MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED Multiple Murder and the Elusive Search for Justice in an American Town

Hardback. Violence was foreign to the bucolic upstate New York town of East Chatham until the night of December 13, 1986, when a family was massacred on a quiet back road. No one may ever know precisely what happened in the log cabin of Robert Gates that long cold night, but when it was over, Gates (a popular local businessman) was dead, along with his long-time live-in girlfriend, Cheryl, his 19yr old son, Bobby Jr., and a 3yr old orphaned nephew. The sheriff told reporters the crime scene was worse than anything he'd seen in Korea. Before the sun rose that morning, Wyley Gates, the dead man's 17yr old son - salutatorian of Chatham High School, vice-president of his class, sure to be voted "most likely to succeed" - was alleged to have confessed to the four murders. The circumstances surrounding that confession, however, would come under attack in the longest, most divisive trial in Columbia County history. In a decision destined to bring them months of harassment and even death threats, the jury would acquit Wyley of murder. One year later, another jury would reach the same decision in the trial of Damian Rossney, one of a cadre of high school boys who helped Wyley secure the murder weapon. The most brutal crime in the history of the county had gone unpunished. Illus. 417pp. lge. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. Vg+ in Vg+ dw. a fairly heavy book which may require additional postage.