The Thirty-Ninth Victim by Arleen Williams

And like the family, you will never forget The Thirty-NinthVictim. Williams's courage in sharing this recounting of her family's trauma through one of the most atrocious streaks of serial killings in American history. You cannot read this profoundly personal and cataclysmic tale and come away unchanged, nor will you ever view your own family in quite the same way. The author set out to tell Maureen's story, but in doing so, she tells bits and pieces of every family's story.

As insightful as it is heart wrenching, The Thirty-Ninth Victim gives you a window into the family dynamics that contributed to this life-altering tragedy. With amazing candor, Arleen Williams tells the story of her family's journey, before and after the Green River killer murdered her sister Maureen and left her body in a stretch of wilderness off the west side of Highway 18. She is yet another victim of the Green River killer. And then comes word you hoped you'd never receive: your youngest sister's remains have been found. The redemptive power of finding and facing truth are at the heart of this powerful memoir. The police are at best unhelpful, and at worst, seemingly uninterested in what's happened to her. In THE THIRTY-NINTH VICTIM, Arleen Williams tells the story of her family's journey before and after the Green River killer murdered her youngest sister and offers a window into the family dynamics behind this life-altering tragedy. Now imagine that during this time, someone you love-your baby sister, a beautiful young woman of 19-suddenly goes missing. In homes all across America, television news programs and newspapers large and small carried feature stories about the ever-growing list of victims. What started as as string of local killings in Seattle became a national nightmare before it was over. By the time the perpetrator was sentenced in 2003, at least 48 young women had met an untimely death at his hands. The Green River murders were headline news throughout the 1980s.

The Thirty-Ninth Victim by Arleen Williams