Marney Rich Keenan to Discuss Book, ‘The Snow Killings: INside the Oakland County Child Killer Investigation’

Marney Rich Keenan will join the Ferndale Library on May 25, via Zoom, to discuss her book, The Snow Killings: Inside the Oakland County Child Killer Investigation. Keenan is a journalist whose work spans four decades, including 26 years as an award-winning reporter and columnist for the Detroit News. In the fall of 2009, Keenan broke the story on the most promising lead in the case, which has remained unsolved after four decades. One of Ferndale’s librarians will moderate the discussion and field questions from attendees in a Zoom chat. 

The Oakland County child murders spawned a panic across southeast Michigan in the mid-1970s, leading to one of the most extensive manhunts in U.S. history, all of which was captivatingly detailed in The Snow Killings by Marney Rich Keenan. After less than two years into their investigation, the task force initially created to find the killer was shut down without naming a suspect. The case went cold for more than 30 years. 

The Snow Killings is the first and only comprehensive account of what happened--taking readers inside the investigation of the still-unsolved murders--seen through the eyes of the lead detective in the case and the family who cracked open the 30-year-old cold case.

Over the last ten years, Keenan has been conducting hundreds of interviews, pouring over thousands of pages of police files, news clippings, and old T.V. footage while conducting extensive interviews with principal figures throughout the many law enforcement agencies involved in the case. As her website says, she has been down “too many rabbit holes to count…., and dead ends too.” 

On Thursday, May 25, the Ferndale Library encourages anyone still curious about this cold case to sign up for their Zoom event to meet Marney. After signing up, attendees can submit questions ahead of time via email, sending to: maggie@ferndalepubliclibrary.org