Deborah Holt Larkin is uniquely qualified to tell this captivating yet horrifying crime story. From a front row seat in her family’s living room, she lived the fear and disbelief that gripped her hometown in 1958.

Larkin holds a bachelor’s degree in American History and Literature from the University of California at Davis, and she studied creative writing at the University of California at San Diego. She has a master’s degree in the Education of Exceptional Children from San Francisco State University.

One of Deborah’s first jobs in education was teaching special education at a small rural elementary school located in the beautiful historic gold mining town of Julian, California. At the time teaching jobs were scarce, and she thought that she could make the sixty-three-mile commute from Ocean Beach apartment for a year until she found something closer to home. But when the year was up, Deborah and her husband Tom moved nearer the school and the “temporary” job turned into thirty-two-year career. She loved the mountain-top school, the students, the other teachers and the community. She became principal for the final fifteen years of her career and Julian Elementary was recognized as a California Distinguished School.  It was her dream job!