Cold-Blooded Kindness is based on police records, trial testimony, and interviews. Dialogue is reconstructed from the best memory of those involved, or the best available sources, and rechecked wherever possible against testimony, documents, and other reliable sources. Statements presented as facts are taken from sources deemed reliable and have been checked wherever possible against other reliable sources. Every effort has been taken to eliminate error—as such, however, human error may still occur due to the fallibility of human memory or my own misunderstanding. I would like to emphasize in this regard that any errors of fact or interpretation remain my own.

Carole Alden's own thoughts regarding the events recounted here are taken from nearly one hundred pages of letters she wrote to me over a several-month period, from November 2008 to May 2009. Carole's words have been paraphrased per copyright laws, but great care has been taken to retain the original meaning and context.

For convenience, I have referred to Carole Alden by her maiden name, although she has gone by other names.

I am not a healthcare professional—any observations made can in no way be taken as a clinical diagnosis.

The first use of a name that is a pseudonym is always in italics.