The Pursued

A True Story of Stalking, Memory, and Madness in America's Heartland

By: Corey Mead

Narrated by: Nikki Zakocs

The terrifying true story of a woman at war with a violent stalker who eluded the police for years—until they found the truth in the last place anyone would have dared to look.

From 1977 to 1981, Ruth Finley, an ordinary wife and mother from Kansas, was tormented by an elusive maniac known as The Poet. The police, already on edge from BTK’s reign of terror, spent years searching for the stalker. Meanwhile, his cryptic letters in rhymed verse grew more disturbing and violent, spilling into deeds like stabbing and kidnapping.

In this propulsive nonfiction account, as Ruth is surveilled from all sides, her nightmare takes a chilling turn: the stalker is no stranger at all. It’s someone the police have been close to for years, someone nearer to home than Ruth dared to admit. The revelation recasts what seemed like a cruel twist of fate as something far more disturbing.

The Pursued is not just a gripping true-crime story. It’s also a darkly textured portrait of the deceptions that drive us and the explosive reckonings that occur when they finally tumble down.

©2025 by Corey Mead. (P)2025 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

True story that reads like fiction

I wish that all police officers were like the detectives in THE PURSUED, smart, caring and empathetic. Their pursuit for justice lacked any bullying or acts of vengeance. I had heard this story before and read a book on the case thirty years ago. However, I didn’t remember the victim’s name and didn’t realize the cases were the same.

Corey Mead wrote this narrative nonfiction book in a very readable manner so much that I almost felt as if I were reading fiction. Make no mistake, sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction.