[2][3] She was one of two children of Sophie Marie (Hansen) and Chester R. Stackhouse. SEATTLE -- Ann Rule, a prolific author of true crime works, has died. Its a difficult thing to say exactly why true-crime books are as popular as they are. Rule passed away in July 2015 at the age of 83, leaving behind more than 33 books, some of which have been turned into movies and have made it onto a TV screen. I would always ask my grandpa, 'Well, why are they locked up? The author of eight New York Times bestsellers, Ann Rule first won nationwide acclaim with The Stranger Beside Me, about serial killer Ted Bundy. The prolific Seattle writer of true-crime books brought serial killer Ted Bundy, The Green River Killer and Diane Downs to national attention. Starring Farrah Fawcett as Diane Downs,"Small Sacrifices"riveted audiences over two nights on ABC. But since Swart's alleged defamation of Rule occurred before she died, her claim survives her death, and her family can pursue damages. Her sons began taking advantage of her weakness last year, according to prosecutors. In the Still of Night is about the death of Ronda Reynolds . Her mother was a teacher, specializing in developmentally disabled children, and her father was a coach, but law enforcement also ran in her family: Both her grandfather and one uncle were sheriffs, another uncle was a medical examiner, and one cousin was a prosecutor. True-crime writer Ann Rule, whose catalog of more than 30 books included a profile of a former co-worker, serial killer Ted Bundy, has died at age 83. "[27], Rule's family and publisher, Simon & Schuster, announced on July 26, 2015, that Rule had died a day earlier as a result of congestive heart failure. In 2003, Rule was portrayed by Barbara Hershey in the movie version of the book. Ms. Rule died Sunday night (July 26). He added that Liysa Swart had written at least five explicit screenplays about killing her then-husband. Years after her imprisonment Debra began to correspond with a writer named Ann Rule who penned down a book named 'Bitter . . Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 - 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. In April 2015, her two sons were charged with bilking her out of $100,000. "It's funny. Weeks later, Bundy was arrested, and the shape of Rule's book about the Seattle area murders changed radically. Rule eventually penned dozens of true-crime works. She had left her career as a police officer behind to become a writer, her focus being a crime reporter. Rule began chronicling the crimes for a proposed book. July 27, 2015. She was 83. **It was nine days before Christmas 1998, and thirty-two-year-old Ronda Reynolds was getting ready to travel from Seattle to Spokane to visit her mother and brother and . YouTube. To choose a book subject, I weed through about 3,000 suggestions from readers, Ms. Rule told a fan in a CNN chat room in 1999. For access to all our exclusive celebrity videos and interviews Subscribe on YouTube! She wrote two 10,000-word articles a week for the next 13 years. Obituary. She claimed that she was a victim of spousal abuse and was defending herself and her children from a husband who beat her. Ann's books are so detail-oriented and put so much emphasis on the lives of the victims. The question haunted her so much that she turned to a psychiatrist, who told her that many people including police officers, morticians and lawyers face the same ethical dilemma. Rule and Downs famously clashed on a 1988 episode of "Oprah,"withthe true crime author systematically dismantling Downs' claims. Dead By Sunset: Perfect Husband, Perfect Killer? Part of HuffPost Crime. "I'm so nearsighted," Rule said. In October 2013, Ann Rule was scheduled to take part in a book signing event in Freeland, Washington, to promote her latest work "Practice to Deceive," an in-depth examination of the 2003 murder of Russell Douglas, whose body was found in an SUV on a lonely road on Whidbey Island. Ms. Rules books mainly focused on crimes committed in the Pacific Northwest. Dead by Sunset is a 1995 true crime nonfiction book by author Ann Rule.It is based on the 1986 Oregon case of the murder of Cheryl Keeton, who was found beaten to death inside her van on the Sunset Highway and the later conviction of her estranged husband, Brad Cunningham. Rule was born in Lowell, Michigan in 1935 as Ann Stackhouse. Suicide or homicide? After graduating from high school in Coatesville, Pa., she earned a degree in creative writing in 1953 from the University of Washington, where she also took courses in abnormal psychology, criminology and penology. The former King County sheriff who investigated the Green River cases, U.S. Rep Dave Reichert, R-Auburn, issued a statement calling Ms. Rule a good friend. Im sorry to hear of her passing, he wrote. Sadly, the fall proved to be the start of a downward spiral for the famous crime writer. She has been a full-time writer since 1969, and has published more than thirty books and hundreds of articles. The name did more than ring a bell. "She is unable to perform many activities of daily living without assistance," the court documents state. I really care about the people Im writing about, said Rule, whose accounts focused as much on the anguish of the victims and their families as on the depravity of the killers. The true crime writer Ann Rule has died at the age of 83. For one of them, she traveled to Southern California in the late 1980s to chronicle the murder of Linda Bailey Brown in Anaheim. According to Washington law, you cannot libel the dead. The accident marked the beginning of a downward spiral of poor health for the crime writer. [10] The book was filmed for television in 1989, with Farrah Fawcett in an Emmy-nominated[11] and Peabody-cited[12] performance. A former police officer who once worked side by side with serial killer Ted Bundy at a local suicide hotline, and who . Rule spent summers with her grandparents doing volunteer work at the local jail. According to The Washington Post, Rule was a former cop turned aspiring writer and a mother of four in a crumbling marriage when she started volunteering at a suicide crisis hotline once a week in 1971.That's where she met and befriended Ted Bundy, who was doing a paid work-study at the hotline toward his psychology degree, according to "The Stranger Beside Me." Ms. Rule, who lived in Normandy Park, Wash., is survived by her daughters Leslie Rule, a writer of paranormal crime nonfiction, and Laura Harris; her sons Michael and Andrew Rule and Bruce Sherles; and seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Leslie, then 14, didn't share her friends' assessment of Bundy as "cute," instead describing him as "icky." Ann Rule, the bestselling true-crime writer who once befriended serial killer Ted Bundy, has died. The doctor emphasized to her that what mattered was her feelings toward the victims. (They divorced in 1972.). [14], In its obituary for Rule, The New York Times quoted Rule on her approach to true crime writing and her favorite themes, writing, "To choose a book subject, I weed through about 3,000 suggestions from readers. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the suit in January 2011. As a child, Ann was surrounded by relatives in law enforcement: two sheriffs, a prosecuting attorney and a medical examiner. Both are free on their own recognizance awaiting trial. In 2013, Rule sued Rick Swart for defamation in King County Superior Court. "I have not found a single assertion in Ann Rule's book Heart Full of Lies to be anything other than true and accurate," Birmingham wrote. She had worked profiling some of the most heinous killers of the twentieth century in what has come to be known as her signature accessible style. Unfortunately, Rule's time on the force was short-lived because of her poor vision. Bundy expressed unwavering belief in Rule's abilities as a writer and offered her advice about her crumbling marriage. Rule would publish two more bestsellers between 1983 and 1984: "The Want-Ad Killer" about serial murderer Harvey Carignan and "The I-5 Killer," which chronicles the crimes of high school football star and killer Randall Woodfield (via Sports Illustrated). Still, the true crime genre thrived. Mrs. Shirley Ann Rule, age 82, of the Coldwater Community, Kentucky, died on Monday, December 26, 2022, at her home. She planned to testify in court. However, as reported by the Huffington Post, Rule's sons Michael and Andrew took advantage of their mother's incapacitation, using abusive tactics to bilk her out of over $100,000. The tragic death of Ann Rule. The made-for-TV film adaptation also starred Billy Campbell as Bundy. Northon pleaded guilty to manslaughter after the FBI recovered a computer that Northon had reported stolen, and found that she had been researching "poisons," "ballistics," "forensics" and "drugs," and had written an email saying she needed to acquire a silencer. Mrs. Rule was born on November 7, 1940, in Calloway County, Kentucky to the late Monroe Wilkerson and Clellon Cochrum Wilkerson. [1], Ann Rae Stackhouse was born on October 22, 1931, in Lowell, Michigan. Rule also attended the University of Washington, studying creative writing, criminology and psychology. Rule's next three books, The Lust Killer about Jerry Brudos, The Want-Ad Killer about Harvey Carignan, and The I-5 Killer about Randall Woodfield, were released with her pen name but following the success of the book about Bundy, they were re-released under Rule's name. Her surviving daughter, Christie, identified Downs as the actual assailant, and Downs was sentenced to life plus 50 years in prison(via TruTV). "Then, I sold some to the Seattle Times Sunday magazine," Rule told KCTS-TV. Rick Swart says his article was both true and protected speech. My mom died peacefully last night, Leslie Rule posted on Monday. He is . Oregon, where she is attending the trial of a former real estate developer accused of bludgeoning his wife to death. The 83-year-old true-crime author was confined to a wheelchair, feeling dizzy, suffering from a bladder infection, and having heart problems. I was about 7 and I didn't know yet about kids who had unhappy childhoods and all kinds of things that predestined them sometimes for a life of crime." He forged her signature on checks from March 2014 to February 2015, authorities said. She was 83.The exact cause of Rule'sdeath was not immediately known, but was likely related to heartfailure, her daughter told Q13 FOX News. The judge then awarded the defendants $10,000 each in damages plus attorney fees and costs. Ann Rule and Ted Bundy slowly drifted apart following the author's exit from the Crisis Clinic in 1972. Having inherited her mother's prodigious talent for writing as well as her curiosity, the younger Rule has chosen to concentrate on ghostly encounters and the paranormal. 48 Hours. Although Ann Rule lost her dream job as a Seattle police officer, her passion for criminology continued. Liysa Swart has championed legislation to toughen Oregon's domestic violence laws. Ann Rule, 84, the author of 30 New York Times bestsellers, has been in declining health since an October 2013 fall that resulted in a broken hip, according to court documents provided to The Huffington Post by the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office in Washington state. If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 18007997233. Bestselling true crime author Ann Rule was bilked out of more than $100,000 by two of her sons, one of whom demanded money while she "cowered in her wheelchair," authorities said. The death of these children under these circumstances is a tragedy almost too great to bear. Us Weekly has affiliate partnerships so we may receive compensation for some links to products and services. CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misspelled the last name of Rule's son-in-law as "Scorr;" his last name is Scott. She graduated from UW with a bachelor's degree in creative writingand minors in psychology, criminology, and penology. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Too Late to Say Goodbye: A True Story of Murder and Betrayal. Her mother was a devoted school teacher who worked with developmentally disabled children. The cause was congestive heart failure and respiratory failure, said Scott Thompson, a spokesman for CHI Franciscan Health, which operates the Highline Medical Center in Burien. Following the death of this beloved true crime author, there was an outpouring of support and words of remembrance. With a number of books written under her name, her brand is still going strong to this day and that's a trend that . The author broke her hip in the accident and was hospitalized. As the details of the crimes slowly unfolded, it soon became apparent that Rule's friend handsome, charismatic, and seemingly empathetic Ted Bundy was the prime suspect. Ann Rule wrote thirty-five New York Times bestsellers, all of them still in print. Her first bestseller was The Stranger Beside Me, about her personal relationship with infamous serial killer Ted Bundy.A former Seattle police officer, she used her firsthand expertise in all her books. She passed away in July 2015 following a heart attack, in Burien, Washington State USA. Rule's 1987 work, Small Sacrifices, tells the story of Diane Downs, an Oregon woman who in May 1983 murdered her daughter and attempted to murder her other two children. Her last book, Practice to Deceive, was published in 2013. After graduating from Coatesville High School in Pennsylvania, Rule made her way to the Pacific Northwest where she attended Seattle's University of Washington. In October 2013, Ann Rule was scheduled to take part in a book signing event in Freeland, Washington, to promote her latest work "Practice to Deceive," an in-depth examination of the 2003 murder of Russell Douglas, whose body was found in an SUV on a lonely road on Whidbey Island. WW reported that information the following week. Ann Rule wrote thirty-five New York Times bestsellers, all of them still in print.Her first bestseller was The Stranger Beside Me, about her personal relationship with infamous serial killer Ted Bundy.A former Seattle police officer, she used her firsthand expertise in all her books. Produced by Susan Mallie, Dena . An article published four years ago in Seattle Weekly claimed Rule had fabricated much of her 2003 book about a killing in an Oregon campground. The most notable also included Small Sacrifices, about Diane Downs, a Southern Oregon woman convicted of shooting her three children, killing one and seriously wounding two; The Lust Killer, about shoe fetishist and necrophiliac Jerome Brudos, of Salem, Ore.; and The I-5 Killer, tracing the case of Randall Woodfield, a Newport, Ore., high-school football star and former Green Bay Packers draftee who found his victims on the I-5 corridor. I knew one thing I didn't want to do was be a writer," Rule told KCTS-TV's Enrique Cerna. [19], Rule lived in Normandy Park, Washington and had four children, including author Leslie Rule. Wake up to the day's most important news. Initially, Ms. Rule refused to believe that Bundy was the killer. She was 83. The book, updated several times, was made into a television movie, Ann Rule Presents: The Stranger Beside Me, broadcast on the USA Network in 2003. Left her career as a police officer behind to become a writer, '' Rule told KCTS-TV and. 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