Shattered Sense of Innocence: The 1955 Murders of Three Chicago Children (Elmer H Johnson & Carol Holmes Johnson Series in Criminology)
(Part of the The Elmer H. Johnson and Carol Holmes Johnson Series in Criminnology Series)
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Book Overview
In October 1955, three Chicago boys were found murdered, their bodies naked and dumped in a ditch in Robinson Woods on the city's Northwest Side. A community and a nation were shocked. In a time when such crimes against children were rare, the public was transfixed as local television stations aired stark footage of the first hours of the investigation. Life and Newsweek magazines published exclusive stories the following week. When Kenneth Hansen was convicted and sentenced for the murders, the case was considered solved--until questions were raised about Hansen's presumed guilt.
Shattered Sense of Innocence: The 1955 Murders of Three Chicago Children tells the gripping story of the three murdered boys--thirteen-year-old John Schuessler, his eleven-year-old brother, Anton, and thirteen-year-old Bobby Peterson--and the quest to find and bring to justice their killer. Authors Richard C. Lindberg and Gloria Jean Sykes recount the bungled 1955 police investigation, the failures of multiple law enforcement agencies, and the subsequent convictions of Kenneth Hansen, in 1995 and 2002, and present new information concerning two suspects overlooked by police for five decades. The authors deftly examine all sides of this tragic story, drawing on exclusive interviews with law enforcement agents, with horse trainers affiliated with the so-called horse mafia, and with the man convicted of the murders, Kenneth Hansen. This intensely intimate account offers a rare glimpse into one community and examines how these atrocious crimes altered public perceptions nationwide. Shattered Sense of Innocence, which is also a story of political controversy, a determined federal agent's quest for justice, and a community's loss of innocence, includes fifty illustrations.Customer Reviews
Rated 5 starsSuffer the children
This book completely held my interest and that of several friends who read it at the same approximate time. We spent hours discussing it. After fifty plus years, the triple homicide described in "Shattered Sense of Innocence: the 1955 Murders of Three Chicago Children" is still chilling and disturbing. The book established a strong sense of time and place. The authors succeeded in recreating the fear and dread that gripped...
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Rated 5 starsFascinating Murder Mystery Set in 1950's--fabulous read!
The book is an amazing murder mystery set against the backdrop of 1950's Northwest side of Chicago. The neighborhood tales and stories tell of a fascinating slice of the 1950's with accurate details, so that even if you are not a murder mystery buff, the book is still extremely interesting. The book carefully relates the bumbling, inept police work which is grossly inadequate due to the lack of forensic science development...
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Rated 5 starsLost
The Schuessler-Peterson murders, the long unsolved deaths of 3 boys in 1955 Chicago, have inspired three books; "Unbridled Rage," "Three Boys Missing," and "Shattered Sense of Innocence." All are highly recommended. This is the one that may keep you awake all night. The authors are brilliant writers and the book is exhaustively researched. Many new questions are raised: Were the victims looking for someone the night they...
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