Reporting

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SAN DIEGO · 1987Reporter at Beach & Bay Press, her first full-time newspaper job. Later business editor of the La Jolla Light and a reporter for The Vista Press.Beach & Bay Press

SOMALIA · PANAMA · LOS ANGELES · 1990sCovered Operation Restore Hope in Somalia, Panama's drug interdiction program and the Los Angeles riots.Military and crime reporting

LAS VEGAS · 1993–1998Crime beat reporter. She was the paper's police reporter when Tupac Shakur was shot in Las Vegas in 1996.Las Vegas Sun

LAS VEGAS · 1997Assigned to the murder of mobster Herbert “Fat Herbie” Blitzstein, at the scene with fellow reporter Jeff German.Las Vegas Sun

NEW YORK · From 1998Freelance correspondent. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, the New York Post, George, the Los Angeles Times and The Christian Science Monitor, and with Reuters.The New York Times, Reuters

LAS VEGAS · until 2005Taught journalism and advanced magazine writing for five years at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.UNLV School of Journalism

NEW ORLEANS · September 2005Embedded reporter with Best Friends Animal Society, covering animal rescue after Hurricane Katrina, then a staff writer.Best Friends Animal Society

LAS VEGAS · 2005–2007Wrote the “Crime & Punishment” column.Las Vegas CityLife

NEVADA · until 2007Nevada State Sunshine Chair for ten years and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists Sunshine Committee.Society of Professional Journalists

LAS VEGAS · 2012–2013Wrote the blog Crime, She Writes and freelanced for magazines, including The Social Media Monthly (June 2012).Crime, She Writes

SAN DIEGO · TodayWrites on crime for Psychology Today.Psychology Today

2026Judge for the CLUE Awards.CLUE Awards

Bylines

Selected articles and contributions under her byline.

NEW YORK · October 1998Dead Poet's Society. Magazine article on the Tupac Shakur case, later reprinted in the anthology Tupac: A Thug Life (Plexus Publishing, 2005).George

2012Masters of True Crime. Contributor to the anthology of true crime writers.Prometheus Books

WASHINGTON, D.C. · June 2012The Millionaire's Wife: A Case Study in Book Promotion. On promoting a true crime book in the social media age, compared with her first book tour in 1997.The Social Media Monthly

2015Murder of a Mafia Daughter: The Story Behind The Suspicions Robert Durst Murdered Susan Berman. Her essay on the suspicions that Robert Durst murdered Susan Berman, the subject of her book.The Big Thrill (International Thriller Writers)

2017The Crime Book. Co-author of the book, released by DK in the U.S. and U.K.DK

March 29, 2022Q&A with 4 Journalists Who Covered Killer Robert Durst. Interviews with four reporters who covered Robert Durst, in her Psychology Today blog, also named Crime, She Writes.Psychology Today

On air

Interviews and appearances as a reporter and author on the cases she covered.

LOS ANGELES · January 2003Connie Martinson Talks Books. Two appearances on the book show, talking about the unsolved killing of Susan Berman and Murder of a Mafia Daughter.Public-access television

January 2011Anderson Cooper 360° blog. Quoted in an update on the Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls cases: “the failure to secure the actual scene of the shooting and interview witnesses immediately doomed the investigation.”CNN

Dateline NBC, the Today Show, “The First 48”. She has also appeared on The Dr. Oz Show and in Vanity Fair's crime series.Network television

LAS VEGAS · July 19, 2023“It's almost like, finally” crime author says about Las Vegas police searching home in Tupac murder case. Interviewed after Las Vegas police searched a home in the Tupac Shakur case: “I like to write about the underdog, and, at that point, Tupac was an underdog.”KLAS 8 News Now

November 1, 2023The Killing of Tupac Shakur with Cathy Scott. Podcast guest of crime scene investigator Sheryl McCollum, on the 1996 shooting and new developments in the case.Zone 7 with Sheryl McCollum

2026Author of book on Tupac Shakur's murder discusses man accused in rapper's killing. Video interview on the case against Duane “Keffe D” Davis.ABC News

Awards

SAN DIEGO · 1989Best Political/Governmental Story, 1st place · San Diego Press Club (Beach & Bay Press)

SAN DIEGO · 1992Best of Show · San Diego Press Club (The Vista Press)

SAN DIEGO · 1993Criticism, 1st place · Society of Professional Journalists (San Diego Union-Tribune)

LAS VEGAS · 1996Best Spot News, 2nd place · Nevada Press Association (Las Vegas Sun)

LAS VEGAS · 2007Best Spot News Story, 3rd place · Nevada Press Association (Las Vegas CityLife)

2012Top 10 Best True Crime Books, readers' poll · True Crime Zine

2013Book of the Year, True Crime: finalist and silver award · ForeWord magazine

NEVADA · 2014Nominated to the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame

2014Book of the Year, True Crime: finalist · ForeWord magazine

SAN DIEGO · 2023Criminal Justice Story, 1st place · San Diego Press Club (Politico)

SAN DIEGO · 2025Criminal Justice, 1st place · San Diego Press Club (Psychology Today)