Buried Mistakes by Michael Kaplan

 

Things had been good at first for John and Candy Short.  She had been thrilled when, as a teenager, John had picked her out as his girlfriend and after a short time of dating, his wife.  But life with John wasn't what Candy had expected.  He had a horrid temper and soon Candy was showing up with bruises.  They had a baby but John didn't stay home and help.  Instead, he was out most nights, drinking at the adult entertainment bars and having tawdry affairs.

Then one night Candy didn't come home.  John and Candy's father went looking for her.  John said Candy had gone shopping at a local mall and although it was dark as tar, he drove right to where Candy's car sat lonely in the parking lot.  Candy's father would be haunted the rest of his life by the discovery of Candy's bloody body, stabbed and strangled and left wrapped in a blanket.

The police suspected John but Candy's parents insisted they were wrong.  They stuck up for John and even let him live with them for several months.  But slowly, as he continued his carousing and surly ways, they started to rethink their position and soon believed that John was the killer.  The police made no headway and the case went cold.  John found another woman and moved away.

Six years later, a former policeman joined the prosecutor's office as an investigator.  George Brejack had been known as the 'psychic cop' due to his high clearance rate although it was of course the result of his dogged work and refusal to give up on cases.  Brejack had been out of law enforcement for several years and now had to convince everyone that he hadn't lost his touch.  He took on the case of Candy Short's murder, now six years cold.  After months of investigation and an obsession with the case he managed to find enough evidence to arrest John who was later convicted at trial.  This book is recommended for true crime readers.