A Rip in Heaven: A Memoir of Murder and Its Aftermath

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In Australia, "Tears in Heaven" was a hit record despite charting in the lower positions of the ARIA Singles Chart. The release also topped Billboard magazines Adult Contemporary chart, on which "Tears in Heaven" charted for a total of 30 weeks, [11] and also became a number one single on the Top 100 Cashbox charts. At that time, the single also peaked at number ten on the Belgian VRT Top 30 singles chart, where "Tears in Heaven" spent eight weeks on chart.

This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs. What occurs in the book happened within the author's family and the author was actually there when the murders occurred. Antonio Richardson’s clemency application cited the many hardships of his tragic childhood as explanation for the violence he perpetrated. Translated quote: 'Tears in Heaven' spent 34 weeks on the national French singles chart and peaked at number two, making it Eric Clapton's most popular single in France.

There is an underlying confusion to the proceedings, with A Rip in Heaven being sold as a memoir but – for long stretches – presenting itself as straight-up reportage. The sisters, and their cousin Thomas Cummins, had gone onto the bridge that night to see a poem Julie Kerry had painted on it, and as they did so they bumped into Clemons and three other young men who were hanging out there. My dear wife, you were the light of my life and I cannot express the grief I feel at your sudden departure.

The rapes and murders of Julie and Robin Kerry occurred on April 5, 1991, on the Chain of Rocks Bridge over the Mississippi River in St. When Lydia’s husband’s tell-all profile of Javier is published, none of their lives will ever be the same. Prosecutors alleged that he and his co-defendants brutally cut short the lives of Julie and Robin Kerry, sisters who had just started college and had their whole adult lives ahead of them. While they were beating me, they were telling me what they wanted me to admit to," Clemons told the Guardian. Only Tom survived, and his family’s horror was compounded when investigators inexplicably charged him with his cousins’ deaths.He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and forcible rape and testified against the other three in their trials. They came into the clearing suddenly and the moon opened up above them, lighting the cracked and broken concrete that stretched like the decaying bones of giants between them and the abandoned Old Chain of Rocks Bridge.