Where Monsters Hide

Sex, Murder, and Madness in the Midwest

By: M. William Phelps

Narrated by: Jonathan Yen

Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

In October 2014, after Chris Regan failed to arrive at his new job, his ex-girlfriend filed a missing-person report. Something was off. It was not like Chris, a devoted father, avid hiker, and all-around great guy, not to show up. When local Michigan police chief Laura Frizzo learned Chris was having an affair with Kelly Cochran, a married coworker, suspicion fell on her husband, Jason. After a search warrant on their house revealed several suspicious items, the Cochrans abruptly moved to Indiana. As questions swirled around the case, the whereabouts of Chris Regan remained unknown.

Sixteen months later Jason Cochran died from a drug overdose. Friends and family rallied around the grieving and distraught Kelly. But when the coroner ruled Jason's death a homicide, no one reacted more bizarrely than his widow. For months detectives tried to put Kelly's past into focus, but the truth was buried under a patchwork of lies, contradictions, and brutally horrific revelations. As Kelly Cochran, a Purdue graduate and psychology major, played "catch me if you can", a mesmerizing story emerged that rivals today's best-selling fiction in its drama and fascination.

©2019 M. William Phelps (P)2019 Tantor

Critic reviews

“Phelps is the king of true crime.” (Lynda Hirsch, Creators Syndicate columnist)

Did not finish

It was a struggle to get through this one. I'm not sure if it was the narrator or the writer. No one talks like this the time : I can not, I do not.

M. William Phelps is the best writer! Perfect!

The best author M. William Phelps fantastic book and very professional writer with interesting story and well written.

Chilling

I immersed myself in Kelly Cochran. I chose this book because at the time, I was finding her interviews/interrogations in my YouTube feed. I listen to and watch a lot of true crime, for personal reasons. A friend of mine was killed in high school and I think all these years later (over 20) I’m still looking for the “why.”
Kelly Cochran is the only person that has haunted me and left me with chills, through the words in this book, the interrogations and the documentary made with Chief Laura Frizzo, Dead North. This may not be a fair review of the book therefore but I still don’t think any listener will be disappointed.

I’m not sure how the author hasn’t had lasting affects after talking to Kelly and writing this book. Then again, I can’t really say he hasn’t with any degree of certainty. Although as you’ll find out at the conclusion of the book, his life has changed.

The book was extremely well written. However, if you want a more immersive experience, I recommend listening to the book in addition to watching the ID documentary along with her interviews. I think it gives a more complete picture of the woman, the kind of human being Kelly truly is…and boy am I glad there’s only one of her. I was drawn in by her simultaneously to and just as intensely as I abhorred her crimes. It was in truth, an odd feeling and juxtaposition.

I highly encourage true crime addicts to listen to the book. I think you’ll find Kelly to be what DetectiveJeremy called her -a unicorn. We can only hope to find that the myth is true, there’s only one.

Great story.

A great listen, with great narration, an
interesting story. Mr Phelps never fails to please!

NOT impressed

The author really seems to believe the nonsense being spouted by the murderer in this case when it suits a more dramatic narrative (i.e. a genuine psychopath serial killer in the making WOMAN oooohooo) but dismisses what she says the rest of the time. There's no corroborating evidence in this case to support the exciting tale being woven by the author and the main two investigators in the book about the perpetrator. There aren't even any anecdotes about the murderers "psychopathic" behavior from outsiders beyond the fact that she was promiscuous. it's all self reported stuff from her, but the author has the utmost disdain for anything else she says. I do not understand why Phelps thinks there is anything interesting or unique about this sensation-seeking, addiction-driven killer.

Mediocre

Interesting story. Oddest narration. One reviewer compared it to William Shatner pauses. It is so distracting.

Good overall

I really enjoyed the narrators voice but his inflection at times was annoying, as if he hadn’t read the dialogue before. The story was good as well but I felt it was a bit lengthy and included a little too much ch detail about Kelly’s lies that sometimes made it feel draggy or repetitive. That being said I did enjoy it.

The narration was terrible.

The writing itself was fine, but in the beginning I thought it was some sort of parody because if all the pausing and changing of tone. Then I realized it was just how the narrator was reading. There re times when the intonations are limited, but other times when it is several times in one sentence. It is very distracting and annoying.

M. William Phelps is Amazing

Author M. William Phelps never fails to write an amazing detailed true crime story. This story is so detailed and shocking. Kudos for dighi g deep into the psychology of psychopathy.

So monsters are real…

My brain is still trying to accept that this is real. Worth the time of listening if you want to hear about about a real messed up lady and the path of destruction she left behind.
Trigger Warning: DV, corpse mutilation