The true story of a heartbreaking crime at a nineteenth-century amusement park.
On a summer day in 1893, against a backdrop of laughter and barrel organ music at Rocky Point Amusement Park, little Maggie Sheffield was murdered-by her own father.
But the tragedy aroused a strange reaction from the peaceable community of Warwick, Rhode Island, as many seemed to be more concerned for the murderer, Frank Sheffield, than for his young victim. Frank was rumored to be insane or addicted to drugs, and after a trial, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
The murder did not tarnish Rocky Point's reputation as a premier destination, and the park operated until 1995. Now, investigating official records and newspaper archives, author Kelly Sullivan Pezza uncovers the facts and oddities behind a grim crime in Rhode Island's summer paradise.
Autorentext
Kelly Sullivan Pezza is a native of Hope Valley, Rhode Island, and has worked as a journalist for southern Rhode Island newspapers for seventeen years. With an education in law enforcement and many years of experience as a Rhode Island historian and genealogist, she has written hundreds of articles and several books concerning historic true crime and unsolved mysteries in Rhode Island.