While Kim Crespi was getting a haircut, her husband David murdered their five-year-old twin daughters during a game of hide and seek. In the aftermath, family, friends, and even David have more questions than answers.
In 2005, Kim Crespi had what she later described as “the perfect life.” She and her husband, David—a gentle giant of a man, devoutly religious, a loving father, and a proven star in the world of finance—had five healthy, happy children. No one, least of all Kim, ever suspected that the life the Crespis had lovingly woven together could be destroyed in less than forty minutes.
In Medication, Mental Illness, and Murder, author Edward L. Jones III chronicles David Crespi’s struggles with insomnia and depression, the role SSRI antidepressants may have played in the killings, and Kim’s unimaginable journey of trauma, suffering, and eventual forgiveness as documented by her journal entries.
Using letters and other forms of personal communications with David, plus excerpts from scholarly articles and more, Jones takes readers on a journey into the dark heart of psychosis, of North Carolina’s penal and mental health systems, and of Big Pharma.
Table of Contents:
Disclaimer
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Part I: Inferno, 2006
Chapter One: “I Had the Perfect Life.”
Chapter Two: “I Just Killed My Two Daughters.”
Chapter Three: “We Will Stand as Advocates for Light.”
Chapter Four: “God, Where Is My Husband?”
Chapter Five: Home Alone
Chapter Six: The Death Sentence for David?
Chapter Seven: Who Was the Real David Crespi?
Chapter Eight: The Road to Damascus
Chapter Nine: The Oprah Winfrey Show Devotes an Hour to the Crespi Case
Part II: Purgatorio, 2007–2013
Chapter Ten: The Ties That Bind
Chapter Eleven: Big Pharma’s Big Lies, Part I
Chapter Twelve: Withdrawal
Chapter Thirteen: A History of Antidepressants
Chapter Fourteen: A Tale of Two Countries, Part I
Chapter Fifteen: Pills, Lies, and Videotape
Part III: Hoping Against Hope, 2014–Present
Chapter Sixteen: A Devastating Diagnosis
Chapter Seventeen: Big Pharma’s Big Lies, Part II
Chapter Eighteen: SSRIs, RIP?
Chapter Nineteen: A Tale of Two Countries, Part II
Chapter Twenty: Still, She Persists—In Holding on to Hope
Afterword: Should SSRIs Be Banned?
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
About the Author :
Edward L. Jones III has been an award-winning writer in advertising and higher education. During his ad career, Ed won over 350 awards for creativity. In his time away from advertising, Ed served as a community columnist for the Charlotte Observer. Medication, Mental Illness, and Murder is his first book. Learn more at www.edwardleejones.com.
Review :
This book will grip and disturb you. You will be forced to grapple with an issue no-one has solved—what happens to the intent and premeditation critical to returning a verdict of murder when you are under the influence of a psychotropic drug.
Those of us who have worked in the world of music and entertainment media know all too well the importance of treatment centers for addictions to alcohol, cannabis, and opioids. Yet, SSRIs and Benzos might be the most dangerous drugs of all, since they are far too easily prescribed to millions of Americans, even to children. Meticulously researched, profoundly moving, by turns horrifying and edifying, Ed Jones’s consequential new book is a must-read for parents whose children are growing up in an overprescribed world, and for psychiatrists and physicians who care about their patients’ long-term mental health.
I am a longtime Advanced Emergency Medical Technician, and in my experience every word of Ed Jones’s harrowing book rings true, because I have witnessed firsthand the devastations visited upon families by SSRI antidepressants. Medication, Mental Illness, and Murder should be required reading for every current and future psychiatrist and physician—with an emphasis on the latter, since nearly two-thirds of antidepressants are prescribed by primary care doctors. Too many medical professionals who should know better are handing these pills out like candy, and police and emergency responders are dealing with the fallout.
A heartbreaking story of filicide, the potential risks of powerful antidepressants, and unforgiving justice with respect to crimes involving mental illness.
