The woman who allegedly committed one of history's most heinous crimes reveals for the first time--through an investigative reporter--her role in the notorious 1931 "trunk murder" The "truth" about Winnie Ruth Judd appears as complicated as the "truth" about JFK's murder or Marilyn Monroe's death. In 1931, Winnie was found guilty of killing her two friends in Phoenix and dismembering the body of one. She spent almost 40 years in prisons and insane asylums. In setting out to research the crime, Bommersbach uncovers a welter of lies and unanswered questions. It is a sensational story. Consider a near-hysterical woman accompanying bloody trunks across the country and later hiding out in a closed department store. Consider that same woman subsequently escaping half a dozen times from the asylum--once to a six-year life of luxury. Now add in the seedy undercurrents of Depression-era lesbianism, political corruption, prostitution, drugs, and smelly cover-ups, and one has all the ingredients for a good mystery. What is shocking is not so much that Winnie could not have acted alone but that so many people over so many years perpetuated that lie. Bommersbach speculates about what really happened, but much is left open. She did interview Winnie Ruth Judd, but the frail old woman was cautious--apparently still fearing reprisals. This is recommended for true crime collections. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 7/92. - Lois Walker, formerly with Winthrop Univ. Lib., Rock Hill, S.C. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.