The Third Rainbow Girl: The long life of a double murder in the Appalachia by Emma Copley Eisenberg

January 21, 2020
Hachette Books
True crime, nonfiction
Rating: 3/5

I received a digital ARC copy of this book from NetGalley and Hachette Books in exchange for an unbiased review.

This book is more of a memoir than a true crime story. On June 25, 1980, Vicki Durian (26) from Iowa working as a HHA and Nancy Santomero (19) dropped out of a NY college to work in a Tucson thrift shop were murdered in southeastern West Virginia. They died in Pocahontas County where they hitchhiked to attend the Rainbow Gathering peace festival.

It was during the author’s experience living and working for almost 1-1/2 years in Pocahontas County that she developed an interest in this cold case. Likewise, she had spent many summers there as a Volunteer in Service to America (VISTA) to help alleviate poverty by empowering teenage girls to pursue their education. She states that her 5 years of research spanned over 7 states.

With that in mind, this is not a true crime novel in traditional sense, far from it. By the end of the book it is noted that was the author’s intention. She wanted to record her memories in West Virginia as well as the unsolved murders which occurred there. She felt deeply moved and sought to interview many of the people who lived through the terrible ordeal. There were many trials and accusations many about 7 local men who were considered disorderly drinkers. There was plenty of speculation regarding the police and politics of the handling of the situation.

Honestly, I was expecting a rather traditional true crime novel and felt confused and deflated at times. Although the two stories, that of the author and the cold case, are interesting it wasn’t my cup of tea. The story reads as unconventional as the author describes herself.

In the end I had to wonder about the title, The Third Rainbow Girl. It is only at the end that focus is given to Elizabeth Johndrow who was considered the “third rainbow girl” who survived because she left to return home before the group reached their destination.

The author relates so well with the characters and setting that she could be considered the third rainbow girl. Although she lived and worked in Pocahontas County many years after the crimes were committed, her experiences entwined with the history feels almost akin to her bearing witness to the events.

In the afternoon or early evening of June 25, 1980, two young women, Vicki Durian and Nancy Santomero, were killed in an isolated clearing in rural Pocahontas County West Virginia. They were hitchhiking to a festival known as the Rainbow Gathering, but never arrived. Their killings have been called “The Rainbow Murders.”

The mix of a true crime novel and a memoir makes it a unique read.

In the summer of 1980, an outdoor peace festival called the Rainbow Gathering was held in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. Vicki Durian and Nancy Santomero hitched a ride across the country for the event but never made it to the gathering. At some point on June 25, 1980 the two women were murdered and left in an isolated clearing where they were discovered by a local man late in the evening.

The killings became known as "The Rainbow Murders" and police believed the killer had to be local due to the location of the bodies. Suspicion was focused on a group of men thought to be in the area of the park on June 25 where the Rainbow Gathering was being held.
After thirteen years, the state of West Virginia convicted local farmer Jacob Beard and sentenced him to life.
Eventually, it emerged that the convicted serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin had already confessed to murdering Durian and Santomero but the prosecution didn't believe the confession fit what they knew to be true about the case. The doubt that Franklin's confession created gave Beard a second trial and raised questions when the men who had been suspected of involvement once again testified.

Author Emma Copley Eisenberg grew up far from West Virginia but found herself working in the state to help young girls find a brighter future than the statistics they were given. During her time in Pocahontas County, Eisenberg felt a bond to the land and its residents. She learned about the Rainbow Murders and spent five years looking into the crime and her efforts are published here in The Third Rainbow Girl --- part memoir, part true crime.

This book leaves me scratching my head. It lacks focus, alternating between Eisenberg's wax-poetic memoir of the bond she feels to the town and its people then switching to the history of the land before jumping around with introductions to key players in the trial.

I still don't understand Eisenberg's reasoning for combining her memoir with the story of the Rainbow Murders, even after she tries to explain it as buying back a debt to the county and because she cares about the two women who died and the nine local men who suffered for it.

There is no new information on the case in here and few people involved were willing to participate in interviews with the author. The focus on the case is mostly dialogue from court transcripts/police interviews and facts collected from news articles. Eisenberg highlights the inconsistencies in the stories told by the nine men and eventually meets with Jacob Beard and also a victim of Joseph Paul Franklin, but only to rehash details.

While the case is certainly fascinating, I don't feel enough time was actually spent discussing it. The case simply became filler; overshadowed by the memoir which romanticizes West Viriginia so much it becomes the main character.

I don't know whether to call this a true crime novel or memoir but both stories left me disappointed with the overall lack of focus.

Thanks to Hachette Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long History of a Double Murder in Appalachia is scheduled for release on January 21, 2020.

cover163695-mediumDid you ever find that you have something that constantly pops into your life? For me, that is West Virginia. When I was little, my dad's company would often send him to WV for work and those were the longest weeks, waiting for him to come home. When I got older, my first real-world love was from West Virginia and ironically, worked for that same company. Now, I have to laugh when our new principal talks about her life growing up in West Virginia and our other vice principal walks around the halls with a WVU alumni mug. Last week, I had one of my students tell me that he was going to be missing class this afternoon because he was leaving to head on down to...West Virginia...to see the WVU game. West Virginia...I feel like it finds me everywhere.

When I was offered the chance to review Emma Copley Eisenberg's The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia I knew that it was kismet and therefore, had to be reviewed here on my blog. Because? Well, West Virginia of course!

"Misogny is in the groundwater of every American city and every American town, but for me, it was done here."
- Emma Copley Eisenberg

If you aren't familiar with Eisenberg's book, then you should know that it is a true crime novel centered around the events that occurred on the evening of June 25, 1980 when three girls were traveling to the Rainbow Gathering in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. Two of the women, Vicki Durian, 26, and Nancy Santomero, 19 were killed in a clearing while the third woman lived. In 1993, a local farmer was convicted of the crimes, but was ultimately cleared of the charges when a known serial killer and diagnosed schizophrenic named Joseph Paul Franklin claimed responsibility.

West Virginia is a mixed bag of extremely rural, mountains and small city life once you edge into Charleston or to Morgantown. Where the murders occurred, the area is still extremely rural and most view it as being an area filled with people who are poor, uneducated and backward-- capable of extreme measures.

Eisenberg lived in Pocahontas County for a few years and the novel that she writes weaves together pieces of her memoir, facts about the case and the uniting thread that brings together the ideas about the case with a way through the haze of the passage and time and grief that has seemingly buried this cold case into local lore. Eisenberg takes facts from documentaries, local accounts and documents which do become lost and almost overwhelmed by her own opinions and thoughts on the murders and her views on life overall.

At points in the novel, I felt as though I was reading an extremely condescending view of West Virginia and everything that transpired because there was such a focus on the writer being "woke" as opposed to focusing on what the novel was ultimately about: true crime and the murder of these two women in a clearing. I would be interested to read more from Eisenberg as she finds her voice as a true crime writer. What really could not allow me to pick my own jaw off the floor as I read, was the pervading misogyny throughout the investigation and evidence files that Eisenberg presented. I couldn't believe how many hands that were involved in this felt in some way that the two women almost deserved what they got because of the hippie lifestyle that they chose to live. Overall, a very interesting case and a solid start for an emerging new true crime writer.
Book Information

The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia by Emma Copley Eisenberg is a true crime novel that is scheduled to be released on January 21, 2020 from Hachette Books with ISBN 9780316449236. This review corresponds to an advanced electronic galley that was supplied by the publisher in exchange for this review.

I really, really thought I would love this; I am a sucker for a memoir/true crime mashup. Unfortunately, despite a promising start, the book got bogged down in detail about halfway through. I found myself losing focus on what the story was. While I'm glad the place got such a deep dive-- it was fascinating as someone who has spent very little time in the rural sorta-South-- the book ultimately lost momentum thanks to too much focus on it.

I enjoyed this book, though it wasn’t anything like I expected. This book is a mix of history, true crime, and memoir. The author discusses this horrific crime, the history of the area, and also shares her own story and life. It was a bit of an odd mix but definitely gave a different and unique perspective.

The book is about two women going to a Rainbow Gathering festival in West Virginia. They were found murdered in a hidden clearing and though signs point to a local, the cast is never solved. The book talks about the events leading up to the women’s deaths and switches between the murders, the trial, and what happens afterward.

I found it very interesting that this read like an investigative piece in parts where the author had interviews with subjects of the book. The author took great care to get research from documentaries, news, and other sources. There were far too many characters to keep track of and there was a lot of conflicting information, which was confusing for me as the reader.

I love true crime, so I was disappointed that this book was more historical and memoir. There were a lot of details, but almost too many, and not all of them seemed useful to the story. To be honest, this could have been two different books, but felt like lots of things were combined to make one choppy story.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hachette Books for a free copy in exchange for my honest review!

This unusual blend of true crime and memoir is rather quirky and I’m not quite sure how I feel about it. There are places it felt a bit sideswiped to me, then I’d go back to enjoying it once again. The true crime parts were good, as was the history of the state and the research. The two women, Vicki Durian, 26, and Nancy Santomero, 19, were headed to a Rainbow Gathering festival in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, near the Virginia border. They never made it, having been murdered in a clearing that was mostly known just to locals, as it was not that easy to find. So suspicion fell on it being a local person. There was also a third girl traveling with them named Liz who survived but seemed to have disappeared.

Despite investigation and much speculation, the case went cold for a long time. It stayed fresh in many people’s minds though. Tips and breaks do happen at times later though, so some keep hope. Someone must know something. A good true crime book/memoir for those who like them, with some mystery and history. Advance electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author Emma Copley Eisenberg, and the publisher.

The Third Rainbow Girl was such a ... pleasure (?) to read. It's hard to say that I loved it because it's such a tragic story, but it is incredible! Emma Copley Eisenberg clearly did her research and wrote factually in a way that read like a story or novel. I would recommend this for someone who is interested in #truecrime.

I will start off this review with the fact that I did find this book very intriguing despite the lower rating. After all, two women were murdered and one man is blamed. Does the evidence fully support his guilt? No. Which I find fascinating. However, this book shows you the intricate workings of a small town. When enough fingers point to someone, surely they must be guilty? If not, the story can absolutely be spun to encourage witnesses to come forward with their version of events.

The Third Rainbow Girl offers a review of the events leading to the deaths of two women who were traveling to a Rainbow Nation Gathering. The book, employing the style of narrative non fiction, is perhaps more a coming of age memoir than an account of the double murder. The tone of the novel is conversational, as if Eisenberg is sitting on a porch reminiscing about her life in Pocahontas County West Virginia.

The book toggles between the 1980 murders of Vicki Durian and Nancy Santomero, the trial and aftermath of this pivotal event. Key to the story are James Beard, who was tried and convicted of the crimes and Joseph Paul Franklin, an incarcerated killer who claimed he committed the murders. The author has taken great pains to review pertinent documents, and when ever possible to conduct face to face interviews with the subject of the book. These sections reflect a journalistic voice, one that invites belief. The other sections describe the authors experiences living in Appalachia.

Eisenberg has made a commitment to honesty. This commitment brings the reader to painful episodes in her life, some that might make a squeamish person turn away. She writes with a voice that leans towards liberalism. She is unsparing in sharing both the flaws of human character in others and more importantly in herself.

Eisenberg is a young voice writing in the tradition of Truman Capote, and Norman Mailer. It is encouraging to see her growth as an author, moving from short stories to a full book format.
Like Oliver, this reader wants more.

Reccommended

This book I didn’t like. I wanted to like it, but it was everywhere. First, the murders would be talked about, then the author would talk about herself, then it would go back in the past, then the future. I just couldn’t make any sense from it. I am thoroughly disappointed.

I received an advance digital copy of this book from the author, Hachette Books and Netgalley.com. Thanks to all for the opportunity to read and review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The Third Rainbow Girl is a mess of a true crime novel. The author claims to have made substantial research but most of the book has nothing to do with the subject matter. Most of it seems to be the opinion of the author with the "wokeness" of current day and little of it to do with the murder of two women. The author throws out random factoids that fit into the timeline but have actually nothing to do with the events in West Virginia. None of the writing is presented through an objective lens.

1 out of 5 stars. Do not recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachatte Books for providing me with an ARC of the true crime story - The Third Rainbow Girl. In exchange I offer my unbiased review.

Emma Copley Eisenberg was quite ambitious with this debut work. Attempting to cover much ground, this book is threefold; parts memoir, part true crime and part geographical history of Appalachia. Unfortunately for me as a reader, the overall effect seemed disjointed, messy, unfocused and unpolished. I was expecting a true crime narrative about a 1980 double murder involving two young women who were attending a peace festival in West Virginia, but that’s not exactly what the author wrote. At the very start, Emma Copley Eisenberg shares the “facts”; who the killer was believed to be, his court sentence and the injustice of the ruling. Talk about spoilers!!! I’m not sure why the author chose to revel all this information up front as it takes away any suspense leading up to the arrest and conviction. A great deal of this book was more about the author’s ties to the community, her troubled years while she lived in West Virginia and the distressing history of Appalachia as a flailing region.

I’m not sure if this book needs more editing or perhaps a different marketing approach but I would have a hard time recommending this book in its present form.

Thank you for the opportunity to preview this book.

What a shoddy piece of investigation and prosecution. Alkire, Dale, Weiford all come across as amateur, childish idiots. It's unbelievable how Jacob Beard got convicted the first time considering the level, quality and nature of 'evidence' against him! And it isn't a stretch that much less has been used to convict black men for similar crimes.

The author is sensitive and articulate and comes to the project with a very definite view point, though she is no researcher and has limited interviewing skills. Depiction of her life story, sex life and suicidal thoughts were, in my view, unnecessary. But whatever.

There is something missing in the book: the basic detail is all here, the twists and turns and who said what when to whom and under what conditions and how unreliable they are as 'relevant necessary people'. But it looks like most of the data was collected from archive, documentaries, news reports and not much actual interviewing was done with the actual key people (or their lawyers, friends, families, area.) It all comes across as retrieved, second-hand data. The reaction of the families of the murdered women is also perfunctory and probably sourced from newspapers which reported at the time of the first trial (their attendance or reaction to the second trial is not given.) West Virginia is a character in this true crime story, its history is here, but not so much in terms of 70s, 80s, 90s era as to what life was like for Pocahontas residents beyond weather conditions. There are zero images of all key players / significant participants / accused (except archive images of three: Beard, Alkire and Weiford). Crime scene photogs are missing as well as the map of the place (though it is mentioned in credits) and pictures of all the key spots the murdered women were supposed to have traveled to / died in, should have been added / retrieved (as well as the Rainbow Gathering that left in a week's time) and the houses / work place locations of all the accused (since they are a huge part of the story and their alibis and their lives.) and where / how they lived would've helped in getting a sense of who they were as people. There are 2 pictures of the murdered women, none of their family, them with family or at their work stations (or at least in the case of Vicki, at her crowded makeshift house.) There is no picture of even the serial killer (though his drawn map is.)

But thanks to the publisher for the ARC. I read it, shaking my head at every second incredible line of things that were done in the name of investigation and 'evidence.'


<b> <u> Memorable Quotes / Passages:</b> </u>

If I am missing in any sense, it is a missingness I created for myself in order to be free. - Dawn Lundy Martin

reporter - that troubled and troubling term -

Misogny is in the groundwater of every American city and every American town, but for me, it was done here.

In America, protecting or avenging white women from a violation of their safety or sexual autonomy has been used to justify the unlawful incaceration of men - particularly poor men and men of color.

White men accounted for nearly 80% of suicide deaths in 2017, and men in West Virginia are committing suicides at a rate almost 3 times the national average (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

But for those who had left England seeking opportunity in the New World - the poor, the criminal and the dienfranchised - many found that these opportunities were not forthcoming in Virginia. A powerful class-stratification system had quickly been established, a scramble for power that left some one top but most out in the cold. Those who had come with slightly more resources and ties to the upper classes back in London rushed to expand their claims over those who had fewer. By 1770, less than 10% of white colonists owned over half the land of Virginia.

I don’t know what I am, but whatever it is, you can’t have me. - Irene McKinney

At my liberal arts college outside of Philadelphia, I destroyed every God - religion, literature, politics, feminism, art - with my self-important words, dismissing each as problematic and essentially worthless. I dismantled every system to make a new world, but then I had to live in it.

There may be no stronger bond than the one between two people who fundamentally do not agree about what happened in their story.

(Both said Jacob Beard shot the two girls.) (Johnnie) Lewis’ statement also said that he was with Gerald Brown, Arnold Cutlip, Bill McCoy and Ritchie Fowler, but it does not say (Winter) Walton was there - nor did Walton’s statement say that Lewis was there. Could there have been other people present when the two girls were killed that Lewis didn’t see? “Could have been.”

“A renewed investigation of the case led this week to the arrest of seven men in four states.” - NYT, April 19, 1992

The hick monster story has deep roots in the history of West Virginia and is wounbd around the story of American industrialization and capitalism. Before you can dispossess a people from their own land, you must first make them not people.

The articles wove a narrative of drunken backwood hicks and sexy hippie women, of two profoundly separate value systems that had touched because of the Rainbow Gathering, then wished they hadn’t.

“Local sentiment was that hillbillies killed a pair of hippies as an expression of anger over Rainbow Gathering”

These outlets also told the story that Pocahontas County was home to both “rugged physical beauty and a few rugged people” that were capable of “backwoods intrigue.” The place was rural and it was scary, they made clear.

“The bodies turned up near the driveway to Arnold Cutlip’s home, an address so remote the television was powered by batteries.” - newspaper coverage

Furthermore, a great deal was made in 1992 media coverage of the fact that Vicki and Nancy were not especially pretty.

Missing or murdered girl must be middle class or higher, and white, and must be attractive, also non-negotiable, to get the ‘full damsel treatment’ of an obsessive nation (a man and a woman of color never get it) — Eugene Robinson, Washington Post

“The heart of trump country”

“They were definitely not the type of women I’d want to have sex with. They weren’t the slimmest, trimmest little things.” - Jacob Beard, St. Petersburg Times, 1992

Yet the story that gender and thus sexuality had played an essential role in their deaths - a flavor in the groundwater we assume we taste whenever a woman is killed - had already solidified.

This is a witchhunt, Robert Allen told Beard. Pure and Simple.

Would Walton be willing to be hypnotized to help him remember things? He would. He remembered. Summoned one final time for questioning without his lawyer present, Lewis again said he had seen Jacob Beard shoot Vicki and Nancy….. (Beard, Fowler, Brown, McCoy, and Cutlip got charged again.) Walton and Lewis were both granted immunity for their testimony.

“It’s called a cafe’ coronary,” the medical examiner in Charleston said when they got his (McCoy’s) body. “People trying to eat, get choked on something, have a heart attack and die. Happens all the time.”

James Clayton Vaughn / Joseph Paul Franklin, 1984 (‘communist, race mixers, think they should be wasted, so wasted them.’)

“He (Alkire) kept saying ‘It doesn’t fit with what we know to be true’. He kept saying, ‘The killer has to be local.’” - Deborah DiFalco

‘Illusion of memory“

Re-trial, 2000: McCoy finally gave Weiford the statement prosecution had long been seeking - that he was there in the blue van when he, Fowler, and Walton had picked up Vicki and Nancy and driven them to the mountain, and that he’d seen Fowler cleaning the inside of the van later that night and noted bullet holes in its side. “Did you see Jacob Beard?” Farmer asked. “Don’t know. Don’t think so,” McCoy said. “Did you see these girls?” “Definitely not.” (!) McCoy had gotten addicted to heroin in prison and was hallucinating and vomiting from the withdrawal symptoms. He agreed to testify on condition Alkire would get him in a methadone program. He took the information in his testimony from the information Weiford and Alkire provided him. (!)

Then I told him (Pee wee Walton) that I knew the truth was more complicated than what had been reported and that I suspected he had been caught in the middle of two versions of events, neither of which were exactly true. I told him that so much time had passed and no one could be prosecuted anymore, and was there anything he could tell me, anything he wanted to say? “No” - and the line went dead.

He said, “I know what happened to that third girl.”
I said, “Jake (Jacob) there is no third girl.”

“I thought there were less holes in the Franklin’s stuff than in the Jacob Beard stuff.” - Corporal Michael Jordan, West Virginia State Police (testified for defense) worked under Alkire in major crimes division but handled drug cases mostly.

In June 2016, southern and central west Virginia were hit by a rainstorm that quickly became a catastrophic flood that killed twenty-three people and destroyed homes, schools, infrastructure and businesses, and left 500,000 U.S. citizens without power. The event barely registered in the national media, and it took bureaucratic channels two years to release the funds that would drastically imporve the lives of survivors and repair the damage.

“Hitchhiking was a little like sloppy Budhism. We were putting our faith in humanity.” - Liz Johndrow, the third Rainbow Girl (currently director of a non-profit.)

Somewhat of a long winded account of the history of West Virginia, with some details of the crime thrown in. I didn't love this novel, but it wasn't a bad read either, just a lot of information that I don't think was necessary in order to tell the stories of these women.

In 1980, a festival called the Rainbow Gathering was held in a National Park deep in West Virginia's Pocahontas county. Attended by hippies and free spirits, some of the local residents were not pleased with the influx of outsiders. Then two young women on their way to the Gathering were found murdered not far from their destination. The local police quickly reach the conclusion that the murderer was a local, but who the culprit was, in an isolated part of the country where most people know each other and many are related, is no small task.

Emma Copley Eisenberg lived in Pocahontas county after finishing university. She was employed by a camp working to improve educational outcomes among local girls and she found the work both inspiring and frustrating. At the same time, her own life was spinning out of control, even as she fell in love with the people and the landscape of West Virginia.

This work is that odd hybrid of true crime and personal memoir, a new format that includes books like The Fact of a Body by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich and Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession by Alice Bolin. It's an odd mix of an intensely personal account of the years the author lived in West Virgina, where her behavior grew uncontrolled and then dangerous, until she moved back to the safety of a big city, and an impersonal account of a true crime. The depth of the one is not met by depth on the account she writes of the double murder, so there's the feeling of reading two different books sandwiched together. The true crime account is hampered by the large cast of characters, who all presented conflicting accounts of what happened and the identity of the likely actual murderer. Eisenberg isn't able to create a cohesive narrative out of the sheer amount of information she has to work with, and all her character studies remain frustratingly superficial. One is left with the feeling that the author would have been better served by writing a long article about the crime and saving her personal story for a later time. The writing was solid and once Eisenberg finds her subject matter, she's certain to write something well worth reading.

A well researched true crime novel about the murders that occurred in Pocahantas County in the summer of 1980. I had never heard about this crime before. The author also wrote a great deal about the local culture and history which was interesting to learn. The book was well written though it did seem to be repetitive at times. Thank you to Netgalley and Hachette Books for an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Very remarkable and little-know story about the murder of 2 hitchhiker’s in Appalachian West Virginia on their way to attend a peace festival known as the Rainbow Festival in 1980. This book is very well researched and you get quite a bit of local feel as the author lived in the area for years which is how she came to know the case.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Thank you @Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
**
It pains me to say this but this is the first book I DNF in a very, very long time. Shortly after starting this book yesterday I didn't think it will be for me; however I figured I would give it the good old try and see if I would like it a little later on.
I was at 25% before I completely gave up on trying to force the read. I was looking for this book to be about the murder of 2 girls in Pocahontas County, and while it did briefly touch on this subject during the first 1/4 of this book it wasn't enough to get me hooked. A large portion of what I read seemed to be more the authors personal stay and her history is West Virginia, than about the actual murders themselves.

The true crime aspect of this book was interesting and captivating. Considering I had never heard about the Rainbow Murders. From the description of this book I was only expecting true crime specifically about these murders. However there was a lot of local history included as well as the authors own experience of growing up and her time spent in the same area. I was not expecting these sections and was a little thrown off by them.