Feature Articles by Matt Birkbeck
Without a Trace, Reader's Digest, December 2003
Thousands of adults go missing every year. Kristen Modafferi was one of them.
Years after Death, the Battle for James Brown's Estate Rages On, Rolling Stone, July 2011
James Brown left $100 million to needy children, so why haven't they received a penny?
Anatomy of a Riot, Boston Magazine, May 2004
A Super Bowl victory, thousands of drunk college students and few cops leads to an explosion.
Desperate Times, Desperate Pleasures, The New York Times, July 2004
Corruption and sex as seen through the eyes of a U.N. relief worker.
Matt Birkbeck is an award winning investigative journalist and author.
Matt's latest book, Deconstructing Sammy (Amistad/Harper Collins), tells the riveting story of Sammy Davis Jr. and the efforts to resolve his millions in debts and restore his legacy following his death in 1990. The New York Times Book Review called Deconstructing Sammy “Gripping” and “Sensational” while the Los Angeles Times called it “Epic.”
Matt's international bestseller, A Beautiful Child (Berkley/Putnam 2004), told the remarkable, tragic story of Sharon Marshall, a brilliant young woman who was kidnapped as a toddler by Franklin Delano Floyd, a convicted felon, fugitive and pedophile who raised her as his daughter while traveling the country using stolen identities. Matt spent six hours in a Florida prison in 2003 interviewing Floyd, who had just been sentenced to death for torturing and murdering a Tampa woman.
Matt is also the co-author of Till Death Do Us Part (Atria/Simon & Schuster 2006) with Dr. Robi Ludwig, a noted psychologist who appears regularly on The Today Show and Larry King Live.
Matt's first book, A Deadly Secret, told the bizarre story of Robert Durst, the heir to a New York real estate empire who was charged and later acquited of one murder, a grisly dismemberment, and a suspect in two others, including the disappearance of his wife Kathie. Matt covered the Durst story for People Magazine and Reader's Digest and served as a consultant for CBS News 48 Hours.
Matt has written for The New York Times, Reader's Digest, Philadelphia Inquirer, Boston Magazine and People magazine.
He has appeared on a variety of news broadcasts and programs, including CNN's American Morning and Anderson Cooper along with The Fox Channel’s Geraldo Rivera show, the CBS Early Show, and CNN’s Headline News Nancy Grace show. Matt's work was the subject of an MSNBC documentary on Durst in 2007 and he also appeared on Dominick Dunne's "Power, Privilage and Justice" program on TruTV.
Matt's latest book, Deconstructing Sammy (Amistad/Harper Collins), tells the riveting story of Sammy Davis Jr. and the efforts to resolve his millions in debts and restore his legacy following his death in 1990. The New York Times Book Review called Deconstructing Sammy “Gripping” and “Sensational” while the Los Angeles Times called it “Epic.”
Matt's international bestseller, A Beautiful Child (Berkley/Putnam 2004), told the remarkable, tragic story of Sharon Marshall, a brilliant young woman who was kidnapped as a toddler by Franklin Delano Floyd, a convicted felon, fugitive and pedophile who raised her as his daughter while traveling the country using stolen identities. Matt spent six hours in a Florida prison in 2003 interviewing Floyd, who had just been sentenced to death for torturing and murdering a Tampa woman.
Matt is also the co-author of Till Death Do Us Part (Atria/Simon & Schuster 2006) with Dr. Robi Ludwig, a noted psychologist who appears regularly on The Today Show and Larry King Live.
Matt's first book, A Deadly Secret, told the bizarre story of Robert Durst, the heir to a New York real estate empire who was charged and later acquited of one murder, a grisly dismemberment, and a suspect in two others, including the disappearance of his wife Kathie. Matt covered the Durst story for People Magazine and Reader's Digest and served as a consultant for CBS News 48 Hours.
Matt has written for The New York Times, Reader's Digest, Philadelphia Inquirer, Boston Magazine and People magazine.
He has appeared on a variety of news broadcasts and programs, including CNN's American Morning and Anderson Cooper along with The Fox Channel’s Geraldo Rivera show, the CBS Early Show, and CNN’s Headline News Nancy Grace show. Matt's work was the subject of an MSNBC documentary on Durst in 2007 and he also appeared on Dominick Dunne's "Power, Privilage and Justice" program on TruTV.
