Author: Roesch (Roberta) with De La Roche Jr. (Harry)
Year: 1979
Publisher: Andrews and McMeel
Edition Details: 1st US Edn.
Book Condition: Vg/G++
Price: £10.00
IN STOCK NOW
hardback. The Harry De La Roche family was, seemingly, the perfect family next door. They were civic-minded churchgoers, and seemed to most of their neighbours to be a warm and loving family. Yet on a Thanksgiving weekend the entire family was murdered except for Harry, Jr., who was eventually convicted for 4 first-degree murders and sentenced to life in prison. What went wrong with this family? In this unprecedented first-person account by a young man of the murder of his family, readers will track the deadly symptons of a family life gone wildly awry. Was it Harry, Sr.'s own insecurity and insistence on strong discipline? Or his penchant for guns and teaching his boys riflery? Or his wife Mary Jane's diffidence to his authority? Or was it Harry, Jr.'s ungainliness and the cruel teasing of his classmates? Or the vicious hazing at The Citadel that drove him to the brink? Harry De La Roche tells his story of a troubled teenager with heart-breaking conflicts. This is a horrifying story of brutal murder, but it is also an extraordinary inside picture of murder's aftermath - bungles and delay, the loss of key evidence, controversial defence tactics, and crucial psychiatric testimony. Based on hundreds of hours of in-depth jail interviews substantiated by heavy research and documentation, this is the only book that offers a first-hand account of the De La Roche tragedy. With Epilogue. Illus. 294pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. With several crumpled corners to pp. o/w Vg. in sl. frayed and sunned G++ dw.