Lethal Guardian

Written by M. William Phelps

Narrated by J. Charles

Family Feud
A real estate lawyer in Connecticut’s moneyed seaside communities, Beth Ann Carpenter, 30, had beauty, brains, and success. But she wanted more—namely guardianship of her two-year-old niece, Rebecca, daughter of Beth’s estranged sister, Kim. When Kim married Anson “Buzz” Clinton, 28, a former male exotic dancer deemed an unsuitable guardian by the Carpenter family, Beth Ann became obsessed with the idea that only his death could ensure that she and her parents would get custody of the child. On March 10, 1994, along a lonely stretch of road, Clinton was shot five times. His body was discovered by passing motorists.

Misfit Murderers
Behind Clinton’s death lay a bizarre murder-for-hire conspiracy that found privileged professionals and local misfits joined in a cold-blooded plot against an innocent man. This homicidal group included attorney Haiman Clein, 52. A husband, father, and successful businessman, Clein was Beth Ann Carpenter’s boss—and also her sexually-obsessed, cocaine-snorting, murderously obedient lover. The paid killers were two buddies, organizer Joe Fremut and triggerman Mark Despres, who brought his 15-year-old son Christopher along for the hit. The aftermath of this brutal crime would set investigators and prosecutors on a long and twisted path strewn with lies, treachery, and deceit that would cross the Atlantic Ocean before finally bringing justice home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: May 29, 2008
• ISBN: 9781423349372

M. William Phelps

Crime writer and investigative journalist M. William Phelps is the author of twenty-four nonfiction books and the novel The Dead Soul. He consulted on the first season of the Showtime series Dexter, has been profiled in Writer’s Digest, Connecticut Magazine, NY Daily News, NY Post, Newsday, Suspense Magazine, and the Hartford Courant, and has written for Connecticut Magazine. Winner of the New England Book Festival Award for I’ll Be Watching You and the Editor’s Choice Award from True Crime Book Reviews for Death Trap, Phelps has appeared on nearly 100 television shows, including CBS’s Early Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, NBC’s Today Show, The View, TLC, BIO Channel, and History Channel. Phelps created, produces and stars in the hit Investigation Discovery series Dark Minds, now in its third season; and is one of the stars of ID’s Deadly Women. Radio America called him “the nation’s leading authority on the mind of the female murderer.” Touched by tragedy himself, due to the unsolved murder of his pregnant sister-in-law, Phelps is able to enter the hearts and minds of his subjects like no one else. He lives in a small Connecticut farming community and can be reached at his website, www.mwilliamphelps.com.