Not Just Evil Audiobook By David Wilson cover art

Not Just Evil

Murder, Hollywood, and California’s First Insanity Plea

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Twelve-year-old Marion Parker was kidnapped from her Los Angeles school by an unknown assailant on December 15, 1927. Her body was found days later, delivered to her father by the killer, who fled with the ransom money. When William Hickman was hunted down and charged with the killing, he admitted to all of it, in terrifying detail, but that was only the start.

His insanity plea was the first of its kind in the history of California, and the nature of the crime led to a media frenzy unlike any the country had seen up to that point. Hickman's lawyers argued that their client lived in a fantasy world, inspired by movies, unable to tell right from wrong. The movie industry scrambled to protect its exploding popularity (and profits) from ruinous publicity. Outside of the courtroom, a country grew starved for every awful detail, and the media was only too happy to feed that hunger.

David Wilson, a private investigator for over 30 years, captures the maelstrom of Marion Parker's death in vivid detail. From the crime itself to the manhunt that followed, from the unprecedented trial to its aftermath, Wilson draws the listener in to the birth of the celebrity criminal.

©2016 David Wilson (P)2016 Tantor True Crime Murder Biographies & Memoirs Exciting Mental Health Psychology & Mental Health Psychology
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Listened in entirety, regretfully. 3/4 of story had me questioning the point of any of it. Almost feels author's goal was stitching history to blame role of movies on society; poorly.

Ugh, pointless

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