I remember this case so clearly when it happened. It was shocking and disturbing as the facts came out and San Diegans were led to believe three teenage boys were responsible for the brutal murder of one of the boy's sister. This book is not about the case and the victim, however. It is actually about the justice system and its treatment of children involved with the case. It is about the tactics of the detectives and police department who abused the rights and used psychological warfare to close a case.
The first half of the book was repetitive, but it showed how the police wore down the boys until there was nothing left of them. It was painful to read as a parent. Fortunately, through hard work of the attorneys and some luck the truth came out. But at what cost? Some things can never be erased or repaired.

A huge Thank You to The author, The publisher and Netgalley for providing the e-arc in exchange for a unbiased review of these works

such a sad sad read, but a really well put together book for the true crime fan

Very good book. Sad to know that this kind of thing happens in real life. Well written and my heart goes out to the family.

I love true crime. I understand that sometimes procedurals can be a bit hard or boring to get thru and are not for everyone.
This entire story is a lesson in what can happen and worst case scenarios and changes the lives of everyone involved. It's not so much a focus on the victim but on the treatment of the children being interviewed and accused of a crime the may or may not have committed. It happens time and time again and this book is enlightening on many aspects in how that plays out.

Just finished this one. Wow. Just wow! This is a true story that's very sad and disturbing on many levels. I'll try not to give too much away.

This book was written by one of the defense attorneys for one of the three boys accused of killing a 12-year-old little girl.

Most of the book is the actual interrogations of the three boys which allows you to see the deceit and manipulation used by the police on these kids.

I seriously had no idea a child could be picked up and questioned without a parent even being notified.
A Children's Miranda Rights and a Bill of Rights for Children are suggested in this book. I think it's a great idea.

The back of the book includes several police interrogation methods and how they should be properly used. I think my favorite was England's PEACE method, where the police are not allowed to lie. Haha

Sadly I'm sure what was done to these three families is not an isolated incident. Two of the families were awarded money after suing because of this debacle, but I'm not sure money can really undo what was done. The third family just wanted to be done with it all. I can't say that I can blame them.

Such a sad, sad but informative story.

A well written account of the investigation following the tragic murder of a young 12 year old girl in her own home.
The story features many transcribed hours of police interviews of the girls brother, and 2 of his friends, who the police convinced themselves were guilty of the crime.
What follows is a frustrating and incredible series of interviews, where police coercion is obvious.
The story is tragic for all concerned, not least the family of the girl and her targeted brother.
A good read.

A very detailed account of the process by police of pressuring confessions out of minors / juveniles without their parents consent and sometimes knowledge. Great to read and very informative!
This story is about the murder of 12-year-old Stephanie Crowe, who was found by her grandmother January, 1998 on her bedroom floor. Stephanie was stabbed in her bed and then left to die. Her brother and his friend are the suspects that the police chose because they thought it was obvious without actually reviewing all the evidence and following up on reports. After a long tortuous trial, the boys are exonerated and a schizophrenic transient seems to be the likely suspect.

Donald McInnis has the perspective of the criminal defense attorney for one of the boys, and presents the story of the crime, arrests, and trial in a detailed and fascinating way.
Mr. McInnis proposed a new Children’s Miranda Rights Warning and a Bill of Rights for Children who are being questioned as suspects as a result of his involvement in this case.

Falsely accused of murdering his younger sister, Michael Crowe, and eventually two of his friends, were verbally battered into false confessions and then drug through the California court system by detectives and prosecutors so sure they had it right that they ignored the giant holes in their case. Reading this powerful story actually gave me some reader's anxiety and definitely made me angry at the horrible injustice that was perpetrated upon these three young boys, especially Michael Crowe. The interrogation scenes are powerful. I felt like I was in the room watching this 14-year-old boy being put through the ringer by the experienced, ruthless detectives who twisted his words and his mind until he didn't know the truth anymore. This is the story of what happens when the desire to solve a horrible murder overwhelms the rights of the accused and the legal protections that are supposed to prevent this type of thing from happening. The story moves along as a good pace and the unfolds as the real events unfolded. The author did a good job of condensing what he could and yet he kept those interrogation scenes so real, verbatim in places, that even as a reader I just wanted the questions to stop. The book includes an epilogue and an afterword and an appendix that provided some "what happened later" information and valuable information about Children's Rights, Children's Miranda Rights, and the Children's Bill of Rights.

This is a fairly intriguing murder mystery. I think the writing is fair. It's not a book I'd say "I couldn't put down", meaning it's not addictive.

This true story is about a young girl 12 year old Stephanie Crowe, being found murdered in her own bedroom. The family lived in California and the girl was well liked. Her brother Michael who was 14 at the time, along with two of his friends, also aged 14, were questioned. The boys were too young and did not understand that they needed legal assistance. Their parents wanted to help the police to catch the killer so thought that the boys would be assisting the police by telling all they knew.
The book covers the interrogation pretty much word for word and shows the way the police coerced the boys into saying what the police wanted to hear.
Because the author wants us to hear the whole interrogation, it does get drawn out as the same questions are asked time and time again. It does however show just what someone who is exhausted, hungry and emotionally spent, will say. A thought provoking book.

I have tried numerous times to be interested in this true crime book.
there is a story there but the author has muddled it all up with the constant repetition of EVERY SINGLE THING! IT was more fun to watch paint dry then to continue on with reading this book.
Its a shame that the author could not have pared this story down to make it more digestible.
Overall, there is a story there, an important story, but is bogged down by the authors word count.

Annoyed. That's how I felt during this book. Annoyed, angry, frustrated that this happened. From what I've seen, I would compare the feeling of injustice with Making a Murderer and the Central Park Five. That feeling that whatever you do, you can't get it right. The truth is so close, though nobody believes you or wants to believe you.

The first part of the book consists of the endless interrogations that the police officers are conducting. At one part I was wondering if there was ever going to be an end to it. These three boys are getting interrogated for hours and hours and hours, being promised things, deprived of sleep and food, confessions pulled out of them.

The trial shows how ridiculous this case is. The hearing and the arguments being used, shows how little they actually have against the boys. Assuming that from a knife the murder is decided is just a lousy case. It sounded like the police had nothing but fake pieces of evidence. Nothing turned out to be a significant piece of evidence, except the forced confessions.

nteresting to me is that the police never seemed willing to catch the real killer. Richard Tuite, a man who was delusional and wandered around seeking a girl named Tracy around the time of the murder, was never seen as a suspect and never interrogated for the murder. Once Tuite was sentenced to jail, the police still didn't want to admit that Tuite did it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this book for me to read in exchange for an honest review. I have read many, many True Crime books over my lifetime (joke used to be if my husband ended up dead and they took a run of books from my library I would be seriously questioned) and never read a book written like this. I loved it!

It is written not at all typical of a True Crime book as it more mimics a documentary in that it focuses on all three (3) boys interrogations/interviews, then followed by the trial and conclusions. I loved the way it never let up on the interrogations in that I was actually feeling exhausted and frustrated while reading it I kept wondering if I feel like this reading it I can only truly imagine what those young boys felt.

I loved the trial as it didn't drag it out, compared the trial back to the facts at hand and the confessions - brilliant in my mind and easy to follow.

A must, MUST read for any True Crime lover!

What a nightmare! These poor families! This is a must read for people who have any doubt in false confessions. Sickening! Great job to the author! I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley!

A fascinating look at the criminal defense system and how the families of young victims are often traumatized themselves in the pursuit of justice for their loved ones. It's a story that lends itself to many different cases (unfortunately), however I do question the impartialness of the author - a defense attorney for one of the boys suspected of the crime.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley!


This is an AMAZING true crime novel. You won't regret picking this up.

First ...right off...the author states that what you are about to read will be hard...and may make you want to put the book down...and how right he is...this is ...unfortunately ....another example of horrible shoddy police work....hmmm...but I am jumping ahead.....ok...he was right...difficult to read ...to the point where I had to put it down multiple times...but ...important to continue...

the story is a horrible one of a 12 year old girl who was murdered in her own home....in the middle of the night...with her family all in the house sleeping...when she was discovered in the morning...the police come and within a few hours have decided ...because of how her brother was acting...and the lack of easy to find evidence that he was the killer....no real investigation....just an automatic decision that the brother did it...they take them all from the house...continue the search and over the course of days find NO evidence...so somehow...her brother stabbed her multiple times ...but cleaned up all of the blood and any possible evidence including bloody clothes....they separate the children from their parents..will not let them see each other and interrogate the boy (14 years old) for hours and hours...telling them that if he wants to see his father...they are no longer going to help him and ...and that they have evidence that he did it...with no question...the convince him that he has a demon inside him that doesn't allow him to remember...but what about a weapon? He talks about his friends and do they decide they had to have been involved....through days of interrogation ...most without any Miranda...they get two confessions ....and they prosecute the three boys...with NO evidence...except the two confessions....the third boy never confessed...no evidence connected to him...but implicated by one of the confessions given by a young boy who was terrorized...who was told that the other boys had confessed against him...told his father that the other boys had said his son was a part of this...all lies...even lies to the father ...using the father to convince the son to confess against the other two...so he made a story....

this is a nightmare and honestly if you were watching this as a movie I don't see how anyone would take it seriously...no police could be this lazy right? no way this corrupt right? no way they would use psychological terror against entire families ...especially against a family who had just lost their daughter (sister)...but they do...

I have really become incensed by the many convictions obtained where the police are so incredibly lazy that they make no serious attempt to find a real killer...but instead decide who the killer is and then make a case against them...do they follow the evidence? do they examine all possible suspects? nope...but from what I understand they are immune against prosecution so what is to keep them from doing anything or saying anything they want?

this book has made me just sick....

the police had another suspect...questioned him and let him go...

ok...so spoilers....

the confessions are thrown out by a judge ....THANK GOD!!!...and the cases are thrown out...but the idiot prosecutors and detectives refuse to give up....even when the other suspect is found to have the little girls blood on his clothes...they still...years later say the boys confessed and are guilty...

HOW CRAZY! the families file lawsuits ....two of them persevere and win over 12 million dollars....not only that but they file a suit and are declared ...factually innocent by a court...so there is no longer any suspicion....but there is...the original detective STILL says they are guilty....what a freaking egotistical lazy incompetent idiot....

so the boys are let go...the other suspect is prosecuted ...found guilty...but then released and retried...and finally found not guilty...the jury found that they felt the blood could have been placed during contamination during the investigation...and so there is no justice....

this is what happens when police and prosecutors center on a supposed perpetrator and do not do any due diligence and allow time to pass which allows evidence and the investigation to become tainted....

so the book...overall very good...horrible story...very good book....two complaints...one...the confessions...I understand the idea to show how horrible they were but it got to the point that I was just saying...ok...I get it...can we move on....I didn't need every moment of every interview....and like most books I am reading lately....the author does very little follow up ...I would have wanted more after the fact to help tie this all together...instead we get little information...so I went to the internet and was able to get the info I wanted but I would prefer this be part of the book....but overall....a great book and a great read...

What makes this book different from others you have read? OMG- reading this book is like watching a back and forth game of cat and mouse with one side set on winning no matter what. This case affected so many lives, not just of the girl who was murdered, but of the other victims who became part of a crime they should not have been a part of.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced electronic copy in return for an honest review.

Fascinating & disturbing insight into the murder of 12 year old Stephanie Crowe and the way the police and courts with the aftermath.
It’s a shocking true crime story that highlights the broken justice system.

An incredibly moving and heartbreaking novelisation of a truly horrendous case. I already had some knowledge of the case before reading this book, however Donald E McInnis completely opened my eyes to the horror of this story and the treatment of those boys. We follow Michael, Aaron and Joshua as they are treated so appallingly by those in power, coerced into confession by those who swore to protect. A really moving read. A must read for any true crime fans.