Brownsville, Texas is on the coast at the southeast corner of the state, just north of the Mexican border.  In May 2016, a building was demolished because back in 2003 three young children were murdered and decapitated there by John Allen Rubio and Angela Camacho. Rubio, is on Death Row in Texas after two trials. In the second, he pled not guilty by reason of insanity, but he was found guilty. Journalist Laura Tillman covered the story and exchanged letters with Rubio. The children’s mother, Angela Camacho, serving a life sentence for her part in the murders, refused to speak with Tillman. Not many in Rubio’s family would speak to her either. Nevertheless, she pieces together Rubio’s life story and addresses many aspects of the crime. The Long Shadow of Small Ghosts is a meditative book with a strong autobiographical element. It’s a rich resource, although often it is hard-going. Tillman addresses the history and geography of the area: Brownsville may be a poor US city, but it is much wealthier than the neighboring larger Mexican city of Matamoros. There is a lot of movement of people from Matamoros to Brownsville, and Brownsville benefits from trade to Mexico, and so money and class are central issues in the area. Tillman goes into considerable detail, and as with many of her elaborations on related topics, it isn’t so clear what it has to do with the murders. But it does give the context.

The central issues are why Rubio committed the murder, why Camacho went along with him, whether they were really responsible for their actions, and whether life imprisonment or execution are the most appropriate responses by the state. Tillman sets out a lot of information about child murders, senseless murders, family abuse, the justice system, the death penalty, and then some about the histories of Rubio and Camacho. A lot of it is interesting, but there’s not much focus, and it is hard to sift out what’s relevant and what is not. Both of the murderers had multiple psychological, emotional and family problems: mental illness, drug use, childhood abuse, cognitive deficits. Tillman doesn’t come to a conclusion but just raises questions. It would be a very different book if she had chosen to argue for particular conclusions. There’s value is letting readers draw their own conclusions, but the main effect of the book is to be left unsure what to think about it all.

The unabridged audiobook is performed by Julia Whelan, who has an appropriate serious tone. She brings some energy, but it is easy for one’s attention to wander while listening.

© 2016 Christian Perring

Christian Perring, Professor of Philosophy, Dowling College, New York