The riveting true account of a grisly crime and the unprecedented three murder trials faced by Fort Bragg soldier Tim Hennis. On Mother’s Day, 1985, the bodies of Kathryn Eastburn and her two young daughters were found in their Fayetteville, North Carolina, home. Katie, an air force captain’s wife, had been raped and stabbed to death. Kara and Erin’s throats had been slit. Their toddler sister, … Their toddler sister, Jana, was the only survivor of a bloody killing spree that terrified a community still reeling from the conviction, six years prior, of Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald for the savage slayings of his pregnant wife and two daughters.
The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department soon focused its investigation on US Army soldier Tim Hennis. Detectives and local prosecutors built their case on circumstantial evidence and a jury convicted Hennis and sentenced him to death. But his defense team refused to give up. Piece by piece, they discredited the state’s case, exposing false testimony, concealed evidence, and prosecutorial misconduct. At a second trial, Hennis was found not guilty and released from death row.
But an even more stunning turn of events was yet to come. Twenty-five years after the murders, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation tested a crucial piece of DNA evidence from the crime scene. The shocking results led to an unprecedented third trial to determine Tim Hennis’s guilt or innocence.
From the initial discovery of the horrifying scene at 367 Summer Hill Road to the controversial change of jurisdiction that allowed Hennis to be prosecuted for an astonishing third time, author Scott Whisnant chronicles every development in this intricate, disturbing, and still-evolving case. Has the mystery of who killed Katie, Kara, and Erin Eastburn been solved beyond a reasonable doubt? Read Innocent Victims and decide for yourself.
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WARNING: Spoiler ahead!
If you like true crime, this is definitely one you need to read. This was a Book Bub offering, and I looked up the story behind the book. Intriguing to say the least, so I purchased it. What a story!
It’s 1985 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, which is a military town. Gary and Katie Eastburn, along with their three young daughters, were making preparations for Air Force Captain Easturn’s move to England. While Gary was away from home for an extended period, Katie placed an ad for a good home for their aging dog. Army Sergeant Tim Hennis answers the ad, visits Katie one evening and picks up the dog. Gary is unable to get in touch with his wife (it’s 1985, we didn’t have phones as an extension to our appendages) and is concerned. The neighbors begin thinking they haven’t seen Katie, and go to the house where the baby is heard crying, but no answer to their shouts. Breaking in, Katie and two of her children were found murdered, with the youngest left alone in her crib for about three days.
A few days later, Hennis is watching the news and learns he is a person of interest in the murders. He knows he’s innocent, so he goes to the police station thinking it’s just routine questioning. And soon he finds himself arrested, convicted and on death row for the murders. Based on the evidence presented, if I had been on the jury, I’m not sure I could have voted guilty and placed him on death row. He kind of seemed guilty, but beyond a reasonable doubt? I wasn’t so sure. Swaying my judgment also were some of the antics by the prosecutors.
In 1989, an appeal was granted and there was a retrial. This time, his lawyers have all the evidence available, even evidence concealed in the first trial. They discover some new evidence and are able to discredit previous testimony. They prove prosecutorial misconduct. Hennis is acquitted. His wife had stood by him, and Hennis and his family pick-up the pieces of their lives.
25 years later, Hennis’ DNA is tested against evidence collected from the crime scene. And it matches! But he can’t be retried due to double jeopardy. Or can he? Seems the Army can! Hennis is again charged with murder, conviceted and is now back on death row. He now says that they had consensual sex, which is where they found his DNA, but he did not commit the murders.
I still don’t know what to believe.
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The story telling to me was somewhat disjointed
After reading it I felt it was a let down and a waste of time.
This is the true story of a mass murder that took place in North Carolina in 1985.
Confusing for me.
One of those stories you just might never know the truth.
This was a good book. It really goes into detail regarding the information provided.
loved it!
This was definitely a book that held my interest and at times the suspense was so great I wanted to jump ahead to see the outcome. If you enjoy reading true crime this was a good one.
One of the best true -crime novels I have read. It was very well written and covered.
Hard to read due to subject matter, but very informative.
I’m from Fayetteville where this took place and had even been in the house a few years earlier. Very tragic story.
Good and keeps you turning the pages.
Well written tragic true story.
Wow…….this case that so closely resembled the Jeffrey McDonald case blew my mind. The crime, the witnesses, the trial(s), all of it was rather surreal. I particularly like the way I kept going back and forth between guilty/not guilty. I would highly recommend this book to other true crime fans.
Twists and turns to get to where it was going, but well worth the time to read.
This is a true story about how the law can and cannot work. Sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction.
Disturbing
The way this case evolved is frustrating, but that isn’t the author’s fault. I appreciate the fact that the ebook included an epilogue that updated the status of this man’s life situation. I think the author did a good job of following the twists and turns of what seems to be a complicated tragedy for many families.
Presents a circumstantial case for another family massacre by the murderers of the Herb Clutter family in Kansas. Only these murders happened in Florida.