The Berman murders Unraveling the Mojave Desert's most mysterious unsolved crime

In the early days of January, 1986, Inyo County, California, law agencies were alerted to the disappearance of Barry and Louise Berman. The couple's pickup truck was found near a hot springs in Saline Valley, a tourist destination. Covering a large swath of desert and mountains, the valley can be an unforgiving and dangerous place. With each passing day, the possibility of rescue dwindled. Although police found that the Bermans had interacted with a few other visitors at the springs, they had no firm suspects. A lack of evidence led to the case going stale until 1988, when a park visitor discovered the Bermans' remains. Investigators zeroed in on a possible suspect, a former marine named Michael Pepe. They would be in for a rude awakening in uncovering the extent of Pepe's depravity. Kari deftly explores this cold case set in the expansive Mojave Desert, meticulously breaking down the ins and outs of the investigation while providing biographical sketches of the victims and the cruel forces of fate that brought them to their ends.

Attorney and journalist Kari debuts with a stirring account of his nine-year quest to crack an unsolved double murder in California's Mojave Desert. In 1986, Barry Berman, heir to the Kahlua liqueur fortune, and his much older wife, Louise, went missing from their campground during a romantic getaway at the Mojave hot springs. Although police suspected foul play, and the Bermans' remains were discovered in a makeshift grave three years after their disappearance, the case never led to any arrests. Kari, who learned about the murders as a young conservationist studying the desert, became interested again as a journalist decades later. His investigation put him on the trail of Marine Corps captain Mike Pepe, who encountered the Bermans at the campground the same day they disappeared. Years later, Pepe moved to Cambodia and engaged in underage sex trafficking, for which he was eventually expelled from the country, tried in the U.S., and sentenced to 210 years in prison. Through deep research, including interviews with Pepe's close contacts and the discovery that he was a key suspect early in the investigation, Kari mounts a convincing case that Pepe may have murdered the Bermans, possibly after soliciting them for sex. Dogged reporting and expert pacing make this a good bet for true crime fans. (Mar.)