Author died not| knowing serial killer murdered her daughter

LOIS Dun an devoted her the to ΤΟΥ Arquette

- GAIL SHORTLAND

American author Lois Duncan was best known for her thriller novels aimed at young adults. Several of her bestsellers inspired films, including Killing Mr Griffin and I Know What You Did Last Summer starring Jennifer Love Hewitt.

But while it was her fiction writing that won Lois critical acclaim, it was a non-fiction book about the unsolved murder of her daughter, Kaitlyn Arquette, that gripped the US and saw a sharp change in her career.

Lois couldn't continue to write about fictional crime when she was a grieving mother desperately looking for a real-life killer. But although she had her own theories about her daughter's mysterious death, she died five years before a serial killer made a shocking confession.

In the late 1980s, three female victims were murdered in Albuquerque, New Mexico. At the time, the trio of killings didn't appear to be connected. On 22 June 1988, University Of New Mexico student Althea Oakeley, 21, left a fraternity party alone after an argument with her boyfriend. She was walking to the house she shared with her brother. Witnesses heard screaming and Althea was found dead in the street. She had been attacked and stabbed to death.

A few months later, on 9 September 1988, 13-year-old middle school student Stella Gonzales was walking with a friend. A car pulled up alongside them and shot Stella in the head. She was rushed to hospital but died two days later.

The third victim was author Lois's youngest child, Kaitlyn, who was 18. She had recently graduated from high school and had been accepted into the University Of New Mexico.

It was 16 July 1989 and Kaitlyn was driving home in her red Ford Tempo after having dinner with a friend. She was behind the wheel in Albuquerque when someone pulled up beside her and shot her twice in the left temple and cheek. Kaitlyn's car swerved and slammed into a pole. The teenager was in a coma before she was declared brain-dead and taken off life support.