Shall the Murderer Go Unpunished! follows the timeline of Rulloff's extraordinary life. He first gained prominence in Ithaca, New York during the 1840's as a brilliant young physician and school teacher, who also had an interest in the formation of human language. This promising future however, came to an abrupt end in 1845 when he was accused of the disappearance and murder of his young wife and infant daughter. This began a series of incidents that led to one of the most exciting criminal investigations and legal battles of nineteenth century America. The events that occurred after the disappearance of his wife and daughter involved a spectacular cross-state man-hunt, a jail break, mob violence, and brilliant legal wrangling by none other than Rulloff himself. Incredibly, all during this tumultuous time, he managed to continue his work on formulating a theory on the formation of the human language, and nearly established himself as a respected scholar.