Scrapped: Justice and a Teen Informant

by Lisa Peebles, John O'Brien

Overview

"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

Criminal defense lawyer Lisa Peebles was taken aback by a secretly recorded phone call and police interrogation video that surfaced in a 20-year-old kidnapping case. They held the stench of a cover-up. She recruited an investigative reporter to help unearth the truth and exonerate Gary Thibodeau, the man convicted in the 1994 kidnapping and murder of 18-year-old Heidi Allen.

Scrapped: Justice and a Teen Informant exposes the underbelly of a system built more for finality than justice. It's the true story of Peebles' pursuit of new evidence against three new suspects and her discovery that Heidi had lived a double life: convenience store cashier and undercover informant. The sheriff's office hid the truth after her death as the real killers roamed free. Peebles became a de facto prosecutor to prove their guilt and Gary's innocence. As Heidi's family stood by the sheriff, her remains were likely secreted right under their noses - probably inside a scrapped van and shipped to a car shredder in Canada.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684337538
Publisher:	Black Rose Writing
Publication date:	07/29/2021
Pages:	486
Sales rank:	545,748
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.98(d)

About the Author

Lisa Peebles has been head of the Federal Public Defender's Office in Syracuse, N.Y., for 10 years, and has been a lawyer in the office for the past 21. She's taken 30 cases to trial in that time, with nine acquittals. In 2014, the New York State Criminal Defense Lawyers Association gave her the Thurgood S. Marshall Award as the state's outstanding criminal practitioner. She's been a lawyer in the Syracuse area for 27 years.

John O'Brien was a reporter for The Post-Standard newspaper and Syracuse.com for 30 years, the last 10 as an investigative reporter. He's a co-author of the 1996 true-crime book Goodbye, My Little Ones. In 1993, The Post-Standard nominated him for a Pulitzer Prize for uncovering corruption in the local medical examiner's office. In 2017, he ended 35 years as a reporter to take a job as an investigator in Peebles' office. In 2018, the Syracuse Press Club inducted him onto its Wall of Distinction.

Editorial Reviews

#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

From the Publisher