(A 118-page True Crime Short with 23 photographs) Josette, a pretty, vivacious, and personable twelve-year-old, is angry with her mother over a delay in driving her to a girlfriend's house. When her mother returns home from work, Josette is not there or at her girlfriend's house. Friends, neighbors, and family members mount a diligent search and talk to people who might have seen her, but they learn very little. Nobody knows anything about what happened to Josette—or so it seems.

Police learn that Josette's dislike of her mother's boyfriend caused family tension, and her estranged father lived thousands of miles away. Josette had told her closest friend she wanted to run away. A retired teacher swears she sees Josette in a mall department store. Police are sympathetic, but their investigation is limited: They see Josette as just another runaway youngster. Finally, a shocking discovery demands that police reexamine their theories of Josette's disappearance. As the truth slowly unfolds, the tragedy deepens.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kevin F. McMurray is an investigative reporter, journalist, and book author. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, the Sunday Times of London, Men's Journal, Time Warner's Crime Library, and numerous other publications. He is the author of four St. Martin's True Crime titles including Desire Turned Deadly, If You Really Loved Me, A Family Cursed, and The True Story of a Beautiful Girl, Her Teenage Sweetheart and the Love that Ended in Murder. He is also the author of Deep Descent and Dark Descent, historical-adventure nonfiction works about notorious shipwrecks.