“This book will grip and disturb you.”
—David Healy, PhD
Psychiatrist, author of Pharmageddon and Let Them Eat Prozac
While Kim Crespi was getting a haircut, her husband David murdered their five-year-old twin daughters during a game of hide and seek. In the aftermath, family, friends, and even David have more questions than answers.
In 2005, Kim Crespi had what she later described as “the perfect life.” She and her husband, David-a gentle giant of a man, devoutly religious, a loving father, and a proven star in the world of finance-had five healthy, happy children. No one, least of all Kim, ever suspected that the life the Crespis had lovingly woven together could be destroyed in less than forty minutes.
In Medication, Mental Illness, and Murder, author Edward L. Jones III chronicles David Crespi's struggles with insomnia and depression, the role SSRI antidepressants may have played in the killings, and Kim's unimaginable journey of trauma, suffering, and eventual forgiveness as documented by her journal entries.
Using letters and other forms of personal communications with David, plus excerpts from scholarly articles and more, Jones takes readers on a journey into the dark heart of psychosis, of North Carolina's penal and mental health systems, and of Big Pharma.
“Meticulously researched, profoundly moving, by turns horrifying and edifying, Ed Jones's consequential new book is a must-read for parents whose children are growing up in an overprescribed world, and for psychiatrists and physicians who care about their patients' long-term mental health.”
—TERRY HUMMEL, former publisher, Rolling Stone
PUBLICATION DETAILS
Published March 18, 2025
Available in Hardcover and Ebook
284 Pages | 6” x 9” | 9781538199299
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers,
an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing
What readers have to say…
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"This is a story worthy of a modern-day Sophocles, and author Jones is up to the task, never flinching from the horrifying details of what happened that January afternoon, while portraying, in elegant, poetic prose, the faith in God and the love that has sustained this family in the face of the seemingly unforgivable."
—Patrick D Hahn, Amazon Review (March 2025)
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"Provides a compelling case for everyone to be more informed about what drugs they are taking for depression. The book provides an inside account of the Crespi twins incident that will make anyone openmided question the way our criminal justice system treats people with mental illness."
—Amazon Customer (June 2025)
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"Took a direction I didn’t expect — and that’s exactly what made it so compelling. The author masterfully weaves together themes of mental health and humanity, crafting a narrative that stays with you long after the final page.
—Julie J, Amazon Review (April 2025)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Edward L. Jones III has been an award-winning writer in two different fields: the Mad Men world of advertising and the (slightly) saner world of higher education.
During his ad career, Ed won more than 350 local, regional, national, and international awards, including two first-place Clio statues. His copywriting work has been featured in several college textbooks.
In his spare time away from advertising, Ed served as a community columnist for the Charlotte Observer. One of Ed’s most well-received columns was about the David Crespi case.
Between 2007 and 2018, Ed was the editor-in-chief and lead feature writer for three different college alumni magazines: Crossroads (Belmont Abbey College), Averett Magazine (Averett University), and Salem College Magazine. Over the course of his two careers, Ed has interviewed Templeton Prize winner Michael Novak, Hall of Fame broadcaster Dick Enberg, singer/songwriter Marshall Chapman, New York Times bestselling author Mary Davis Holt, golf legends Jack Nicklaus and Peggy Kirk Bell, and tennis Hall of Famer Cliff Drysdale.
Medication, Mental Illness, and Murder is Ed’s first book.