Ghost Burglar: The True Story of Bernard Welch: Master Thief, Ruthless Con Man, and Cold-Blooded Killer - Softcover

Jack Burch; James D. King

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9781886028951: Ghost Burglar: The True Story of Bernard Welch: Master Thief, Ruthless Con Man, and Cold-Blooded Killer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1886028958 ISBN 13: 9781886028951

Publisher: Savage Press, 2012

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Sociopath, murderer, thief...Bernard C. Welch was all these yet he passed himself off as normal. One of his favorite aliases, of the 11 known he used, was Norm. How did this One Man Crime Wave; manage to escape from two prisons, elude police for years and amass a huge personal fortune to become America's Most Wanted burglar? Reporter Jack Burch and Detective Jim King (who was the first to finger Welch) peel back the layers of the criminal career of the single individual that most Washington D.C. enforcement agencies thought was a gang of roving of thieves. The night of December 5, 1980 when Washington's most beloved cardiologist, Michael Halberstam and his wife Eliot Jones-Halberstam returned home to feed the dogs, Bernard C. Welch was doing his fifth burglary of the night in the Halberstam home. Halberstam fought back and Welch shot him twice in the chest. As Welch fled on foot, Halberstam, driving himself to Sibley Hospital, spotted the criminal and ran him down with his 1977 Monte Carlo. Halberstam died that night, but Welch--AKA Norm Hamilton--lived and the resulting trial became a media circus. This is the fascinating story of a criminal mind and life that wreaked havoc in the lives of thousands and thousands from New York to Washington to Duluth, Minnesota.

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From the Inside Flap:

Sociopath, psychopath, murderer, thief...Bernard C. Welch was all these yet he passed himself off as normal. One of his favorite aliases, of the 14 he used, was Norm, a name he took along with the surname of his common-law wife Linda Hamilton. How did this "One Man Crime Wave" manage to escape from two prisons, elude police for years and amass a huge personal fortune to become America's Most Wanted burglar? Reporter Jack Burch and Detective Jim King (who was the first to finger Welch) peel back the layers of the criminal career of the single individual that most Washington D.C. enforcement agencies thought was a gang of roving thieves. The night of December 6, 1980 when Washington's most beloved Cardiologist, Michael Halberstam and his wife Eliot Jones returned home to feed the dogs, Bernard C. Welch was doing his fifth burglary of the night. Halberstam fought Welch who shot the good doctor three times in the chest. As the cardiologist-killer fled on foot, Halberstam, driving himself to nearby Sibley Hospital, spotted the criminal and ran him down with his 1977 Monte Carlo. Halberstam died that night, but Welch--AKA Norm Hamilton lived, and the resulting trial became a media circus. This is the fascinating story of a criminal mind and life that wreaked havoc in the lives of thousands from New York to Washington D.C. to Duluth, Minnesota.

About the Author:

Jack Burch, Photojournalist with more than 30 years of experience as a television newsman, is a video photographer, director and editor. He has been an instructor in filmmaking and video production. He is a retired career public affairs officer, is in the US Army Reserves at Ft. Snelling, MN and a former military policeman. This is his first book.

James D. King, the Maryland police detective who worked the Ghost Burglar case for more than five years, and was the first law enforcement official to finger Welch, is retired.

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