Innocent Blood: A True Story of Terror and Justice

This book is an exceptionally written piece about how far police officer's will sometimes go to get a confession. It is mindboggling what Melvin Reynolds went through. Although he was innocent of the murder of four year old Eric Christgen, he was interrogated, fed information and even said: 'I will say I did it, if you want me to'. The town of St. Joseph Missouri wanted someone locked up for this murder so bad they practically gave the entire murder scene to this young man who was in the lower percentile, intelligently, than most people. They even had a composite of the real killer given by witnesses that seen the man with the child.(Charles Hatcher). These witnesses were never even called to testify at this young man's trial. The chief of police, Robert Hayes, was just recently released from prison for murdering his neighbor. He said it was self-defense. I, for one would hate to think this is the norm for our police chief's and police officer's nationwide, but this book will make you wonder. It it is a sad story. Thank God for people like FBI agent Joseph Holtslag, who did obtain a confession from the real killer. Our country needs many, many more people like agent Holtslag in our local law enforcement agencies as well as the FBI. Very interesting book guarenteed to pique your interest in some policemen and district attorney's dealings. Highly recommended reading.