Read Dead by Sunset: Perfect Husband, Perfect Killer? for Free Online Page A

established, his business interests
    seemed to be booming, they loved each other, and they planned to get
    married as soon as Brad was divorced.   Their days had fallen into a
    happy pattern.   When Sara wasn't working at Providence, she was with
    Brad.
     
    Every other weekend, they planned their time around Jess, Michael, and
    Phillip.   And on the weekends that Sara was on callþas she often
    wasþBrad took the boys to the park blocks or entertained them in his
    apartment.
     
    He had the boys in the middle of the week for a few days too.   It
    seemed that he and his wife had calibrated their joint custody almost
    down to the minute.
     
    Sara sensed that Brad was often sad, and he finally confessed to her
    that his wife was continuing to make his life miserable.   Sara wondered
    just what kind of woman she was.   did she have to make everything so
    difficult?   Sara knew that she was a successful attorney, but she
    certainly sounded like a terrible mother.
     
    Brad needed Saraþand not just because he was having such a bitter
    struggle to protect his sons.   He suffered a wrenching loss in July.
     
    Sara was at Providence on an overnight shift when Brad called.   He had
    just learned that his father, Sanford Cunningham, had died of a heart
    attack at his fishing cabin in Darrington, Washington.   "He was sobbing
    so hard I could barely understand him," Sara remembered.   "He needed
    me, and I managed to find someone to cover for me so I could go home
    and be with him."
     
    Sara knew how close Brad had been to his father, and she tried to help
    him and his stepmother, Mary, too.   She went with Brad and the boys to
    Yakima for Sanford Cunningham's funeral.   And afterward she said she
    would buy a practically new twenty-five-foot Prowler trailer that Mary
    and Brad's father owned.   Mary needed the money, and Sara paid her
    eight thousand dollars, far more than the book value of the trailer.
     
    They left the trailer in Yakima, but Brad drove his dad's Chevy pickup
    truck back to Portland and kept it in the garage of the Madison
    Tower.
     
    He was grieving hard, but he went back to his job at the U.S. Bank,
    usually walking to work, although he owned several vehicles and Sara
    had a Toyota Cressida.   He was in top shape and enjoyed the exercise.
     
    All that summer, Brad and his wife continued to butt heads over the
    little boys.   There were trips to child psychologists, endless meetings
    with their respective attorneys, and more dissension when it was time
    to register Jess for school.   Brad had made arrangements for him to go
    to Chapman School near the Madison Tower, but on August 13 his wife
    apparently ignored his wishes completely and enrolled Jess in
    Bridlemile Elementary near her recently rented home in the West Slope
    area just outside of Portland.
     
    When Brad found out, he was furious, "You can't do that, Cheryl," Sara
    heard him shout at his estranged wife over the phone.   Her name was
    CherylþCheryl Keeton.
     
    Jim Karr, Cheryl Keeton's half brother, had been living with her and
    her three sons at her rented home on the West Slope for about three
    months.
     
    He had gotten close to his nephews, Jess, Michael, and Phillip.   "I was
    their nanny," " he later remembered.   "I was there to take care of them
    while Cheryl was at work."
     
    Jim was fully aware of how acrimonious Cheryl's divorce from Brad
    Cunningham had become, how they fought over every step in the
    process.
     
    He knew that it made her feel better just to have him living in her
    home.   Although they seldom talked about it, it seemed toSim that
    Cheryl lived in a constant state of dread.   3rad wanted the boys.
     
    Cheryl wanted the boys.   And sometimes it seemed that their fierce
    arguments would never end.
     
    On Sunday, September 21, 1986, Jim Karr spent most of the day at a
    girlfriend's house in Gresham and they watched the Seattle Seahawks'
    football game.   He usually felt guilty about leaving