Hollandsburg murders topic of PCPL talk

The Putnam County Public Library Author's Talk Series will feature one of west-central Indiana's most heinous crimes on Wednesday, Oct. 29 when author Mike McCarty visits to talk about his book on the 1977 Hollandsburg slayings.

The free 6-7 p.m. program at PCPL is open to the public.

McCarty was nine years old when four young men burst into Keith and Betty Jane Spencer's Parke County home near Hollandsburg on Valentine's Day 1977, shooting their four young boys execution style, while leaving Betty Jane for dead. She only survived after her wig was blown off and the killers thought it was a fatal shot to the head.

The random thrill killing shocked the nation and forever changed a community in west-central Indiana. Doors that were always unlocked were now locked. Strangers that were welcomed with open arms were now unwelcome. Unloaded shotguns were loaded and placed under beds.

McCarty worked closely with Betty Jane Spencer to write "Choking in Fear: A Memoir of the Hollandsburg Murders."

The book is not your normal true crime story. It is a memoir told through the eyes of the writer as he is strangled by fear as a child, first watching his father investigate the horrible crime and then traveling behind the walls of the Pendleton Correctional Facility as a young detective to seek answers to it.

McCarty is the CEO of Safe Hiring Solutions LLC, a global background screening firm, and CEO and co-founder of eReferenceCheck, a competency-based reference checking software platform. Prior to founding Safe Hiring Solutions, he was a violent crime detective with the Metropolitan Police Department in Nashville, Tenn., where he was instrumental in the development and implementation of one of the largest community-based family violence investigative units in the United States.

Brown bags are welcome for the PCPL event. Light refreshments will be served.