Unanswered Cries: A True Story of Friends, Neighbors, and Murder in a Small Town

Worth reading. How so many people could have done something about this but chose to ignore it. How sad.

I read this book because a neighbor recommended it to me and Karen Gregory was murdered two blocks from my house. Although I did not move to Gulfport until 2005, this quaint little town will forever be in my heart. While reading this book, I was saddened, sickened, surprised, and ultimately relieved in the end. As the title suggests Karen Gregory's cries were unanswered on the horrible night of her murder. Many neighbors heard the scream but no one called for help. Living in this caring little neighborhood, I was shocked. Thank you Mr. French for your dedication to this book, I hope that it has knocked a little sense into this little community. I recommend this book to anyone that wants a real, but certainly frightening, account of "A True Story of Friends, Neighbors, and Murder in a Small Town."

I found this book doing a search for Kitty Genovese, a young woman murdered over several hours as many heard and watched--and did nothing. (...) He lived across the street with his girlfriend. The murderer,(...) used his "kindness" and "helpfulness" to ingratiate himself with the neighbors, and to explain why, at times, he appeared in places he had no business to be. His best friends were the local law enforcement. "Georgie couldn't do a thing like that," his family and friends insisted, though it appeared, after all, that none of them knew him very well.I refer college students to this book as a resource for discussions about ethics, crime, and sexual assault. The book provides an excellent description of the criminal justice system. The defense used the flashy attack-the-victim and diminish-the-victim techniques we came to know so well in the OJ Simpson case. Ms. Gregory's sister, Kim, was barred by the defense from entering the courtroom because she might emotionally sway the jury if she wept--under the pretext, of course, that she "might" be called as a witness. Yet the murderer was let out on bail and allowed to parade his toddler daughter and by-then wife in front of the jurors. During sentencing, dozens were allowed to talk about what a great guy the murderer was. No one was allowed to talk about the murdered woman (I believe this is not the case in Washington State, where I live; family members are allowed to state the effects of the crime on their lives).Unlike many crime books, this is extremely well-written. The language is straight-forward and simple, and therefore manages to convey a pathos that penetrates deeply. This title should be listed under "ethics" and "US courtroom practices" rather than simply "true crime." If you had heard Karen Gregory scream, would you have called the police?

I was pleasantly surprised to see Mr. Harper's review of this book - I took Criminal Justice at Troy State under Mr. Harper and the reading of this book was probably the highlight of his class. I picked up another copy about a year ago at a bookstore and it brought back some fond memories of school. Excellent book to read and it makes you think about the horrific crimes that could be committed just right next door without your knowledge or someone just ignoring that cry for help. I think a picture of the victim in this book would have cheapened the effect - the picture in your mind is set from the very beginning of the scene, the people in the story, and it would not be as a great read if everyone was pictured in the book.

Mr. French tells the story of Karen Gregory's murder by using a writing style that is able to pace a true story similar to a work of fiction. He is able to keep the reader interested while providing the necessary details demanded of a true story without losing the attention of the reader. This is very difficult to do with true stories, which is the reason that readers complain about the writing abilities of less talented writers than Mr. French. I would highly recommend this book to anyone because it is an intriguing story with little "smoking gun" evidence and no eye witnesses. The story also has the unusual twist of the killer being a friend of the main investigator of the crime.I can offer an update on the convicted killer of Karen Gregory. Three year ago, he was instrumental in developing a mobile crime lab vehicle that could perform various tests at the crime scene. He was applauded by the police officials that worked on the project for his tireless devotion to perfecting the crime lab and it seemed that he was somewhat content with his station in life.

The young man, his manner so well described by French, asked me if his girlfriend, Karen Gregory, who he introduced to me, could sit in on my class so that she would know more about him and his major, criminal justice. I still have a vivid visual memory of them and where they sat-- "in the back" so they would not be intrusive, he said. Much later, her brutal rape and murder shocked me when I read about it in the first series in the St. Petersburg Times. It took place near where I had lived, too. And then, later, French did a 7 part series, which this book is based on, that captured not only the crime, but the slow and improbable way the case wound through the criminal justice system, so filled with human error and with human caring. Her artist friend's portrait of her in the first installment of that series was extraordinary. There are pictures in the book, but not of her. Since its publication, whenever I have taught the introductory criminal justice course at the University of South Florida and elsewhere, I have required my students to read the book and to write a critique of the system based on it. What do they think should have been done differently? What was done right? The students get caught up in the book, much as have the other reviewers on this page. And I recommend this book, as I know they would. But it is special to me, it haunts me as does my memory of Karen and her boyfriend, a decent guy who now has a Ph.D. in social work. French has now won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of another St. Petersburg murder tragedy; and his latest book might help you understand something of how the school boy murders at Colombine happened, though it is not about them. But read Unanswered Cries, it is real and it is revealing.