For nearly 29 years, FBI agent Harry Trombitas worked on some of America’s most notorious criminal cases.
An Alliance native, Trombitas now shares his expertise as an investigator in his role as host of the gripping true crime podcast Off the Record: An FBI Agent’s Perspective and his stories of tracking serial killers like Thomas Lee Dillon to taking down organized crime figures to working on almost 1,000 bank robberies in his career as the author of The Dark Places Series.
Trombitas will visit Rodman Public Library to discuss his career on Saturday, July 11 at 10:30 a.m. Registration is required to attend the event.
“I’m truly looking forward to coming back to Alliance and having the opportunity to share my stories with anyone interested,” said Trombitas.
Trombitas’ four-book Dark Places Series brings readers behind the scenes of his most unforgettable cases. Each book offers a riveting, first-hand account of investigations that brought justice to victims and held criminals accountable. The books reveal the dedication, strategy, and heart behind solving complex crimes.
The books include My Life as an FBI Agent: The Thomas Lee Dillon Case (Book 1); My Life as an FBI Agent: Murders, Motors, The Mob, and The Money (Book 2); My Life as an FBI Agent: Murder, Betrayal, and the Tragedy of Officer Bryan Hurst (Book 3); and My Life as an FBI Agent: Final Cases, Lasting Impact (Book 3).
Throughout the books, Trombitas gives an inside view of what it was like to work several of the cases that defined his stellar career, including the I-270 shooting investigation, the abduction of 3-year-old Ashley Taggart, the still unanswered mystery of Erica Baker, and several others.
Trombitas will not have books for sale. Those wishing to have a book signed should order them online through Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or Walmart and bring them to the library on the day of his talk.
Ahead of his talk, Trombitas answered some questions via email. Here’s what he had to say:
Q: What are your best memories of growing up in Alliance? Did you visit Rodman Library often?
A: My fondest memories of growing up in Alliance include spending time with family and friends, playing on sports teams while attending State Street Junior High and the newly built Alliance High School, fishing and ice skating at Silver Park, lifeguarding at the youth center and Suntan Acres, and serving as a youth leader at the YMCA. I visited Rodman library often over the years and truly enjoyed the library “atmosphere” where I could sit and read and enjoy so many different types of books. The library was like a “wonderland.”
Q: Did you always want to be an FBI agent?
A: No, I wanted to be a doctor until I had to take the advanced math and chemistry classes at The Ohio State University. At about the same time, I started working at the OSU police department as a student to make money to pay for half of my education - my parents paid the other half - and I found that I liked being associated with law enforcement and the people who worked there. I decided to change my major to criminal justice, which was much more appealing in so many ways. It wasn’t until I was working at Creighton University’s public safety department in Omaha, first as a supervisor, then director, that I met some FBI agents who were recruiting at the law school, and especially since by then I had my master’s degree, they talked me into applying to the FBI.
Q: What do you consider to be the highlights of your career?
A: Working together with the many men and women in law enforcement to solve some horrific crimes, holding the “bad guys” accountable, and bringing justice to the victims and their families.
Q: What made you decide to write your series? Did you always aspire to be a published author?
A: Because I had worked so many incredible cases over my career, with many of them being featured on crime shows like The FBI Files and many other shows, both here in the United States and abroad, I was encouraged to write about what it was like to actually work the cases to give the reader an idea of what an investigation looks like from an investigator’s perspective. Before then, I had never considered being an author.
Q: Can you talk about your writing process? Did you find the experience to be easy or difficult to decide which of your cases to include? Was the writing easy or difficult?
A: The cases that I picked to write about were the ones that I thought people would find most interesting. I included cases about serial murders, homicides, kidnappings, bank robberies, auto theft, organized crime, crimes against children, and a mixture of other cases, adding humorous anecdotes along the way. The writing process (and research to make sure I was accurate on dates, etc.) turned out to be a labor of love. I sat at my desk and typed using Microsoft Word for 2 to 4 hours a day, several days a week, for 3.5 years and ended up with a manuscript of 269,000 words. Once completed, I had to submit my manuscript to the FBI pre-publication unit for approval. I was initially told the approval process would take 4 to 5 weeks. After 1.5 years, I finally received permission to publish. I was told by publishers that my manuscript was too long for one book and needed to break it into four books. I decided to self-publish because I didn't want to lose control of my manuscript and had done my own editing so that I would be able to tell the stories in “my voice,” which I thought was important.
Q: What do you hope people will take away from reading your books?
A: My hope is that people take away from reading my books the understanding of the incredible dedication and teamwork needed by law enforcement to solve the cases, hold the “bad guys” accountable, and bring justice to the victims and their families. Also, hopefully the reader will have a better understanding of what it is like to work on a major investigation.
Q: What can people expect when they come see you at Rodman Public Library?
A: People can expect to see a humble man who grew up in Alliance and was given the incredible opportunity to work some amazing cases, meet some incredible people, and enjoy a 30-year career in a profession that he truly loved.