Hechler’s Blog

Every so often, someone says something that reveals they are skeptical about the supposed danger to which children in day care may be subjected. It reminds me of the responses I got years ago when I told acquaintances about my earlier articles on child abuse. After I...

An old friend from Finland, who has lived in the United States and visited many times, wrote to ask me to explain the results of the presidential election. I see it as THE BIG DISRUPTION. But this one wasn’t a disruption that came from the tech geniuses in Silicon...

I was glad that a parenting website was interested in writing an article about In Good Hands. The point of my book was not only to describe the twists and turns of an amazing case that slowly made its way through the criminal justice system, but to empower parents...

When I was in Columbia to promote my book, I arranged to meet with the three lawyers who represented Gail Cutro at her first trial. After a few rounds of email, we agreed to meet in a downtown bar on Sunday afternoon. I didn’t know what to expect. I hadn’t spoken to...

I had lunch with Davis Daniel the day he was featured in an article in The State  about the parents of the children who died. Davis was accompanied by his current wife, Cindy Daniel, who runs a business that does criminal background checks for clients. She emphasizes...

What I really liked about the package of stories in The State  newspaper is that Executive Editor Mark Lett immediately understood the first time we met in his office that my book presented an opportunity for his paper to address three issues simultaneously. It could...

The most important article The State  ran during my visit to Columbia attempted to assess whether children in day care are safer today than they were when Gail Cutro was first arrested. It was written by reporter Clif LeBlanc, who covered the Cutro case back then...

Along with the video The State  newspaper shot to kick off the coverage of my book, which examined a murder case against a woman who ran a family day care, the paper also ran an article about In Good Hands  that appeared the same day.  What particularly pleased me...