Vanished - by Jon Wells (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A man rages in his home on April 4, 1999, breaking furniture and dishes. A woman wants to leave him. "You're not going anywhere," he tells her. Later that day, a police officer reports to the house and finds human tissue and organs in a bag left out for garbage. The person of interest in the case is a steelworker named Sam Pirrera, who lives in the house. But who is the victim? Sam's current estranged wife, Danielle? It is known that they had a stormy relationship; Sam had assaulted her as his coke addiction returned. Forensic detectives find traces of blood in the basement and then the entire corpse, dismembered, the parts hidden behind a false wall and packed in boxes, each of the parts wrapped and doused in gasoline. The victim's identity is discovered through prints to be a prostitute named Maggie Karer. The dismemberment, "defensive mutilation," is calculated and deliberate, and the detectives wonder: Are there more victims?

Following an investigation led by veteran homicide detective Peter Abi Rashed, who had once chased a young Sam Pirrera on the streets of Hamilton's east end many years before, Vanished takes us behind the scenes of a grisly real-life case and its shocking outcome.

About the Author

Jon Wells was born in Montreal, and raised in London, Ontario. He has received numerous honors for his writing in "The Hamilton Spectator." Two of his true crime serials, including "Poison," published by John Wiley & Sons, have won National Newspaper Awards. Jon was nominated for Journalist of the Year in 2008 for the serial that became "Vanished." A graduate of the master's journalism program at Carleton University in Ottawa, his research for the crime stories has taken him to India, Ireland, France, New York City, San Francisco, and Western Canada, as well as into prisons where he interviewed six convicted killers. Jon has also conducted research in forensic labs and on shooting ranges. Jon can be reached at jwells@thespec.com.