The Trials of Walter Ogrod, Thomas Lowenstein
The Trials of Walter Ogrod, Thomas Lowenstein
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The Trials of Walter Ogrod
The Shocking Murder, So-Called Confessions, and Notorious Snitch That Sent a Man to Death Row

Author: Thomas Lowenstein

Narrator: Chris Andrew Ciulla

Unabridged: 10 hr 47 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/01/2017


Synopsis

The horrific 1988 murder of four-year-old Barbara Jean Horn shocked the citizens of Philadelphia. Plucked from her own front yard, Barbara Jean was found dead less than two and a half hours later in a cardboard TV box dragged to a nearby street curb. After months of investigation with no strong leads, the case went cold. Four years later it was reopened, and Walter Ogrod, a young man with autism spectrum disorder who had lived across the street from the family at the time of the murder, was brought in as a suspect.Ogrod bears no resemblance to the composite police sketch based on eyewitness accounts of the man carrying the box, and there is no physical evidence linking him to the crime. His conviction was based solely on a confession he signed after thirty-six hours without sleep. “They said I could go home if I signed it,” Ogrod told his brother from the jailhouse. The case was so weak that the jury voted unanimously to acquit him, but at the last second—in a dramatic courtroom declaration—one juror changed his mind. As he waited for a retrial, Ogrod’s fate was sealed when a notorious jailhouse snitch was planted in his cell block and supplied the prosecution with a second supposed confession. As a result, Walter Ogrod sits on death row for the murder today.Informed by police records, court transcripts, interviews, letters, journals, and more, award-winning journalist Thomas Lowenstein leads readers through the facts of the infamous Horn murder case in compelling, compassionate, and riveting fashion. He reveals explosive new evidence that points to a condemned man’s innocence and exposes a larger underlying pattern of prosecutorial misconduct in Philadelphia.

About Thomas Lowenstein

Thomas Lowenstein is the founder and director of the New Orleans Journalism Project, which works with advanced journalism students on stories related to criminal justice. He was formerly policy director and investigator at Innocence Project New Orleans, an editor at DoubleTake magazine, and a teaching fellow at Harvard. He has published nonfiction in the American Prospect magazine and the Philadelphia City Paper and was a grant recipient from the Fund for Investigative Journalism in 2004.

About Chris Andrew Ciulla

Chris Andrew Ciulla, an Earphones Award–winning narrator with over 350 credits, is an on-screen actor, voice actor, host, boxing analyst, and radio personality. He has performed characters for the popular video game series Fallout and Mafia, and can be heard frequently voicing commercial campaigns. A versatile performer with over twenty-five years of experience, he produces original audio content under his own production banner, Leonardo Audio.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Florence on March 13, 2018

A little girl is murdered in broad daylight on a Philadelphia Street in a working class neighborhood that had seen better days.. The repercussions of that tragedy spiral outward, eventually they effectively end another person's life. Walter Ogrod, a young man with autism and a speech impediment, liv......more

Goodreads review by Nichole on June 07, 2017

I love to read about true stories and was thrilled when I got the chance to read this one. After reading this, I feel so bad for Walter for the way he was treated: first by the cops then from other people who lied about him telling them certain things. It makes me sick that this man has to spend the......more

Goodreads review by Chrissie on August 23, 2022

The title says it all. Which I suppose is a positive for knowing what you're getting? 🤔 It is actually a very sad read - you have been warned.........more

Goodreads review by Daniel on December 18, 2023

"The Trials of Walter Ogrod" by Thomas Lowenstein is a riveting exploration of a shocking murder case, shedding light on the intricacies of the legal system. Lowenstein meticulously unravels the events leading to Walter Ogrod's conviction, exposing flaws and highlighting the questionable use of conf......more

Goodreads review by Debbie on July 23, 2017

Truly an unbelievable story, I kept expecting a "happy" ending where the guy on death row is exonerated. That hasn't happened. This is another dramatic example of our justice system gone wrong and the events are incredible. It is hard to fathom how police, prosecutors, and judges do some of the thin......more


Quotes

“Journalist Lowenstein, whose own father was murdered when the author was a child…makes the argument that this is a case of a false confession and poor police work. Verdict: An important volume about how the criminal justice system does and doesn’t function.” Library Journal

“Lowenstein is thorough as he analyses the evidence and passionate about trying to get justice for Ogrod.” Booklist

“A critically important work that rips the lid off the stew of secrets and lies hiding beneath what most think of as ‘criminal justice.’” Mike Farrell, author of Just Call Me Mike

“Lowenstein takes readers through the convoluted twists and turns of this case as few true crime writers have ever been able to do.” James L. Trainum, former detective and author of How the Police Generate False Confessions