The Berman Murders: Unraveling the Mojave Desert's Most Mysterious Unsolved Crime

by Doug Kari

Overview

For true crime readers obsessed with learning the full story, get the book that Publishers Weekly calls a "stirring account," and says, "Dogged reporting and expert pacing make this a good bet for true crime fans."

At daybreak on January 6, 1986, a couple on a camping trip in the Mojave Desert set out for a stroll and never returned. The local sheriff eventually discovered that Barry and Louise Berman had been murdered. As years passed and the double homicide remained unsolved, the Berman case spawned speculation and conjecture. To date there’s never been an arrest in the case—let alone a conviction. This is the first book to tell the full story of the Berman murders and uncover a likely suspect.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538186381
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	03/05/2024
Pages:	258
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.35(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Doug Kari is an attorney and journalist focusing on law and crime. He has written articles for Las Vegas Review-Journal, LA Weekly, LA Times, and other respected outlets. Find out more at https://dougkari.wixsite.com/the-berman-murders.

Table of Contents

Chapter One: A Search for Two Lovers Leads to Silence

Chapter Two: Desperate and Heartbreaking Mission

Chapter Three: All-Seeing Eyes Looked Deep within Him

Chapter Four: All but Broke, in Jail, and about to Turn Forty

Chapter Five: Blissfully Unaware of What Lay Ahead

Chapter Six: Clues Too Few and the Desert Too Vast

Chapter Seven: “Michael Was Weird with Sexual Stuff”

Chapter Eight: Liars Tend to be Vague

Chapter Nine: Peered beneath the Gaps and Saw Bones

Chapter Ten: Violating a Near-Universal Taboo

Chapter Eleven: Fighting Spirit of a Brave Little Girl

Chapter Twelve: Marshals Led Him in to Hear the Verdict Read

Chapter Thirteen: Pulling Back the Veil on the Murder Case

Chapter Fourteen: “Suspect in Unsolved Murders Set to be Freed”

Chapter Fifteen: Driven to Dominate and Inflict Pain

Chapter Sixteen: Pepe Began Sputtering Questions

Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

01/15/2024

Attorney and journalist Kari debuts with a stirring account of his nine-year quest to crack an unsolved double murder in California’s Mojave Desert. In 1986, Barry Berman, heir to the Kahlua liqueur fortune, and his much older wife, Louise, went missing from their campground during a romantic getaway at the Mojave hot springs. Although police suspected foul play, and the Bermans’ remains were discovered in a makeshift grave three years after their disappearance, the case never led to any arrests. Kari, who learned about the murders as a young conservationist studying the desert, became interested again as a journalist decades later. His investigation put him on the trail of Marine Corps captain Mike Pepe, who encountered the Bermans at the campground the same day they disappeared. Years later, Pepe moved to Cambodia and engaged in underage sex trafficking, for which he was eventually expelled from the country, tried in the U.S., and sentenced to 210 years in prison. Through deep research, including interviews with Pepe’s close contacts and the discovery that he was a key suspect early in the investigation, Kari mounts a convincing case that Pepe may have murdered the Bermans, possibly after soliciting them for sex. Dogged reporting and expert pacing make this a good bet for true crime fans. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

A married couple goes for a hike in the desert. In that remote, eerie and beautiful landscape they have a random encounter with a criminal deviant and are never seen alive again. It’s the stuff of nightmares. Though The Berman Murders is an absorbing read, it’s hardly a comfortable one. The book can’t deliver justice for the Bermans, but at least they are not forgotten.

California Review of Books

It’s hard to believe this story is actually real – it’s fascinating, creepy, and ultimately inspiring. The BermanMurders starts with a counterculture couple (one being a reluctant heir) who mysteriously disappear in a remote desert valley and ends with girls who were sex trafficked in Asia. The author ties these two worlds together in such a compelling way that it's hard to put the book down. I love that the book features so many strong women: the federal court judge; the two lead prosecutors; and brave young women who cross the ocean from Cambodia to confront the alleged perpetrator.

Starr Parodi

The Berman murders tells the story of a heinous cold case that became hot again and was finally solved, thanks to a dogged sheriff and attorney/author, Doug Kari. The reader is taken on a roller coaster ride that begins in a remote California desert valley, then takes you to a villa of repeated child sex abuse in Cambodia, a conviction, an overturned conviction and then finally justice. Captivating and extremely well-written. Kudos to the author for his persistence and for putting this gripping saga on paper for all to read.

Gerry Renert

In the early days of January, 1986, Inyo County, California, law agencies were alerted to the disappearance of Barry and Louise Berman. The couple’s pickup truck was found near a hot springs in Saline Valley, a tourist destination. Covering a large swath of desert and mountains, the valley can be an unforgiving and dangerous place. With each passing day, the possibility of rescue dwindled. Although police found that the Bermans had interacted with a few other visitors at the springs, they had no firm suspects. A lack of evidence led to the case going stale until 1988, when a park visitor discovered the Bermans’ remains. Investigators zeroed in on a possible suspect, a former marine named Michael Pepe. They would be in for a rude awakening in uncovering the extent of Pepe’s depravity. Kari deftly explores this cold case set in the expansive Mojave Desert, meticulously breaking down the ins and outs of the investigation while providing biographical sketches of the victims and the cruel forces of fate that brought them to their ends.

Booklist

The twists and turns in The Berman Murders will have you on the edge of your seat. The story begins in a Mojave Desert valley, where a hippie couple on a camping trip vanishes from a hot springs oasis after bathing with naked strangers. By delving into the backgrounds of the people at the scene, the author presents a theory about how deviant sexual dynamics may have led to the double murder. The story follows the path of the chief suspect across the world to Cambodia, where behind the walls of an upscale villa he rapes and tortures underage girls – never guessing that someday they’ll confront him in open court.

Freida Lee Mock

Kari’s book is a lightning-fast read. It’s a compact 250 or so pages that while heavy on the details never feels overly dense. His time as an alt-weekly writer serves him well here, as he applies those endangered publications’ style to his book. There’s a mic drop before every break, a grabby hook that keeps even folks whose Apple Watch are telling them to stand up sitting down and turning pages.

Link: https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2024/05/the-berman-murders-true-crime-book-review/

Reality Blurred

The Berman Murders is a gripping story about an unsolved double homicide. The depth of Doug’s nine-year investigation into the perplexing case is impressive. The result is a book that takes you from a hot springs oasis in Death Valley, where two campers mysteriously vanished, to the slums of Phnom Penh, where underage children are trafficked for sex. The book follows the case’s path to wherever it leads.

John Hueston

01/19/2024

The 1986 murders of Barry and Louise Berman in the Mojave Desert remains unsolved. Countless theories, including alien abduction, have been mentioned in the speculation as to what happened to the couple, who were in the area on a camping trip. Attorney and journalist Kari, in his first book, presents a theory that could help solve the case once and for all. He probes whether an encounter with former U.S. Marine Corps captain Michael Pepe on the same day they went missing led to the Bermans' deaths. Readers will learn more about that chance meeting, the link between Pepe and a Cambodian sex-trafficking ring. Readers should expect graphic descriptions of the crimes. VERDICT For true-crime fans who want to be taken through the details, the theories, and every piece of evidence of the Berman murders case.—Leah Fitzgerald

Library Journal