Ron Franscell, Author at Ron Franscell

Pain & memory: The birth of Angel Fire

“Pain is the price we pay for memory. It’s some kind of sin to forget what hurts, as much as it is to forget what makes you smile. Suffering has […]

by Ron Franscell

New book trailer for SHADOWMAN

Just a taste of Ron Franscell’s chilling tale about a real-life nightmare … and how it changed forensic history

by Ron Franscell

Set your DVR for ‘Alice & Gerald’ on Oxygen network

They killed at least five people and damn near got away with it. Then a lucky break changed everything.

by Ron Franscell

You can pre-order ‘SHADOWMAN: An Elusive Psycho and the Birth of FBI Profiling

The pulse-pounding account of the first time in history that the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit created a psychological profile to help catch a serial killer

by Ron Franscell

Happy Earth Day! Ira Einhorn loves you to death

In the 1970s, smelly hippie guru Ira Einhorn had been a radical protester during the Vietnam War and a co-founder of Earth Day. The burly, unkempt college professor spewed New Age nonsense to lure naïve young girls to his bed. One of them was Holly Maddux.

by Ron Franscell

The Resurrection of Elmer McCurdy

Elmer McCurdy was a two-bit outlaw, a wannabe desperado who overshot the Wild West and landed in the 20th century. Nobody knew his name, and nobody in the Oklahoma Territory […]

by Ron Franscell

Peace, love … and murder

How long did you think it would take me to find a good true-crime story in my new digs, the tiny village of Placitas in northern New Mexico? Yeah, well, […]

by Ron Franscell

Better Angels: No veteran should die alone

It was after 2am and the graveyard-shift nurses drifted like ghosts in the hallway, tending to the dead and dying. It wasn’t that Michael* couldn’t sleep, even with meds he […]

by Ron Franscell

The entangled histories of 'In Cold Blood' and narrative journalism

Lecture: 9:30am to 11am on Feb. 20Book-signing immediately afterwardCasper College (WY) Humanities FestivalMusic Building’s Wheeler HallAdmission is free Ron Franscell, who has been called one of the exciting voices in […]

by Ron Franscell

The best true-crime books of all time? Maybe not

Last weekend, USA Today published a Goodreads list of the “Best True Crime Books of All Time.” There are some truly great books on the list, compiled from various Goodreads […]

by Ron Franscell

Murderabilia, the podcast: ‘Hey, buddy, want some Manson toenails?’

The term “murderabilia” was coined by my friend Andy Kahan, who advocates for crime victims for Crimestoppers of Houston. But the word is actually more innocuous than Kahan’s feelings about […]

by Ron Franscell

Pick me, Ted: Bundy expert explores a perverse love

I recently visited a Facebook group where true-crime fans gather to chit-chat about the latest foul play. The group’s members are mostly women because, well, women are overwhelmingly the most […]

by Ron Franscell

10 Photos of Dead Criminals (with a Charlie Manson bonus)

Back in the 19th century, when photography was young, post-mortem images of dead loved ones was fashionable as a way to remember the deceased. But it also became a way […]

by Ron Franscell

Berkley-Penguin will publish ‘ShadowMan’

There are a few moments in a book’s life that are special for authors. One is when a box of finished books arrives on the front porch. Another is when […]

by Ron Franscell

Unfinished.

Once upon a time—which is how all worthwhile stories begin—I knew a man named Herman who had reached a moment when there was more of his life to look back […]

by Ron Franscell

40% of serial killers getting away with murder

The Golden Age of serial killers—the 1970s and ‘80s—is over. According to National Institute of Justice, the number of serial killers is down 85% in the past 30 years. Reasons […]

by Ron Franscell

Canadian producer developing TV series on MORGUE

Pixcom, an international production company based in Montreal, has optioned our book MORGUE: A LIFE IN DEATH—co-authored with world-renowned medical examiner Dr. Vincent Di Maio—for a true-crime TV series, the […]

by Ron Franscell

A genuine hero

Remember that story about wild man Earl Durand who killed five people in Powell in 1939? The horrible rampage ended partly because of a teenager named Tipton Cox, who wounded […]

by Ron Franscell

Tarzan of the Tetons

In 1939, mountain man Earl Durand went on a rampage. He killed five people during a sprawling chase through the mountains, ending in a daring daylight bank robbery in Powell. […]

by Ron Franscell

Pixley’s eyes

In 1964, at Jackson’s famous Wort Hotel, two little girls were raped, strangled and bludgeoned brutally with a large rock. .Andrew Pixley, a 21-year-old transient dishwasher, had sneaked into the […]

by Ron Franscell

Elvis co-star dies

In 1957. actress Judy Tyler had just wrapped up her first starring movie role, playing opposite Elvis Presley in “Jail;house Rock.” She was heading back East to appear on a CBS […]

by Ron Franscell

Butch’s mug shot

You already know Butch Cassidy was the most famous outlaw in the infamous Wild Bunch. This is his 1894 mugshot from the Wyoming Territorial Prison in Laramie. What you probably didn’t […]

by Ron Franscell

Hickok’s assassin

In 1876, not long after he’d shot the famous Wild Bill Hickok in Deadwood SD, Jack McCall was in a Laramie bar boasting about the murder. A deputy U.S. Marshal […]

by Ron Franscell

Last Wild Bunch outlaw

Wild Bunch outlaw Bub Meeks helped Butch and Elzy Lay rob the bank in Montpelier, Idaho, in 1896. But the pathologically unlucky Meeks was captured and sent to prison. He […]