RON PETERSON, JR.

 Ron Peterson, Jr  is a Virginia-based author whose best-selling true crime books explore compelling mysteries, consistently receive five-star reviews, and have been adapted for television.  He frequently appears on TV news broadcasts and podcasts, and is a guest lecturer at colleges and universities throughout the country. 

Peterson's new book, Runaway Groom, covers the previously unsolved 1983 murder of good-hearted country boy Petie Miller, who disappeared two days before his wedding in the Shenandoah Valley town of Staunton, Virginia.  Petie was suspected to have been murdered by his father-in-law to be, violent career criminal Charlie Almond.   But with little evidence against Almond and no body discovered to prove the murder took place, he managed to escape charges.  Petie's father believed otherwise, and for three decades, he tried to gather evidence against Almond, tirelessly working to move the case forward and bring justice for his son.  Finally, in 2015, special prosecutor Phil Figura took over the case.  Almond was charged with murder, and went on trial in the oldest "no body" murder trial in U.S. history, with 32 years having elapsed between the alleged murder and Almond's trial.

Peterson's 2024 release, In the Wind, is the true story of trailblazing female detective Kay Schucker, lead investigator in the high-profile Janice Starr missing person case at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.  In 1981, Kay unraveled the incredible mystery of what happened to Starr, a beautiful coed who vanished without a trace in the midst of an affair with an ODU professor.  

Peterson's 2018 book, Under The Trestle was selected as one of the Top 100 true crime books of all time and is currently in development with Mactavish Pictures as a documentary film.

Peterson's 2020 book Chasing The Squirrel  tells the true story of notorious Virginia drug smuggler Wally Thrasher, a daredevil airplane pilot who made millions flying planeloads of marijuana into sleepy Virginia airports in the 1970s and 1980s and then in 1986, was suspected to have staged a plane crash, and faked his own death.  DEA agents and US Marshals who pursued him believed he may still be alive, living the good life on the millions he made as a smuggler.  The book was a Top 10 true crime bestseller and the movie rights were acquired by  Los Angeles-based Urban Legends Film Company for development as a television series. 

Peterson's 2022 book, Eyes Of a Monster , explores a series of cold case serial murders in Hampton, Virginia, including the previously unsolved 1981 cold case murder of beloved schoolteacher Olivia Dare Christian.  In 2011, the case was re-opened by cold-case detective Randy Mayer, who with FBI assistance uncovered a suspect believed to be a serial killer.