Unanswered Cries: A True Story Of Friends, Neighbors, And Murder In A Small Town

A well-written account about the murder perpetrated by the recently deceased George Lewis. It wasn't until two years after the crime, in March 1986, that Lewis was arrested by a detective who happened to be a close friend. (Hence "Friends" in the subtitle.) Lewis was convicted of first-degree murder and sexual battery and sentenced to life in prison and the Tampa Bay Times wrote at length about the case in a series published in 1986 and 1988, which was later turned into this book. Some of the interesting elements of this forensic and legal story is the racist/inter-racial element, unscrupulous defense tactics (apparently unsuccessful for the first time), the early use of Luminol and the general rising trend of popular belief in trace show more evidence over circumstantial evidence. show less

When Karen Gregory was attacked in her Florida home, she screamed. Her scream was heard by more than a dozen neighbors and if was audible for several blocks. Yet no one called the police. Her body was discovered thirty-one hours later and the trail was cold. There were things about this case that puzzled detectives. There was a note left on a car in the driveway, detectives wondered why the police were not called since there was blood and broken glass outside the front door. Also the evidence pointed to a violent struggle, but the house was neat and clean. There were bloody footprints and a white lace teddy was missing.

Some of these questions are answered and for others the detectives had to draw their own conclusions. Mr. French brings show more all these to our attention. He also chronicles the effect the murder had on Karen’s friends and relatives, showing how a murder affects more than just the person killed and therefore how cruel an act it is.

A very compelling book from start to finish. show less

a true crime book about the rape and death of Karen Gregory of Gulfport, Florida, in 1986. The book was dated as far as DNA and blood sampling, but the story was still good. Many neighbors heard a few loud screams on the night of her death, even looked out their windows, but none called the police. A 22 year old firefighter was eventually found guilty after many false leads. A bit too long. 402 pages

On Wednesday, February 25, 2004 I wrote about this book on bookcrossing:


Actuallly this was a great book. I did read this in 1 and a half day, so thats pretty quick, considering English is not my native language.;) (It is my mothers, she is English, but we always spoke Dutch)

This Book was very well written.The most shocking of this book is that even if you live in a small and friendly neighborhood you are not safe.everybody living there heard Karen scream but nobody helped, or checked what was going on.

An okay book. Very disturbing that nobody called the cops when they heard the scream. There's just no excuse for something like that. My copy had no photos of Karen Gregory though which I thought was odd for a true crime book. Looking forward to the show on Investigation Discovery featuring this crime.

Starts out fast, but gets bogged down in too much detail after we know who did it. Very average to less than average for true crime story.

Wow! I read this true crime while sitting on the beach in St. Petersburg... 15 minutes from where the crime occurred. Great book!