Nancy Rommelmann

The case was closed, but for journalist Nancy Rommelmann, the mystery remained: What made a mother want to murder her own children? On May 23, 2009, Amanda Stott-Smith drove to the middle of the Sellwood Bridge in Portland, Oregon, and dropped her two children into the Willamette River. Forty minutes later, rescuers found the body of four-year-old Eldon. Miraculously, his seven-year-old sister, Trinity, was saved. As the public cried out for blood, Amanda was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to thirty-five years in prison. Embarking on a seven-year quest for the truth, Rommelmann traced the roots of Amanda's fury and desperation through thousands of pages of records, withheld documents, meetings with lawyers and convicts, and interviews with friends and family who felt shocked, confused, and emotionally swindled by a woman whose entire life was now defined by an unspeakable crime. At the heart of that crime: a tempestuous marriage, a family on the fast track to self-destruction, and a myriad of secrets and lies as dark and turbulent as the Willamette River.

A True Story of Motherhood and Murder

To the Bridge

On May 23, 2009, Amanda Stott-Smith drove to the middle of the Sellwood Bridge in Portland, Oregon, and dropped her two children into the Willamette River. Embarking on a seven-year quest for the truth, Rommelmann traced the roots of Amanda's fury and desperation through thousands of pages of records, withheld documents, meetings with lawyers and convicts, and interviews with friends and family who felt shocked, confused, and emotionally swindled by a woman whose entire life was now defined by an unspeakable crime. At the heart of that crime: a tempestuous marriage, a family on the fast track to self-destruction, and a myriad of secrets and lies as dark and turbulent as the Willamette River.

a true story of motherhood and murder

To the bridge

WHERE TO GO TONIGHT The ultimate lowdown on L.A.'s rich and varied going-out scene--from the laid-back to what's hot, hot, hot, Rommelmann covers it all in over 200 listings. Bars Clubs Lounges Live Music Venues Late-Night Eating Spots From Hollywood to Glendale, Santa Monica to Silverlake, Rommelmann's Los Angeles Bar & Nightlife Guide is the fully cross-referenced and indispensable companion you need for hundreds of happy nights out. Whether you're looking for something on the down low or going for broke, Rommelmann has seen and done it all so you never have to spend another night in a wasteland. Get in the know. Know where to go with Rommelmann's Los Angeles Bar & Nightlife Guide.

Rommelmann's Los Angeles Bar & Nightlife Guide

Answers such food questions as what makes popcorn pop, what head cheese is, how olive oil can be virgin, and what makes bagels chewy

Everything You Pretend to Know about Food and are Afraid Someone Will Ask

Hillary Johnson

Goes behind the scenes of MTV's reality-based television series, and explains how they were selected

The Real Real World

In 1994, journalist Nancy Rommelmann accompanied Rick Gaez, a 26-year-old pen pal of John Wayne Gacy, on a road trip from Los Angeles to Illinois, to visit the serial killer before his execution. Along the way, she took the moral temperature of people on college campuses, in bars, in churches, asking how they felt about Gacy and his being sentenced to death, for the torture and murder of 33 young men and teenage boys. Shackled in a tiny visiting room on death row, Gacy nevertheless turned on the charm. Chatty, slick, acting the father figure, albeit one who wants to know a little too much about your sex life, Gacy offered his hand and said, “Ask anything you want—I’m not ashamed of anything I’ve ever done.”

Nancy Rommelmann

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