Lawrencia Ann Bembenek was a tall, striking young woman. She could have chosen nearly any career, but she wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps. He had briefly worked for the Milwaukee Police Department, and from a young age she wanted to become a police officer.

The youngest of three girls, she grew up Catholic in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the 1960s. She ran the hurdles on her high school track team and took up the flute, graduating in 1976. For a couple of years, she attended junior college before working as a waitress and model. …

I’ve been mulling over the hazards of this profession and the perks, because I’m starting to see serial killers behind every tree. And, as I live in the South, that’s a lot of leaf-covered psychos.

I’ve written about 500 true crime articles by now, and even though I’m a slow learner a few realities are coming into razor-sharp focus. …

I am a battle-scarred veteran of the diet wars, a winner of skirmishes and medals but a loser of the war until this year. It’s been a big, fat (excuse the pun) mystery why I could lose for a while but never get down to the appropriate weight. I was rarely obese but always overweight, from childhood.

As the decades have rolled by, the mystery has only deepened.

I’m a 5’4” female, so the weight range for my small-medium build is 114–133. During my adult life, my weight fluctuated between 140 and 165 when not dieting. When dieting, I could…

In 1991, a young woman from Montana decided to bicycle through the American southwest on her way to missionary work in Mexico. Her plan was to meet up with other church workers, a calling she was passionate about. At 18-years-old, Jennifer Pentilla was independent — an experienced traveler, but trusting by nature. Everyone who knew her described her as compassionate, adventurous, and kind.

She was last seen in Deming, New Mexico, a dusty town not far north of the Mexico border. Deming sits along Interstate 10 and is one of the few places to get gas and food if traveling…

This article is written for the 80% of Americans who are overweight. If you are thin, either through hard work of God-given luck, you may not agree.

To stop overeating, it’s necessary to recognize that you overeat.

But how do you know? It’s simple. Do you have a weight problem? Then you are overeating. (Thin people overeat, too.)

Unfortunately, the concept of “just eating less” is so abstract it’s functionally meaningless. Also, it’s easy to say and hard to do.

It helps to turn the concept of eating less on its head. Don’t eat less. Instead, stop eating more.

We’ve…

I am sorry to report that if you don’t have a weight problem yet, you probably will. You may be one of the fortunate few Americans who can’t get fat even if tossed into a vat of alfredo sauce, but most of us aren’t so lucky. Or you may be young and still managing to out burn off your excess calories.

If you read fitness articles, you are probably also making an effort. Whatever the case, I have a theory and it involves cute animals.

Have you ever watched a squirrel dig up a nut and scurry back into the…

RESPONSE LETTER CONTEST

To Monday “Fun Day,”

Ha! You know that’s sarcasm, right?

Many would say my excuse is a tired one, ruined by the Nazis and everyone who’s ever worked in a parking garage kiosk, but I’m just doing my job over here! Without me, there would be no Monday, and certainly no Wednesday.

I’m not surprised you ambushed me with your open letter. All you’ve accomplished, though, is cementing your reputation as a bully and getting claps from people who are probably mostly afraid of you.

I’m the one day of the week that doesn’t ask for much. Once content to…