THE LOST SON OF SAM LETTERS

Back at the Office

When I returned to my office and had a chance to read all of the letters, I was faced with having to sit down and think about how I would incorporate them into my book. Thank goodness it was easy, only because I had a foundation of a book already written. Getting the letters—at least some of them—into the narrative turned out to be effortless. Understanding Evans and Son of Sam's relationship wasn't.

As for Bill and his wonderful family, who greeted me with kindness and trusted me with these treasures, I am forever grateful to them.

"Once you left," someone there that day later told me, "we took a moment to clean up the items and we all discussed how confident we were that you would portray all facets of Gary's life and childhood. We also were confident you'd return the pictures etc. you had taken with you ... [My fiancée] and I discussed many of the stories again and anxiously spoke about reading Every Move You Make and wondering what it would actually contain. Everyone had a sense of relief that Gary's story would be told from a non- judgmental point of view and nothing would be one-sided."

All Bill ever wanted, he told me later, was for Evans's complete story to be told. He saw Evans's criminal life as a byproduct of the sexual, emotional and psychical abuse Evans suffered during his formative years. Bill doesn't want people to think that it excuses Evan's five murders, but it does explain how and why he ended up the way he did.

As for the cache of Evans's materials Bill once had, they're all gone.

"I have no idea where everything is," Bill said, "just the way I like it. I gave it all to [the authorities] and never saw any of it again."