"Who Killed Kelsey?" (Book Release)

[Matt]

When you type in the word "caching," the first thing I think of is "broken families, custody battles, lawyers...big time CACHING!"

Here's the first thing that comes to my mind:

[possumfritter]

Next signing: Kelsey Saturday, April 24th at Walmart in Moore starting at 10:00 am!

[BailJumper]

I guess in Midtowner's opinion I'm a scumbag for buying the book and thus aiding in these author's profits? Midtowner, does your narrow mindedness extend to news programs like Dateline and 60 Minutes and the like that 'profit' from retelling tales of murder, child death and general mayhem? What about the local TV and print news media? How about history books that share their perspective of the slave trade, murderers or any event which caused others despair? Give me a break and try not to fall while coming down off your high horse.

Did it ever cross your mind that the book was a result of their reporting and that they felt strongly the whole story had not been properly told in 30 second TV news sound bites? Did it also ever occur to you that family members of Kelsey worked in cooperation with the authors and supported the books release.

Being that the book is self-published I highly doubt they wrote it because they thought they'd be cashing in on anything. The reality is they will most likely make very little money if any compared to the actual costs and time spent on the book.

[Midtowner]

Slave trade = millions of lives directly affected. This book = less than 10 lives directly affected, the rest were affected via media voyeurism.

[possumfritter]

If you would like to read some of the reviews of this book, go to:

Reviews - Who Killed Kelsey?

[possumfritter]

Meet the authors for Kelsey Saturday at Bass Pro downtown Oklahoma City today from 10-2!

[PennyQuilts]

I finished reading the book after having read the presiding Judge's book. Maybe it is because I am a lawyer who worked as a guardian ad litem but I had a difficult time not being put off by the authors' bias for/against certain individuals. Given that the mother and stepfather were both convicted of horrible crimes against this child, I understand that they aren't entitled to the benefit of the doubt - nor do I think they deserve it. However, even if that child had never been physically abused by anyone, she was going to be emotionally destroyed by the drama going on in both sides of that family. IMO.

I think the father's side of the family had good intentions but their own decisions and behavior contributed to the situation. They didn't create the abuse - god forbid - but they played lots of games that made them look bad, although I am sure they probably didn't realize it. I so wish they'd shown up for court to fight for custody when the child was returned to her mother. I am not picking on them - or at least not intending to. I guess I am just saddened that so many people don't understand the system and are their own worst enemy. I wish their lawyer (if they had one at that point) had been able to rein them in and give them different advice from time to time (assuming he didn't). And that would have taken it. But at the end of the day, a grandparent vs. a mother is going to have a tough time getting custody short of proven ongoing abuse. It sure looked to me like at least a protective order should have been in place but maybe there was one and I just didn't catch that from the book. I sure wish that child had been given over to the custody of her paternal grandmother.

The book contained a lot of incriminating comments about the judge. Other than the one given under oath by a police officer, it was unclear to me if any of the other alleged ex parte communications were investigated and verfied. As a guardian ad litem, I tend to take hearsay statements with a grain of salt because I heard whoppers all the time. It is not so much that people mean to lie so much as they hear one thing when something else entirely was said. Here is an actual (but typical) example:

Mother: The father is impossible to work with. He doesn't do anything he says he will and whenever he sees me, he starts screaming at me.
Me: Gosh, that is a shame. Have you two thought about going to counseling to help to communicate better? Even though you aren't together, you still have this child and will have to work with each other.
Mother: That's a good idea.

Later...

Father on telephone (yelling): Mother just called and told me that you said I needed to go to a counselor because I'm crazy! I'm not crazy! She just lies about me!

Sigh...

RIP, little darling.