Bob Hill

I remember when I first heard about the Brenda Shaffer crime. Everyone in Louisville, I think, followed this one very closely because of the sheer horror. Mel Ignatow was accused of the sex murder of his ex fiance with the help of his former girlfriend. This happened in a house that backed up to my old high school. Everyone botched this case! He was not convicted for the crime because of a lack of evidence. However, he did later spend some time in jail for perjury against the court. Some time after he was found innocent contractors were in his old house putting in new carpet. In a heating duct they found some unprocessed film. Once it was developed there was the evidence they needed to prosecute him. The only problem is that once you have been found not guilty they cannot try you for the same crime again. This is so wrong, especially where they have evidence that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the crime really was committed. I didn't know these people, but I can truly say that I always was fascinated by the case and hated Mel Ignatow with a passion. He had tied Brenda to a glass coffee table where he carried out some of his torture. It is pure irony that when he died a couple of years ago, that he died after falling through a glass coffee table and bleeding to death.… (mehr)

I first received this book from Bob Hill himself when he spoke to my university journalism class. Since then I mostly thumbed through reading here and there; now that I gave it the old cover-to-cover treatment, I can confirm what I always expected to be the truth of this column collection: it's outstanding! Hill's subjects from the mundane to the eccentric come alive with the help of a burgeoning vocabulary and a poetric way with words not often seen in newsprint. I wish I had read his columns sooner, as I'm sure I would have loved them all.… (mehr)

Set in Louisville, Kentucky, this is the true story of a man who murdered his girlfriend and got away with it. Mel Ignatow was always considered the prime suspect in the death of Brenda Sue Schaefer. Despite Ignatow's ex-girlfriend leading police to Brenda's buried body and her own admission in the crime, Ignatow was acquitted by a jury. Several months following the trial, after Ignatow sells his home, the new owners discover hidden pictures of the abuse Brenda suffered during her death. Ignatow is hauled back into court, but because of double jeopardy, he cannot be tried a second time for the murder, even after admitting that he killed Brenda. Instead he is tried for purjury and receives 8 years.… (mehr)