It’s short, beautifully written, a true crime story that will have you tossing and turning and maybe crying a little bit.
It’s “A Rip in Heaven” by Jeanine Cummins.
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”A Rip In Heaven” by Jeanine Cummins
Gray was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and was executed by lethal injection on October 26, 2005.
I am so glad Marlin Gray is dead. In fact, I wish we could bring him back to life so we can kill him again.
Before I read this book by Jeanine Cummins, I would have, at the least, cared not a whit about Marlin, at the most, regretted the state’s action in killing a citizen, an action that I waffle about from time to time.
For sure the issue of the death penalty is an onerous one and I’m sure I am not the only citizen wrestling with the nuances of the matter.
First, there’s the news that breaks through on occasion that new DNA evidence reveals an already-convicted criminal was innocent and this is bound to give any of us pause. Second, as I am to understand, putting a criminal to death actually costs the taxpayers more than locking him or her up for life, NO possibility of parole. Third, sentiment is slowly changing here in America as our more liberal colleagues across the planet regard us as heathens for our tough death penalty stance.
Which is not to say that I have a concrete position as regards the death penalty but I do tend to accept the prevailing wisdom that perhaps it’s best to avoid this thorny issue all together. For sure spending one’s life in prison is sufficient penalty for the more heinous, so long as parole is no possibility. Although that slippery slope could be an issue in that someday maybe the bit about no parole might fall by the wayside and that’s not acceptable.
Marlin Gray and a few of his fine friends, whose parents must be so proud of their boys, decided to attack two sisters and their male cousin as the trio strolled innocently across an abandoned bridge in Missouri. They wanted “to get mean with someone”.
They raped the two girls, Julie and Robin Kerry while holding down their cousin Tom. Tom had to listen to his cousins’ torment and horror and could not help them.
After the vicious attack, the still-naked girls and Tom were forced to stand at the edge of the bridge of their torture, and without even a whisper of a thought, those fine boys pushed the three off of the bridge, to fall into a freezing Mississippi river over 70 feet below.
The history of our country is filled with victims of crime but in this case, the crime victims were to go on to suffer even more torment by the St. Louis police department and fine celebrity members of the media, one is Ricki Lake-who should be shot at sunrise.
Tom survived his plunge into the Mississippi River. He suffered a fractured hip, such was the force of hitting the water. Julie also survived the plunge but was unable to swim to safety. Tom tried his best to save his cousin but he could not. He was himself badly injured and too weak to hold on to her without drowning himself. Julie’s younger sister, Robin, did not survive. Her body was never found. Julie’s body was found a few weeks after the incident.
The book goes on to detail the events after Tom finally summoned help by climbing up a steep embankment and summoning a passing truck.
In the saddest turn of events, the St. Louis police actually thought that TOM raped and killed his cousins. Tom told his story of horror to the police, of course, begging them to please go to the river and try to find his cousins. The details are murky but the police handling of this case was as atrocious as it comes. My bile still rises at the story.
Tom did fail some sort of lie detector test. As the author points out, who is Tom’s sister by the way, sleep depravation is a major cause in failure on lie detectors. By the time got around to giving Tom a lie detector test, he had already had precious little sleep in over 48 hours.
First, the reader has to wonder what the hell those cops were thinking. If Tom had, indeed, raped his cousins, why would he include that in his story? He could have just reported them missing if he had anything to do with their demise. Further, Tom had serious injuries that were NOT tended to for the silly concentration of the St. Louis police on HIM as the criminal. He did not get medical help for a fractured hip for a few days after it all and for the St. Louis police, a fine, fine lot of gumshoes there…maybe they would have given pause as to a fellow who would rape and drown his cousins, giving himself a fractured hip from the plunge as well.
Later in the book we learn that Tom did successfully sue the St. Louis police and won a cash settlement. Wikipedia says his settlement was $150,000. This makes me happy. If ever there was dumb police work it is this sad mockery of a criminal case.
One of the fine, fine boys who participated in this crime was a kid with a very low IQ. Ricki Lake, just one of many media liberals who latched onto this case, had some sort of campaign to keep this so-called retard from the death penalty. And, indeed, Richardson’s stay of execution was granted and the creep still lives.
Ricki Lake asserted that Richardson was a juvenile and mentally retarded. When Richardson was 26 years old when the execution was scheduled and while having a low IQ, this is not QUITE the same as mental retardation. Further, it was the fine, fine Richardson, whose mother is so proud of, who pushed those nude girls off the bridge. He also managed to rape them first. He was smart enough to do that with no conscience.
Marlin Gray, as stated above, is dead. This fine, fine fellow DID get a needle and as I said with no compunction, I am glad. The world does, as I now consider, need to rid itself of creeps with no social value; creeps that rape and kill for fun; creeps with no conscience that might someday rape and kill RICKI LAKE!
Finally, as Tom’s sister describes, Tom witnessed the death of Marlin Gray but not because he wanted revenge. No. All Tom wanted was to see some sort of regret, an apology perhaps, for so horribly pushing two terrified naked girls off a bridge to their deaths, this after raping them.
Tom did not get his wish. Marlin Gray is dead, thank God. He never expressed a regret one for what he did.
The world is so much better off without him. Julie and Robin should watch him burn in hell from their perch in heaven.
Web Site for this book.
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