Author publishes book about Conditt murders

    Author Jan Barber has made a name for herself writing about an unsolved mystery that has not let her go for over 20 years. Cuero born and raised, Barber learned over time about a Jackson County murder case involving Henry "Monk" Gibson, Felix Powell, and the Conditt family. She grew up across the alley from the red brick jailhouse in DeWitt County, the same one where Gibson was hung without a confession, for the murders of four of the five Conditt children, and their mother, Lora.
    Her book, "Out of the Darkness, Into the Lightning: Monk Gibson's Story," was self-published in December, 2014 with amazon.com. "It's an ongoing project for me, I'm still adding to it," Barber said. "I'm not looking to make money off the book, so I put it out there with imperfections. There's still more story to be told and with Amazon you can go back in and revise anytime you want to."