A Real Button Pusher
Review by Kim Cantrell
For many years now, I’ve been a fan of the true crime genre; reading nothing but these nonfiction tales of the worst side of mankind. After a while, while still interested in the crimes, the forensics, and the inner workings of the justice system, a reader can easily reach a point where the crime in and of itself has no shock value.
That was not the case in my most recently read book: Pure Murder by Corey Mitchell.
In this newest release, Mitchell tells the gut-wrenching, absolutely sickening tale surrounding the deaths of two Houston, Texas teenager girls: Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena.
On what should have been a short walk home through on of Houston’s city parks, these young girls had the bad fortune of meeting up with six of Texas’ teenage lowlifes: Efrain Perez, Raul Villarreal, Peter Cantu, Joe Medellin, Venancio “Yuni” Medellin, Jr., and Sean O’Brien.
Simply because the young, innocent girls were in the wrong place at the wrong time when these scumbags were “feeling their oats,” they were tortured, raped, and murdered.
For the first time in a while, this true crime piece managed to enrage me as I could not hardly fathom that in a group of six people there was not one decent individual that could have, in some way, helped these young victims.
And, as an added bonus, especially in a time where illegal immigration is such a hot topic, the attempts by Joe Medellin to use his illegal immigrant status as a means to absolve the indictment against him was, to say the least, infuriating. He participates in the raping, mutilating and murder of two young girls and he expects that this country will allow him freedom on a technicality?! I could not even begin to understand the audacity of this pathetic, spineless child killer.
If you’re up for a good read that evokes so many emotions you feel as though you are on an emotional rollercoaster, look no further than Pure Murder from Corey Mitchell.
Updates from this book:
Jose Medellin was executed on August 5, 2008.
Efrain Perez and Raul Villarreal had their death sentences commuted to life without parole after the Supreme Court barred the death penalty for those who commit crimes under the age of 18.
Venancio Medellin, who was 14 at the time of the murders, will be eligible for parole in 2028.
Peter Cantu was executed by lethal injection on Tuesday, August 17, 2010. He was 35 years old.
