The Darkest Night: Two Sisters, a Brutal Murder, and the Loss of Innocence in a Small Town | 
 enlarge | Author: Ron Franscell
Publisher: St. Martin's True Crime
Category: Book
List Price: $6.99
Buy New: $3.61
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Avg. Customer Rating:  22 reviews
Sales Rank: 1309
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 0312948468
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.15230978793
EAN: 9780312948467
ASIN: 0312948468
Publication Date: March 4, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Casper, Wyoming:1973. Eleven-year-old Amy Burridge rides with her eighteen-year-old sister, Becky, to the grocery store. When they finish their shopping, Becky’s car gets a flat tire. Two men politely offer them a ride home. But they were anything but Good Samaritans. The girls would suffer unspeakable crimes at the hands of these men before being thrown from a bridge into the North Platte River. One miraculously survived. The other did not.
Years later, author and journalist Ron Franscell—who lived in Casper at the time of the crime, and was a friend to Amy and Becky—can’t forget Wyoming’s most shocking story of abduction, rape, and murder. Neither could Becky, the surviving sister. The two men who violated her and Amy were sentenced to life in prison, but the demons of her past kept haunting Becky…until she met her fate years later at the same bridge where she’d lost her sister.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...
 Heartbreak Bridge July 12, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
A very real,true, Heart breaking story of two beautiful and young girls who had everything in life to live for. But a crazed killer, a bridge, a dark night, changed all that forever. This book will pull you right into the heart of the story and will keep you there even after you've finished reading. Once you have finished, everytime you come to a bridge-of any type-you will find yourself automatically saying a prayer not only for the 2 girls, but for everyone you love and know. this story will stay with you. In your mind and your HEART for a long time. You really need to read this story and get the chance to once again feel your emotions on a different level.
Engrossing! June 28, 2008
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Excellent true crime story! Very engrossing and well written. Hard to put down!
 Heartbreaking true story June 20, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
This book was heartbreaking, intense, and immensely well written. I was surprised by the wealth of information on the criminals that was presented. Rarely in crime novels do you get such detailed information given to the author. The caring and personal way in which the author presents the situation gives it something extra. His concern and the way this horrific crime touched his life comes through. This book was hard to look away from.
THE DARKEST NIGHT INDEED... June 8, 2008
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
In 1973 in Casper, Wyoming, the paths of two twenty something lowlifes, Ronald Kennedy and Jerry Jenkins, intersected with that of two half-sisters, eighteen year old Becky Thompson and eleven year old Amy Burridge. None of their lives would ever be the same again. Becky and Amy had just finished up some last minute grocery shopping at a local store, when they realized that they had a flat tire. Kennedy and Jenkins offered to help them and give them a ride home.
Once they were in the car, however, it was clear that Becky and Amy were going to be taken to hell and back again. The upshot is that they were abducted and ultimately driven to the North Platte River where Amy was thrown from a bridge that spanned a gorge into the river over a hundred feet below. Becky was then raped by Kennedy and Jenkins, and then she, too, was thrown from the bridge into that same river and left for dead. The only difference is that she physically survived her ordeal and lived to tell the tale.
The author divided the book into three parts. In the first part, the author takes great pains to describe the town and the people who played a part in the unfolding drama. He also paints a poignant portrait of the two girls who had been abducted and treated so cruelly by fate. He also describes the details of the events that led up to the crime, the crime itself, and its immediate aftermath.
In the second part of the book, the focus is on the prosecution of the case. Again, the author gives much detail on the individuals who were going to be involved in the prosecution of the case, as well as those who were to be responsible for the defense of Kennedy and Jenkins. The author also gives details from the trial itself, in addition to the outcome.
In the third part of the book, the author details what became of Becky Thompson and notes the impact that this singular event had on her life. He also details what happened to Jenkins and Kennedy. The reader also discovers what became of the families of the victims, the families of the defendants, and those who were involved in the trial process. He also includes portions of a memoir written by Kennedy, which the author expertly dissects and analyzes. This is, however, the Achilles heel in the book, as the self-serving drivel served up by Kennedy made this portion of the book drag somewhat.
This case was big news when it happened, and it shook the town of Casper to its core. In fact, the author knew Becky and Amy, as they were his next door neighbors in Casper, Wyoming, where he grew up. He was a junior in high school at the time that the crime occurred, and he recalls the impact that the crime had on not only the community but on his family, as well. This personal connection explains the well-spring of deep sadness that resonates throughout this well-written book and speaks to the reader. Meticulous in his research, it is clear that for this author this book was a labor of love, as the author brings to life with his prose all those whose lives had been touched by this heinous crime.
Same book as Fall June 6, 2008
0 out of 8 found this review helpful
Why did they change the name of the hardcover? I nearly bought Fall by Ron Franshell, not knowing it is the same book.
Just finished this book and yes it was a great true crime book but not as good as I hoped. I had bought it only based on the reviews on amazon. All 5 stars reviews. Yes it is a good true crime book, but as with many other true crime writers, they tell you already in the beginning of the book, what happened, the murder and who did it. I like a bit of suspense, yes also in my true crime books. Very sad story.Good read.
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