<a href="https://authorjenniferchase.com/" title="Author Jennifer Chase" rel="home">Author Jennifer Chase

Book & Crime Talk: http://blogtalkradio.com/jennifer-chase

Books: Compulsion Dead Game Dark Mind Dead Burn Silent Partner Screenwriting

Posted in crime, Serial Killers | Tagged author, award winning author, compulsoin, cops, criminal, criminologist, dark mind, dead burn, dissociative disorder, emily stone, homicide, jennifer chase, murder, mystery, profling, psychology, serial crime, serial killers, women, women serial killer | 3 Comments

Turning to Crime for Attention in the Digital Age

Posted on June 21, 2014 by jchasenovelist

In a story that has been gaining national media attention and public outrage over the past few days, a mother in New York has been arrested on murder charges for allegedly poisoning her five-year-old son with salt. Evidence shows that she may have been doing this periodically over much of the young child’s life, growing to feed off the attention and sympathy she was receiving from social media and those she knew. And who would not want to extend compassion to a single mother whose son was struggling with scary, life-threatening medical issues?

The term for the condition in which an individual fakes an illness or intentionally makes himself sick, or a parent or caregiver leads others to believe the person who has been entrusted to her is ill, is Munchausen Syndrome. This psychiatric issue occurs because a person craves the attention that being sick can bring.

I will not feed into the twisted desire for fame by posting the alleged murderer’s name here, but her arrest had me thinking about the greater connection between criminal behavior and social media. Young people are using Facebook and Twitter to form mobs that ransack convenience stores and shopping malls. People take to their computers or smart phones to brag about crimes they are currently committing. Marginalized individuals can now find refuge on the internet and find a community of like-minded people urging them to exact revenge those who have supposedly wronged them. The line between fantasy and reality is so easily blurred.

In the case I used to start this piece, the fantasy that this disturbed woman was creating of her life meant a very real life of unnecessary pain for her young boy. With charges of second-degree depraved murder and first-degree manslaughter, if found guilty her fatal efforts will land her in a very anonymous prison not in line with the celebrity she craved.

What are your thoughts? Do you think our age of social media, in which everyone can be a star through YouTube and “selfies” but yet people are claiming to be lonelier than ever, helps to perpetuate a person’s tendency toward criminal psychiatric issues?

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Books: Compulsion Dead Game Dark Mind Dead Burn Silent Partner Screenwriting

Posted in crime, Criminology | Tagged attention, author, award winning, brag, compulsion, cops, crime, criminal, dark mind, dead burn, emily stone, fake, homicide, jennifer chase, lonliness, media, mental illness, murder, mystery, New York, public outrage, selfies, social media, suspense | 2 Comments

What Would You Write in Your Crime Scene Investigator’s Notebook?

Posted on June 16, 2014 by jchasenovelist

Author Jennifer Chase

The job of a crime scene investigator isn’t glamorous or exotic as it is portrayed on popular television shows or even in the movies. This daunting task is extremely important and necessary for any criminal police investigation in order to find out who committed the crime and to bring the perpetrator(s) to justice.

In my latest thriller DEAD BURN, Emily Stone tracks down serial killers and uses techniques of crime scene investigators in order to gather evidence anonymously for the police. She uses procedures that many investigators use at homicide crime scenes and she is careful not to disturb potential evidence. She takes identifying photos from various distances and searches potential crime scenes in a grid pattern. You can discover how vigilante detective Emily Stone approaches a crime scene after the police have already conducted their investigation in Compulsion, Dead Game, and Dark Mind.

In real

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Posted in Criminology, Forensic | Tagged award winning author and criminologist jennifer chase, compulsion, crime, crime scene, csi, dead burn, emily stone, emily stone series, investigator, jennifer chase, mystery, suspense, thriller, whodunit | Leave a comment

California Woman Reunited with Family a Decade after Alleged Abduction

Posted on June 9, 2014 by jchasenovelist

Photo Courtesy: Santa Ana Police

In recent years, we have seen the 24/7 news cycle consumed with several stories of kidnap victims who are reunited with their families after many months or even years of separation. A decade ago, we all were stunned when Elizabeth Smart was discovered with her captors not far from her home in Utah nine months after she was abducted. Then five years ago we were even more stunned to learn that a California girl named Jaycee Lee Dugard was found eighteen years after her kidnapping. And last year we all recall the story of three women in Cleveland who had been held for a decade in a house of torture before finally deciding the time had come to scream and find freedom.

In all instances, these innocent young girls were raped by their abductors. In the latter two cases, children were born as a result of this horrific crime. Now, another story is unfolding in California of an alleged kidnapping a decade ago that resulted in what neighbors believed to be a happy family.

The kidnapping victim, who was fifteen at the time, was allegedly drugged by her mother’s boyfriend and taken to a garage. She then was told by her kidnapper, Isidro Garcia, that her mother did not care that she was gone and she would be deported if she went to the authorities. Over the next ten years, the two got married and had a daughter together. They both held jobs, took part in neighborhood gatherings, and gave the impression that all was well inside their home. Neighbors were shocked upon learning that the woman got in touch with authorities earlier this month and told them she had been held against her will for years.

Mr. Garcia and his attorney maintain his innocence and insist the two had a consensual relationship. Despite these pleas, Mr. Garcia remains behind bars on one million dollars bond and will stay there even if he provides the money as immigration officials have an interest in him as well.

There appear to be many details of this story still to emerge to create a clearer picture of what happened over the past decade. The psychological components of these situations are so complex, with victims sometimes developing emotional attachments to the predators or instances in which the fear and brainwashing take over for years. I hope that this young woman is receiving the counseling that she needs, both for herself and to create a safer and healthier life for her daughter.

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Check out the Award-winning EMILY STONE THRILLER SERIES available at Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Sony, iTunes, Smashwords, and most online and book retailers.

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Books: Compulsion Dead Game Dark Mind Dead Burn Silent Partner Screenwriting

Posted in crime, Emily Stone Thrillers | Tagged abduction, attorney, author, books, compulsion, cops, crime, crime fiction, criminal, dark mind, dead burn, emily stone, forensics, hostage, innocence, Isidro Garcia, jennifer chase, kidnapping, mystery, reuinited, Santa Ana Police, suspense, victim | Leave a comment

Take a Look Behind the Scenes with Serial Killers and Emily Stone

Posted on June 4, 2014 by jchasenovelist

Photo: Courtesy of Petri Entertainment

Emily Stone is a woman with four independent novel adventures (a fifth to be released soon) and a growing list of captured serial killers to prove it. Every case, every missing child, and every serial killer stalking victims on the west coast is scrutinized by this woman.

It’s her life calling and she wears the badge of honor as a phantom detective and angel of justice. With each new case, she hones her investigative skills and continues to compile a growing list of serial killer profiles.

I have managed to corner my heroine character Emily Stone again, and that’s difficult to do with her schedule, to ask her some questions that have been posed recently by readers.

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JC: Why do you hunt serial killers?

Emily Stone: Why not? I conduct my crime scene investigation and criminal profile, anonymously and covertly of course, and email my entire investigation to the detective in charge of the case. I know how the investigations typically go with local police departments. There’s generally a lack of training for these complex cases, too much media interference when the case is deemed a “serial killer case”, and the lack of qualified work force to conduct these types of investigations with dogged integrity. So many times the F.B.I. must intervene, but don’t get me started on that topic.

Jennifer, I think the better question is… What can we do to stop these predators before they become serial killers and shatter lives?

JC: How do you make a living?

Emily Stone: Do I ask you about your bank account and how you spend your money? Well, I can put the readers at ease and not to worry about how I pay for monthly expenses and a few nice computer gadgets to help with my cases. In Compulsion, it was first disclosed that my uncle who looked after me when my parents were murdered made some solid investments, along with family money, and his royalties from awesome patents keep me hunting serial killers. My finances are lightly touched upon in Dead Game and Dark Mind. In addition, the love of my life Rick Lopez retired from a police department to take up my quest and has a pension with a comfortable savings.

JC: Will you ever go back to being a police officer or maybe become a FBI agent?

Emily Stone: No, never. That’s all I’m going to say on the subject.

JC: What’s the toughest part of being a serial killer hunter?

Emily Stone: The physical and mental challenges of conducting the investigations after the police have finished with their process pushes me to my limits. Some days I even question my own abilities. It’s grueling and dangerous, and you never know what or who is around the next corner. You never know if it’s going to be the day you lose your life. Every serial case and every child abduction takes a piece of my soul with it. Even with my 90% solve rate, it still does not factor in what it has taken from my life. Nevertheless, if I had it all to do over again, I wouldn’t change a thing.

JC: What scares you?

Emily Stone: I cannot answer that question in all honesty because I would be giving away some of my secrets, not to mention my creator’s secrets too. What I can say is that I hate feeling vulnerable and sometimes very alone in my quest.

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Do you have any questions for Emily Stone? Feel free to ask and I’ll forward them to her.

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Check out the Award-winning EMILY STONE THRILLER SERIES available at Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Sony, iTunes, Smashwords, and most online and book retailers.

***

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Book & Crime Talk: http://blogtalkradio.com/jennifer-chase

Books: Compulsion Dead Game Dark Mind Dead Burn Silent Partner Screenwriting

Posted in Emily Stone Thrillers | Tagged author, award winning, compulsion, cops, crime, crime fiction, criminologist, dark mind, dead burn, dead game, emily stone, emily stone series, forensics, interview, jennifer chase, mystery, serial killers, suspense, thriller | Leave a comment

White Supremacists Proud of Vigilante Murder of Sex Offender

Posted on May 29, 2014 by jchasenovelist

Photo: AP/Spartanburg Herald-Journal, Tim Kimzey

I have spent years developing a series of novels around a woman, Emily Stone, who takes matters into her own hands to rid her community of pedophiles and murderers. She uses technology and weapons and simple instinct to bring these criminals to justice with all of the evidence the police need to finish the effort. So, I can see the noble purpose in wanting to engage in vigilante justice, however ill-advised without the proper training. When the people who have decided to take on such a task appear to be rather despicable individuals themselves, however, the sense of justice becomes murkier.

Jeremy and Christine Moody were sentenced last week to life for the murder of Charles Parker and his wife Gretchen. Charles was a convicted sexual offender, including a 1991 assault on a child and a 2003 third-degree criminal misconduct against a woman, but had no known previous encounters with the Moodys.

The Moodys entered the home of the Parkers under false pretenses and then proceeded to stab and shoot both of them. The couple was caught on surveillance video and quickly found due to “white power” and “skinhead” tattoos on Jeremy’s face. Prior to their sentencing, the Moodys claimed to regret their crimes and spoke of their histories of mental problems and sexual abuse. They were hoping for a sentence of thirty years, allowing them to grow old together and be with their children at some point again. Once they learned that life behind bars would be their fate, their demeanor completely changed. As they exited the courtroom, the Moodys yelled that killing the Parkers made for a great day and they would kill more pedophiles if given the chance.

So, we are left with two people dead, one who previously exacted horror on his own victims and the other guilty by marriage, and two admitted white supremacists who will live out their days in prison. While anger against sexual predators is understandable, making the decision to rid the world of them is not an appropriate response. Allow the justice system to work, help where you can, and speak up when you think a wrong has been done. Let the vigilante efforts stop there.

What are your thoughts on vigilante justice?

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Check out the Award-winning EMILY STONE THRILLER SERIES available at Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Sony, iTunes, Smashwords, and most online and book retailers.

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Recent Reviews of DEAD BURN:

“Fast paced, leave no stone unturned and the story is equivalent to the caliber of Vince Flynn reads. “

“Author Jennifer Chase knocks the ball right out of the park with this story. Reminiscent of Daniel Silva reads the author creates a powerful story that twists and turns – keeping me white knuckled more than once.”

“I really enjoyed this book. It has all the ingredients of a good suspense, mystery story, and it’s well written. “

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