Local author James Baumgratz has written his eighth book, “Unsolved Cold Cases from the Pennsylvania Wilds.”
He said he was inspired to write this book by one of the cases found within its pages: the abduction and murder of Kathy Wilson in Warren County.
He said he wrote about 43 cases from the counties that make up the Pennsylvania Wilds, including several homicide cases that have updated information received from the family members of the victims.
He also included several deaths that were not ruled homicides, but were considered equivocal. He said he chose to forego his usual deep dive writing style in favor of presenting just the pertinent facts of the cases.
Of the updated cases, two were found in Jefferson County: Harry Helscel from Brookville and Ike Hamilton from Punxsutawney.
Baumgratz said the idea of the book is to encourage anyone who has the slightest clue on any of the cases to come forward and speak to the police.
“I hope that people who like mysteries, they will find these cases to be good ones to read. If they know something or if they heard something, it is never too late to come forward and bring justice to these people that have died,” Baumgratz said.