We’re fascinated in this country by scandal. Add a true crime element to it, with a penchant for suspense and mystery, but, most important, a sincerity and integrity in telling the victim’s story, and you’ve got yourself a nonfiction thriller of the highest caliber. Don Stradley’s Boston Tabloid answers the call to take true crime to the next level-a true page-turner, it brings the reality of Boston’s underbelly to the forefront for perhaps the first time.
-M. William Phelps, New York Times bestselling author of We Thought We Knew You and host of iHeartMedia’s podcasts Crossing the Line with M. William Phelps and Paper Ghosts.
THE DISAPPEARANCEis a reconstruction of a grisly murder, and an exploration of one man’s bizarre obsession.
When Robin Benedict vanished the investigation and media circus that gripped the city of Boston hadn’t seen since the days of the Boston Strangler case. On a Sunday morning in March 1983, a small-time pimp walked into a police station and claimed his girlfriend was missing. He claimed she had been on her way to visit a client named William Douglas, a man known in academic circles as a groundbreaking scientist, who also indulged a taste for prostitutes in Boston’s most X-rated neighborhood.
In the year that followed, the case drew in detectives, state troopers, scores of journalists, and even psychics. But Robin was never found. In fact, all that was found was a sledgehammer, some clothing, and her Toyota Starlet, all stained with blood. Douglas’s eventual arrest and sketchy confession provided news readers with months of daily intrigue-for a new era of sensationalistic reporting was about to erupt. It was also a time when Boston-area prostitutes were being murdered on a regular basis. The case of Robin Benedict was just another reminder that the city’s dark side was seeping into the suburbs and universities.
In revisiting this legendary crime, award-winning author Don Stradley consulted journalists who were involved in the media frenzy, prison authorities, arresting officers, and psychiatrists, all in an effort to unravel a most tangled story. Why was the city, and the nation, swept up in this sordid tale? It remains a grim and fascinating moment in Boston’s history.
