Hell in the Heartland by Jax Miller

 

For what I do for work, some may be very surprised to learn that I'm a True Crime addict.  But I am. I'm fascinated.  I picked up this book, in continuing my trend of reading books about unsolved or fascinating cases. Jax Miller didn't start out as a true crime writer - in fact, she wrote fiction before this book. 

In December of 1999, two 16 year old girls - Ashley Freeman and Lauria Bible - were having a sleepover at Ashley's home in rural Oklahoma. The next morning, the two girls were missing, the Freeman trailer was in flames and the bodies of Ashle's parents, the only other two people in the trailer apart from the girls, were found at the site. Lauria and Ashley haven't been seen since. Jax heard about this cold case in 2015 and travelled to Oklahoma in an effort to see if she could assist in solving the cold case and helping to find the girls. 

This story isn't just about two missing girls - it's about policing and the drug crisis (specifically methamphetamine use, cooking and dealing - think Breaking Bad).  There were two prevailing theories that came out quite clearly in the book and Jax does a great job presenting both theories. Ultimately, Lauria and Ashley (or their bodies) are still missing and we still don't really know what happened to them or why. The rural community that they disappeared from is also a major player in this book and is very, very grimly painted by Jax. Ashley's older brother, Shane, was killed by local law enforcement and her father was involved in the drug trade.  Meth use and cooking had taken a strong hold of the area and showed no sign of letting up. People worked extremely hard and were still subject to poverty and struggles in making ends meet. Jax also treats the case with compassion and kindness and empathy. It would have been extremely easy to be coldly distant in describing what happened and what was going on with the case, but she didn't.  She was warm and compassionate and that earned her a lot of trust with the families and people that she was dealing with.

This is a great book and highly recommended.