The man no one believed The Untold Story of the Georgia Church Murders

“Rarely does one of our stories — one of our own — change the course of human events. Joshua Sharp asked the right questions, rejecting easy answers.” - Anna Quindlen, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and best-selling author. A gripping story of a 1985 double murder, a long-awaited investigation, and the fight to exonerate an innocent man. In 1985, a white man entered a church in south Georgia and brutally murdered Harold and Thelma Swain, two of the most prominent figures in the area's black community. The killer disappeared into the darkness of the night. The case remained unsolved for fifteen years. Authorities then focused on Dennis Perry, a carpenter who grew up nearby. Perry was convicted on grossly flawed evidence, and was sentenced to two life sentences. When award-winning journalist Joshua Sharp, a native of South Georgia, retraces the threads of the case, he discovers a twisting trail of corruption, blunders, and secrets. Driven by his desire to get to the truth, his investigation takes him through dusty court archives, along winding dirt roads, and through intense interviews. But he continues to knock on doors, even after they are closed in his face. Sharpe uncovers compelling evidence that helps prove Dennis Perry's innocence. He faces a long-ignored suspect: an alleged white supremacist who bragged about committing the murders. But the struggle for truth is not easy. When a figure central to the investigation is found dead under mysterious circumstances, Sharpe's sources and editors insist he may be in danger. Even as evidence of Perry's innocence mounts, local officials struggle to keep him in prison, until the Sharpe report forces the state to open a new investigation, thirty-five years after the Swain family murders. With Sharpe's tireless reporting, The Man No One Believed tells the incredible story of one of the most mysterious cases in Georgia history, the extraordinary struggle to exonerate an innocent man, and how state officials worked against all odds to finally achieve justice for the Swain family. The Man Who No One Believed is a gripping work of literary journalism, a thrilling true crime story, a searing condemnation of American injustice, and a poignant study of how we deal with the sins of our past.