The young exchange student whose conviction and acquittal on murder charges in Italy made headlines worldwide tells the full story of her ordeal, from the events that led to her arrest to her hard-fought battle to overcome injustice.

When she was sixteen, Elle Johnson lived in Queens with her family; she dreamed of being best friends with her popular, cool cousin Karen from the Bronx. Coming from a family of black law enforcement officers, Elle felt that Karen would understand her in a way no one else could. Elle's father was a highly protective, at times overbearing, parole officer; her uncle, Karen's dad, was a homicide detective. On an ordinary night, the Johnson family's...

"An award-winning investigative reporter shares the real-life detective story of how Klansmen came to justice in notorious unsolved civil rights cold cases--decades after they had gotten away with murder"--