Deadly Deceit

April 25, 2011
In 1996, Brian and Jeannie Legg were shot, killed, and left in their sweltering Arizona home to be discovered by family members. When police first tried to question their youngest son, the 24-year-old David, he was on his way back from Hawaii with his 15-year-old fiancé. On the vacation he'd run up thousands of dollars worth of debt on his parents' credit cards and spent the money he'd made from pawning his mother's diamond ring. David Legg was arrested for murdering his parents and put on trial, found guilty, and sentenced to life. Lasseter recounts every step of Legg's crime, arrest, and trial, in detail that proves deadly. He has interviewed a number of people, most particularly Legg's ex-wife Alicia, and formed a clear depiction of Legg's crime and character. But a clear depiction does not a compelling tale make. And Lasseter (co-author of Honeymoon with a Killer) is repetitive, speculative, and tangential, often leaving readers either confused or annoyed (do we really need to know how many former Eagle Scouts are killers?). Legg's story is terrifying; the account of it is merely dull.