Twilight of innocence : the disappearance of Beverly Potts / James Jessen Badal.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Badal, James Jessen, 1943-

Series:

True crime series (Kent, Ohio)

True crime series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Potts, Beverly Rose, 1941-.

Potts, Beverly Rose.

Missing children--Ohio--Cleveland--Case studies.

Missing children.

Abduction--Ohio--Cleveland--Case studies.

Abduction.

Missing persons--Investigation--Ohio--Cleveland--Case studies.

Missing persons.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (209 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Kent, Ohio : Kent State University Press, c2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

One of the nation's first highly publicized missing child cases Ten-year-old Beverly Potts was last seen at 9:00 p.m. the evening of August 24, 1951, at Halloran Park on Cleveland's West Side. She and her neighbor and friend Patricia Swing had gone to see the Showagon--a troupe of singers, dancers, magicians, and other performers that traveled around Cleveland's neighborhood parks during the summer, giving free performances. Patricia had to be home before dark, but Beverly's parents told her she could stay until the show was over. When she was still not home by 9:30, her father, Robert, went out looking for her. He returned home at 10:30 without his daughter and called the Cleveland police. Beverly Potts had disappeared without a trace or any evidence of her fate. James Jessen Badal reexamines the events leading up to Beverly Potts's disappearance and the subsequent police investigation and over-the-top, sensational publicity in the Cleveland press. His interviews with detectives assigned to this still-open case and his examination of police records provide a chronology of the false leads and hoaxes that culminated in this disturbing case of dead end after dead end. Badal draws comparisons between investigative techniques of the time and more modern ones and examines the social and historical context in his analysis of the more than half-century of public fascination with this case. Those who remember the kidnapping and still wonder what happened to Beverly Potts will look for clues in this book. True crime aficionados everywhere will find Twilight of Innocence to be an important study in the tragedy of unsolved disappearances.

Contents:

""Copyright ""; ""Contents""; ""Preface and Acknowledgments""; ""Introduction""; ""Part One: Dusk and Shadow""; ""Friday, August 24, 1951: A Very Ordinary Day""; ""Saturday, August 25: Tangled Threads""; ""Sunday, August 26�Monday, August 27: The Politics of Abduction""; ""Tuesday, August 28�Wednesday, August 29: A Trickle of Suspects""; ""Thursday, August 30�Friday, August 31: Seltzer Turns Up the Hysteria""; ""Part Two: Ripples in the Pond: Becoming a Legend""; ""September 1951: False Leads and Weary Frustration""; ""October 1951: Clues from the Lake""

""November 1951: The Crimes of Frank Dale Davis""""December 1951: Come Dressed as Beverly""; ""September 1952: Visions from the Spirit Realm""; ""August 1953: ""My name is Friday. I'm a cop!""""; ""December 1955: The Ballad of Harvey Lee Rush""; ""1952�1973: From the Burlesque Stage to the Grease Pit""; ""August 1951�July 2002: Notes from Hell""; ""Part Three: The Persistence of Memory""; ""1974: The Maple Heights Molester""; ""1988: The Pennsylvania Child Killer""; ""February�March 1994: The Tale of the Murderous Milkman""; ""June 1996: Bones in the Basement""; ""Anniversaries""

""2000�2001: Robert Wolf's Quest""""Through a Glass Darkly: Shadows from the Past""; ""Bibliographical Note""; ""Index""

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-61277-441-5