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Killer in the Family
The Hidden Costs of Loving Someone the World Hates
Published by BenBella Books
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
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Table of Contents
About The Book
What’s it really like to be related to a murderer? Beyond the shock value of crime dramas and documentaries, there are real people who know this painful reality, yet their voices often go unheard.
What if the son you took to Little League grew up to kill your grandchildren? What if your Nana who served you cookies also served time for dismembering her mother? What if the father who called you princess and kissed your forehead at bedtime was a serial killer?
Could you still love them knowing what they had done?
Author Melissa G. Moore, daughter of Keith Jesperson, “The Happy Face Killer,” has made it her mission to connect with other families who know the heartbreak and shame of learning that one of their own secretly committed monstrous acts. For six years, Moore was invited into the private lives of nine families tied to some of the most infamous, headline-making crimes in the world, and welcomed as a trusted fellow family member who understood their unique kind of grief.
Through deeply personal interviews with spouses, siblings, children, grandchildren, and more—including some individuals who agreed to speak for the first time—this book exposes the shared undercurrent of guilt and betrayal that unites these families. Stories include:
Killer in the Family is the intimate, unflinching account of what it’s like to love a killer in the family. Moore and coauthor Michele Matrisciani share these rare, unguarded conversations resulted from asking deeply uncomfortable questions that until now have gone undiscovered—moments where these families opened up exclusively and without reservation about the hidden cost of loving someone the world hates.
What if the son you took to Little League grew up to kill your grandchildren? What if your Nana who served you cookies also served time for dismembering her mother? What if the father who called you princess and kissed your forehead at bedtime was a serial killer?
Could you still love them knowing what they had done?
Author Melissa G. Moore, daughter of Keith Jesperson, “The Happy Face Killer,” has made it her mission to connect with other families who know the heartbreak and shame of learning that one of their own secretly committed monstrous acts. For six years, Moore was invited into the private lives of nine families tied to some of the most infamous, headline-making crimes in the world, and welcomed as a trusted fellow family member who understood their unique kind of grief.
Through deeply personal interviews with spouses, siblings, children, grandchildren, and more—including some individuals who agreed to speak for the first time—this book exposes the shared undercurrent of guilt and betrayal that unites these families. Stories include:
- Chris Watts, family annihilator. Left behind: Parents Ronnie and Cindy/Sister Jamie
- Keith Jesperson, serial killer. Left behind: Daughter Melissa Moore
- Diane Downs, monstrous mother. Left behind: Ex-husband Steve Downs
- Diane Downs, biological mother. Left behind: Daughter Becky Babcock
- John E. Robinson, the Internet’s first serial killer. Left behind: Kidnapped niece Heather Robinson
- Drew Peterson, killer cop. Left behind: Son Stephen Peterson
- Magen Fieramusca, baby stealer/killer. Left behind: Brother Corban Bates
- Christine Varness, slayer granny. Left Behind: Granddaughter Kourtney Nichole
- Nicole Brown Simpson, crime of the century. Left Behind: Sister Denise Brown
Killer in the Family is the intimate, unflinching account of what it’s like to love a killer in the family. Moore and coauthor Michele Matrisciani share these rare, unguarded conversations resulted from asking deeply uncomfortable questions that until now have gone undiscovered—moments where these families opened up exclusively and without reservation about the hidden cost of loving someone the world hates.
Product Details
- Publisher: BenBella Books (October 13, 2026)
- Length: 240 pages
- ISBN13: 9781637749586
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Raves and Reviews
“The relatives of killers are often neglected, even maligned, which unfairly silences them. Melissa Moore is changing this by offering multiple ways for them to express their own trauma and grief. A compassionate book like Killer in the Family might help more to speak out about their experience. True crime readers will gain a more accurate version of these stories.”
—Dr. Katherine Ramsland, author of Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer
“The most important true crime book of the decade. These are the stories of the forgotten victims—the families that murderers leave behind.”
—James Renner, author of True Crime Addict
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