Inside the Case File: An Interview with Lou Raguse
Published on April 01, 2025
By Leah T.
Vanished in Vermillion is a deeply researched and emotional true crime story. What drew you to this case?
I covered the cold case investigation as a reporter for KELO from 2005-2008. I grew close to some of Pam Jackson’s family members. I broke the news when the case was dismissed and felt a sense of disappointment that we might never learn what really happened to Pam and Sherri. Years later when their remains were found, I followed developments from afar but felt disappointed in the information shared by authorities. Shortly after moving to Minnesota in 2015, I learned that Pam and Sherri’s families – along with the Lykken family – were dissatisfied with the amount of information shared as well, so I saw an opportunity to do some digging and help put together a more satisfactory telling of this story.
How long did it take to research and write Vanished in Vermillion?
Several years - starting in 2016 and finishing in 2022. I work full-time as a reporter and have young children, so finding ‘free time’ wasn’t easy!
As a journalist, you’ve covered many crime stories—how was writing a book different from your day-to-day reporting?
Primarily, the amount of organization needed to research and write a book is vastly different than writing a “daily-turn” news story. In general for TV news, I can gather notes, log interviews, and write a story with all my source material sitting on my desk and open on the computer screen right in front of me. When I started writing the book, I kept getting lost in the paperwork and in my own Microsoft Word document. I ended up buying a software program called Scrivener that is aimed at authors, which helped simplify organization progress. (Scrivener ought to send me royalties for all the times I’ve tooted their horn!) When it come to the writing style, it was different yet fun to be able to recreate scenes with dialogue and not have to add “according to the criminal complaint” in the way we cite everything in newswriting.
What was the most surprising or unexpected discovery you made while investigating this case?
It was my understanding that David Lykken was viewed as a suspect in the 1970s and then again in 2004, when a "new piece of evidence" led the cold case investigation back to him. I was surprised to learn Lykken was never on the radar in the 1970s, and there was nothing new in 2004 to prompt looking into him other than being convicted of rape in 1990. Every “new piece of evidence” involved new memories generated by investigators using questionable techniques, often involving fragile people. I go into great detail about human memory in the book because I think it’s important to know what science has found about it, which differs greatly from the average person’s assumptions and presumably from what cold case investigators thought.
The book sheds light on the impact of this case on the victims’ families and the community. What kind of response have you received from them?
Thankfully I’ve received near universal thanks from the people who were directly impacted by this case. The families of Pam and Sherri both feel like they can go about their lives without thinking so much about the case after reading the book. That is about the best compliment I could possibly receive. The Lykken family is able to live without so much undeserved suspicion, which is important. I think the community as a whole was able to metaphorically close this chapter once this story was fully told. I do have a thick skin and was prepared to have lively debates with those who disagreed with some of my analysis after the book was published. If those people are out there, please know I still welcome those conversations!
How do you hope Vanished in Vermillion influences conversations about missing persons cases and investigative procedures?
Other cold cases nationwide have been solved once the investigative agency lets a fresh set of eyes start without any preconceived notions and simply follow the evidence to its most likely conclusion. That can be a very time-consuming and resource-intensive process. The opposing force working against many of these missing person cases is that imaginations run wild when there aren’t answers. It’s human nature, and it’s hard to work against human nature unless you are conscious about it.
When it comes to investigative procedures, I hope Vanished in Vermillion serves as a cautionary reference of how taking shortcuts can have grave consequences. Thankfully most police nationwide have discontinued a lot of these questionable procedures (hypnotizing witnesses for example).
Are there any other cases you’re currently researching or thinking about writing about next?
I can’t go too deep into it yet, but I am working on my second book right now. It is a case I covered in Minneapolis that involved a highly manipulative defendant, but in this case, solid policework and a brave surviving victim helped bring him to justice. The case itself is highly sensational, but a lot of the underlying issues are very widespread in our society, such as domestic control and violence.
Do you have a favorite true crime book or author who has inspired your work?
Ann Rule’s The Stranger Beside Me inspired me in the way she integrated her personal connection into a story and case much larger than she – which I did in Vanished in Vermillion in different ways. A favorite true crime book of mine is A Warrant to Kill by Kathryn Casey, which provided a road map on how to write courtroom scenes without boring the reader. Beyond that, for better and for worse, I’m kind of forging my own path as I’m more interested in the cases I’m covering than the cases other people have covered/written about.
Lou Raguse will be giving an author talk on April 24 at the Sioux Falls Convention Center. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to hear him speak in person! Register here.
For more events and information on this year’s One Book Siouxland, click here.