New Castle's Kadunce Murders: Mystery and the Devil in Northwest Pennsylvania - Paperback

by Dale Perelman (Author)

Author Dale Richard Perelman tells the tragic story of the 1978 murders and the mystery surrounding them.

In the summer of 1978, a mother and her four-year-old were stabbed to death in the quiet town of New Castle. Police suspected the husband, Lou Kadunce, but were unable to find either a weapon or a motive. Sitting in a Lawrence County jail in 1981, convicted serial killer Michael Atkinson accused Frank Costal - a carny, petty thief and Satanist - of having an affair with the Kadunce husband and participating in the murder. A series of intense trials ensued as Costal was convicted of the homicides and a jury found the husband not guilty. Questions surrounding the case gripped the region and grabbed headlines in the Pittsburgh Press.

Author Biography

Dale Richard Perelman, a native of New Castle, Pennsylvania, has written Mountain of Light: The Story of the Koh-I-Noor Diamond; The Regent: The Story of the Regent Diamond; Centenarians: One Hundred 100-Year-Olds Who Made a Difference; Steel: The Story of Pittsburgh's Iron and Steel Industry, 1852-1902; Road to Rust: The Disintegration of the Steel Industry in Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio; Lessons My Father Taught Me; and The Scottish Rite Cathedral (coauthored with Rob Cummings). Mr. Perelman holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University in English literature, an MBA in industrial relations from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a graduate gemologist's designation from the Gemological Institute of America and a certificate of completion from the Yale University summer writer's program.