Showing results by author "Don Lasseter" in All Categories

On April 22, 1991, three young children waited for their mother, Ann Racz, to return with a takeout dinner. Instead, their father showed up with a small bag of cold French fries and said their mother had gone away. Ann’s children didn't believe it. And neither did the police. Los Angeles detectives dug furiously into the case, grilling John Racz and searching for clues. But without a body, the investigation stalled. Fourteen years later, a brilliant female prosecutor delved into the cold case, uncovering shocking information about Ann and her relationship with John. 

In 1985, Charles Ng and Leonard Lake were spotted shoplifting. Ng escaped, but Lake's capture led police to a concrete bunker in the Sierra Nevada foothills, where they discovered the grisly evidence of an orgy of sex crimes, torture, and murder that claimed at least 16 victims. Lake committed suicide: Ng fled to Canada, where he was tracked down and extradited to California. This 14-year, $10 million legal case was the costliest and longest criminal prosecution in California history. 

Not all that glitters in sunny California is gold. There are beautiful beaches, fancy houses, and weather that cannot be beat. Once you scratch the surface of this shimmering façade, what you find may rock you to your core. Acclaimed writer Don Lasseter brings us three tales of wives so wicked that it goes to show the old moto “happy wife, happy life” can often be a threat.

Not all that glitters in sunny California is gold. There are beautiful beaches, fancy houses, and weather that cannot be beat. Once you scratch the surface of this shimmering façade, what you find may rock you to your core. Acclaimed writer Don Lasseter brings us three tales of wives so wicked that it goes to show the old moto “Happy Wife, Happy Life” can often times be seen as a threat. 

Family can be trying, even in the best of times, but when there is money involved all bets are off. In this installment for Notorious USA, we learn that those you hold closest to you can sometimes be the cause of your early demise. David Lasseter takes us through two California cases, where very little is as it seems and when you think you have it figured out, you don’t. 

Young, beautiful, popular, intelligent: You can have all these things going for you and still find yourself in situations you cannot get out of. In Gone Too Soon, author Don Lasseter explores three cases of young lives cut short.

First comes love, then comes murder in these captivating true stories from award-winning author Don Lasseter. These beautiful, scenic, romantic locations turn out to be anything but. Your friends, your loved ones, they can be trusted, right? Take a dive into these new, twisted tales from the archives of Notorious USA.  

In this installment of stories from Notorious USA, Don Lasseter explores three cases of lives lost, too soon. Nothing is as lovely as a beautiful California evening, until you hear gunshots from within the cover of night. A soldier, a lawyer, a student. What could they all have in common? Everyone wants something from you, but guessing what that is can be a shot in the dark. 

The Hanging Judge of California probes outrageous decisions by the Federal 9th Circuit Court in overturning death penalty verdicts. California Judge Donald A. McCartin, who sent nine men to death row, speaks out in fury when convicted child killer Rodney Alcala's verdict was overturned after 23 years. The audiobook chronicles Alcala's crimes and trials, as well as the horrific murders committed by eight other killers who were sentenced by McCartin.

The chilling true story of Oregon's most shocking killer! Jimmy Rode was serving a sentence for burglary in a Florida prison when he met serial killer Ted Bundy. It was Bundy who gave him a Seattle newspaper containing personal ads - an easy means for meeting vulnerable female victims - that launched Rode on a coast-to-coast killing spree under the alias of Cesar Barone. Now, in detail, Lasseter unleashes the story of Jimmy Rode.

As the author of many true crime books, Don Lasseter has sometimes been asked to identify and rank the "worst of the worst" murderers. Considering the stunning variety of bloodthirsty methods used by these perps, and the horrific toll of victims, it would be difficult. Instead, in this book, he has profiled fifty of the most heinous killers in modern history for readers to discover and make their own rankings.

Take a journey with Notorious USA, through three California cases that as strange as they are fascinating. Whether it is a murder with weapon so small that it seems harmless or a case where the initials carved into the corpse is one of the only clues, these stories will leave you shaking your head. David Lasseter, again, weaves a tale that is almost too bizarre to believe. 

In this group of stories from the Notorious USA archives, we find three ladies who will do anything, just about anything, for money. This journey has no limit to the amount of twists and turns it will take, and things are not always how they appear. Miki McDermott, June Gravlee, and Olga Thomas all had selfish desires to take what did not belong to them. Enlisting friends and family in their devious plots could be a stroke of genius or just may be their undoing.