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American Murder Houses: A Coast-to-Coast Tour of the Most Notorious Houses of Homicide
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About American Murder Houses: A Coast-to-Coast Tour Of
Product Description There are places in the United States of America where violent acts of bloodshed have occurred. Years may pass—even centuries—but the mark of death remains. They are known as Murder Houses. From a colonial manse in New England to a small-town home in Iowa to a Beverly Hills mansion, these residences have taken on a life of their own, gaining everything from local lore and gossip to national—and even global—infamy. Writer Steve Lehto recounts the stories behind the houses where Lizzie Borden supposedly gave her stepmother “forty whacks,” where the real Amityville Horror was first unleashed by gunfire, and where the demented acts of the Manson Family horrified a nation—as well some lesser-known sites of murder that were no less ghastly. Exploring the past and present of more than twenty-five renowned homicide scenes, American Murder Houses is a tour through the real estate of some of the most grisly and fascinating crimes in American history. INCLUDES PHOTOGRAPHS About the Author Steve Lehto is a writer and attorney. Licensed in Michigan, he was also an adjunct professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law for ten years. He has written several books, including Death’s Door: The Truth Behind Michigan’s Largest Mass Murder, Chrysler’s Turbine Car: The Rise and Fall of Detroit’s Coolest Creation, and most recently, Drawn to Injustice with Timothy Masters. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. ***This gallery is from an advance uncorrected proof*** Copyright © 2015 Steve Lehto Foreword On a sunny weekend in January 2013, I visited Miami Beach and had lunch with a friend at the News Café on Ocean Drive. I was in the process of finishing this book on American murder houses and knew that one such house was within walking distance of where we were sitting: the home that had been owned by Gianni Versace. In fact, Versace had walked from his home to the News Café on the morning of July 15, 1997, and it was on his return trip that he was gunned down on his front steps by a serial killer named Andrew Cunanan. After lunch, my friend and I walked up the street toward the mansion, the same path Versace took that fateful day. Versace’s walk would have been a little easier; he was walking on a Tuesday morning when the foot traffic would have been a bit lighter than what we encountered. Ocean Drive along this stretch of Miami Beach is a beautiful wall of Art Deco buildings facing the water, most of them restaurants and hotels. Tucked in among them is one home: the mansion where Versace lived. The day we walked by, the mansion was being operated as an upscale hotel and restaurant. I wondered if many people would know or remember that Versace was murdered there fifteen years ago? As we approached the house we noticed people standing in front of the mansion’s black iron gates, posing for pictures. A security guard stood just inside the gates, keeping an eye on the visitors and the front of the building. As one group of tourists would leave, another would wander by. Invariably, the passersby would look around, pose for pictures in front of the gates, and move on. Did all these people know about Versace and that he had died here? Apparently so. There were no signs on the spot and nothing to indicate who used to own the home or who might have died here. And still, there was a steady stream of visitors to the front steps, many getting their pictures taken in front of a pair of otherwise bland-looking metal gates. This, a decade and a half after Gianni Versace’s murder, was a testament to the attraction of the murder house. There is no question that Americans are fascinated with murder houses and always have been. After a murder hits the news, people are seemingly drawn to the scene of the crime. One of the most common postmurder images on the news is of the curious gathered in front of a house, sometimes holding a vigil in remembrance of the dead. Some may be there to comfort s
