Missing Boy

On November 28, 2001, in Chester County, South Carolina, police made a grisly discovery. Joe Pittman, 66, and his wife Joy, 62, had been brutally slain with a .410 shotgun and their house set afire with the bodies inside. Their black Nissan Pathfinder was missing. So was their 12-year-old grandson, Christopher Pittman. What had become of the boy? Was he still alive--and if so, for how long? The clock was ticking and time was running out.

Bad Seed

Christopher was found safe and sound in a neighboring county. But relief turned to suspicion as he told an improbable tale of a black man who'd killed his grandparents and kidnapped him. Eventually, Pittman confessed to the slayings and to fleeing in the SUV. In February 2005, he was tried as an adult. Defense lawyers claimed Pittman had been unhinged by the prescription drug Zoloft. It would be up to a jury to decide whether the boy who killed would have to face a man's punishment. . .

16 pages of shocking photos

Dale Hudson is the author of Dance of Death and coauthor of An Hour to Kill: Love, Murder and Justice in a Small Southern Town and A Reason to Live: The True Story of One Woman's Love, Courage and Determination to Survive. He lives in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.