For more than two years, I immersed myself in a landscape and mindscape that were both familiar and foreign to me. I grew up in Wyoming, and it remains my heart-earth. Now I see those times and those people through the gauze of memory, and they haunt me.

The pages you've just read contain the names of dozens of people who helped me tell this bizarre story of Shakespearean proportions. I cannot repeat all of them here, but the reader must understand that each of them contributed crucial perspectives and unearthed memories that they'd just as soon have kept buried. When you read their names in this book, know that they were asked—and usually answered—some very unsettling questions. I am grateful to them all.

I logged thousands of miles, dialed hundreds of phone calls, interviewed more than a hundred people, sent countless emails, and walked every key site in this true story. Along the way, I had many true guides, including Glen Berghaus, Dr. David Burleigh, Amber Cabading, the late Rusty Collins, Bruce Corbett, Dr. Vincent Di Maio, Dr. Diane France, Diane and Marc Florita, Melvin Gustin, Dan Hausel, Susan Layman of the South Pass City (WY) State Historic Site, John Linn, Todd Matthews of NamUs, Vickie Vance Meredith, Damen Morrison, Marcia Murdock, Brian Oram, Mary Ostlund, Joe and Diane Prunty, Andres Rodela, Don Sammons, Tom Schingle, Joseph Smith, Bill Sniffin, Roger West, and Rusty Whiting.

The dialogue in this book is not a figment of my fevered imagination. It is reproduced faithfully from thousands of pages of court and police transcripts, audio and video recordings of interrogations, personal interviews by me, Gerald Uden's handwritten 250-page “autobiography,” and other official records where one or more of the key participants detailed the conversations for investigative and research purposes. Among the many who gave me transcripts or recordings, or enabled interviews, are the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, Laramie County (WY) Clerk of District Court Diane Sanchez, Fremont County (WY) Sheriff Skip Hornecker, Dee Herdt and Mark Horan of the Wyoming Department of Corrections, and US Attorney Christopher “Kip” Crofts.

You wouldn't be holding this book if not for my literary agent, Linda Konner, and editors Steven L. Mitchell and Jacqueline May Parkison at Prometheus Books. Early on, they saw this story's potential and stuck with me through some difficult moments.

Then there's the support team, who were always there with expert advice, a meal, a beer, a bed—or a willing ear. Sometimes all of the above. I owe more than thanks to Dr. Stacia Daniel, Bruce Moats, Dan Perala, Sandy TeBeest, and Bill Vandeventer.

And to my family, who understands the obstacles surmounted to assemble these words in just the right order. To my wife, Mary; daughter, Ashley; and son, Matt…my heart always belongs to you, even when it appears the occasional story might steal it away.