Stolen Sons: Police Violence, A Broken System, and Two Mothers' Journey from Grief to Justice

LAWRENCE, Kan. - Rezul -- Plainspoken Books announces the publication of Stolen Sons: Police Violence, A Broken System, and Two Mothers' Journey from Grief to Justice by Susan Berardi, a gripping true story of two mothers whose sons were killed by police—and whose determination to uncover the truth transformed personal grief into a powerful movement for accountability. Narene Stokes and Sheila Albers could hardly have seemed more different: Stokes, a single Black mother in Kansas City, lost her twenty-four-year-old son, Ryan, in 2013 after a police officer shot him over a false accusation. Five years later, Albers, a mother in the affluent Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, lost her teenage son, John, when police responding to a welfare check killed him. Both young men were innocent and unarmed.

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As their cases unfolded through investigations, court proceedings, and intense public scrutiny, Stokes and Albers found themselves confronting not only the devastating loss of their children but also institutions seemingly determined to protect themselves. Their experiences reveal how the aftermath of a police killing can become a second struggle, one in which grieving families must fight to have their voices heard and their loved ones remembered truthfully.

Drawing on extensive reporting and unprecedented access, Berardi takes readers beyond the headlines and into the places where these cases unfolded—from crime scenes and interrogation rooms to city halls, federal courtrooms, and the steps of the US Supreme Court. Stolen Sons combines the immediacy of a gripping true-crime narrative with a thoroughly reported examination of the systems surrounding police violence. At its heart is the extraordinary courage of two mothers who refused to accept official narratives about their sons' deaths and transformed unimaginable loss into sustained activism and meaningful change.

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Key Features & News Angles:

• Two Mothers, Two Tragedies: Follows Narene Stokes and Sheila Albers, whose sons were killed by police in separate Kansas City–area communities five years apart.
• A Shared Fight for Truth: Reveals the striking similarities in how two police departments responded to the deaths, including efforts to shift blame toward the victims.
• Race, Class, and Justice: Examines how the mothers' different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds shaped their experiences with police, the media, the courts, and their communities.
• Beyond the Headlines: Draws on extensive reporting and unprecedented access to take readers inside crime scenes, investigations, courtrooms, city halls, and the US Supreme Court.

Learn more about the book here: https://kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700643998/