Print

Selected writings

Cason Point

Since 1997, my columns about life in Ventura County and beyond have appeared in the Ventura County Star. My mission has always been to find stories that break through the cliches about Suburbia and reveal a true sense of the people and the place.

To read my most recent columns. click here.

To read a collection of classic columns, click here.

The Silent Witness

In November of 2002, the Ventura County Star ran my 26-part series on one of the most famous crimes in the county’s history. Attorney Lyman Smith and his vivacious wife, Charlene, were bludgeoned to death in their ocean- view home in Ventura in March 1980. Their fast-lane lifestyle pointed detectives to a host of suspects. And in the end, it the killer was none of those.

This serial was the first done by the Ventura County Star and for almost a month, it captivated readers. Daily, you could hear it being discussed in doctors’ waiting rooms and on elevators. See for yourself what readers found so addictive.

Read Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Feature reporting

Maggie’s Bridge: The award-winning story of a dying grandmother who reached out to the community to create a village to help raise her granddaughter.

David’s Peace: Two American sisters fought the Mexican government to exhume the body of their brother, a U.S. veteran, who died in a Mexican jail and was buried in a pauper’s grave.