Body Double (Rizzoli & Isles 4)

Travel Guide

Boston and Oregon

This book was ‘inspired’ by a real life case which was featured on the UK programme WRitten in Blood on CBS Reality

“Tess Gerritsen invites Simon to the state of Oregon in the US, where an incredible real-life case of multi-generational murder influenced her book Body Double. Tess and Simon investigate the story of Francis Weaver, whose grandfather, Ward Weaver Jr., and father, Ward Weaver III, had both committed serial murders, and who would himself become a killer upon reaching adulthood.”

“Ward Weaver Jr., Francis Weaver’s grandfather, had picked up his victims while driving trucks around Oregon and beyond. Upon killing them, he buried the bodies under the patio at his home. Years later, Ward Weaver Jr.’s son, Ward Weaver III, would commit a series of copy-cat crimes, picking up girls from bus stops before killing them and depositing them under his patio. When Francis Weaver reached adulthood he fell in with the wrong crowd, and by age 31 had committed a murder of his own, killing a rival drug dealer in Oregon City. Many believed he was fated to kill, coming as he had from a family of murderers. However, a twist in the plot came when a DNA test in prison revealed Francis had been the product of an affair, and wasn’t biologically related to his father or grandfather. Was Francis destined to kill, and is committing murder a matter of nature or nurture?”