Little, Crazy Children

Who killed Ohio teen Lisa Pruett in 1990? Philosophy of Crime podcaster Renner (True Crime Addict) casts convincing doubt on the case’s official theories in this superior real-life page-turner. After midnight on September 13, the Shaker Heights police received a 911 call from teenager Dan Dreifort, who reported that his girlfriend, Pruett, hadn’t shown up at his home. Soon after officers responded, Pruett’s body was found in a nearby yard. Dreifort, who had recently returned home after his father had him committed to a psychiatric ward, was initially a suspect: berries found on his front steps matched those on a bush near Pruett’s body, and a potential murder weapon was found in his bedroom. Ultimately, though, Dreifort faced no charges. Instead, police focused on Kevin Young, a local teenager with a history of antisocial behavior (he’d called in a school bomb threat once, and he was often unkempt in public). In 1991, Young was indicted for Pruett’s murder; he was acquitted at trial the following year. Renner does a meticulous job casting doubt on the prosecution’s case against Young and using the authorities’ dismissal of Dreifort to help identify a more likely murderer, spinning original interviews and reviews of official records into a vivid and disturbing account of a rush to judgment that left Pruett’s brutal murder unsolved. True crime aficionados of all stripes will devour this. Agent: Yishai Seidman, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner. (July)