BookPeople Presents: Lise Olsen - The Scientist and the Serial Killer

Please welcome Lise Olsen to celebrate The Scientist and the Serial Killer!

This event is free and open to the public.

• Start time: 7:00 P.M.
• Run time: 45-60 minutes, followed by a signing line.
• Location: The second floor of BookPeople.

The author will be signing and personalizing copies of the book after the speaking portion of the event.

• To get a book signed, a copy of the event book or an item of equal value must be purchased from BookPeople.

Guidelines:

• Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

• If you have any other questions, please visit our Eventbrite FAQ. If your question isn't covered in the FAQ, feel free to email us at [email protected].
• All event guidelines are subject to change.
• BookPeople reserves the right to cancel or postpone this event if necessary.
• There will not be a live stream or recording available.

About the book:

The true story of how one dedicated forensic scientist restored the long-lost identities of the teenaged victims of the “Candy Man,” one of America’s most prolific serial killers

“A masterwork of crime writing . . . Lise Olsen has taken a fifty-year-old story and made it new and fresh and terrifyingly real.”—S. C. Gwynne, New York Times bestselling author of Rebel Yell

Houston, Texas, in the early 1970s was an exciting place—the home of NASA, the city of the future. But a string of more than two dozen missing teenage boys hinted at a dark undercurrent that would go ignored for too long. While their siblings and friends wondered where they had gone, the Houston police department dismissed them as runaways, fleeing the Vietnam draft or conservative parents, likely looking to get high and join the counterculture.

It was only after their killer, Dean Corll, was murdered by an accomplice that many of those boys’ bodies were discovered in mass graves. Corll, known as the “Candy Man,” was a local sweet-shop owner who had enlisted two teens to lure their friends to parties, where they would be tortured and killed.

All of Corll’s victims’ bodies were badly decomposed; some were only skeletal. Known collectively as the Lost Boys, many were never identified and some remained undiscovered. Decades later, when forensic anthropologist Sharon Derrick discovered a box of remains marked “1973 Murders” in the Harris County Medical Examiner’s office, she recalled the horrifying crime from her own childhood, and knew she had to act. It would take Pr*son interviews with Corll’s accomplices, advanced scientific techniques, and years of tireless effort to identify these young men.

Investigative journalist Lise Olsen brings to life the teens who were hunted by a killer hiding in plain sight and the extraordinary woman who would finally give his unknown victims back their names and their dignity. With newly uncovered information about the case, The Scientist and the Serial Killer immerses readers in an astonishing story and reveals why these horrific events remain relevant decades later.

About the author:

Lise Olsen is an investigative reporter, editor and author based in Texas who has uncovered many twisted tales, including crooked judges, an unjust execution, massive environmental disasters, myriad cases of corruption, and unsolved serial killings. Her reports in three states over 20 years contributed to the prosecutions of a former congressman and a federal judge, inspired laws and reforms, helped solve cold cases, restored names to unidentified M**der victims, and freed dozens of wrongfully-held prisoners. She is currently investigations editor at the Texas Observer and previously served as deputy investigations editor at the Houston Chronicle. Her work has also appeared in Inside Climate News, NBC News, Texas Monthly, AARP the Magazine, and other outlets. She is featured in several documentaries, including Netflix's "The Texas Killing Fields," CNN's "The Wrong Man," "The Pillowcase Murders" on Paramount+, and the six-part A&E series "The Eleven."
Her first book, CODE OF SILENCE, won the Texas Institute of Letters' Carr P. Collins Award for Best Book of Nonfiction and the Investigative Reporters & Editors' (IRE) Book Award in 2022.

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