Medical Murder Mystery: Ed Jones III ’77 Delves Into A Case That Shocked Charlotte

By family and friends’ accounts, David Crespi, a Charlotte area bank executive, was a deeply religious father and husband who adored his wife and five kids. In 2006, his wife, Kim, came home from getting a haircut to find that David had killed the five-year-olds during a game of hide and seek. 

The crime horrified Charlotte, captured international attention and sent Jones, who had met the couple a few months before, on a quest. He investigated David’s history of depression, insomnia and how antidepressants may have played a role, which his wife, Kim, believes. David Crespi is now serving two life prison terms. 

Jones’s book, Medication, Mental Illness, and Murder: What Really Killed the Crespi Twins, was published earlier this year by Bloomsbury Academic.

“My hope is that the book will help prevent other families from suffering a tragedy similar to the Crespis’,” Jones says, “and point people who are suffering from depression to more effective, evidence-based options for treatment versus neurotoxic pills.” 

In the book’s acknowledgements, Jones thanked his “army”:

“At the forefront of that army was a cadre of brilliant college classmates whom I affectionately call the Davidson mafia. And the ‘don’ of that Davidson family is Terry Hummel. Terry, the former publisher of Rolling Stone magazine, saw in an op-ed I’d written the makings of a potentially important book. Then, he proceeded to coach me through various iterations of the manuscript—invariably having more faith in me and my storytelling ability than I had in myself.

“Other Davidson College classmates to whom I am indebted include Kevin C. Shelly, an award-winning journalist, editor, and author, Katherine Lockwood, and Robert Westmoreland—all of whom served as insightful and supportive ‘beta readers;’ Ann Wicker, and my prayer warrior pal, Bucky Neal.”