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The last time I saw my friend Jack, we were in the hospital lobby
where we both worked. He walked through the door to
the second floor, wearing his familiar faded-green scrubs. 

I never saw him again.

About Connie

North Dakota was home to Connie Nelson for most of her career in marketing and communications. After retiring in 2018 and moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico, she became active in local writing and publishing circles, which led to writing her first book, Cavalier—The Story of an Unsolved Murder in a Small Town, a firsthand account of a traumatic 1986 incident. 

​The COVID pandemic provided the time to research and participate in on-line workshops to hone her writing and publishing skills, so as the world stood still for a couple of years, Connie utilized her downtime to write this story.
The famous author and philosopher, Maya Angelou once said,
​“There’s no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you.”

​That’s exactly how it felt, like I had an untold story inside of me, and I needed to talk about it.

Connie's True-Crime Memoir

Cavalier
The Story of an Unsolved Murder
​in a Small Town

When a sudden death isn’t due to a long-term illness or a car accident, but instead an unsolved murder, it’s like a wound that doesn’t heal.  And, when the murder takes place in a small town where everybody knows each other, everyone becomes a potential suspect.

As time passes, the chance of finding the murderer is reduced, but the idea that a case goes cold with no periodic review is difficult when it’s your friend or family member who’s been murdered.  This case remains “open and inactive”, but not “cold”.  Today, each of the original investigators have died and there is no activity on the case except for my research and writing.
​
I’m calling this story a true crime memoir.  My goal is to make sense of this experience while talking about how the lack of resolution has impacted me personally.  Sadly, this case is one of over 250,000 unsolved cases in the US, so I am not alone.
What Readers Are Saying

“This highly personal tale is told by someone who legitimately cares about the victim, revealing a carefully researched slow burn of a dark moment in her life that began in 1986.  Both crime and history buffs will be taken on a detailed tour of this unsolved crime from Nelson’s perspective.”

​—James Wolner, Host of Dakota Spotlight Podcast

"Investigative oversights, technological shortcomings, and media assumptions hinder the case, while rumors and speculation about Wahl's potential secret life swirl among locals...Nelson, a close friend of the victim, gracefully examines the process of grief and the impact of a killing on those left behind, especially in a tight-knit community, resulting in an intimate and oftentimes startling portrait of America's flawed justice system, and how it affects everyday people."

​—Self Publishing Review, June 2022

"This is a wonderful story. It is a riveting account of a murder in a small town. I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys reading. This is a great book by a first time author!!!"

​—Barbara Belle Perry, Ph.D.
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