On an icy night five years ago, Johnnie Jordan -- just fourteen years old -- brutally murdered his elderly foster
care mother, leaving the state of Ohio shocked and outraged. He could not tell police why he did it or even how
it made him feel; all he knew was that something inside him made him kill. At the time, few people predicted the
swift emergence of a class of young so-called "super-predators" -- criminals like Johnnie who injure
and kill without conscience, personified to the nation by the Littleton, Colorado, tragedy in 1999.
In What Happened to Johnnie Jordan? acclaimed journalist Jennifer Toth, author of The Mole People and Orphans of
the Living, once again takes a look at the people in our society whom we so often discard and altogether ignore.
As Toth investigates Johnnie's crime and life, she unravels the mysteries of a child murderer unable to identify
his emotions even after they converge in acts of fury and rage. In the course of her research, Johnnie grows dangerously
into a young man who "will probably kill again," he says, "though I don't want to." Yet he
also demonstrates great kindness and caring when treated as more than just a case number, when treated as a human.
Through Johnnie's harrowing story, Toth examines how some children manage to overcome tragic beginnings, while
others turn their pain, anger, and loss on innocents.
More than a beautifully written narrative of youth gone wrong, this is the story of a child welfare system so corrupted
by bureaucracy and overwhelmed with cases that many children entrusted to its care receive none at all. It is also
the story of a Midwestern town struggling with blame and anger, unable to reconcilethe damage done by so young
an offender. From Johnnie's early years on the streets to his controversial trial and ultimate conviction, What
Happened to Johnnie Jordan? is a seminal work on youth violence and how we as a society can work to curtail it.
Ultimately, Toth ponders one of the most difficult and important questions on youth violence: If we can't control
the way children are raised, how can we prevent them from destroying other lives as well?