To the Bridge

The case was closed, but for journalist Nancy Rommelmann, the mystery remained: What made a mother want to murder her own children?On May 23, 2009, Amanda Stott-Smith drove to the middle of the Sellwood Bridge in Portland, Oregon, and dropped her two children into the Willamette River. Forty minutes later, rescuers found the body of four-year-old Eldon. Miraculously, his seven-year-old sister, Trinity, was saved. As the public cried out for blood, Amanda was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to thirty-five years in prison.Embarking on a seven-year quest for the truth, Rommelmann traced the roots of Amanda’s fury and desperation through thousands of pages of records, withheld documents, meetings with lawyers and convicts, and interviews with friends and family who felt shocked, confused, and emotionally swindled by a woman whose entire life was now defined by an unspeakable crime. At the heart of that crime: a tempestuous marriage, a family on the fast track to self-destruction, and a myriad of secrets and lies as dark and turbulent as the Willamette River.

“Rommelmann employs compassion and emotional honesty in her investigation to try to comprehend the motivations behind the crime and its aftermath.” —Publishers Weekly “A painstaking and meticulous exploration of all the facts and conjectures surrounding a disturbing case.” —Kirkus Reviews “[To the Bridge] is a remarkable work: not a whodunit but an inquiry into why. Rommelmann doesn’t find an easy solution, but neither does she settle for platitudes about the unknowability of the human heart.” —Willamette Week “A painstaking and meticulous exploration of all the facts and conjectures surrounding a disturbing case.” —Willamette Week “What is particularly engaging isn’t so much the crime but Rommelmann’s look at why Stott-Smith did what she did.” —Bustle “What is offered…is a chance to understand the why and a real examination of how we hold killers accountable, but not always all those responsible. True crime readers or anyone interested in compelling nonfiction will find this an interesting read leaving them with a lot to think about long after they finish the book.” —Independent Publisher “An emotionally honest, meticulous examination of a confluence of circumstances that culminated in a deadly act, and the complicity of our own city and culture in its aftermath.” —Portland Monthly “…Rommelmann’s research and attention to detail often lead her to write sentences that feel like literary short stories all on their own…The book does usefully complicate a story that seemed, on its face, uncomplicated or impenetrable to many, helpfully reminding us to resist jumping to conclusions, even when the villain seems easy to spot.” —The Stranger “In To the Bridge, Nancy Rommelmann takes what many consider the most unforgivable of crimes—a mother set on murdering her own children—and delivers something thoughtful and provocative: a deeply reported, sensitively told, all-too-relevant tragedy of addiction and codependency, toxic masculinity, and capricious justice. You won’t be able to look away—nor should any of us.” —Robert Kolker, New York Times bestselling author of Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery “Rommelmann’s investigation…manages to be both a tonic meditation on the limits of knowledge and a bracing defense of its pursuit.” —Reason, “The Best of 2018” “How do you understand the not understandable and forgive the unforgivable? So asks one of the characters in this clear-eyed investigation into something we all turn away from. To the Bridge is a tour de force of both journalism and compassion, in the lineage of such masterpieces as In Cold Blood and The Executioner’s Song. Word by word, sentence by sentence, Rommelmann’s writing is that good. And so is her heart.” —Nick Flynn, PEN/Martha Albrand Award–winning author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City

Nancy Rommelmann has written for the LA Weekly, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times, among other publications. She is the author of several previous works of nonfiction and fiction. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and currently lives in Portland, Oregon. Find out more at nancyromm.com.