James Jessen Badal

{{short description|American true crime writer|bot=PearBOT 5}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2014}}

James Jessen Badal (born 1943{{cite book

|last=Badal

|first=James Jessen

|title=In the Wake of the Butcher: Cleveland's Torso Murders

|year=2001

|publisher=Kent State University Press

|location=Cleveland

|isbn=978-0-87338-689-0}}) is an American true crime writer.

He is also an assistant professor in English language and journalism at Cuyahoga Community College. His true crime works include a book about the disappearance of Beverly Potts and three books about the Cleveland Torso Murders case.{{cite web|url=http://www.kentstateuniversitypress.com/author/badalj/|title=About: James Jessen Badal|publisher=The Kent State University Press|accessdate=September 12, 2013}} According to his first book about the latter, In the Wake of the Butcher, he took an interest in the case while still in elementary school, when his teacher of history in the 8th grade gave his class a two-day lecture about the murders. As of 2014, he is working on a book about the unsolved murder of 16-year-old Beverly Jarosz, committed in Garfield Heights, Ohio in 1964.

Badal resides in Cleveland, Ohio.{{cite news|url=http://www.tri-c.edu/news/Pages/Tri-CProfessorThirdTorsoMurders.aspx |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130913042858/http://www.tri-c.edu/news/Pages/Tri-CProfessorThirdTorsoMurders.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 13, 2013 |title=Tri-C Professor to Launch Third Torso Murders Book |publisher=Cuyahoga Community College |first=Leanne |last=van Beers-Werneke |date=July 14, 2013 |accessdate=September 12, 2013 }}