Goodnight, Irene

Acknowledgments

Deep appreciation is given to the many people who helped me with the research for this book, especially Debbie Arrington, of the Long Beach Press Telegram; Bob Flynn, retired Evansville Press political reporter; Don Smith, National City Police Department; Sergeant John Conely, Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department; the Cypress, California, Police Department; Liz Martin-Snow of the California Dental Association; Skip Langley, for his expertise on fire and explosive gases; Garry Dougan of the Southern California Gas Department; Gary Wuchner of the Orange County Fire Department; Jacqueline Prebich, R.N.; Mark Prebich, R.R.T.; Ed Dohring, M.D.; Kelly Dohring, R.N.; Enda Brennan, Public Defender extraordinaire; Tonya Pearsley, Sandra Cvar, Paul Blevins, Peggy Lausin, Vera and Laurie Speake, and Sharon Weissman. A great deal of help in researching the book was given to me by the librarians at the Long Beach Public Library, the Angelo M. Iacoboni Library, and California State University, Long Beach Library. My thanks also to my friends and family, who were so supportive of this effort.

I am especially grateful to my father, John Fischer, who told me a story that led to writing this one, and to my husband, Timothy Burke, who encouraged me to write, shared the computer, read the drafts again and again and was supportive in a number of other ways.

While I acknowledge the help I’ve received from these and many other people, the errors are my own.