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By design, writing a book is a solitary affair.
But at the end of the day, its you alone with your words.
And maybe a bottle.
After months and months, you finish it well, its never really finished, but you ship it.
It cascades into a blur.
And then the letters arrive.
Is it a tip to an unsolved case I covered?
Is it a hater just wanting to watch the world burn?
Is it a family member upset with the way I worded one sentence about their loved one?
Or is it family member of a murder victim I have never heard of, asking for help?
The majority are the latter, and there are 220,000 families looking for answers.
Thats how many unsolved murders there are since 1980.
My goal is not to tell a story, but to get them justice.
I attempt to work with the detectives.
If a story does present itself out of the process, then so be it.
Then me actually solving a homicide and forging a new path beyond journalism.
The narrative pivots at the case of Marques Gaines.
Marques was a bartender in Chicago.
He was a kind, generous, impeccably dressed man.
Marques was knocked cold and laid out in the middle of a crosswalk.
This caused the onlookers to flee.
There was video of the man who attacked him.
But after four months, there were no arrests.
After 15 years of writing stories with no endings, I was fed up.
I was going to solve this one.
Because of this case, the letters I receive often end with two words: kindly help.
I make a run at answer every one of them.
But I cant help them all.
And it keeps me up at night.
Its one of the reasons I wrote the book in the first place to get more people involved.
But I never expected to get a letter like this.
It started off innocently enough.
Okay, sounds good so far.
But scanning down, I can see its a long letter.
Way longer than the small notes I usually receive.
That I will get to in a moment?
This is a lovely letter!
The kind you hope for!
A letter saying you inspired someone into action.
It would be an understatement to say the book immediately grabbed my attention while listening to the prologue.
This letter was from Marquess brother.
But thank you for showing an interest and thank you for your work in this case and others.
And I hope to find exactly what my calling is to help pay it forward.
The letter was signed by HL Gaines.
I immediately wrote HL back and we talked.
I thanked him and asked if I could share his letter.
The victims are real.
And their families are listening and reading and watching.
And if you cant tell a crime story with empathy, you should be telling another kind of story.
So there is that kind of letter.
Then there is this kind.
Billie-Jo Dick is the mother of Danielle and Mariah Bertolini.
Danielle went missing in Northern California in 2014.
Her skull was found a year later.
One year after that, Billie-Jo called.
She told me her youngest daughter, Mariah gone missing.
I helped find her and she got into a safe place.
The story was included in the book.
Then Billie-Jo wrote me.
Thank You Billy and Michelle for all you do and have done for all of us survivors.
You are a hero in my book!!
Thank You
I just hope I was able to do your girls justice, I respond.
You already have many times over!!
Im feeling good with these letters Im getting.
As good as you could for the genre Im in.
Then I get a message from Scott Greene.
Scotts daughters body was found in the back of a field outside Columbus three years ago.
I tried to solve it.
So far, I have failed.
Hey Billy … Can you give me a call as soon as you get this?
Im talking to the parents of Jamie Bowen, the girl whose parents we spoke to that day.
[A girl who went missing from the same town his daughter went missing from.]
She asked ME if I had ever heard of the name White boy.
Jamie Bowen went missing from Columbus two years before Scotts daughter disappeared.
White boy is supposedly a sex trafficker that was mentioned within the context of his daughters case.
The police have been slow in finding him, even though he looks to be active online.
Thank you, I tell Scott.
He responds: Hey Billy …Are you serious … No need to thank me … Hell Im the one who is thankful!
The detectives working the case havent talked to me nearly as much as you do.
The letter goes to the top of the pile of crimes to try and solve and keep solving.
And that pile grows larger and larger every day.
Billy Jensen is an author whose recent works includeChase Darkness With Meand Michelle McNamarasIll Be Gone in the Dark.
He also co-hosts the podcastJensen and Holes: The Murder Squad.
