The Butterfly Garden: Surviving Childhood on the Run with One of America's Most Wanted

Chip St. Clair

Jan 2010 · Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

There is for all of us a profound Moment of Truth that lies in wait—a moment that transfixes our attention and forces us to confront the essential question in life: Who am I?

For Chip St. Clair that moment came when he learned that the man he called “Dad” was an impostor—a child killer who had been on the run for nearly three decades.

After turning his father in on a cold January night in 1998, St. Clair embarked on a quest for his true identity, a journey that began when he opened a nondescript black trunk: Inside he found his birth certificate—typed over and forged. His “date of birth”? The same day his father had killed a child five years earlier. Along with that, more “answers” that spawned more questions: photographs of young children he didn’t know; locks of hair; a jewelry box full of baby teeth; and records of tens of thousands of dollars in loans taken out by his parents in his name. While forensic tests and DNA proved the answer to the most important question—was he the biological son of a convicted child killer?—the rest of the mysteries may never be solved.

What St. Clair discovered as he tried to unravel the swath of lies his “parents” had woven across at least seven states is something that all of us can learn from: Oftentimes the answers we seek are within us and the only path to fulfillment is to make peace with the unknown.
His eventual epiphany, which took place in a butterfly garden, freed him to leave his haunted past behind and to construct a future full of light and hope. Most important, he learned that our fate, our path in life, is not determined by demons of the past or by DNA, but the power of our own free will and what we hold in our hearts.

Ratings and reviews

Biography about a man who servived brutality at the hands of a father who should have protected him

About the author

Chip St. Clair is a recipient of a U.S. Congressional Record for his work helping to keep abused children safe and to keep predators behind bars. He began sharing his story nationally in 2002, having been featured on major television programs such as Dateline, Good Morning America, and the John Walsh Show. Most recently, St. Clair helped to pass Michigan's, Montana's, and Maryland's versions of Jessica's Law.