Overview

As the soft-spoken, highly intelligent son of missionaries in Morganton, North Carolina, Luke Chang gave no indication of the killer he would become. But after hacking into a teacher's computer at his school, a stint in the Marines was his only option. As a young recruit, Luke was taunted for being a virgin who didn't cuss, drink, or smoke pot. That all changed when Luke met Casey Byrams, a fun-loving musician and fellow Marine from Cullman, Alabama. Their friendship set off a series of events that would eventually lead Luke to Pendleton, Oregon, where he brutally murdered nineteen-year-old Amyjane Brandhagen in August 2012. When Luke attempted to kill another woman almost a year later, Pendleton Police knew they had a serial-killer wannabe on their hands. Some forty years prior to Amyjane's murder, Luke's maternal grandfather, Gene Dale Lincoln, murdered a young Michigan woman and attempted to abduct a twelve-year-old girl. The similarities between the violent actions of grandfather and grandson compels the question: Is there such a thing as a murder gene?

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9781646636464

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Reviews

The attention to detail and the resort to careful sourcing makes The Murder Gene a notable addition to the annals of crime reporting. -Les Zaitz, publisher and editor, Oregon's Malheur Enterprise; founder and editor, Salem Reporter Written with compassion and insight, The Murder Gene comes off as a cross between Forensic Files and In Cold Blood. I love this book. -George Singleton, author of You Want More: Selected Stories The Murder Gene is proof, yet again, that Zacharias has a strong passion for the truth. Her in-depth research, along with her humanity for the victims she is writing about, make this book a compulsive read. -Angela Pursel/ The Next Chapter Bookstore/Hermiston, Oregon Award winning author Karen Spears Zacharias has done it again with The Murder Gene. Using her expertise as a former investigative journalist and her writer's gift of prose, Zacharias effortlessly weaves the science behind DNA with the intrigue of true crime. The result is a page turning book that chronicles crimes of murder committed by members of the same family and addresses the age old question - are humans compelled by nature or nurture? The Murder Gene is bound to create robust discussions and will stay with the reader long after the last page has been read. -Michael Morris, author of Man in the Blue Moon

The attention to detail and the resort to careful sourcing makes The Murder Gene a notable addition to the annals of crime reporting. -Les Zaitz, publisher and editor, Oregon's Malheur Enterprise; founder and editor, Salem Reporter Written with compassion and insight, The Murder Gene comes off as a cross between Forensic Files and In Cold Blood. I love this book. -George Singleton, author of You Want More: Selected Stories

Author Information

Karen Spears Zacharias is an award-winning author of numerous books, both fiction and nonfiction. A former crime beat reporter, she has taught journalism at Central Washington University, and her work has been featured on NPR, CNN, and Good Morning America. Her op-eds have appeared in The Washington Post and The New York Times. A Gold-Star daughter, Karen divides her time between her home in Deschutes County, Oregon, and her hometown of Columbus, Georgia. For more information check out karenzach.com.

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