A tragedy and a murder trial placed Ann-Janine Morey in an ideal position to write this wrenching exploration of the havoc wreaked on a family by Shaken Baby Syndrome. As an alternate juror in a 1995 trial in Murphysboro, Illinois, she observed a case that is all too common: a live-in boyfriend fatally shook a nineteen-month-old baby.

Already a seasoned researcher and published scholar, Morey witnessed the court proceedings firsthand, came to know the families of the toddler intimately, and augmented her observations and interviews through research into Shaken Baby Syndrome. The result is an agonizingly human tale supported by the evidence of science, sociology, and criminology.

Morey's What Happened to Christopher memorializes the short life of nineteen-month-old Christopher Attig (1992-1994). Showing what Christopher meant to those closest to him, Morey conducts extensive interviews with the child's parents and grandparents. She also interviews the officials involved in the case. Gary Lynn Gould, who was convicted of and imprisoned for killing Christopher, did not answer Morey's requests for interviews.