This book fascinated me but not to the point that I can say that I really liked it. Even after reading it I'm not sure if Hennis is guilty or innocent. In the beginning I was all for the guy getting off and then when he was found guilty the first time around and then got acquitted the second time around I thought ok justice has been served and then DNA came into play like it does in most murder cases. The third trial had him guilty again but I'm also like but what about all the other evidence that should be tested for DNA but hasn't been.
Guilty or innocent Hennis still hasn't explained how his semen came to be inside of Katie Eastburn. If it was consensual sex just admit that you had an affair with the woman and not deny it. I'm sure that there are ways to plant that kind of evidence but come on how would someone get it to begin with.
I would recommend this book to others to read just to hear their point of view on it and have an intelligent conversation about the pros and cons of both sides of the story.

This book is intriguing. I am still unsure about this case. I am also unsettled by the fact that this man has been through this ordeal and am unaware of the legalities of this case. I am stumped as to who is guilty, and am pained for the children who were lost. This is a book you ill not soon forget.

I love true crime novels. This one was so good I couldn't put it down. I had it read in 2 days

Innocent Victims follows the true story of the Eastburn family murders. The Eastburn Family Murders were made famous for many reasons in my opinion.1) the alleged killer is a military man and the family was a military family. 2) The first case that was tried 3 times on one suspect.
This book left me with mixed emotions. I don't know if Tim Hennis did this as he didn't have a decent and fair trial. At that time labs were faking results so the prosecution could have more wins, as a result innocent people have died. I believe that if he did the crime he should be punished but if he didn't and the killer is still out there.

A real page turner couldn't put it down, keeps you up all night.don't read alone

Love true crime and this was right up my alley! It felt a little repetitive with some of the details at times but overall great story!

Wow just wow is all I can think of when I finished this book. This book is as in depth as other crime books and the author does skim over or rushed through certain parts and I felt left things out. At times I felt frustrated because though the focus is on Hennis there are so many questions that this book fails to answer and leaves open to interpretation. It is a well written book but it will leave you with so many questions and no answers.

I really enjoyed this book. I've always been a fan of true crime novels and I felt Scott Whisnant did a good job of portraying the facts while leaving his personal feelings and opinions out of his presentation of the case. These kind of books can be difficult to enjoy when the author shoves their personal beliefs down your throat and you end up only getting a skewed version of the "facts".

I had the advantage of never hearing of this case so I went in with an unbiased view of the circumstances. I was immediately sucked into the plot from the moment the Eastburn's neighbors, Bob and Jenette observed the lack of movement at the house next door.

Mr. Whisnant's portrayal of the events left me feeling empathy for both the victim as well as the defendant and his family which I believe truly shows that this novel was written on a completely level ground for both sides. I was enthralled with the retelling of the courtroom drama and and sympathized with the defense and the hoops they had to jump through in the first case. I truly believe the first case was unjust due to the location and the incompetence of the judge.

Interwoven between all of the courtroom drama is the back story concerning Katie Eastman's husband and surviving daughter Jana as well as what Tim Hennis' wife, daughter and parents go through while he is on death row. This is where I became a tangled ball of emotions as I did not know whether to feel worse for the Eastman or Hennis families. Eventually I came to terms with the fact that there are no winners in this case and it was OK to feel equally bad for everyone.

This is a must-read for anyone who is a fan of true crime, courtroom procedural books or just a good mystery in general. Mr. Whisnant expertly keeps his readers engaged weaving in and out of the courtroom and into the lives of all parties involved in this case. I recommend re-reading this book even if you read the original 1993 publication as this version is updated with more current information.

This is a truly good, well-researched book. It is the story of Eastburn family murders in Fort Bragg, NC in 1985. Truly heinous murders which included Katie Eastburn, the mom of 3 little girls: Kara, Jana and Erin. Only Jana survived. Soon after, Timothy Hennis was identified as the suspect. He was arrested, tried and convicted. His conviction was overturned and at the 2nd trial, he was acquitted. This book goes through the crime and the trials. It shows a lot of reasonable doubt towards a conviction. However, in 2006, new evidence came forward (DNA), so the Army ordered them back to service to face a court martial. This trial's centerpiece was the DNA evidence which was found from the rape of Katie Eastburn. That DNA belonged to Hennis. He was convicted and sentenced to death. He is currently on the military death row. The book is very good and I do recommend it.

Innocent Victims by Scott Whisnant

I received this book in exchange for a fair review from NetGalley. I am a True Crime devotee whether in book form or docudrama. I try to see all sides and pay attention to evidence and people. This book left me baffled at the rush to judgement that was made on such flimsy evidence. The author takes you through what was found, what was processed and what was tested. So many things came across to me as glaring discrepancies between substantiated fact and quick judgement. To me the timeline, evidence and reason for the crime just didn't match up. The fact that now that DNA testing has advanced so much, that all items weren't put through new testing is unbelievable. If the semen sample matched Mr. Hennis, why doesn't pubic hair, skin from under fingernails, fingerprints or anything else also indicate his DNA. This was a man who right from the beginning came forward, gave samples of anything they requested and time and time again showed no fear that he would be a match to any samples they had. From all accounts, the book shows he was a respected and likable soldier and family man. Throughout the reading of the book, I found nothing to suggest to me that this was the type of psychopath the could leave his base while on duty, drive to the house rape and kill a woman and murder two innocent children, then return to duty as if nothing happened. The fact that the lab that did the testing was cited for so many infractions should have made it imperative for new testing to be done by an outside lab. In the first trial, the fact that nothing matched the defendant, but everything was qualified as possibilities makes it sound like a kangaroo court. The state contended that the semen that came from inside the victim could only come from the defendant, but the pubic hair didn't. What kind of logic is this? What happened to the semen sample he gave originally? Why didn't any other sample match his? The timelines don't even make sense. The book left me more convinced than ever, that he was railroaded by a rush to judgement by people intent on solving a crime and calming people's nerves. The fact that this crime was so similar to the other major crime in the same area just made the police want to avoid the circus that was made of that crime. I truly enjoyed the book, but wished that all the evidence had been retested and would prove once and for all that Mr. Hennis was innocent. Thank you for allowing me to preview this book. The last few true crime books I have read, had put me off the genre, with either boring or insipid storytelling, but this has renewed my interest.

This book was good, but it failed to keep my interest most of the time.

I was provided with an ARC of this book from netgalley and Open Road Media.

I read the first version of this book when it came out 24 years ago, and remember the details about the ad for the dog and the Members Only jacket in the story. What a crazy story with so many reversals and strange characters popping up. It's the only case of a person being convicted and put on death row, overturned, retried, then acquitted and set free, then convicted again in a military court and put on death row again. Despite the author appearing to leave the door open for more DNA testing to somehow prove Hennis' innocence again eventually, I don't see that happening He seems to have been rooting for him all along. I still have the murders stuck in my head, how cold and gruesome they were and how brutally they were carried out. The decades of suffering by the loved ones left behind. The added pain of them being found on Mother's Day, 1985. A fascinating read that follows the many crooks and turns, highs and lows of this wild story about the murder of the Eastburn mother Kathryn (Katie) and her 2 young daughters Erin and Kara Leaving the youngest, Jana alive but dehydrated in her crib.

Innocent Victims details the trials of Tim Hennis for the murders of Kathryn Eastburn and 2 of her children. The original trial verdict was thrown out due to the prosecutor with-holding evidence from the defense and being given too much leeway by the judge to introduce other evidence then claim that it was relevant despite not tying the defendant to the crime.
Whisnant brings the trial and all it's warts to life in this re-release of his 1993 book which contains the additional story of the 2010 Army trial which sent Hennis to Leavenworth. The readers will have to judge for themselves as to the innocence or guilt of Sgt Hennis, the only man to be tried 3 times for murder and found guilty, not guilty, and finally guilty,.

Wow!!! I had never heard of this case until now. I still don't know what to think. So much like the Jeffrey McDonald murders! I'm a huge true crime fan and without giving anything away I'll just say read this!!

True crime is one of my favorite genres. I was much looking forward to reading this book. I wish I could say I enjoyed this book, but I cannot. This book seems a bit biased, because it seems to not really takes into account eye-witness testimony as well as other various things that seems to point to the fact that Mr. Hennis is guilty. I would have liked to read more about the full story and not just bits and pieces. This was an interesting story, but I felt that more could have been written about it. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the advanced reading copy in return for my honest review.