I got this book because it sounded very interesting. Once I started reading it, I was hooked. Two 17-year-old girls went missing in May 1971 in a small town of South Dakota. I wondered how that could happen in such a small town where everyone knew everyone. Did they run away? Did someone kidnap them and then kill them? They did not seem like the kind of girls that would run away. They were "good" girls, who never got in trouble or ran around with a bad crowd. The police exhausted every lead they had, but it led to nothing. They had to wait 52 years for answers. This book was very good, with good character development and storylines. I do recommend it.

This was a new to me author but I love books like this that take me into the lives of the victims so that I can feel as though i knew them before the tragedy struck their family and them. This was a great read that kept me turning the pages (in a sad way) and I'm still thinking about what these poor women went through. It hurts my heart. No one should have to suffer that way

Vanished in Vermillion was a fantastic read full of detailed information, and in depth true crime story telling. I had never heard of the case of Pam Jackson and Sherri Miller before (and for someone who watches a lot of true crime this is rare) and this one had me hooked from the very beginning. It gives great insight in to how inept the police were in this case, and also how certain pitfalls in life can leave people open to speculation and accusations. I don’t want to say too much as it could give away part of the story for anyone who doesn’t already know it, but for true crime fans this is definitely worth the read.

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As a true crime fan, I am always intrigued about cases I've never heard of. This was a great book full of information and research. How this case was solved was shocking! Very shotty police work, but they didn't have a lot to work with back in the 70s. The resolution was very sad indeed. This case affected so many people on so many levels. Great read.

Vanished In Vermillion


Two young women, rising high school Seniors, went to a party in rural South Dakota in 1971. They never arrived at the party, and they never returned home. For 40 years, no one knew what had happened to them.

At the time of the disappearance, the local police took the position that these girls were runaways who would return home soon. But months went by, and their friends and classmates graduated, moved on to college, and other places and things. Years went by, evidence was lost, memories went dark, and the case went cold. Decades went by, and their families grieved.

Finally, the case was solved. Some would say years too late.

I love my true crime, and this was very well written. It was very well researched and held my attention all the way through.

This book turned out completely different than I thought.
In May 1971, Sherri and Pam disappeared. Their case was never solved until 2013.
Raguse guides readers through tall the steps, good and bad, that were taken by investigators. I was appalled, shocked, and then astonished at the true story, when the car was discovered in 2013.
It’s sad that miscommunication and not sharing info were part of the delays.
This book isn’t a true crime but more of lessons to learn about mistakes made in law enforcement.

The result of hundreds of interviews, Vanished in Vermillion is a cold case story that flips the script on a typical investigation narrative.
Had me enthralled ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was a "can't put it down" book for me. It was a very interesting true crime case that I had not heard of before. It was well researched and written in a way that had enough twists and turns that it kept me guessing about how it would end. One of the best books I have read so far this year!

With thanks to the author, publishers Post Hill Press, and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

As someone with a disturbingly-high level of interest in true crime, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I had never come across this case before, but I felt that the author did a great job of taking information and testimony from the different characters in the case and distilling it all down into a coherent chronological storyline that read almost more like a work of fiction at times than a real event.

The book also provided an interesting insight into police attitudes in the early 70s US, and the somewhat limited (by today’s standards at least) arsenal of forensic tools and techniques available to them to solve missing person cases such as this one.

I felt compelled to do some more online reading on the case myself after finishing this book but, apart from some additional photos of places of interest and items recovered during the investigation, I was unable to learn anything new, which is a testament to the amount of meticulous research the author must have done in putting it all together.

I enjoyed this true crime novel. I appreciated that they didn't spend too much time on background and dove right into the investigation. This was an interesting case, and the author did a good job covering the different angles.

As a true crime junkie, I was super impressed with this book. The author did an incredible job or piecing the story together of the disappearance of Pam Jackson and Sheri Miller in the early 70’s from Vermillion, South Dakota. Ragusa does a great job of weaving together all of the information from the girls backgrounds, what the families have endured, and the tragedy of a system riddled with errors. This book was a quick, easy read. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was so comprehensive about the disappearance! I remembered reading about the discovery of the car when it first broke the news, so when I noticed a book about the whole tragedy I wanted to read about what happened. It was fascinating. I will be recommending this book to True Crime lovers.

In May 1971, seventeen-year-olds Pam Jackson & Sherri Miller visited Sherri's grandmother in hospital, then set off to an end-of-the-school-year party being held out of town. Neither girls were ones for lots of partying & they couldn't find the spot where it was being held, so when they ran into three local boys they knew, they asked where the party was. The boys told them to follow their car & they headed out of town with the girls following in their rundown Studebaker Lark. At some point (recollections afterwards varied) the cars got separated & the girls disappeared. The boys thought they had either gotten lost or headed home, but the girls never returned home.

When their families reported them missing, the local sheriff wanted to write it off as two girls having gone off for an adventure. Even when it was pointed out that they hadn't taken any money, Pam hadn't taken her medication with her, & Sherri's grandmother was in the hospital - all good reasons for believing they hadn't just taken off - he refused to investigate further. This was just the start of professional incompetence from several different agencies who either didn't interview witnesses or assumed searches had been carried out by previous investigators. A third local family, the Lykkens, would be drawn into the story due to their son, Peter, who was jailed later on for attacking several of his ex-girlfriends. Where Pam & Sherri went missing was not far from the Lykkens' family farm, did the then sixteen-year-old Peter have something to do with their disappearance? It would take over 40 years for the truth about what happened that night to be revealed.

This is one for all true crime fans out there. It's a compelling, well-written account of the twists & turns that this strange story took on the journey towards the truth finally being revealed. It sometimes strays into giving maybe a little too much background on some aspects which slows down the narrative, but on the whole,. it keeps the attention well. I must say that it doesn't give one much faith in the competence of law enforcement at times. Well researched & well worth reading.

My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Post Hill Press, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

"𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ," 𝐴𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑒 𝐽𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑. "𝑁𝑜𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔."⁠
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Calling all true crime fans...you do not want to miss this book about the disappearance of two small town teenagers in 1971 and how law enforcement went about solving their cold case. ⁠
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This unique, bizarre cold case could easily be a criminal law case study in what NOT to do. What happened was heartbreaking, sad, and potentially avoidable. Not only for Pam's and Sherri's families who waited decades for answers, but also for the suspect's family who were put through the ringer to find evidence.⁠
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Lou's passion for investigative journalism is evident as he provides a tremendously detailed and complete case history surrounding the disappearance of Pam and Sherri. For anyone who grew up in a small Midwest town, the sites, characters, and biases may feel eerily familiar. ⁠
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For full disclosure, Lou is my brother-in-law and has been interested in this case for as long as I have known him. I am proud to see his hard work and investigative skills result in this book. ⁠ Thank you to @netgalley and @posthillpress for an advance copy!

An excellent true story concerning two young girls that disappeared overnight.
Unfortunately, this started an all-out persecution towards a family by the police believing and relying on local gossip, eventually bringing in the cold case section as their starting point without following correct procedures.
Lou Raguse has studied and combed all possible outcomes of coping with help and also interference from families and members of the police force.
This complicated story is not solved until 41 years later.
An independent review NetGally / Post Hill Press.

Wow! I finished this book in a few hours and MAN, this was a wild ride. Huge thanks to NetGalley, Post Hill Press (publisher), Simon & Schuster (distributor), and Lou Raguse.

Okay, my first question is how the heck have I never heard of this case? I am a true crime podcast, book, and subreddit junkie. I am not sure how this one slipped under the radar. Brief rundown: Pam Jackson and Sherri Miller went missing from Vermillion, South Dakota in the early 70s. They were on their way to a party when they stopped to ask small group of teen boys for directions. Those boys were the last individuals to see Pam and Sherri, and decades passed without answers.

Raguse, an experienced courtroom journalist in the Minnesota area, has truly given readers a gift. If there's ever been a true crime book that exposes what happens when law enforcement insists it creates the means to justify the end, this is it. The author thoroughly depicts the search for Pam and Sherri, and he also exposes the dangers of smalltown courtroom politics.

It's very rare that a true crime book reads like a thriller, but Vanished In Vermillion fits the bill. My jaw dropped not once, but twice, and I couldn't put it down. If you enjoyed the hit series Making A Murderer, this book is for you. And good news: Pub day is right around the corner on 2/21! Grab your copy from major book retailers ONLY IF you can't find it at your indie bookstore first ;-).

This case was beyond frustrating as far as it was handled and I couldn't help but be mad at the people in it and what they did to get to their conclusions, true or not. Of course they didn't have the DNA or know much about hypnosis at the time, but hopefully the law learned their lessons with this one. Just wait until you reach the chilling conclusion and wonder why it took them 40 some years to figure it out. This is a very intriguing read about two girls disappearing in the 1970s. I received this book for an honest review.

It's truly tragic how Sherri and Pam's story plays out - starting with a couple of teens doing what teens do, going to a party and getting kind of lost, and ending with a third family somehow being pulled into the mess that was cold case investigation. This investigation could be a case study on how to do everything wrong, despite the best intentions. Also an important lesson on not treating innocent people like criminals, especially with little to nothing backing it.

**There were some formatting issues and typos. I'm guessing the formatting comes from it being a doc copy, not yet a book copy - but wanted to draw attention just in case.

First things first: this is a nifty little piece of nonfiction literature. I have greatly appreciated the author’s work of thorough reconstruction and investigation into the Jackson-Miller case. Raguse has managed to compile a perfect report of how the whole instance has been handled, how it has unfolded, media’s perception and the consequences it entailed for those who have been involved in some way in the case itself.

As a reader, I can confidently say this is exactly how one should write a true crime book. The events have been presented chronologically, accounting for anything that happened – or was thought to have happened. What I have appreciated the most about “Vanished in Vermillion” is the fact that, despite being a piece of nonfiction literature, the writing is that of a compelling mystery novel. Raguse takes the reader by the hand and accompanies them towards the final and much-coveted solution of the case without letting on anything until the very end.

As a student on investigative journalism myself, I found Raguse’s writing extremely riveting. He has been able to add a certain amount of tension by throwing a considerable number of plot twists and turns in the mix while still rendering a detailed journalistic account of the events. Personally, I found this book an incredible rollercoaster of emotions. Desire to uncover the truth about what occurred to poor Pamella and Cheryl runs parallel to the incredulity caused by the utter incompetence of law enforcement. So many things happened during those 43 years.

I am glad I have been able to read this gripping account of what has been described as “the biggest law enforcement embarrassment” in the history of South Dakota.
My dearest thanks go to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read the book in advance in exchange for an honest review.

We need more true crime books like this one!