S. R. Reynolds's pursuit of a serial rapist and suspected murderer of a teenage girl who lived nearby in Knoxville, Tennessee, has surprising results as she's faced with a real-life drama.
When the girl, Michelle Anderson, went missing in 1987, social worker Sasha Reynolds warned the DA and police that the case was being mishandled but to no avail. The investigator labeled the Michelle a runaway even though classmates and her mother thought otherwise. A decade later, after having moved from Knoxville to another state, Reynolds learns from a cold case TV program that Michelle’s body had been found two years after she went missing.
Aided by her former professor, famed forensic anthropologist Dr. William (Bill) Bass (founder of the University of Tennessee's "Body Farm"), who was interviewed on the TV program, Reynolds picks up the trail. Over a period of seven years, she presses neglected pieces of the puzzle into place, she unearths a string of brutal kidnappings and rapes across the South, crimes that span decades. All evidence points to one man: convicted sex offender Larry Lee Smith. She seeks out and meets with surviving victims and former police and FBI investigators who worked on the case. A picture forms. Patterns appear. As a result of Reynolds's efforts, the Knoxville Police Department reopens the long cold-case of Michelle's disappearance and a savvy prosecutor enters the scene. What transpires in this story is fascinating on many levels as these people come together on a mission to find justice for Michelle.
"Similar Transactions" is the recipient of the 2017 eLit Gold Award for True Crime, 2017 IAN True Crime Book of the Year, and is among the top five books named "The Best of Everything Nonfiction" by author, critic, and screenwriter Emilio Corsetti III.
Born and raised in Frederick, Maryland, I lived for many years in Knoxville, Tennessee. At the University of Tennessee, I majored in criminology and correctional studies while minoring in cultural anthropology. I obtained a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Alabama. Today my husband and I reside in North Alabama.
While I was a resident in Knoxville, a 15-year-old girl, Michelle Anderson. My son had been a classmate of hers. After she disappeared, I had some contact with a couple of persons related to her case, and I knew the case was being mishandled, but my concerns had fallen on deaf ears. Not long after that I accepted a job offer in Alabama and moved away. But the case stayed with me. I had often wondered what had become of Michelle.
It was nearly a decade later, after having moved to Alabama from Knoxville, as I watched one of the new forensic shows on television, that I finally learned of Michelle's fate. Her remains had been found outside Knoxville two years to the month after she'd gone missing. My old professor, Dr. William Bass, led the team that excavated the site. He was featured on the show discussing the case.
Fast forward to 2007. I run into Dr. Bill Bass when he is giving a talk in Guntersville, Alabama, about a new book he and his co-author, Jon Jefferson, have just published (Jefferson Bass, Harper-Collins). Obtaining his phone number, I call Dr. Bass concerning the old, very cold case of Michelle's disappearance. He sends me his forensic report from 1989 and some additional materials. My investigative journey begins.
Seven years later, I have identified the man most likely to be Michelle's abductor and murderer, serial rapist Larry Lee Smith, and I have gotten the KPD to re-open her cold case. My book, Similar Transactions, tells the rest of this amazing story. Frankly, this was a tough story to tell. To help with the flow, I do not write in the "first-person." Instead, I use a "novelistic" style. I identify myself in the third person. Most of the readers have liked this approach. The awards are a pleasant surprise, but even more meaningful is your feedback after you've read the book.
