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While Idaho Slept
While Idaho Slept: The Hunt for Answers in the Murders of Four College Students | J. Reuben Appelman
8 posts | 7 read | 8 to read
The author of the acclaimed true-crime memoir, The Kill Jar, tells the inside story of the University of Idaho Murders, offering a memorable, thoughtful dive into our societal fascination with true crime, the medias seeming blood-frenzy, and the future of homicide investigations, while cultivating an intimate look into the minds and hearts of the victims and their suspected killer alike. Just after 4:00 am on November 13, 2022, four University of Idaho students were viciously stabbed to death in an off-campus house. The killings would shake the small blue-collar college town of Moscow, Idaho, dominate mainstream news coverage, and become a social media obsession, drawing millions of clicks and views. While a reticent Moscow Police Department, the FBI, and the Idaho State Police searched for the killer, unending conjecture and countless theories blazed online, in chatrooms and platforms from Reddit and YouTube to Facebook and TikTok. For more than a month, the clash of armchair investigators and law enforcement professionals raged, until a suspecta 28-year-old Ph.D. candidate studying criminologywas arrested at his family home 2,500 miles away in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania on the day before New Years Eve. While Idaho Slept is a thought-provoking, literary chronicle of a small-town murder investigation blistering beneath the unceasing light of international interest, as traditional investigators, citizen sleuths, and the true-crime media actedsometimes together, often in conflictto uncover the truth. As J. Reuben Appelman brings this terrible crime into focus, he humanizes the four victims, examining the richness of their lives, dissects the mind and motivations of their presumed killer, and explores the world of northern Idaho, a rugged, deeply conservative stronghold steeped in Christian values and American patriotism. Going deep inside the case, Appelman addresses a crucial question: With so many millions of citizens armed by access and hungry to take part in a true crime hunt of their own, has the nature of homicide investigations permanently changed? Rising above the sensational, While Idaho Slept illuminates the intrinsic connection between todays media, citizen sleuths, our societal mania for murder tales, and an impatient publics insatiable appetite for spectacle as never before. Running beneath, the pulse of the story is a heartbreaking narrative of the people we love, the dreams we all share, and the uncertain time left for sharing them.
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LeslieO
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Megabooks Loved While Idaho Slept! 2mo
30 likes1 comment
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jlhammar
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Pickpick

I hadn‘t known much about this tragedy so much of this book was new to me. Horrific and so sad. Appelman did a decent job presenting the limited available information, but I think this could have been a much better book had more time passed. The case hasn‘t even gone to trial yet.

Ephemera The guy they arrested is guilty, guilty, guilty 3mo
60 likes1 comment
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MyNamesParadise
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Pickpick

Finished this last week! I learned a lot about the victims & also the perpetrator. Not really a lot of new information in regards to the ongoing case as the trial hasn‘t happened yet. But it was nice to read everything together in one place so you could see the progression of events unfolding. If you‘re a true crime fan or followed the case, I would recommend this book. It is chilling to read the re-enactments of the crimes but it‘s based in fact

Megabooks Great review! 💯 agree! 5mo
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Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
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What a great dad 💔😢 I‘m so sad for these families 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Megabooks Yes, this was a heartbreaker. So sad for these families. 💔💔 5mo
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Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
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Starting this one today. I‘ve been following this tragedy from the beginning. It is heartbreaking and I can‘t even imagine how the parents of the children make it through each day 💔 and the trial keeps getting delayed because this pos waived his right to a speedy trial 🤬

#LitsyLoveReads

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KristiAhlers
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Pickpick

Ugh this book! I found myself totally sucked in and wishing I could just yell at all of them...lock your doors!!! This is fast paced...you get to know each victim individually as well as have a front seat if you would to the investigation. If you like true crime reads...add this one to the list! #bookspin #nonfiction @thearomaofbooks

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks I‘ve been keeping up with this one since the beginning! Stacked!! 5mo
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 5mo
Clare-Dragonfly Wow, it seems wild that there‘s already a book about these murders! 5mo
jlhammar Can't wait to start this! 5mo
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guinsgirlreads
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Of course I loved this book, as I have been following these murders through and through so far. I needed him to elaborate on a couple of things more, but maybe he couldn‘t yet. Plus, of course, there‘s no trial outcome yet, 😒 but still written in clear investigative detail.

TheQuietQuill I was in shock when I found out that the killer lives 20 minutes from me in a small town PA. Very disturbing altogether, and so sorry for the lives lost. 6mo
guinsgirlreads @TheQuietQuill OMG, I bet! 😳 Such a shame, for sure. 💔 6mo
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Megabooks
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Pickpick

I‘m not hugely into true crime but count me among the millions of Americans that had their eyes on the murder of four University of Idaho students in 2022. In this book, Appelman talks to the victims‘ families and elaborates on the hunt for the killer and his eventual arrest. The case still has not gone to trial, so the book is fairly short. If you‘re into true crime, check this one out! Great narration, too!

BarbaraBB I love true crime so this will be stacked! 7mo
SamAnne I live about 80 miles from Moscow ID and spend time there regularly. We could not help but obsess on this crime. It is not the sort of thing that happens that that small university town. 7mo
Megabooks @SamAnne yes, it was simply shocking in its violence and location. I‘m sure you see a lot of beautiful scenery traveling around there. 7mo
Megabooks @BarbaraBB this case captivated America B. Like every news channel live coverage, every night on the evening news, hour long specials. I admit not watching all of it, so it was interesting to read it all encapsulated here. 7mo
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