of cases

The author includes many examples of cases of men who seem to have erased their wives or other women; however, the real focus of the book seems to be the Scott Peterson case. Frankly, while I was interested in the cases the book skips around so much that all I remember is the Scott Peterson saga but even that had its distractions.