Muncie epitomizes the small-town America of squeaky-clean 1950s sitcoms, but its wholesome veneer conceals a violent past. Public scandals and personal tragedy dogged the long, notorious life of Dr. Jules LaDuron.
Baseball ace Obie McCracken met a tragic and violent end after joining the police force. A mother's love could not stop James Hedges from committing murder. The paranoid delusions of Leonard Redden hounded him until one day he carried a shotgun into a quiet classroom. And newsman George Dale's showdown with the Klan prepared him for the political fight of his life. Douglas Walker and Keith Roysdon, authors of Wicked Muncie, introduce a new cast of characters from the city's notorious past.
For most of the past four decades, veteran journalist Douglas Walker has covered the criminal justice system in East Central Indiana for the Star Press and its predecessor, the Muncie Evening Press . He has received dozens of awards for writing, investigative reporting and public service, many the result of collaborations with reporter Keith Roysdon, with whom he also wrote a weekly column on Muncie politics for many years. This marks the duo's fourth book on crime and justice in Muncie and Delaware County. Keith Roysdon is a lifelong Indiana resident who now lives in Tennessee. He has won more than thirty state and national first-place awards for journalism, many for work cowritten by Douglas Walker. Their third book, The Westside Park Murders , was named Best Nonfiction Book of 2021 by the Indiana Society of Professional Journalists. Roysdon's crime novel Seven Angels won the 2021 Hugh Holton Award for Best Unpublished Novel from Mystery Writers of America Midwest.