Customer Reviews

Evidence of Murder (Onyx)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

McClellan has written a real page-turner. Ed Post talks too much. People roll their eyes when he says he drew his wife's bathwater--and then he found her dead, drowned in the tub...a real treat to follow the investigators as they put together the pieces of the puzzle. Very, very entertaining. I had trouble putting this one down!

This is a riveting story, right to the very last pages! And it is written in a terrific, readable journalistic style that never quits. WHY do men (usually men) continue to commit "domestic crimes" and think they can get away with it? This is an unusual story in some ways because of the lack of any real evidence. Great reading!

Reading of crimes such as this, I cannot help but to wonder how many people get away with murders but disguising them as accidents. It is a chilling thought and this story was very well written.

This book pretty much starts in the middle and stays there. Ed Post and his wife Julie are at a convention in St. Louis. He gets up at 6:25 AM to go jogging, wakes her up because he "knows" she will want to have breakfast with him, and runs her bath. When he comes back, she's dead in the tub.

I have no doubt at all that he murdered her. Many reasons:

The shower curtain was INSIDE the tub. No woman is going to leave a shower curtain inside a tub when she takes a bath, and any man who regularly (as Post claimed to do) runs a bath for his wife would have the common sense not to either. And as the book says, what woman wants to take a tub bath in a hotel - who's been sitting in that tub? She's going to take a shower. What woman wants to take a bath at 6:30 AM in a hotel anyway?

Plus, he first said that the water was not hot enough for her when she first tried it, and he had to add more hot water. Later, he told another detective that she said the water was just perfect when she tried it the first time. He tells someone else that the temperature of the water was "tepid" like she always wanted it. Apparently he had no idea what tepid is, or maybe he realized that when they found her 30 minutes later, the water was already cold, which it wouldn't be if it had been HOT.

Why would she grab the towel ring anyway? If she's getting into the tub full of water, she would be squatting down and if she fell, it would be on her behind into the water. Who is going to stand up in a tub full of water? You're going to let the water out, then stand up.

The bruises found after her body had been disinterred. Water in the tub retarded bruising. Bruises were found on her eye, and the back of her neck (among numerous other places). Since these parts of the body are indented, not to mention on opposite sides, it's a little hard to claim she hit both sides in the tub or the floor. One Medical Examiner's claim that the bruising was from the removal of her bones shows how stupid he is. If your blood isn't cirulating, it isn't going to rush to the surface when it perceives an injury. Your body can't perceive an injury if you're dead. Ed Post beat her, then held her face down in the water to finish her off.

Witnesses: He'd beaten her before. He'd beaten at least one of his daughters. He visited prositutes.

Evidence: He owed a LOT of money. Wife was insured for $700,000 (recent addition of $300,000). Same day he borrowed $2,000. Also owed her parents $15,000. Many other debts. Not a guy who can afford this insurance.

The author doesn't go much into the background of either Ed or Julie. Julie is portrayed as a horrible woman who criticized everyone she worked with, and was nicely put, "difficult" to work with. Ed was a big talker who liked to exaggerate his military service, show off how much money he could spend, brag about his "very important" marriage, and very well-respected insurance agent. One of the detectives claimed he knew Ed was guilty because of his extremely tiny feet - in his experience men with tiny feet were the perpatrators.

The writing is rather vague at times. The author talks about a grand jury being convened, and questions they ask. Then mentions that the grand jury fell apart. No mention of a later grand jury...suddenly, Post is indicted - but there's no mention of an arrest or bail. He's just indicted and waiting for his trial. Speaking of the trial, what the heck was wrong with the prosecutor? He let all the witnesses get off without saying anything. It's a wonder the jury had the brains to convict this guy. And as for his first lawyer, Ralph Whalen (a former prosecutor), he knew full well his client was guilty. He should be ashamed.

At least his daughters and his brother finally woke up and smelled the murderer.

I just finished reading this book and I have to say, that although I'm pretty sure he killed his wife, I don't think the state had much evidence. They kept referring to him drawing his wife's bathwater. What is so bizarre about that? My husband draws my bathwater for me more than I do! I hope to heck that if I ever fall and hurt myself in the bathtub, people don't blame my husband if he says he drew my bathwater! The only trouble I had with his innocence is the amount of bruising she suffered in the "fall". But otherwise, if it weren't for that, I would have to say I'm not sure he did it.

I bought this book when I saw the case and its author featured on a cable TV show. I believe it was American Justice. Bill McClellan has given us a good true crime story here.

What aggravated me was the fact that no one seemed to think there was anything wrong with Ed Post knocking his wife, Julie, around ("Putting a woman in her place????" PUH-leese - shame Julie didn't respond with a frying pan or a lamp!).

The fact that Post skipped out of the funeral home and put the moves on another woman in front of his own daughter made me SO glad that he didn't get away with his crime.

Then there was the victim's father, Hollis Thigpen, who apparently had nothing but contempt for Vietnam veterans, even as his own son displayed the emotional and psychological scars from that debacle. Like many people my age, I vehemently opposed that war but never have I disparaged the people who fought.

Mr. Thigpen should try telling those who've lost brothers, husbands, sons, etc. in Vietnam that it was just a "scratch scrimmage"!

All in all, a good read. I don't understand how a previous reviewer could have called it "tedious."

He did it, it's obvious. And as far as true crime goes, this isn't one of the best. Definately not a page turner.