Scrapped - by Lisa Peebles & John O'Brien (Paperback)

About the Book

A lawyer and reporter fight to free a wrongfully convicted man after new evidence points to three new suspects in the 1994 kidnapping and murder of a young store clerk.

Book Synopsis

"Scrapped captures the barren roads and fallow fields of Oswego County the way Capote captured Finney County, Kansas in In Cold Blood." -Tom Barbash, New York Times bestselling author of The Dakota Winters

A convicted man. A missing teen. A buried informant file. And a justice system more interested in closing a case than getting it right.

When criminal defense attorney Lisa Peebles uncovered a secretly recorded phone call and long-buried police evidence in the 1994 kidnapping of 18-year-old Heidi Allen, she realized the case against Gary Thibodeau-the man convicted of the crime-may have been built on the wrong suspects from the start.

Teaming up with investigative reporter John O'Brien, Peebles reopened a case that had haunted upstate New York for decades. What they found was explosive: hidden evidence, a possible police cover-up, a teenage confidential informant left unprotected, and disturbing leads pointing not to the convicted man, but to other violent suspects with ties to drugs, a scrapyard, and Heidi's disappearance.

As they pushed deeper, the story became even more shocking. Heidi Allen may have been targeted because she was working with law enforcement. Her killers may have remained free while Gary sat in prison proclaiming his innocence. And the truth may have been sitting in plain sight all along-buried beneath years of silence, fear, and institutional failure.

Scrapped is a gripping true-crime investigation about wrongful conviction, corruption, hidden evidence, and a relentless search for justice in a case that never should have been closed.

Review Quotes

#1 Bestseller - Criminal Law

2022 Maxy Awards Finalist

"An impeccably documented page-turner and a must-read for anyone who has ever come up against the impenetrable Blue Wall of police 'infallibility' and a complacent, sacrosanct criminal justice system more willing to destroy human lives than acknowledge and correct its mistakes." -Jack Jones, author of Let me Take You Down: Inside the Mind of Mark David Chapman, the Man Who Killed John Lennon

"This true crime book combines the talent of a crusading attorney and the drive of an investigative reporter and reads like something co-written by John Grisham and Bob Woodward." -Joel Kaplan, Associate Dean for professional graduate studies at Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and co-author of Murder of Innocence

"A stunner. Peebles and O'Brien unveil the story behind the story everyone thought they knew, and the truth will leave readers breathless." -Jennifer Pashley, author of The Watcher and The Scamp

"As each unexpected detail is discovered, the jarring revelations shine a light on justice system officials' ability to defeat the ideals of American law. A riveting and unforgettable tale of heart-wrenching injustice." -Christopher E. Smith, Professor of Criminal Justice at Michigan State law and author/co-author of 22 law books on criminal law, including Criminal Justice in America and The Supreme Court, Crime and the Ideal of Equal Justice

"This book succeeds in clearing Gary Thibodeau's name - and in answering many pressing questions that prosecutors in the Heidi Allen case never managed to solve - including, What really happened to Heidi?" -Janet Gramza, former reporter for the Syracuse Post-Standard

"Peopled with real-life characters straight out of a Coen Brothers film noir, Scrapped is a reminder that there are individuals who fight valiantly every day against injustice." -Gary Craig, author of Seven Million

"Scrapped captures the barren roads and fallow fields of Oswego County the way Capote captured Finney County, Kansas in In Cold Blood." -Tom Barbash, New York Times bestselling author of The Dakota Winters