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Image for event: Caught Read-Handed

Caught Read-Handed

2025-05-14 13:00:00 2025-05-14 14:00:00 America/Phoenix Caught Read-Handed Civic Center Library - Conversation Space @ the Loft

Wednesday, May 14
1:00pm - 2:00pm

Add to Calendar 2025-05-14 13:00:00 2025-05-14 14:00:00 America/Phoenix Caught Read-Handed Civic Center Library - Conversation Space @ the Loft

Civic Center Library

Conversation Space @ the Loft

Join us every month for engaging conversation on titles from the true crime genre.

This month we will be discussing The Trunk Murderess: Winnie Ruth Judd by Jana Bommersbach.

If history is right, a 26 year-old beauty named Winnie Ruth Judd murdered her two best girlfriends one hot Phoenix night in 1931. Then she hacked up their bodies, stuffed the pieces into a trunk, and took them by train to Los Angeles as her baggage.

If history is right, she was sentenced to die but "cheated the gallows" by acting insane. She spent nearly 40 years in Arizona's insane asylum-flummoxing officials by escaping six times.

If history is right, she only got her freedom at age 66-after serving more time than any other convicted murderer in the history of the nation―because Arizona was finally tired of punishing her.

But if history is wrong, Winnie Ruth Judd's life was squandered in a horrible miscarriage of justice.

Award-winning journalist Jana Bommersbach reinvestigates the twisted, bizarre murder case that has captivated the nation for decades. She not only uncovers evidence long hidden, but gets Winnie Ruth Judd to break her life-long silence and finally speak.

In telling the story of this American crime legend, Bommersbach also tells the story of Phoenix, Arizona―a backwater town that would become a major American city―and the story of a unique moment in American history filled with social taboos.

But most of all, she tells the story of a woman with the courage to survive. - Provided by publisher.

Civic Center Library

Phone: 480-312-7323

Opening hours
Mon, May 05 10:00AM to 7:00PM
Tue, May 06 10:00AM to 7:00PM
Wed, May 07 10:00AM to 7:00PM
Thu, May 08 10:00AM to 7:00PM
Fri, May 09 10:00AM to 5:00PM
Sat, May 10 10:00AM to 5:00PM
Sun, May 11 1:00PM to 5:00PM

Address
3839 N. Drinkwater Blvd.
Scottsdale
, AZ 85251
Tel: 480-312-7323

About the library

Opened August 30, 1968

103,000 square feet

73 public-use computers

Café

Loft collaborative workspace

The Gallery @ the Library

Scottsdale Heritage Collection

Upcoming events

Sat, May 10, 10:30am - 11:00am
Sky Room

Sun, May 11, 3:00pm - 4:30pm
SHC Program Room

Tue, May 13, 5:00pm - 6:00pm

Wed, May 14, 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Conversation Space @ the Loft

Tue, May 20, 5:00pm - 6:30pm
Classroom @ the Loft

Tue, May 20, 5:00pm - 7:00pm
Auditorium,Copper Gallery

Wed, May 21, 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Conversation Space @ the Loft

Thu, May 22, 10:30am - 12:30pm
Studio Program Space

Sat, May 24, 10:30am - 11:00am
Sky Room

Sat, May 24, 2:00pm - 3:30pm
Classroom @ the Loft

Thu, May 29, 4:00pm - 6:00pm
Studio Program Space

Sun, Jun 01, 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Youth Area

Sun, Jun 01, 3:00pm - 4:00pm
Sky Room

Mon, Jun 02, 10:30am - 11:00am
Sky Room

Mon, Jun 02, 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Youth Area

Tue, Jun 03, 10:30am - 12:00pm
Classroom @ the Loft

Tue, Jun 03, 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Youth Area

Tue, Jun 03, 1:00pm - 1:45pm
Sky Room

Tue, Jun 03, 2:00pm - 2:45pm
Sky Room

Tue, Jun 03, 3:15pm - 4:00pm
Sky Room

Tue, Jun 03, 4:30pm - 5:15pm
Knowasis

Wed, Jun 04, 10:30am - 12:00pm
Classroom @ the Loft

Wed, Jun 04, 10:30am - 12:00pm
Sky Room

Wed, Jun 04, 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Youth Area

Wed, Jun 04, 4:00pm - 4:45pm
Sky Room

Wed, Jun 04, 5:30pm - 6:30pm
Auditorium

Thu, Jun 05, 10:30am - 12:00pm
Classroom @ the Loft

Thu, Jun 05, 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Youth Area

Thu, Jun 05, 5:00pm - 6:00pm
Knowasis

Fri, Jun 06, 11:00am - 11:45am
Sky Room

Fri, Jun 06, 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Youth Area

Fri, Jun 06, 3:00pm - 4:00pm
Knowasis

Fri, Jun 06, 4:00pm - 5:00pm
Knowasis

Sat, Jun 07, 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Youth Area

Sat, Jun 07, 1:00pm - 2:15pm
Sky Room

Sat, Jun 07, 2:30pm - 3:45pm
Sky Room

Sun, Jun 08, 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Youth Area

Sun, Jun 08, 3:00pm - 4:30pm
SHC Program Room

Mon, Jun 09, 10:30am - 11:00am
Sky Room

Mon, Jun 09, 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Youth Area

Mon, Jun 09, 1:00pm - 4:00pm
Sky Room