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11.
AOTW: Have you ever had a close call or strange adventure while researching one of your books?
Susan Kelly: Oh, my. I could write a book about my adventures. Probably my best adventure was attending the exhumation and autopsy of the body of Albert DeSalvo. I was the only writer present, and it was fascinating. The purpose of the autopsy was to collect DNA samples from DeSalvo's remains in order to compare them to physical evidence taken from the corpse of Mary Sullivan, the Strangler's final victim. Testing revealed there was no match. And if you want to find out more about that particular adventure...read the book!
Gretchen Brinck: A prison inmate with whom I conducted several interviews later mailed me mountains of letters, some pornographic, others trying to con me out of money. While I don’t believe he is a danger to me, I changed residences before his prison release date.
Michael Fleeman: Not yet, thank god.
Brian J. Karem: Well, once while covering the last week of the Tom Capano trial in Delaware, a trial in which we routinely heard testimony about strange sexual perversions, drugs and Tom's strange bouts with colitis, I saw Ann Rule's wig move cockeyed on her head when she scratched it with a pencil.
Burl Barer: Just the one I mentioned previously [in question 4] about being threatened.
Don Lasseter: I thought I was having a close call once. I had interviewed a serial killer several times, after he'd been found guilty but before the sentencing. I was at home writing the story when my phone rang. It was the killer, who said, "Hey Don, I'm down at the corner convenience store. Can you come pick me up? I stammered for a moment, trying to think of an answer. He said, "Hey, gotcha, didn't I, and laughed raucously." He caught me completely off guard.
Irene Pence: Yes. People who run with murderers are a different breed and do the damnedest things. I lost contact with one of my sources on a story. She was avoiding a PI by holing up in a seedy motel in a rough area of town. By tracing her through a phone number, I was able to learn her location, but she wouldn't answer the phone. It was almost nightfall when I drove (alone) to the motel and found her room. However, a large muscular man who had shoulder-length hair and was covered with tattoos answered the door. He was angry and aggressive, and also determined not to let me see her until she came out of hiding and let me in. He was no doubt armed and the entire adventure was very naive on my part.
Sue Russell: No close calls but true crime writing is one long strange adventure. My pulse rate rises sometimes when I'm alone in a seedy neighborhood, mingling with unsavory characters. When I've interviewed lifers in prison and signed a form releasing the prison from all responsibility for what happens to me, yes, it's flashed through my mind a couple of times --- these guys have nothing to lose. They could do anything.
Robert Scott: I've had several unusual incidents happen while investigating cases. I once took some photographs of a perpetrator's house in Sacramento in a "borderline" neighborhood. Within the week a Sacramento Bee photographer was taking some photos in the same neighborhood. Some guys in a park thought he was taking photos of their drug deal that was going down. They chased him, caught him and beat him into a coma. I've been careful where I point my camera ever since.
Sometime later in Sacramento (strange incidents always seem to happen there), I was talking to friends of perp, James Daveggio, at a bar they frequented. Several drinks later one of his friends became belligerent and started insulting me. It had been a long day and I wasn't in the mood to take it. I rose out of my chair and we were yelling in each others faces. Suddenly I realized, ‘My God, I'm in my forties and I'm about to be in a bar fight. I haven't been in one of these since my twenties, when I was young and stupid.' But before any blows were thrown the other individuals pulled us apart and hustled him out the door. The strange thing was, after this incident the people who stayed really opened up to me. I guess they were impressed that I didn't back down in the face of the insults.
Carlton Smith: The short answer is no. I have had to sue various court officials for their failure to adhere to open records laws, however. In fact, over the past few years I’ve spent almost as much time practicing law as journalism, even though I am not a lawyer.
Dina Temple-Raston: My strangest adventure while researching this book was a meeting with members of the Ku Klux Klan and some skinheads in Central Texas. I felt I needed to meet with them to better understand Bill King. I didn't feel comfortable talking to them, but they were nice enough to try to explain their beliefs to someone who didn't necessarily agree with them.
Carlton Stowers: No close calls, no real threats.
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