Desert Aire author's works centered on satan, murder

DESERT AIRE - Loretta Pomerleau retired in 2004 from a successful career as a chiropractor, but recently she completed her  real dream of  being a published author.

Pomerleau's "Satan's Child" and "Cemented Relationship" hit the book market on March 26 and June 1 respectively. These are books she wrote entirely 20-25 years ago then set aside in deference to her career.

Both books can be ordered online from Borders, Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Both are fictional stories based on real-life incidents.

The books were self-published through Xlibris self-publishing company, under the pen name L. B. Frazier. For her modest investment, Xlibris edited the books and got them onto the book market.

"I'm told that if there are significant sales online, some stores may choose to put my books on their shelves," Pomerleau said. "I'm happy with it being online. If I never sell a one, at least I accomplished what I set out to do."

Pomerleau has been told that some books have sold. She doesn't know how many, however, because they have not been enough to show up on tally lists.

Pomerleau was born and raised in Wenatchee. She couldn't get enough of books as a young girl. Her father encouraged her to read, and she did.

"I loved literature," she said. "You couldn't get me out of books as a child."

 But life changed, and the teen-aged Pomerleau went about life "the hard way." The price she paid was having to set aside the dream of writing.

Pomerleau was 16 when she married and had four children before she enrolled at Wenatchee Valley College. She wanted to be an English teacher, but that plan died at WVC.

"My (first) husband's brother was a chiropractor, and he talked my husband into becoming a chiropractor," Pomerleau said. "He went to Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa. I decided I might as well go too."

Pomerleau started her chiropractic career in 1975, working at a practice in Yakima, and remained there through 1979. In 1980 she opened her own practice in Vancouver and worked it until 2004, when she retired to Desert Aire.

It was in the Vancouver area that Pomerleau encountered the real-life incident that led to "Satan's Child." A mother who fell into a Satanic cult sacrificed her five-year-old child to start a commune.

"No, I'm not a Satanist," Pomerleau said. "I was intrigued about why people can be so easily led down that path. They got a lot of people in the community to join them."

Pomerleau noted the woman who killed her child and one man ended up in prison because of the death of the child. And the cult broke up.

"They ran like crazy once (the child) was dead," Pomerleau said.

Before writing her book in the late 1980s, Pomerleau interviewed members of the cult, including children and the principals in prison. She found most of them heartless, devoid of natural human love or a conscience.

"They didn't even put a head stone on her grave. The funeral home put one on later," Pomerleau said.

Pomerleau sent the book to an agent, but it went nowhere. It was the time of O.J. Simpson and the Menendez brothers, and obscure books by obscure writers settled back burners.

Pomerleau started "Cemented Relationship" in the early 1990s. She did not interview the murderer in the case on which it was based. A friend was familiar with the story, and Pomerleau heard enough to develop her own fictional tale.

The actual story was about a Seattle woman who went to Hawaii and supposedly never returned. She was reported missing to authorities, and they believed that for quite some time.

Eventually, it was discovered the woman's daughter killed her for money. The daughter cut parts which could be used for identification off of the body and cemented them in a wine barrel.

Although it has taken about 25 years to finish the books, Pomerleau said actual writing time, with self-editing and re-writes was about a year for each book.

"I was still in practice," she said. "They were done as a hobby."