Imagine how you would feel if you woke up one day and learned that your best friend was the most prolific serial killer in America and most of his victims looked like you. That was the start of a forty-year quest to understand the mind of a killer and friend. The search led to others like him and their dark compulsions. How can they murder multiple human beings without remorse?
The Ripper’s Children: Inside the World of Modern Serial Killers is a nonfiction book that examines how their murderous drives may originate. Can serial murderers control their killing sprees? Are the causes social, genetic, or biochemical? The book sheds light on the blackest corner of the human mind. This book may cause you to take a closer look at your relatives, friends, and neighbors.
A Tribute to Raymond Cornell
I’m saddened to report that my coauthor for our book, The Ripper’s Children: Inside the World of Modern Serial Killers, died Saturday, April 16, 2022. His extraordinary life ranged on both sides of law enforcement, first as a criminal and then as the first Iowa prison ombudsman. He understood the criminal mind and had encountered some fascinating people throughout his career. I miss him dearly.
Published: September 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7357340-7-1 (Paperback) 314 pages
ASIN: B09FKKLN6K (Kindle) 382 pages
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About the Authors
Raymond Cornell has lived an unusual life. Born into extreme poverty, he has been a cat burglar, convict, college graduate, and Iowa’s first prison ombudsman. He is also a pardoned ex-offender and a trained hostage negotiator. Cornell worked as a private investigator on dozens of murder cases and other major felonies. Besides testifying as an expert on federal prison cases, he has consulted on numerous other murder cases around the country. Also, he is the brother of a murder victim and of a convicted killer. Recently, he consulted on and appeared in two television specials, “John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise” for NBC and another John Wayne Gacy show due to appear on Netflix in April 2022. Now writing in retirement, he is working on a history of prisons in America and an autobiography.
Ilene W. Devlin was born in Winterset, Iowa, which is the actor John Wayne’s hometown. Attending the University of Iowa, she received the degrees of a BA in anthropology and an MA in archaeology and museum training. Afterward, Ilene worked in museums in Nebraska, Tennessee, and Alabama. Since 1986, her home has been in San Antonio, Texas. She owned a desktop publishing company and owned and edited two magazines there. Her freelance articles and essays have been published in newspapers in San Antonio and Iowa. The Ripper’s Children is her fourth book.
Ilene W. Devlin, Author 