rachely's Blog

I hope you enjoy the book, Rachel. I finished it last week. It was pretty good although written in a sensationalistic style I found annoying. THe title is lurid as is the book's cover. Too bad. Makes the book look cheap and not a work of true journalism.

Also, There are inaccurate facts mentioned in the book that undermined Kathryn Casey's journalist cred. For example, did you know that the section of 6th Street between Congress Ave and I-35 is known to UT students as "The Drag?" Or that Jennifer Cave liked to get coffe at Little City on "Congress Street?"

I mean, c'mon. Kathryn Casey lives in Houston but she doesn't know the Texas Capital is on Congress Avenue (not Street?)

The book's opening page mention's Charles Whitman's 1966 sniper spree as lasting "80 minutes." Actually, Whitman shot for 96-minutes.

This is nitpicking, I know, but it makes me wonder how many other facts she got wrong. A good read for locals interested in the case but loose/lazy research bugs me.

Casey also repeated alludes to Jennifer Cave's "ghost" visiting her family. This phenom. was related to Casey by members of the Cave family but I still found it sensationalistic and annoying.

As for the tale itself...what I found most interesting was the role Laura Hall played in the crime. As the story unfolds, Hall emerges as much more of a monster than Pitonak. At the time of the murder, Pitonyak had been up for days smoking meth and drinking. I honestly believe he DID mean to shoot Cave but was not in a rational state of mind at the time of the murder. Had Pitonyak called the police ri