An Hour to Kill: A True Story of Love, Murder, and Justice in a Small Southern Town

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Summary: A chilling, true story.
Review: An Hour to Kill is a true strory about a murder that takes place in a small southern town. The victim is 17 year old Crystal Todd, who is enjoying being a teenager and her final year of high school; however, she meets up with the wrong person at the wrong time and all of that changes. You come face to face with the anquish of a mother, the determination of a police department, and the fear of a community. When the killer is identified and tried, further shock waves are sent through the peaceful town, as he is a well-known "christian" boy. As the prosecutors seek justice, his parents and other supporters proclaim his innocence. The vivid imagery, combined with the factual evidence, allows you to become a part of the story: you will feel the pain, anger, and sadness that forever changed the people involved in this ordeal and this small, southern town. This is a well written book about a story that sincerely touched my heart.

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Summary: The author's perspective, October 20, 1999
Review: "An Hour To Kill" combines the gritty and realistic elements of a good true crime story with the page-turning readability of a novel. By telling the story in narrative form, we, the authors are able to take you into the heart of a small Southern town to witness a gruesome crime. Experience the shock that ripples through the community as a teenager's torn body is found down a dark and lonely dirt road. Feel the impact that the ensuing investigation has on the quiet lives of the town's citizens. The brutal murder, in 1991, of high school senior Crystal Faye Todd, left townfolk of Conway, South Carolina searching for answers. What type of person would rape and murder a sweet, fun-loving seventeen-year-old, stab her dozens of times, and continue the depravity after her death? From the first alert of a 911 call, readers experience the pressures and frustrations of a massive, publicity- plagued manhunt. While following in the footsteps of detectives who track down the suprising killer, readers become embroiled in the controversy that polarized community-sentiments and cast doubts on the previously-assumed competence of law enforcement agencies. Could Ken Register, a church-going, hard-working young man, who was well- liked in his community, really have been responsible for the vicious acts that seasoned detectives identified as the worst crimes they'd witnessed? Why would persons of national celebrity status rise to the defense of the young man convicted just months earlier of exposing himself to coeds on the local university campus? The 1993 murder trial of Register was the first homicide case based on DNA evidence in South Carolina. What is known in 1999 about the forensic tools used in courts of law that might shed light on the Register case findings? Why is there still controversy over the case many years after the final verdict? What secrets hide just beneath the surface in Conway and, perhaps, small towns everywhere; everywhere, that is, that parents love their children? You, the reader, can decide for yourself. Got "An Hour To Kill?" Spend it with a thriller!!

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Summary: Synopsis of "An Hour To Kill: Love, Murder and Justice i
Review: In 1991, a small South Carolina town was shocked by the brutal murder of 17-year-old Crystal Todd, a popular high school student. On a cool night, while on her way home from a party, Crystal tragically ran into the wrong person: a long-time friend of the family, a clean-cut church-going young man whose dark side came violently to the surface that night... An Hour To Kill is the tragic true story of the strange and terrible events that forever changed a community. Authors Dale Hudson and Billy hills tells the true behind-the-scenes story of the crime, the lives destroyed by the murder, and the two mothers who fought for the children they loved.

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Summary: you wont put it down
Review: YOU WONT PUT THIS ONE DOWN, IF YOU LOVE TRUE CRIME YOU WILL LOVE THIS ONE. ITS ABOUT A NINETEEN YEAR OLD BOY, WHO VIOLENTLY KILLS A YOUNG TEENAGE GIRL, THAT HE HAD BEEN FRIENDS WITH HER AND HER FAMILY FOR MANY YEARS. HE HAS A HOUR BEFORE HE HAS TO BE HOME, SO HE DECIDES TO TAKE THE LONG WAY, AND HE MEETS UP SOMEHOW WITH CRYSTAL TODD . IT ALL STARTS FROM THERE. NOT TOO LONG AFTER, HER MUTILATED BODY IS FOUND. ALTHOUGH KEN REGISTER WAS WELL LIKED AND A CHURCHGOER, YOU FIND OUT THAT HE HAD A QUESTIONABLE PAST, THAT MIGHT LEAD YOU TO BELIEVE HE WAS A KILLER IN THE MAKING. IF NOT CONVICTED, I WONDER HOW MANY MORE WOULD OF FACED THE SAME HORROR CRYSTAL HAD. THANK GOODNESS FOR THE PERSISTANCE OF CRYSTALS MOTHER 'BONNIE FAYE' AND DETECTIVES DEDICATION TO SOLVE THIS HORRIBLE CRIME.

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Summary: Strangely written
Review: Out of respect for the deceased and the importance of the topic matter, I gave the book 3 stars. I don't recall the television coverage of the crime as it unfolded on TV. A few months ago one of A & E's true crime programs ("City Confidential", if I recall correctly) carried this story. The book doesn't adequately cover the persons involved nor the events, in my opinion. If you're able to catch the A & E presentation on television, by all means watch it; it provides a more rounded-out view of all that transpired and the parties involved.

This truly chilling story should be read by all.

Yes, the trial was covered.
Yes, the horrible fate of Crystal Todd was adequately outlined.
Yes, the authors were objective -- especially as the representations of the families involved (victim's and perpetrator's) are concerned.

But I have some criticisms as well:

1. The only photo of the victim is a marred portrait taken from a distance, on her headstone.
2. We are suddenly thrust into the "here and now" lives of these teenagers, with very little background information -- especially as regards their lifelong affiliation and friendship with one another (refer to A & E television program).
3. Large professional-quality photos of Mickey and Jane Spillane are included in the photos section, with captions as to their presence at the trial -- yet within the text pertaining to the trial they aren't mentioned. Ken, Mrs. Register and Mrs. Todd appeared on Sally Jesse Raphael and the authors cover that episode rather well...yet no photos from the confrontation on the show are reproduced. This doesn't make sense.
4. In the A & E television crime program, photos from earlier in the lives of Crystal and Ken are shown -- including a photo of them in a swimming pool together; both bathing-suit clad and she's sitting on his shoulders. I was surprised that this photo WASN'T in the book -- and, again, that only 1 poor-quality photo of the victim (you really can't even see what she looked like in life) is present in the book. As mentioned previously, I'm perplexed that little information about the years of their lives *prior to* the crime (especially as related to one another, or separately) is given.
5. Little is made in the book of Ken having viewed a couple of "snuff films" during the height of his pornography obsession.

There is one lingering doubt, however. I feel I must give Mrs. Register the benefit of the doubt (she seems an honest lady): If indeed she was telling the truth about Ken's appearance when he arrived home on the night of the murder, how could he have been so clean and non-disheveled? Given the extreme brutality of Crystal's gruesome murder, if he did indeed commit this crime how could he have avoided being hit by blood spraying, or not have sustained scratch marks, abrasions and perhaps a few bruises during the horrific struggle Crystal put up? Odd.

Read the book. But also try and catch the A & E television program pertaining to Crystal's murder. Rest in peace, sweetheart. I'm truly sorry for what happened to you.


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Summary: AN HOUR MAY LAST A LIFETIME...
Review: This is a very good true crime book about a murder that divided a small community and made national headlines. It involved the murder of seventeen year old Crystal Todd, who had been brutally killed. She had been stabbed in excess of thirty-five times, nearly gutted, practically decapitated, and raped. A resident of the small, good ol' boy town of Conway, South Carolina, her murder left its other residents stunned. All wondered how could this have happened in their town, and who could possibly have committed such a wanton, senseless murder?

Months later, after her friend and one time boyfriend, Ken Register, a popular, churchgoing, former All-American high school football player was arrested for her murder, all wondered how he could have committed this crime. Some even wondered if he had committed the crime, despite DNA evidence and a confession to the contrary, which indicated that Ken Register had, in fact, committed this heinous murder. It was during the trial that an unknown dark side of Ken Register emerged and shocked those who professed to know him.

This case gained national prominence, as it was one of the first capital murder cases to utilize DNA as forensic evidence at the trial and its use, as such, was still in its nascent stage and had not, as yet, acquired widespread public acceptance. Moreover, CBS ran a piece on the murder in which the show cast doubt on DNA evidence, as it made it clear that there were no national standards for either the testing of DNA or for the personnel who conducted such tests. DNA experts, Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld, who would later go on to fame and fortune through their association with the O. J. Simpson case, also interjected themselves into the matter, though they would later disassociate themselves from it. Even author Mickey Spillane and his wife, Jane got into the act, publicly claiming post-trial that Ken Register was innocent.

The book goes into a lot of detail about the case, its investigation and trial, as well as about the parties involved. The only thing missing is some substantive analysis or insight into who Ken Register really is. While his dark side did come into play, it may have added more depth to the book if the authors had spent some time on a more substantive profile of Ken Register. There is really nothing much proffered by the authors as to what made him explode into such a killing frenzy other than a scenario imagined by the case detective. Still, this is a book that those who are interested in true crime will enjoy.

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Summary: Good Guy, Bad Guy
Review: An Hour To Kill is powerful reading! I was particularly moved by the arrest, interrogation, and conviction of Ken Register.
As a degree holder in criminology, I know all about police techniques to get a confession. Good Guy, Bad Guy is one of the oldest in the book.
If Ken Register had demanded to see an attorney early on, would the police have refused like when he made other requests?
If so, his whole confession could have been thrown out.
I feel very uneasy with the deceptive, high pressure, police interrogation but I wouldn't want to be in their shoes either.
If Ken Register didn't get caught police would be excoriated for allowing a murderer to go unpunished. Police were caught between a rock and a hard place.