Links Between Abusive Relationships and Crime Revealed in Valentines Day Massacre

On Valentines Day 1977 a senseless slaughter of the Spencer family took place. People Magazine (April 3, 1995) listed it as one of the most shocking crimes in American history. In early December 2003, WTHR- TV did a special story on the lone survivor of this massacre, Mrs. Spencer, as she lay on her death bed. Mrs. Spencer had become a victims rights pioneer in consequence of this massacre. Now another voice is heard as Mike McCarty writes about this murder in his book Choking in Fear.

(PRWEB) February 14, 2004 --Michael McCarty has become an internationally recognized speaker and consultant on violence prevention and issues of violence against women and children. He has presented seminars to and consulted for the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Defense, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, and numerous state attorney general offices, domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions, colleges and universities, and corporations. However, in 1977 he was a nine-year old in Waveland, Indiana where the murder took place. He was the son of a police officer who investigated the crime.

Years later, long after the killers were jailed, Mike remained haunted by the evil deed. Although he is now a police officer like his father, Mike felt impotent in the face of the murder and knew he must confront the memory head-on. Many authors over the years tried to write a book about this crime. However, they did not have access to the mother who survived because she refused to talk to them. Nor did they have access to any of the killers or investigators. Because McCartys father was one of the principal investigators, he was able to have access to all the investigators and their reports.

In addition, one of the killers participated in years of interviews and written correspondence with McCarty and actually wrote the foreward for the book. Consequently, McCartys book, Choking in Fear, published by American Book Publishing and available at a discount online at the Publisher Direct Bookstore, represents a journey that uncovered links between abusive relationships and crime and helps him find a way to make his own life a tool for change.