Deadly Secrets: From High School to High Crime--The True Story of Two Teen Killers

By Putsata Reang

Book Overview

Inseparable friends and outcasts in their affluent suburban home town of Bellevue, Washington, teenage high school dropouts David Anderson and Alex Baranyi were going nowhere fast - and soon they would be convicted of a terrible crime. After they lured former schoolmate Kim Wilson to a local park where she was beaten and strangled to death, they went to the victim's home and slaughtered her mother, father, and younger sister. Newspaper reporter Putsata Reang covered the crime, the investigation, the trial, and it's aftermath. And now she masterfully illuminates some of the darkest corners where a shockingly increasing number of America's youth hides it's rage, pain, and a madness that can explode at any time, in Bellevue, at Columbine, or anywhere across the nation.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 038080087X
• ISBN13: 9780380800872
• Release Date: March 2001
• Publisher: Avon Books
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.41 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

natural born killers?

A chilling look at two high school buddies who, finding themselves increasingly marginalized and ignored by society around them, explode in a violent massacre. Their slaughter of an entire family is made all the more chilling by the fact that they had talked about it for a year or two beforehand, yet no one took them seriously. Journalist Reang has done a good job of filling in the background details of these two adolescent killers. Unfortunately, she drops the ball at the end when she ascribes the source of their pathology as a fixation with the fantasy world of Dungeons and Dragons; she seems to dismiss the fact that one of them was a nerd who suffered years of abuse at the hands of fellow schoolmates and the other had had to deal with a nasty divorce between his parents and living for years with an abusive father. In fact, only one of them had an obsession with D & D, and he was not the dominant one of the two; it could even be said that D & D was a refuge from his pathetic life-- at least, for a time, anyway. Still, worth a read to see how two very intelligent teens can go terribly wrong without proper guidance.

ACCURATE AND INSIGHTFUL

As a conisuer of true crime novels I have to say that this is one of the best I have ever read. It was accurate in it's facts, and I know this because I personally researched the case after reading the book. I also wrote to one of the teens that were convicted of this crime, as this book made me want to understand more about him. It is rare for me to be unable to put a book down, but I finished this one in little less than a day because I couldn't put it down. I would recomend this book to anyone interested in true crime, and to anyone interested in why teens are comiting crimes like these.

Page turner,gripping, intense

The fact that is most heart breaking is that this is all true. David is just intensly homicial and drags his poor friend Alex into his plot so he would have a scapegoat in which is his best friend. Alex stood for David as if he couldn't ever live with himself if he ratted out David. David on the other hand seemed to not have any regret or show any sorrow that his long time friend was being slaugthered in court all in his name. Alex seems to have such a heart to have been the a harden killer that acted alone. After all David lured his first victim and seemed to enjoy playing the game of killer hind and go seek. Alex on the other hand couldn't beleive this was really happening. I loved this book and gave it 5 stars. Rest in peace Wilson Family.

Deadly Secreats

This is a good book and showes just how far this lost kids will take Dungens and Dragons games and fantisy games to which they don't even know the difference from reality any more. These two boys put this plan together just to know what it feels like to kill. Where their warrning signs??? Yes, but no one took them seriously. Even Kim herself hear the rumors that he was gonna kill her, but just laughted it off. Wake up people!!! Some time threats made jokingly are really warnings. Even if you don't think that a certain person is capiable, you will be suprisied just what they are capable of when they snap or are pushed over the edge. I feel that EVERYONE is capable if their buttons are pushed enough.