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LaDonna Humphrey is an award-winning writer, documentarian, investigative journalist, private investigator, executive director and an advocate for victims of crime. Her passions include advocating for missing adults, crime victims, children in foster care, and for women in recovery. LaDonna is the co-founder of All the Lost Girls and True Crime Fest NWA, as well as the co-host of the Deep Dark Secrets Podcast and the Legends in Blue Podcast.
Notably, LaDonna was shortlisted by the 2023 True Crime Awards in two categories: Best New True Crime Writer and Best Indie Podcast. And in June 2023, her indie documentary, Uneven Ground: The Melissa Witt Story was selected by the Amazon Prime platform.
Reviewed by K.C. Finn for Readers' Favorite
The Girl I Never Knew: Who Killed Melissa Witt? is a work of non-fiction in the true crime and thriller subgenres by LaDonna Humphrey. As the title suggests, the work focuses on the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Melissa Witt, and the answers to her untimely death seem to lie within the Ozark National Forest, Arkansas. Humphrey’s vested interest in unmasking Melissa’s killer is impressive for her sheer determination and attention to detail, but also remarkable considering that she never actually met the victim in person. So begins a real-life thriller of cracking the case and the strange twists in life that following Witt’s killer have given the author.
I am an avid fan of true crime and trying to unpick and understand why vicious people do vicious things, so I was sucked into the exciting premise offered by LaDonna Humphrey from the start. That is not to say this is a gory tale, because Humphrey is enormously respectful of the tragic fate that befell Melissa Witt, and the circumstances of her death are never glamourized or used to gratuitous effect. Moreover, it is the dogged tenacity and powerful sense of justice that Humphrey possesses that rockets this work of non-fiction into action and will certainly keep readers flipping pages to see what clue is uncovered next and how these experiences have shaped the author as a person. The Girl I Never Knew is a superb work of true crime narration that no fan should be without.
