Leah Sottile & Kim Daly With Bridgette Matter: A Conversation

Bridgette Matter is a Local 10 News reporter in Miami.

Kim Daly writes about pop culture, true crime, and mystery when not working as copy chief at Workman Publishing. She holds a master’s degree with a focus on trauma studies and previously worked as a rape crisis counselor. Compiled by Daly, The True Crime File: Serial Killers, Famous Kidnappings, Great Cons, Survivors & Their Stories, Forensics, Oddities & Absurdities, Quotes & Quizzes (Workman Publishing Company) is a mini encyclopedia of true crime, featuring more than 200 stories of killers, con artists, master thieves, brazen kidnappers, survivors, detectives, forensic breakthroughs, and legal minds. There are big names that include Bundy, Manson, Berkowitz, Borden, and the Black Dahlia. It also includes lingering mysteries – like the deaths of JonBenet Ramsey and Natalie Wood – the disturbing puzzle of the Zodiac Killer, and the true story behind the most lurid headline ever: “Headless Body in the Topless Bar.” The True Crime File offers a feast of trivia, including the psychopath test, how DNA profiling began, tattoo analysis, and quizzes like “Where Did They Hide?” and “Serial Killer Trophies.”

Leah Sottile’s investigations, long-form features, profiles, and essays have been published by The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Atavist, Outside, and The Atlantic, among others. She is the host of the podcasts Two Minutes Past Nine on BBC Radio 4, and Bundyville – which was nominated twice for a National Magazine Award. When police in Rexburg, Idaho, attempted to perform a wellness check on 7-year-old J.J. Vallow and his sister, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, both children were nowhere to be found. Their mother, Lori Vallow, gave a phony explanation as to their whereabouts, and when officers returned the following day with a search warrant, she, too, was gone. As the police closed in, a more extensive web of mystery, murder, fanaticism, and deceit began to unravel. Vallow’s case is complex. As investigators prodded further, they found that the accused so-called “Black Widow” had an unusual number of bodies piled up around her. When the Moon Turns to Blood: Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell, and a Story of Murder, Wild Faith, and End Times (Twelve) tells a gripping story of extreme beliefs, true psychopaths, and snake oil prophets. It also explores the question: If it feels like the world is ending, how are people supposed to act?