COLD STORAGE
In May 2003, an Arizona man who had purchased dozens of sealed boxes at a self-storage facility's auction of unclaimed property made a horrifying discovery: the bodies of three plastic-wrapped infants, one of which had become mummified over the years. As the investigation ensued, police immediately traced the babies to one Dianne Odell, 50, a Pennsylvania mother of eight living children, who admitted the babies were hers, claimed that they'd died of natural causes, but had kept the bodies hidden away in boxes for over twenty years before abandoning them.

JUSTICE DEFERRED
In 1989, police had found the remains of a long-dead infant in a suitcase in the truck of a car Odell had abandoned (a fourth dead child?). The statute of limitations on manslaughter had saved her then from prosecution as she maintained the fetus was the product of a rape by her father and, after a beating by him, was stillborn.

BABY-KILLER'S FATE
Odell said her own domineering mother had forced her into teen prostitution and murdered what she viewed as the "bastard children." Both parents were dead and unable to contradict her claims. Would Odell's stories of abuse and dysfunction sway the jury-would she ever get her chance to speak to a jury, for that matter-and buy her the mercy her babies were never granted? Or would she be forced to face the consequences of bringing innocent lives into the world-only to end them in cold blood…
Now, for the first time, investigative journalist M. William Phelps goes into the Bedford, New York, prison where Odell is awaiting word on her appeal and tells her entire story-a story, she claims, the jury never got to hear. What Odell has to say will shock readers and shed new light on this controversial murder story that gripped the nation in 2003.

SHED NEW LIGHT ON THIS CONTROVERSIAL MURDER STORY
THAT GRIPPED THE NATION IN 2003.

FROM THE PUBLISHER
You've seen this high-profile murder case on A&E's Cold Case Files … it was covered in the New York Times, on the Fox News Channel, MSNBC and CNN. Court TV aired the trial in its entirety! Now veteran true crime author M. William Phelps has upped the ante by gaining exclusive access to Dianne Odell, bringing readers her exclusive story for the first time. Phelps spent months interviewing Odell from her prison cell, and shares her riveting true story of abuse and murder in hair-raising detail! Sleep in Heavenly Peace is a book that transcends the genre and puts Phelps in the company of the best in the business. Don't miss this incredible story of murder, family betrayal and one mother's quest to keep her secret children hidden for over 20 years.

FROM THE AUTHOR
"I had the opportunity to interview convicted baby killer Dianne Odell. What I heard during our months of conversations was remarkable. This is a story of the utmost betrayal: by Odell, her own mother and father, along with, according to Odell, the law. What Odell reveals in this book will shock readers into understanding that justice isn't always settled in a court of law-that sometimes guilt is as simple as saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. What shocked me most was that Odell had become her own worst enemy. Without her, the state really had no case. She, essentially, gave the prosecution the information it needed to go after her. … I took a life of a woman who had been pregnant thirteen times and studied it. The one question I asked over and over-one that readers will certainly want answered-was: Why did you tote those dead babies around with you in boxes for nearly 25 years? What drove you to do that? If she wasn't hiding anything and hadn't broken the law, as she had claimed, why not give the children a proper burial? Odell's answers were incredible ... to be honest, some of the most chilling things I have ever heard."

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW EXCERPTS WITH DIANNE ODELL INCLUDED IN BOOK!

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