Black Heart

Severely beaten and sexually assaulted weekly by his foster father, Ace Keebler withdrew into a world of darkness where he nurtured a festering hate for his fellow man. On his sixteenth birthday, Keebler left his foster parents dead on the floor of their burning ranch house and set out on his own. Everything that Ace acquired from that day on he took, and it wasn't healthy for those he chose as victims. It was the outlaw's philosophy to never leave witnesses, and he could not understand why someone should be allowed to live who could testify against him. Two years after Keebler began his life of crime, he met two men in an all-night poker game who had the same values as he about another's life . . . zero. The two conveyed to Ace that they liked his attitude about not leaving witnesses, and the next day Keebler took them on as partners. The advent of that relationship began a shocking, monstrous crime spree that crisscrossed the Midwestern United States for years. Life was good for the three men: easy money and leisure living without having to worry about getting caught, and all they had to do was not leave witnesses. Kyle Mannford and Jubal Burgan brought a new dimension of lawlessness to the gang. For their pleasure, victims were brutally beaten, raped, or mentally tortured before receiving the fatal shot to the head. Kyle and Jubal had no problem with this type of merriment. After all, what was the big deal; the victims were going to die anyhow. On a warm spring afternoon in May 1850, the gang robbed an Illinois family of a significant amount of money they had received from an inheritance. Kyle and Jubal, and now Ace, beat and raped the mother and her children, while making the father watch helplessly as the brutality took place. After the fun ended, Ace shot each of the victims in the head as always, but this time was different. The youngest member of the family, a 10-year old boy, did not die and was nursed back to health. After coming out of a two-day com