WILL TO MURDER The True Story Behind the Crimes & Trials Surrounding the Glensheen Killings

Softcover. SIGNED. On June 27, 1977, an intruder entered Glensheen, the stately manor built along the Lake Superior shore by Chester A. Congdon, patriach of one of Duluth, Minnesota's most generous and respected families. Before leaving with a basketful of stolen jewellery, the intruder used a satin pillow to smother Chester's last surviving daughter, Elisabeth Congdon, after killing the heiress's valiant nurse, Velma Pietila, by beating her with a candlestick - crimes set in motion by a hastily hand-written will penned just days before the killings. For the first time the story of the Glensheen killings and the crimes and trials surrounding Marjorie Caldwell Hagen, Elisabeth Congdon's notorious adopted daughter, is told through the eyes of former Duluth Police Detective and St. Louis County Sheriff Gary Waller and St. Louis County Prosecutor John DeSanto, the men who led the investigation and prosecution of Marjorie and her husband, Roger Caldwell. Together with former 'Duluth New-Tribune' crime reporter Gail Feichtinger, DeSanto and Waller bring readers behind the scenes of the most infamous double murder in Minnesota history. The authors frankly discuss their successes and failures in order to explain just how a man who claimed innocence was convicted of two counts of murder and later confessed to the crimes - but was then set free. Feichtinger then reaches beyond the Glensheen killings to follow Marjorie through her convictions for arson, and presents evidence that suggests she may have gotten away with murder - four times. The authors also offer information never before presented including evidence that was not brought to trial, previously unpublished photographs of the crime scene and the results of DNA tests - unavailable at the time of the investigation - which link a key piece of evidence to Roger Caldwell and call into question Marjorie Caldwell's acquittal. Illus., Epilogue + Appendix. 437pp. trade size softcover. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BY GARY WALLER AND JOHN DESANTO. F. with no creasing to covers.