Seven-year-old Maria Ridulph disappeared on a snowy December evening in 1957. She was playing outside with a friend when a stranger approached offering piggyback rides. Maria's friend ran home to fetch her mittens; when she returned, there was no trace of Maria or the stranger. Despite the determination of her community, national attention and FBI involvement, no one was charged with Maria's disappearance. Her body wasn't discovered until the following April; her killer wasn't arrested and tried for more than half a century.
Footsteps in the Snow details the oldest cold case ever brought to trial in the United States. Charles Lachman, Inside Edition executive producer and author of A Secret Life, guides readers through the lives of those closest to the case by meticulously examining the evidence, historical records and his own interviews.
The murderer's identity is made clear early on, so this true-crime book reads less like a mystery and more like a thriller as law enforcement agents struggle to uncover the truth over an improbable span of time. Events are at times almost unbelievable, like a deathbed confession, and at other times disheartening, such as when investigators neglected to show the lone witness a picture of the killer--and original suspect--in 1958.
Though extremely well researched, the account is occasionally weighed down with unnecessary detail, and like many true crime stories it may leave readers with some unanswered questions. Even so, Lachman maintains a high level of suspense and keeps a quick pace; the result is undeniably enthralling. --Jen Forbus of Jen's Book Thoughts