Always in Our Hearts: The Story of Amy Grossberg, Brian Peterson, and the Baby They Didn't Want [Hardcover]

Doug Most (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Most takes a sensational news story that he covered for the Record, a New Jersey newspaper, and draws from it one fairly tired lesson: parents, especially suburban parents who think that their kids are fine, have to make sure that the lines of communication are open between themselves and their children. In 1996, two 18-year-old college freshmen, Amy Grossberg and Brian Peterson, made headlines after they checked into a Delaware motel where Grossberg subsequently delivered a baby boy whom Peterson wrapped in a plastic bag and threw in a Dumpster. Most recounts these events and the trial that followed in clear journalistic style, but his account suffers because he was unable to interview Grossberg, Peterson or any family members. He provides an interesting description of the upper-middle-class New Jersey suburb where the two lived and offers a few well-worn theories as to why they didn't tell their families about the pregnancy or seek help: wealthy parents give their children luxuries but don't teach them values; Peterson's parents were divorced; Grossberg was afraid of displeasing her mother. But Most's reliance on a court transcript of an interview with Grossberg's mother leads him to speculate excessively about her possible bad parenting while neglecting the three other parents involved and giving short shrift to the moral culpability of Grossberg and Peterson themselves. Illustrations not seen by PW. 25,000 first printing; first serial to New Jersey Monthly and Delaware Today; author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In 1996, after Amy Grossberg delivered a healthy baby boy in a motel room, her boyfriend, Brian Peterson, wrapped the infant in a garbage bag and threw him in a dumpster. For months, the young couple had denied the pregnancy, made appointments for abortions, and talked about how "it" had ruined their lives; when the time came, they handled the problem by getting rid of "it." Most, a reporter who covered the story and attended the court proceedings, presents his account objectively, careful to present the defense cases separately and to explain Grossberg's and Peterson's attorneys' strategies. He also includes information from experts who attempt to explain how two reasonably intelligent young people could commit infanticide and then claim they did nothing wrong. A recurring theme is almost as haunting as the crime itself: how could parents, counselors, teachers, and other adults have ignored Grossberg's pregnancy? With no one to speak for the victim, it's a question the author cannot answer. Engrossing and infuriating reading.?Christine A. Moesch, Buffalo & Erie Cty.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 279 pages
• Publisher: Specialty Pubns Div North Jersey; 1st edition (February 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 096547335X
• ISBN-13: 978-0965473354
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,048,767 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Tragedy of Our Time, February 16, 1999

By 

Ann Rule (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Always in Our Hearts: The Story of Amy Grossberg, Brian Peterson, and the Baby They Didn't Want (Hardcover)

ALWAYS IN OUR HEARTS is a compelling look at an almost unfathomable true case. In an era where out-of-wedlock pregnancy is no longer much of a shock to anyone, two bright, attractive, privileged young people panicked and did the unthinkable, destroying the baby boy they had conceived. Doug Most's research results in a searing look at a society that may be teaching the doctrine of "me first, ALWAYS. . ." This book is a classic,in that it is both fascinating reading and frightening as it shows us how far we may have come away from personal responsiblity for our children. This is not so much true-crime as it is a sociological study.

I highly recommend ALWAYS IN OUR HEARTS to thoughtful readers. In the end, one must weep for everyone concerned.

Doug Most will be a writer to watch over the next several decades!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Solid journalism about a horrible crime, May 19, 2003

By 

Nosferatu (Albuquerque, NM United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Always in Our Hearts: The Story of Amy Grossberg, Brian Peterson, and the Baby They Didn't Want (Hardcover)

On November 13, 1996 Amy Grossberg gave birth to a baby boy in a motel room. She began screaming at her boyfriend, Brian Peterson, to get rid of it. He covered the baby with a towel, went to his car to get a plastic bag, put the baby in the bag, tied the drawstrings, and calmed walked to a dumpster and tossed the baby in. They drove back to college and acted as though nothing had happened.

They might have gotten away with their crime if Amy had not developed eclampsia. She experienced extreme swelling all over her body and was complaining of being sore and tired. Then she started having seizures. The college had her rushed to the hospital. When she was examined, the ER staff called in an OB/GYN. She had not passed the afterbirth and a portion of the umbilical cord was still visible externally.

The OB/GYN recognized the symptoms as soon as he walked in. They knew she had given birth to a baby and prodded her to tell where it was. All she would say was that she did not know.

The hospital told Amy's mother that she had given birth. Her mother called Brian and demanded he tell her everything he knew. Once he learned that everybody knew she had given birth, he admitted it and said he got rid of the baby and that he didn't think it was alive. When they asked where the body was, he refused to tell them, stating that he did not know. He finally admitted that he threw it in a dumpster somewhere. Police began a search of dumpsters in the area where he said he had been. They stopped the garbage trucks from picking and began searching dumpsters. They brought out cadaver dogs.

Lisa Nyland, a dog handler with Maryland Natural Resources Police brought her yellow lab, Jesse to help. When they neared one dumpster, he started barking. She crawled into the dumpster and began searching. She found the bag with the body and radioed it in.

The baby was taken for an autopsy. He had been alive and breathing on his own. There was air in the bowel and lungs, and hemorrhages in the brain: all signs that the heart had been beating and the lungs were picking up air. There was a deep indentation in the top of the baby's skull, roughly thumb sized and shaped. A fracture ran away from the hole and was slightly raised. The baby's skull had been split almost open.

The parents of this couple spent more than a million dollars on their defense. The court proceedings will blow you away, especially the unorthodox move by one of the prosecutors. You likely will not believe the results.

Several things about this case are absolutely unbelievable. When Amy was five months pregnant, she had a physical. The doctor failed to discover that she was pregnant, even though he felt and poked around on her stomach. Her parents failed to notice that she was pregnant. Nobody from the college ever mentioned the pregnancy to her parents. I was left asking myself how this could have happened, especially with the doctor. His license to practice to be suspended and he should be held liable for everything that happened.

This was a wonderful book about a horrible act. It keeps you reading and touches every emotion deep within. This is a must read.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More background info on Amy and Brian., June 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Always in Our Hearts: The Story of Amy Grossberg, Brian Peterson, and the Baby They Didn't Want (Hardcover)

Doug Most should have researched the backgrounds of Amy and Brian in more detail. The book was an extension of a newspaper article. Amy carried the baby and did not choose an abortion or adoption, however, when Brian "flipped" that newborn into the garbage can, he was just as guilty as Amy. Most raised awareness that this is occurring whether in upper or lower class families, however, a young person reading this book does not come away with the knowledge of other options for Amy, Brian or themselves. Too much weight was based on how Amy was raised upper middle class with an over-bearing mother. It seems as if Most would have done more research, he would have found that there is more to the story than the public knows. I came away from this book with anger that we blame our schools, parents, etc. While reading this book, I had to remind myself that these were not "kids" these were adults. Both Amy and Brian should have served life regardless of whether or not that child was born mentally disabled - alive or dead. My thoughts toward the future of Amy and Brian are that someday they will serve their life sentence when they are happily married and their first child is born - looking down on their newborn and realizing what a horrific act they committed. May you shed many tears! Our society is too accepting of this behavior and the exuses made for this type of performance is beyond belief. Hopefully any person reading this book comes away with sympathy for that newborn baby and realizes that we as a society can not excuse this type of behavior and that there are other options - birth control, abortion, adoption. God forgive us for even beginning to excuse this behavior!