In a place where murder isn't supposed to happen-rural Missouri and Southern Illinois-deputy sheriff and investigator Harry Spiller learned the hard reality: murder is all around us. It doesn't matter whether you live in a big city or small county with farms and churches-murder is swift and can happen to anyone, anywhere, and any time. All too often, victims fall prey in places we think are safe to raise our families, where we take walks on hot summer nights, where our children play in the park or yard without concern, and where we leave our doors unlocked at night. Murder in the Heartland, Book 2 tells the stories of innocent victims in these seemingly innocent places. From his research and investigations of ten murder cases, Spiller recounts the gruesome details of a fraternity hazing gone deadly, teen killings, and even murders by those living and working with the victims. As much as we like to think we're safe, murder can happen even in rural America-and it does. Join Spiller in the second installment of his three-book series of these horrifying murders in the heartland.

For 16 years, Harry Spiller worked as a deputy sheriff, investigator, and sheriff in a place where murder isn't suppose to happen- Southern Illinois. Investigating murder cases mainly in Williamson County and assisting in other counties, he learned the hard reality that murder is all around us. The act is swift for the victim and can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time. It doesn't matter if you live in a big city or a small county, with brick-front towns, small farms, white church houses, lakes and ponds, the Shawnee National Forest, and the muddy rivers. All too often, victims fall prey in places that we think are safe to raise our families, places where we take walks on hot summer nights, where our children play in the park without concern, where we fish in the local pond hoping to land the big one, and where we leave our doors unlocked at night. In this book, Murder In The Heartland, there are 20 case files.

The 'Murder in the Heartland' series is dramatic and chilling. Harry Spiller...brings to his work the prodigious research, and narrative skill necessary to create suspense. The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Robert Vaughan. This is the third book in the reviting MURDER IN THE HEARTLAND series by author and retired sheriff Harry Spiller. His series details the many unusual murders that have occurred throughout Southern Illinois in recent decades. In Murder In The Heartland, Book 3, the author profiles 12 case files that he has researched over the past several years. Rural America isn't immune to the bizarre and unpredictable human behavior that leads to murder.""

“There is, in the best of us, a search for the truth, to serve the living and dead alike...Jax Miller is one of those people and Hell in the Heartland is one of those books.”—Robert Graysmith, New York Times bestselling author of Zodiac As seen in Marie Claire's "Best True Crime Books of 2020" • HuffPost • OK! Magazine • CrimeReads • LitHub's "Best New Summer Books" S-Town meets I'll Be Gone in the Dark in this stranger-than-fiction cold case from rural Oklahoma that has stumped authorities for two decades, concerning the disappearance of two teenage girls and the much larger mystery of murder, possible police cover-up, and an unimaginable truth... On December 30, 1999, in rural Oklahoma, sixteen-year-old Ashley Freeman and her best friend, Lauria Bible, were having a sleepover. The next morning, the Freeman family trailer was in flames and both girls were missing. While rumors of drug debts, revenge, and police corruption abounded in the years that followed, the case remained unsolved and the girls were never found. In 2015, crime writer Jax Miller--who had been haunted by the case--decided to travel to Oklahoma to find out what really happened on that winter night in 1999, and why the story was still simmering more than fifteen years later. What she found was more than she could have ever bargained for: evidence of jaw-dropping levels of police negligence, entire communities ravaged by methamphetamine addiction, and a series of interconnected murders with an ominously familiar pattern. These forgotten towns were wild, lawless, and home to some very dark secrets.

In a place where murder isn’t supposed to happen—rural Missouri and Southern Illinois—deputy sheriff and investigator Harry Spiller learned the hard reality: murder is all around us. It doesn’t matter whether you live in a big city or small county with farms and churches—murder is swift and can happen to anyone, anywhere, and anytime. All too often, victims fall prey in places we think are safe to raise our families, where we take walks on hot summer nights, where our children play in the park or yard without concern, and where we leave our doors unlocked at night. Murder in the Heartland, Book 3 tells the stories of innocent victims in these seemingly innocent places. From his research and investigations of twelve murder cases, Spiller recounts the gruesome details of a homicidal nurse, a murder instigated by the devil, and the “death of the machine.” Each account includes chilling mug shots, crime scene photos, and interviews from the murderers themselves. As much as we like to think we’re safe, murder can happen even in rural America—and it does. Join Spiller in the last installment of his three-book series of these horrifying murders in the heartland.

On December 16, 2004, a Nodaway County, Missouri, 9-1-1 operator received a frantic call from the mother of 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett. The eight-months-pregnant mom-to-be, Bobbie Jo, had been found lying on her family room floor bleeding profusely and barely breathing. Most disturbing of all, her baby was gone.

In a place where murder isn’t supposed to happen—rural Missouri and Southern Illinois—deputy sheriff and investigator Harry Spiller learned the hard reality: murder is all around us. It doesn’t matter whether you live in a big city or small county with farms and churches—murder is swift and can happen to anyone, anywhere, and anytime. All too often, victims fall prey in places we think are safe to raise our families, where we take walks on hot summer nights, where our children play in the park or yard without concern, and where we leave our doors unlocked at night. Murder in the Heartland, Book 2 tells the stories of innocent victims in these seemingly innocent places. From his research and investigations of ten murder cases, Spiller recounts the gruesome details of a fraternity hazing gone deadly, teen killings, and even murders by those living and working with the victims. As much as we like to think we’re safe, murder can happen even in rural America—and it does. Join Spiller in the second installment of his three-book series of these horrifying murders in the heartland.