Because You Loved Me

In the midst of Pennsylvania's Amish country, on a peaceful summer night in 2008, the body of 45-year-old Jan Roseboro was found at the bottom of her backyard pool. Her husband Michael, a successful businessman and member of a prominent family, showed no emotion as he learned of her death. But the next day an autopsy revealed Jan had been savagely beaten and strangled before being tossed in the water to drown. Soon Michael's secret lover, pregnant with his child, stepped into the media spotlight. And a horrifying true story of illicit passion, deadly deceit, and cold-blooded murder unfolded. . .

"One of America's finest true-crime writers."--Vincent Bugliosi

"Phelps creates a vivid portrait." --Publishers Weeklyy

Praise for M. William Phelps

Host of Investigation Discoverys Dark Minds

Phelps ratchets up the dramatic tension.Stephen Singular

Phelps exposes long-hidden secrets and reveals disquieting truths.Kathryn Casey

In September 2001, Carmen Rodriguez, a beautiful 32-year-old Hartford mother of four, went missing. At first police were stymied. . .until a killer's crucial mistake led investigators down a long, dark road of cold, calculated murder. . .

"Phelps is a first-rate investigator." --Dr. Michael M. Baden

In 1987, single mother Mary Ellen Renard was strangled, repeatedly stabbed, and left for dead in her New Jersey apartment. Her vicious assailant had already killed once. . .and would kill again. But unlike the fiend's other victims, Mary Ellen lived to tell the tale...

"Phelps gives readers an exclusive, insider's look." --Anne Bremner

Clean-cut, popular and on the fast track at a multinational computer firm, Rutgers grad Edwin "Ned" Snelgrove shocked friends and colleagues with a plea bargain for Renard's brutal attack--and the heinous 1983 murder of college girlfriend Karen Osmun. Vowing never to be caught again, Ned spent his time in prison obsessively studying the violent career of his idol Ted Bundy. . .then was released ten years early for good behavior. . .

"Phelps proves that truth is more shocking than fiction." --Allison Brennan

Unflinching and brilliantly researched, this is an exclusive tour into the twisted mind of an all-American killer. . .and a state attorney's tireless efforts to lock him away forever.

On a December night in 2004, a 911 operator in Nodaway County, Missouri, received a frantic call from a woman who'd found her pregnant 23-year-old daughter in a pool of blood on the living room floor. Most shocking of all, the dying woman's unborn baby had been viciously ripped from her womb.

"Get ready for some sleepless nights."--Carlton Stowers

Across the border in Melvern, Kansas, Lisa Montgomery showed off a beautiful newborn she proudly claimed as her own. While some shared her excitement, others harbored suspicions. Meanwhile televisions across the nation broadcast the first Amber Alert for an unborn child.

"Phelps is a first-rate investigator." Dr. Michael M. Baden

Newly updated with the latest surprising developments, Murder in the Heartland goes behind the scenes of two picture-perfect American towns forever changed by one horrifying act of violence. With exclusive access to key witnesses, family members, and potential victims who narrowly escaped a similar gruesome fate, M. William Phelps tells a classic American tale of unthinkable murder and the quest for justice.

In the summer of 2003, the Houston suburb of Clear Lake, Texas, was devastated when four young residents were viciously slain. The two female victims were just eighteen-years-old, popular and beloved--but when a killer came knocking, it turned out to be someone they knew all too well. . ..Seventeen-year-old Christine Paolilla was an awkward outsider--until the girls befriended her. In this gripping true story, M. William Phelps delves into the heart of a baffling mystery to get to the truth of an act so brutal it could not be understood--until now.

"Phelps is the Harlan Coben of real-life thrillers." Allison Brennan

"The best true-crime writer to come along in years." Gregg Olsen

Praise for M. William Phelps

"Phelps ratchets up the dramatic tension." Stephen Singular

"One of America's finest true-crime writers." Vincent Bugliosi

"Phelps creates a vivid portrait." Publishers Weekly

In May 2003, an Arizona man who'd bought dozens of sealed boxes at a self-storage facility's auction of unclaimed property made a horrifying discovery: the bodies of three plastic-wrapped infants, one of which had become mummified over the years. Police traced them to Dianne Odell, 50, a mother of eight children, who admitted the babies were hers but claimed that they'd died of natural causes. She'd kept the bodies for over twenty years before abandoning them.

In 1989, police had found the remains of a long-dead infant in a suitcase in the trunk of a car Odell had abandoned. The statute of limitations on manslaughter had saved her then from prosecution. She maintained that the fetus was the product of a rape by her father and, after he beat her, was stillborn.

Odell said her own domineering mother had forced her into teen prostitution and murdered what she viewed as "bastard children." Both parents were dead and unable to contradict her. Would Odell's stories sway the jury and buy her the mercy her babies were never granted? Or would she be forced to face the consequences of bringing innocent lives into the world--only to end them in cold blood. . .

Aspiring model Sandee Rozzo's big mistake was being kind to Timothy "Tracey" Humphrey. After Rozzo refused the 'roided-up ex-con's advances, she described how he imprisoned, raped, and brutalized her for two days. When the courageous woman pledged to testify against him, Humphrey knew he had to silence her. . .

That's when he turned to 19-year-old Ashley Laney. She had fallen in love with Humphrey, her personal trainer, and would do anything for him. On their wedding night, he made a strange request--one that would end with eight gunshot wounds and a dead body.

The police knew Humphrey was the likely suspect, but he had an alibi for the time of the shooting. How could they prove that, even if he didn't pull the trigger, he was the manipulative psychopath behind Sandee's murder? It would all come down to a prison escape, a manhunt for a killer, and an explosive trial. . .

"One of our most engaging crime journalists." --Dr. Katherine Ramsland

"Phelps gets into the blood and guts of the story" --Gregg Olsen

A real estate lawyer in Connecticut's moneyed seaside communities, Beth Carpenter, 31, had beauty, brains and success. But she wanted more--namely guardianship of her two-year-old niece, Rebecca, daughter of Beth's estranged sister, Kim. When Kim married Anson "Buzz" Clinton, 28, a former male exotic dancer deemed an unsuitable guardian by the Carpenter family, Beth became obsessed with the idea that only his death could ensure that she and her parents would get custody of the child. On March 10, 1994, along a lonely stretch of road, Clinton was shot five times. His body was discovered by passing motorists.

Behind Clinton's death lay a bizarre murder-for-hire conspiracy that found privileged professionals and local misfits joined in a cold-blooded plot against an innocent man. This homicidal group included attorney Haiman Clein, 53. A husband, father, and successful businessman, Clein was Beth Carpenter's boss--and also her sexually obsessed, cocaine-snorting, murderously obedient lover. The paid killers were two buddies, organizer Joe Fremut and triggerman Mark Despres, who brought his 15-year-old son Christopher along for the hit. The aftermath of this brutal crime would set investigators and prosecutors on a long and twisted path strewn with lies, treachery, and deceit that would cross the Atlantic Ocean before finally bringing justice home.

Mary Jean Pearle and John Battaglia's marriage seemed picture perfect from the outside. With their two young daughters, Faith and Liberty, they made their home in a wealthy Dallas suburb. John was handsome, charming, and successful--but behind his mask of normality lay a vicious, violent abuser who'd brutally beaten his first wife--and who made Mary Jean the new target of his irrational rages. After nine hellish years, she divorced Battaglia.

On Christmas Day, 1999, during a court-ordered family visit, he attacked her in front of their daughters. For the next two years, he threatened, harassed and stalked her. Mary Jean feared for her life, but not for the lives of the children, with whom Battaglia was never anything less than caring, loving, and gentle.

But in spring, 2001, when Faith and Liberty were visiting their father, Mary Jean received a message to call her daughters. Helpless, horrified, she heard her older daughter's pleading cries. Then came the sound of gunshots--followed by silence. What evil impulses had driven a seemingly devoted father the ultimate act of violence and betrayal. . .and how would justice be served?