It’s one of those stories that prove the adage: “Truth is stranger than fiction.”
In the fall of 1995, 76-year-old Madalyn Murray O’Hair – a prickly character who fought passionately to get prayer out of the public schools and founded an association called American Atheists – disappeared along with her son, Jon Garth Murray, and her adopted granddaughter.
Their remains weren’t discovered until six years later – but that was only the beginning of one of the country’s most baffling missing-persons cases.
It’s the lurid details of the O’Hair story, playing out with as many twists as any “CSI” or “Law & Order,” that propels the true-crime series “Murder by the Book” on truTV(the former CourtTV).
Each episode, a celebrated crime novelist narrates a real murder case that has inspired them, obsessed them or just left them baffled. Sandra Brown, David Baldacci, James Ellroy and Harlen Coben all have been featured.
“The original concept was to find a way to integrate fiction crime writers with our true crime storytelling,” says Jessica Shreeve, the show’s executive producer. “We wanted to find a way to mesh those two worlds and find out if these authors, who have huge followings, had any true crime stories that have influenced them.”
Best-selling author Kathy Reichs guides viewers through the story of Madalyn Murray O’Hair in an episode airing tomorrow at 10 p.m. Reichs is the author of 10 crime novels, all featuring Temperence Brennan, who, like herself, is a respected and experienced forensic anthropologist. (Fox based its series “Bones,” starring Emily Deschanel, on Brenna her, though the series doesn’t draw stories directly from Reichs’ books.)
Reichs chose the O’Hair case because, not only had it drawn national attention, but it needed the detective work of forensic anthropologists to solve the case after investigators dug up the family’s skeletons.
“Madalyn Murray O’Hair was a very strong woman with very strong opinions and an agenda. She wasn’t at all timid about putting that agenda forth. To some extent, that put her at risk,” says Reichs, who still works with attorneys and law enforcement on homicide cases, besides consulting on “Bones” and writing new mysteries. (Reichs’ 11th novel is due out next fall.)
“When the family’s remains were found, I was interested from a professional angle,” she says.
“It’s quite a twisty, turny story and you never really quite understand what happened until the end, which makes it really compelling,” says Jessica Shreeve, executive producer of “Murder by the Book.”
After the O’Hairs went missing, it was only the diligence of reporter John MacCormack, writing for the Dallas Observer, that got the case’s details sorted out.
“The journalist really kept on digging and digging,” says Shreeve. “That’s how this case stayed alive. No one else was really that concerned about it. They just thought, ‘oh well, these are kooky people.'”
MacCormack researched relentlessly, chasing after unpromising leads that eventually yielded important evidence.
For example, stumbling upon a used-car ad ultimately revealed that Jon Garth’s Mercedes was sold at half its value to someone posing as him. That led MacCormack to a former employee of American Atheists, David Waters, who bore a grudge against the old woman. In the end, MacCormack and investigators were able to gather enough evidence to arrest Waters, who led them to the bodies in exchange for a lessened sentence.
The fateful tale of Madalyn Murray O’Hair is only the start, truTV satys. There’s a nearly endless supply of true-crime stories waiting to be retold, says Shreeve.
“People have always been interested in murder mysteries,” says Reichs. “It’s the forensics that’s new. Instead of intuitive kinds of solutions, now we have science-driven answers.”
“Murder by the Book,” truTV, Monday, Jan. 14, 10 p.m.