In Light of All Darkness: Inside the Polly Klaas Kidnapping and the Search for America's Child

Paced like a thriller and full of insider information on the history and science of Crime Scene Investigation, In Light of All Darkness embeds readers in one of the most famous true-crime stories of our generationthe kidnapping of Polly Klaasa case as pivotal in the history of the FBI as the Unabomber or Oklahoma City bombing. On October 1, 1993, a 12-year-old girl was kidnapped at knifepoint from her bedroom in Petaluma, California, during a sleepover with two friends, while her mother slept soundly in the room next door. This rarest of all kidnappingsa stranger abduction from the hometriggered one of the largest manhunts in FBI history. Many Americans remember Polly's face, which appeared on the national news every night, on the cover of People magazine, and on more than 8 million flyers distributed as far as China. The emotional gravity of Pollys story touched every agent, police officer, and forensic technician who worked on her case. Many of these investigators have never shared their storiesuntil now. New York Times bestselling author Kim Cross has written the first comprehensive account of what happened on that fateful night in October, as well as how the case forever transformed the Bureaus approach to solving crimes. With unprecedented access to case files, crime scene photos, a videotaped murder confession, and inside sources, In Light of All Darkness follows the investigators who pieced together the evidence that led to the arrest and conviction of the kidnapperand made the victim a household name and a girl who will never be forgotten.