Yale Murder: The Compelling True Narrative of the Fatal Romance of Bonnie Garland and Richard Herrin Hardcover – January 1, 1982 by Peter Meyer 
 
In the early morning hours of July 7, 1977 around 2 a.m. Yale graduate Richard Herrin bludgeoned his ex-girlfriend, Yale college senior Bonnie Garland to death with a hammer as she lay sleeping in her parents' Scarsdale, New York home because she wanted to end their relationship. The two college students had been dating for approximately two years at the time that Herrin graduated and moved back to Texas. Over the next year Garland and Herrin grew apart. Garland wanted to date other people. Concerned about it, Herrin arranged with Garland's knowledge to come to Scarsdale to discuss their relationship. Her parents not knowing there was trouble in the relationship allowed him to stay at their home. Garland told Herrin on July 6,1977 she wanted to break off their relationship. He was to leave the next day. He was staying in a guest room on the opposite house end of the home.During the early morning hours of July 7,1977, Herrin went down to the basement and found a hammer. He wrapped it in a towel to conceal it. He then went up three flights of stairs to Garland's room. As stated in the testimony, he left the hammer outside the door and went in to see if she was asleep and she was asleep. He then went back out into the hallway, unwrapped the hammer, went back into the room, took the claw end of the hammer and smashed her skull to pieces. After attacking Garland, Herrin stole the Garland family car and drove around for hours ending up in Coxsackie. He found a church and told the priest inside, "I just killed my girlfriend."In fact, Bonnie was still alive though fatally injured. The priest called the Scarsdale police who knocked on the Herrins' door early in the morning; they entered her bedroom to find her gurgling and horribly injured; she later died.
 
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