The Columbus Stocking Strangler, William Rawlings
The Columbus Stocking Strangler, William Rawlings
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
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The Columbus Stocking Strangler

Author: William Rawlings

Narrator: James Edward Thomas

Unabridged: 11 hr 23 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Lantern Audio

Published: 11/18/2022


Synopsis

During an eight-month period in 1977 and 1978, the city of Columbus, Georgia, was terrorized by a mysterious serial killer who raped and ritualistically strangled seven elderly women in one of the community's finer neighborhoods. Despite intensive efforts on the part of police the Stocking Strangler, as he came to be known, managed to elude capture. After the last murder in April 1978, the case went cold.   In the spring of 1984, a series of fortuitous events connected to an unrelated murder and a stolen pistol led to the capture of Carlton Gary, who had recently escaped from a South Carolina prison. Following a dramatic trial in August 1986, Gary was convicted of three of the seven Columbus murders and sentenced to death, a penalty that would not be carried out until March 2018.   This convoluted tale of crime and punishment is punctuated by dramatic and unexpected twists and turns including issues of race, alleged conspiracy and misconduct on the part of the police and the judiciary, a second serial killer active in Columbus during the time of the Strangler murders, the Ku Klux Klan, errors in DNA analysis, and a vigorous and prolonged struggle by attorneys and death penalty opponents who believed in Gary's innocence.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Brett on November 06, 2022

I’m tempted to give this book 4 stars for the simple fact that it made sense out of the terribly convoluted case of Columbus’ Stocking Strangler and it’s nearly 40 year odyssey through the court system. But damn it was dry, very procedural. It’s as if Rawlings wanted to avoid the clear bias that defi......more

Goodreads review by Linda on March 17, 2023

An authentic accounting of a true story. Can tell much research went into the preparation of writing this story. Even though others attempted to write this story, this is the best version of the Columbus Stocking Strangler events as it occurred making it a good read for those who were familiar with t......more

Goodreads review by V. on April 30, 2025

This is an incredibly fascinating and well-researched read. The book starts well before the arrest and trial but sees it all the way through to the end. If you enjoy true crime and well-researched books, I highly recommend reading this book. There were a lot of angles that needed to be considered in......more

Goodreads review by Carol on June 02, 2024

How on earth the author sifted through so many years of police and court records to write this is a mystery. Well done and very thorough, but how the courts let this drag on for 30 years is frustrating.......more

Goodreads review by Lynn on January 22, 2024

Excellent! Very well researched and written - learned lots of new facts and details!......more