Hell in the Heartland: Murder, Meth, and the Case of Two Missing Girls

by Jax Miller

Overview

“There is, in the best of us, a search for the truth, to serve the living and dead alike...Jax Miller is one of those people and Hell in the Heartland is one of those books.”—Robert Graysmith, New York Times bestselling author of Zodiac

As seen in Marie Claire's "Best True Crime Books of 2020" • HuffPost • OK! Magazine • CrimeReads • LitHub's "Best New Summer Books"

S-Town meets I'll Be Gone in the Dark in this stranger-than-fiction cold case from rural Oklahoma that has stumped authorities for two decades, concerning the disappearance of two teenage girls and the much larger mystery of murder, possible police cover-up, and an unimaginable truth...

On December 30, 1999, in rural Oklahoma, sixteen-year-old Ashley Freeman and her best friend, Lauria Bible, were having a sleepover. The next morning, the Freeman family trailer was in flames and both girls were missing.

While rumors of drug debts, revenge, and police corruption abounded in the years that followed, the case remained unsolved and the girls were never found.

In 2015, crime writer Jax Miller—who had been haunted by the case—decided to travel to Oklahoma to find out what really happened on that winter night in 1999, and why the story was still simmering more than fifteen years later. What she found was more than she could have ever bargained for: evidence of jaw-dropping levels of police negligence, entire communities ravaged by methamphetamine addiction, and a series of interconnected murders with an ominously familiar pattern.

These forgotten towns were wild, lawless, and home to some very dark secrets.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781984806307
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	07/28/2020
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	133,161
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 6.00(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Jax Miller is an American author. While hitchhiking across America in her twenties, she wrote her first novel, Freedom's Child, for which she won the 2016 Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle and earned several CWA Dagger nominations. She has received acclaim from the New York Times, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, and many more. She now works in the true-crime genre, having penned her much-anticipated book and acting as creator, host, and executive producer on the true-crime documentary series Hell in the Heartland on CNN's HLN network. Jax is a lover of film and music, and has a passion for rock 'n' roll and writing screenplays.

Editorial Reviews

05/25/2020

Crime novelist Miller (Freedom’s Child) debuts with a captivating ride through the frustrating twists, turns, and dead ends of a horrifying murder case. On Dec. 30, 1999, a suspicious fire destroyed Danny and Kathy Freeman’s trailer home outside rural Welch, Okla. The Freemans’ burned bodies showed that they had been shot to death, and their 16-year-old daughter, Ashley, and Ashley’s best friend, Lauria Bible, who had also been in the trailer at the time, went missing. For years, the Freeman and Bible families struggled against inept investigators, drug dealers who might have had reason to kill Danny and Kathy, and a flood of false leads in their search for Ashley and Lauria. In 2015, Miller moved to Welch, where she spent four years investigating the case. She brings a heartbreaking and compassionate voice to her take on those affected by the generational poverty, environmental mining pollution, and widespread methamphetamine addiction now endemic in the region’s once ore-rich mining towns. The two girls remain missing to this day, though the arrest in 2019 of a suspect, whose case is ongoing, offers some hope of resolution. This is as much an exploration of the underlying social issues that feed into a system of fear and violence as it is about the crime itself. A vivid storyteller, Miller proves herself as adept at nonfiction as fiction. Agent: Zoe Sandler, ICM Partners. (July)

Publishers Weekly

05/01/2020

In the early morning hours of December 31, 1999, in rural Oklahoma, a trailer home went up in flames. In the aftermath, the bodies of Danny and Kathy Freeman were found fatally shot, and their daughter, Ashley, and her best friend Lauria Bible, who had been spending the night, were missing. No trace of Ashley or Lauria was ever found, and no arrest was made for the murders. Rumors ran wild throughout the small community. Some believed it was a drug-related murder, while others thought the sheriff's department was involved. But little evidence and an astounding degree of police incompetence left the case cold for years. Miller (Freedom's Child; host, Hell in the Heartland) began investigating the crime in 2015. She interviewed family, friends, coworkers, townspeople, local and state authorities, and potential suspects, trying to piece together this mystery. VERDICT Over the course of her investigation, the author falls down several rabbit holes following rumors, suspects, and other area murders, which can muddle the story at times. However, true crime fans who are fascinated by the dark side of rural life and police incompetence and open to a somewhat ambiguous ending will find much to savor.—Melissa Stoeger, Deerfield P.L., IL

Library Journal

There is, in the best of us, a search for the truth, to serve the living and dead alike, an obsessiveness that means never giving up, to balance the scale and give the dead their due. In the modern tradition of I’ll be Gone in the Dark, Jax Miller is one of those people and Hell in the Heartland is one of those books.”—Robert Graysmith, New York Times bestselling author of Zodiac

"Harrowing, beautifully written, and filled with unexpected twists, readers won’t be able to put down this book until they reach the very last word. A new true-crime classic that is sure to engross fans of the genre."—Booklist

“Beautiful and devastating."—CrimeReads

“A captivating ride through the frustrating twists, turns, and dead ends of a horrifying murder case…. This is as much an exploration of the underlying social issues that feed into a system of fear and violence as it is about the crime itself. A vivid storyteller, Miller proves herself as adept at nonfiction as fiction.”—Publisher's Weekly

“The title of Jax Miller’s book is, believe me, no exaggeration. This writer marched straight into a piece of Oklahoma that can fairly be called Hell and didn’t come out until she’d covered every track leading to and from an ice cold crime and relentlessly covered a whole lot of nasty possibilities.  Murder and Meth are only the beginning.”—Beverly Lowry, author of Who Killed These Girls?

“A top-notch true crime work shot through with desperation, paranoia, and regret. Reading this book feels like running headlong into danger, and Miller’s writing is haunted and haunting. It’s a patchwork of broken dreams, of secrets and lies, of trouble under the surface. Mesmerizing, raw, evocative, unforgettable.”—William Boyle, author of A Friend Is a Gift You Give Yourself 

"Every generation has its standout true-crime writer. Jax Miller does with Hell in the Heartland what Truman Capote did with In Cold Blood. I've witnessed firsthand the extraordinary lengths Miller went to in order to investigate this case. She is without doubt a writer at the peak of her powers."—A.A. Dhand

"True crime fans who are fascinated by the dark side of rural life and police incompetence and open to a somewhat ambiguous ending will find much to savor.”—Library Journal

From the Publisher

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