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  • Sleep, My Child, Forever

  • The Riveting True Story of a Mother Who Murdered Her Own Children
  • By: John Coston
  • Narrated by: A. T. Chandler
  • Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (255 ratings)
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Sleep, My Child, Forever cover art

Sleep, My Child, Forever

By: John Coston
Narrated by: A. T. Chandler
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Summary

The dark double life of Ellen Boehm, the mother who murdered her two sons - and nearly killed her daughter

Ellen Boehm, a single mom from St. Louis, Missouri, appeared devoted to her children. But in reality, she was unequipped for motherhood, financially strapped, and desperate. Within a year of each other, her sons, ages two and four, died mysteriously, and Boehm's eight-year-old daughter then suffered a near-fatal mishap when a hair dryer fell into the girl's bath. While neighbors wondered how Boehm remained so calm through it all, Det. Sgt. Joseph Burgoon of St. Louis Homicide had darker suspicions.

Burgoon soon unraveled a labyrinth of deception, greed, and obsession that revealed a cold-blooded killer whose get-rich-quick scheme came at the cost of her children's lives. Boehm had taken out insurance policies on her children with six different companies totaling nearly $100,000. Using police reports, case documents, and photos, journalist John Coston recreates the events that led to one mother's unspeakable acts of filicide - and a cop's relentless pursuit of the truth.

©1995 John Coston (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

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What listeners say about Sleep, My Child, Forever

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Very robotically read

The narrator is terrible on this audio. No feeling no dynamic, At times l thought it was computerised voice.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Constant focus on the women’s weight.

I had to stop listening because the first chapter is too focused on the women’s weight and as someone who has had eating disorders it made me feel nauseous

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5 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A chillingly awful case

I'm not sure I've learnt much from this book, other than that there are some people on this earth who are more evil than I could ever imagine.
It is good to hear the story covered in length here, rather than the small news items and Youtube 'documentaries' that never give the full, rounded details. Well written, everything I feel I need to know was covered, so the book doesn't leave me with unanswered questions as some books do.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

fat phobic comments in the entire book

Great telling of this murderer, HOWEVER

the repeating " fat and therefore undesireable" commentary is unnecessary. she was not well liked due to her personality first and foremost

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Interesting

I think it was a interesting read. Although considering it was in the 90’s maybe a bit of where is she now? Etc etc .

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

book

enjoyed this. Very good read, and good narrator. Worth listening to. Finished it quickly.
Bit slow at first, but persevere as it's worth the listen .

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Not as in depth as I would have liked.

I thought that too much was made of the descriptions of the murderess as`fat', 'un-attractive' & 'cold'. That's an opinion not fact. The account was lacking psychological analysis. The narration was fine.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not too bad

Alot of pointless information and first 30 minutes could be skipped as it's pointless information

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

waffle, waffle, waffle

This might have been a good book. It’s certainly a true story reminiscent of another similar case where kids got in the way of a good time and so the mother killed one and severely injured two others then tried to blame somebody else, somebody that didn’t even exist. This one goes in to way too much detail though. Do we really need to know that one of the key witnesses sat up in bed and looked at the clock the day Joe told her that Ellen had been arrested? I don’t think so. Then there’s a blow by blow conversation at the station which could have been cut short. That’s what’s wrong with this book. Otherwise, not too bad though I wouldn’t recommend it.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

robotic

fascinating story but poorly told. very robotic narration. I would have shared this but for that factor

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