A piece of Bremerton’s tragic past will be spotlighted this coming spring.

True-crime author Gregg Olsen has a new book about the 1997 murder of Dawn Hacheney. Her husband, Nicholas Hachney, a former Bainbridge Island pastor, was convicted in 2002 of killing her in and hiding the evidence by setting fire to an East Bremerton apartment. He was sentenced to just over 26 years in prison, though he could be released in 16-19 years. Details of his post-prison community custody terms still must be worked out in court again.

The case drew gasps and wide eyes of horror from community members when sordid details of the case came out in court. Nicholas Hacheney had reportedly had affairs with several parishoners, including one mistress’s daughter. One woman claimed she had a vision from God, who told her that Dawn Hachney was going to die and that she would become Nicholas Hachney’s new wife.

In other words, the details of the case proved perhaps inevitably that a true-crime writer would seize upon it. That seems apparent in the promotional video for the book “A Twisted Faith,” which is set for release March 2010 (see promo video below).

It may not one of the highlights of Bremerton’s collective memory (we’ll just blame Bainbridge), but then isn’t all PR good PR?

– Angela Dice