Six Miles to Charleston: The True Story of John and Lavinia Fisher

by Bruce Orr, John LaVerne (Foreword by)

Overview

Explore the grizzly tale of Charleston's most infamous serial killers from the beginning of their reign of horror till their eventual incarceration and execution.

In 1819, a young man outwitted death at the hands of John and Lavinia Fisher and sparked the hunt for Charleston's most notorious serial killers. Former homicide investigator Bruce Orr follows the story of the Fishers, from the initial police raid on their Six Mile Inn with its reportedly grisly cellar to the murderous couple's incarceration and execution at the squalid Old City Jail. Yet there still may be more sinister deeds left unpunished, an overzealous sheriff, corrupt officials and documents only recently discovered all suggest that there is more to the tale. Orr uncovers the mysteries and debunks the myths behind the infamous legend of the nation's first convicted female serial killer.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781609491178
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	12/03/2010
Series:	True Crime
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	1,111,479
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.31(d)

About the Author

Bruce Orr was raised in the Lowcountry of South Carolina and grew up hunting and fishing the plantations of Berkeley County with his father and brothers. It was during those times he spent many evenings listening to the tales and legends surrounding this historic area. As a young boy, he had an insatiable appetite for the bizarre, unexplained and paranormal and was always searching for answers behind the events he heard at the hunt clubs and fish camps. As he grew into an adult, this natural curiosity in seeking the facts brought him into law enforcement where he eventually became a detective and a supervisor within his agency's Criminal Investigative Division. Now retired, he uses the skills he obtained in his career to research some of the most notorious cases within the Charleston area. He seeks answers through historical documentation in an effort to separate fact from fantasy and to keep the truth from being lost in legend.

Table of Contents

Foreword John La Verne 9

Acknowledgements 13

Introduction: Lost in Legend 15

1 The Time: 1819 21

2 The Victims: Two Corpses and a Cow 33

3 The Gang: The Forgotten Members 47

4 The Trial: Colonial Justice Is Not Criminal Justice 57

5 The Escape: A Last Bid for Freedom 63

6 The Sentencing: Colonial Justice Equals Colonial Corruption 69

7 The Execution: In the Words of Those Who Witnessed It 75

8 The Method: Death by Hanging 83

9 The Allegations: Colonial Justice versus Criminal Justice 87

10 Power and Greed: Politics at Its Best 95

11 Land Swindling: The Keys May Be Key 99

12 Motive: The Sins of the Father 103

Conclusion: Things Are Not Always as They Appear 113

Bibliography 123

About the Author 127