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    Fatal Jealousy: The True Story of a Doomed Romance, a Singular Obsession, and a Quadruple Murder
    Fatal Jealousy: The True Story of a Doomed Romance, a Singular Obsession, and a Quadruple Murder
    Fatal Jealousy: The True Story of a Doomed Romance, a Singular Obsession, and a Quadruple Murder
    Audiobook7 hours

    Fatal Jealousy: The True Story of a Doomed Romance, a Singular Obsession, and a Quadruple Murder

    Written by Colin McEvoy and Lynn Olanoff

    Narrated by Roger Wayne

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    June 26, 2010. A Pennsylvania state trooper witnesses a car speeding and crashing into trees. Stopping to help, he finds that the driver, Michael Ballard, is alive-and drenched in blood. When asked what happened, the man answers, "I just killed everybody."


    Not far from the accident, police make a gruesome discovery. In the home of Michael's ex-girlfriend, Denise Mehri, they find four bodies that had been stabbed repeatedly with a knife: Denise, on the kitchen floor; her grandfather, in his wheelchair; her neighbor; and her father, in a room with a blood-smeared obscenity painted on the wall. How could anyone do something so horrendous?


    Michael had already been convicted of murder, sent to prison when he was only eighteen. Despite several incidents of misconduct during his time in prison, he was found suitable for parole shortly after his minimum sentence lapsed. But this time, his deadly rampage would not be so easily pardoned.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJul 9, 2014
    ISBN9781494573225
    Author

    Colin McEvoy

    Colin McEvoy and Lynn Olanoff are reporters for The Express-Times, a daily newspaper based in Easton, Pennsylvania. They covered the Rhonda Smith murder case extensively and it was during a jailhouse interview with them that Mary Jane Fonder first acknowledged responsibility for her crime. They wrote about the Fonder case in the St. Martin’s True Crime book, Love Me or Else. Colin and Lynn have been married since 2008. Lynn is a graduate of Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, and Colin graduated from East Stroudsburg University in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. They currently reside in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

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    Reviews for Fatal Jealousy

    4.5/5

    17 ratings3 reviews

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    • 3/5
      An intriguing read about the life and crimes of Michael Ballard, a mass murderer, who killed four people at one and had one further convicted murder he had served time for committed in his late teens. The authors give emotional character portraits to the victims to the victims through the words of family members which is a compelling technique and appreciated in a true crime novel. There is nothing sensationalistic in this portrayal of the case even though at times it does give a fair accounting of the nature of the violence. The authors do have an agenda though and I found that not to my liking; I prefer to read unbiased accounts of crimes. The authors set out to use this crime as an example of the need for parole reform in the state of Pensylvania. There are some chapters which give the history of failed cases of violent offenders who were paroled only to kill again. Micahel Ballard fits this profile. I give them props for going into the full neuropsychological exams of Ballard and while legal sane he was also extensively brain damaged. The authors' agenda was to prove that Pennsylvania is lax in giving death sentences and Ballard's death penalty was a win for the people. With their book ending with that sentence. More on the aftermath would have been appreciated. An unbiased approach would have discussed whether extensively brain damaged people *should* even be put to death for their crimes. Sane people (which Michael was/is) are responsible for their crimes but a book like this that actively comes across in support of executing all violent offenders comes off cold and unbalanced in its representation of the "truth".

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book. The detail may be tedious for some but it thoroughly explains the problems in the incarceration system. Michael Ballard relationships with other characters was intriguing.
    • 4/5
      This is basically the story of Michael Ballard and his murder of 4 people: His girlfriend Denise, 2 other family members and a neighbor. The book was well-written and well researched. The authors interviewed this sociopathic killer for about 9 hours, so they did get a lot from him. Including the fact that he did not take any real responsibility for what he did. He blames it all on Denise and his belief that she was cheating on him. So he killed her and the others, rather than being a man and either talking to her or just moving on. His control issues did not allow this. I did like the book, but this killer really riles me up! He is the poster boy for the death penalty and deserves each one of the 4 death sentences he received.