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thank you [Music] foreign welcome to Shaker Heights episode 4 Chinese Whispers sixteen-year-old Lisa Pruitt was stabbed
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to death behind a mansion in Shaker Heights Ohio on September 14 1990. her murder remains unsolved
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this is the story of how the police detectives in a small town were led to believe the weird kid in school did it
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based on nothing but testimony from a group of teens who were friends with Lisa's boyfriend Dan dreyfer
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what you will hear are actors reading from actual police interviews conducted during the course of their investigation
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no words have been changed and the interviews remain in chronological order so that you can see
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how the case against Kevin young was constructed [Music] this is detective Richard mullaney at
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the Shaker Heights Police Department interviewing one Christopher in Jones Mr Jones can you continue your statement
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Dan was pretty angry about being a suspect or the way they portrayed that pretty much from there many people came
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and left Dan's house that night eventually me and Dan Messinger got a ride from Scott Fierro to the Pruitt's
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house we talked to Mr Pruitt we went up into their house and spent a little time in
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Lisa's room then me and Dan Messinger were going to walk home we got a ride about halfway to
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Dan's house from Randy Stokes we got back to Dan dryford's house and I spent the night there we then went
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down to Dan's basement and talked there for a while Debbie driver came down and discussed
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the possibility that Kevin young might have done it started from Shane and John who had
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heard about a month or four that Kevin young wanted to kill both Dan and Lisa because he had been with Lisa for two
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years and Dan had stolen her or taking her away from him after a while we went back up to Dan's room
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we just talked until pretty late and went to bed then the next morning Saturday September 15 1990 Dan had to go
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to the police station and I got a ride home for Mrs dreifert to the best of your knowledge
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who knew that Lisa was planning to come to Dan's house on Thursday night Dan dreifert myself Tex and Kim Cole may
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have because she was over at Lisa's house that night so they may have talked about it
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how long have you known Dan dryford I've been friends with him since winter of 1989.
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could you briefly describe Dan dryford had a rough family life because of that he's been kind of
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extroverted in a sense he's pretty much always joking around he's truly social if he feels something different he'll
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always put on show of being in a good mood talking and stuff under that he's afraid to trust people
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he's intelligent and he has a sense of what he should do Lisa was one of the only persons he really trusted
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he hasn't had that many people that he can trust he loved her very much how long have you
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been friends with Lisa Pruitt pretty much the same as Dan I had done some stuff with her before
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but I became good friends with her that winter of 1989. how long have you known Tex I don't
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really know him that well just pretty much know of him and probably no more than six or seven
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months could you briefly describe texts from what I know he's not really concerned
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with school more rebellious he's not really violent but he's got a lot of anger at things
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seems like a really nice guy as a person how long have you known Kevin young I know him through Dan dreyfert and
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probably about six or seven months also could you briefly describe Kevin young extremely touchy very powerful a sense
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of that physical sense of strength very angry he likes to joke around about things
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but you never really know if he's serious or not he's always on edge like wired I really
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don't know him that well have you ever observed dramatic changes in Kevin Young's personality
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I haven't but I've heard about these changes taking place he always seems like he's sort of about
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to burst out or go over the edge or something he makes you feel uncomfortable to be
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around can you describe Kevin Young's relationship with girls he takes things too seriously about them
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if they'll do anything like be nice to him or something he'll take that as a fact that they like him more than they
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actually do with the girls he's around he's very possessive about them he misconstrues and takes too personally
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what their actions towards him are Annie Conrad and I were at a party she was one of the girls I felt he was
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in love with because he knew her from band I was kind of going out with her at the
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time whenever she would come over and talk to me or come and sit by me he would give
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me this really dark glances he was trying to get drunk and he was acting really angry and hurt kind of
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he basically simmered down after I talked to him a little bit and he said to him that she didn't want to be around
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a guy who gets violent when he drinks he just made me feel really uncomfortable basically
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can you think of any other example of Kevin Young's Behavior with girls he asked Becca Boatwright to prom
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but I can't really remember if she refused I believe she refused he began to hate her for that and
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verbally disparaged her and he made a lot of rude comments about her seemed angry
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he then asked Ellen Donald who is a freshman and he was a senior she told him that her parents wouldn't let her go
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he seemed angry at her too about this but that's all I heard to the best of your knowledge have any of your friends
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abused Robitussin cough syrup yes several I tried it once and Andy Conrad Becca Boatwright and Dan dryford
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Intex and Debbie dreyfert also could you describe what effects using Robitussin had on you
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I took it along with alcohol nobody else really did that I became extremely nauseous I couldn't
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see straight really I had distorted perception of what things really seemed like it became
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extremely talkative a dizzy giddy feeling but really nauseous that's the only time I ever
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tried it how does a young man with no ties to the crime scene become the main suspect in a
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murder investigation it happens one flimsy story at a time remember that game we used to play in
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school Chinese Whispers we called it the telephone game a rumor starts and it's passed like a
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virus through words from one person to another until it changes into something new and altogether dangerous listen for
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it in this interview with Jennifer Margolis a 16 year old high school student who is about to point the finger
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at Kevin young simply because she heard his name at the right time when I first found out that Dan dryford
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had come back I wasn't a youth ending hunger meeting after school Judy Miller came into the room to tell
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me that Daniel was back she was very excited once I realized who she was talking about I was also very excited
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shortly after she came in Kim Rathbone came to the meeting and she was very excited and emotional which is how Kim
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gets there was an element of surprise because we expected him to be in there longer
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because he said he had fulfilled his requirements to be able to leave the program at the clinic
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basically we were all surprised and excited that he was back I talked to Lisa Pruitt that night it
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was before her flute lesson she was rambling on about how wonderful her life was and how wonderful that day
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was she was excited like the rest of us about Dan being back and especially because he was special to her
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she had been down about band camp and the beginning of the school year because she couldn't do anything for him and she
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missed him a lot and she kept saying that the only thing bad about the day was that she could not see him as much
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as she liked she saw him momentarily after school and I asked her if she could go over later
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that evening and she said she had to go over to her lesson and her mom was making a special dinner in honor of her
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getting her driver's license she said her father and she might stop at Dan's house after her flute lesson
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and her father only wanted to stop and say hi so they could get home for her celebration
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when we were talking about what a good day it had been she was listing the things that had made it that day
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primarily Dan being back as she got her driver's license I told her not to forget that I had
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given her a necklace that day that she had ordered from my grandmother's jewelry store when we were discussing
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her going to Dan's house after her flute lesson I mentioned can't you see him later that night because sometimes they
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met then because with his family situation the way it was they didn't get a chance to see each other often
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she said yeah I was planning on it I think then we just talked for a few more minutes about everything was great and
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then we both had to go that was the last time I spoke with Lisa so I think that about wraps it up about
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my impressions of the day that Dan came back I also needed to talk to you guys about Kevin Young
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I found out that Kevin was a suspect or I heard the rumor that he was a suspect on Saturday night right after Lisa was
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killed it was Judy who told me that because she heard it from Becca Boatwright that was a dance house on Saturday night
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the minute Judy told me I got really upset for some reason it had never occurred to me before that he could be a
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suspect because I was running through a list of people in my mind that I thought might
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be capable of doing something like this or knew she might have been going over there and although I thought of everyone
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I had ever seen at Arabica Kevin never came into my head but the minute Judy told me I believed
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it I mean not so much in my head but in some non-thinking way I believed it because he was the only person that had
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ever entered my mind that I felt was capable of doing something like that that really shook me up so I started
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thinking about why I was so convinced that it was he and the more I thought about it I remembered about three or
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four conversations I had with him plus the general knowledge that he was pretty Disturbed
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Rachel lowenthal and Ted folkman and Aaron Miller and I had gone to see you Hunt for Red October at the colony
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theater I know it was a bridge night for my parents afterwards we went to Arabica and Kevin
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was there and Eric and Anthony Garvin their brothers Kevin started talking about gays and was making offensive
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comments and I always felt bad for him but I was never able to tolerate it when he talked like that so Aaron and I got
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up and went downstairs and when we came back upstairs they were talking about Kevin's favorite topic of
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discussion which was how all women hated him and how he hated all women and why he even tried to have relationships this
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was how he had talked in the past but there was a specific time that I was reminded of as I listened to him talk
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that night which was another night when I was up at Arabica and he was telling me and I think Rachel and I don't
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remember who about a girl he had liked in Middle School I mean one of those archetypical perfect
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people whose parents were going out of town and she was inviting Kevin over to her house he got the impression that
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there would be something of interest to him going on or just interests that she wanted to spend time with him
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he said when he got there he was already a little bit drunk and she and her boyfriend and I think
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that some friends of hers were also there I'm not sure about that had laughed at him and kicked him out
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they made him leave he was upset about it and he went from this one situation to condemning all
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women he referred to women as [ __ ] and [ __ ] and [ __ ] that was the way he talked
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I remember feeling bad for him that he would feel that way I think except for that incident that's
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pretty much it that's what I was thinking the night we saw a Hunt for Red October and when I
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was listening to him I remember he was talking about Dan and Lisa specifically he was saying that he could never get
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any women himself and I'm sure they were derogatory usually he said I hate [ __ ] I hate [ __ ] a lot of kids talk
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that way it's an insecurity thing he was complaining how guys like Dan could get
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[ __ ] like Lisa to suck on [ __ ] and how Kevin didn't have anyone and raving on
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about how unfair it was the conversation changed to more normal topics the next thing I remember that
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scared me was that same night but later on when we were sitting out on the lawn in front of Arabica and Rachel and
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myself and this guy Chris who worked at Captain Tony's and Kevin and I think one or two fight guys people
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who hang around school and don't attend classes and Kevin was talking about how he didn't ever seem to have any
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successes with women at all he said to Rachel and I that if we ever got the chance he was sure we would
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reject him and our friends would reject him he said that if he would go out with
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a girl he would call her a week later and she would put him off and ignore him basically
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he said how he didn't like to be ignored and said I won't let people ignore me Rachel said how can you change how
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people feel if they don't want to see you there isn't much you can do about it and he repeated that he wouldn't be
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ignored and that people can make Impressions on people and it has been done and then Chris who is a serious
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pragmatist said well a good impression or a bad impression Kevin said whatever works
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it was kind of chilling at the time and worse when I remembered it in this context in the context of what happened
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Kristen asked Kevin well are you talking like Hitler or something and Kevin said well it made an
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impression didn't it there was a silence and we changed the subject I think the most recent time I talked to
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him was when Dan was at the clinic and Rachel and Charlie Martin and I had stopped at Arabica and Kevin was there
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with Ken mitsumoto the two of them came and sat down next to us and were talking about Dan
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Ken said to Rachel I haven't seen you all summer where have you been she had been to Interlaken
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and she was kidding and said I was in rehab he believed her and she said she was kidding and then we
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talked about Dan and then Ken said well isn't Dan in rehab neither Kevin nor Charlie said much
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about the situation of Dan being at the clinic then Rachel and I set them straight
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where Dan was and why they talked about some ridiculous rumors they heard and Ken talked about when he
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was in rehab then Kevin said well I'm sorry he's there meaning Dan Kevin said I have some unfinished
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business to take care of I remember thinking that sounded ridiculous I think I laughed at the time then he said with
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him and the [ __ ] and it was either the [ __ ] or [ __ ] or [ __ ] in reference to
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Lisa Kevin continued and said I was gonna [ __ ] with him real good but now he's not
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around or something along those lines when Kevin said that I looked at Rachel and she looked at me and I said you
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don't need to talk about her friends like that and he apologized and said sorry and continue to talk about Dan
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when Kevin said what I said before then Rachel said it was nice to know your friends support you when you're in
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trouble and she was trying to guilt-trip him into shutting up as far as I remember that was all I wanted to talk
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to you guys about when you refer to Lisa going over to Dan's house late late that night did she
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usually go to Dan's house or did he come over to her house she had gone over there at least once
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before because she talked to me about it but I think more often he went to her house late at night when I talked to Dan
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last night he said whenever she came over I waited for her and it gave me the impression that she had gone over there
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more than once have you ever known Lisa to use any drugs or alcohol drugs no when we were in Germany she got a little
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bit tipsy and we all laughed about that because it was so uncharacteristic of her other than that no
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is there anything else that you wish to add to your statement no the date is now September 22nd 1990. it
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is one week after Lisa's murder Kevin young the weird kid in school is the primary suspect
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they have consulted with the FBI already about how to get Kevin to confess to the
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crime and only now do police detectives sit down for a formal interview with Kim
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Rathbone the 16 year old girl who lives behind Dan dreyfert's house she has been holding on to some very
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important Clues though her memory is already a bit foggy are you a student yes where at Shaker
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Heights High School what grade are you in 11th are you aware this statement is being recorded yeah and is this being
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recorded with your permission yeah is your father aware that we are recording this statement at this time
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yeah Kim could you basically explain how you know Lisa Pruitt and also how you know
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Dan dryford and go back and give me a little bit of background information on how you know these people I met Lisa
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once in fifth grade in the band and we both played the flute together and I didn't uh that's how I knew her in fifth
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and sixth grade seventh grade I went to middle school with her and we were all part of the same group all kids that
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hung around together in middle school and in high school but I grew closer to her from eighth grade on as friends like
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closer friends I Know Dan dryford's in sixth grade he lives right behind me so we've always been people who if you
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can't find anything else to do you just go over to their house so I knew him better than I knew Lisa he's one of my
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very best friends and um oh I went out with him in sixth grade which is nothing it was like for a month
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or something and we walked to school together and stuff like that is that all you want to know okay what contact did
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you have with either Lisa Pruitt or Dan dryford on the date of Thursday September 13th 1990 to the best of your
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knowledge okay well first I'll tell you about Dan first because he's not um that was the first day that he came back
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from the hospital and Lisa and I were sitting down together I was helping her with chemistry which is funny because
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she's the smart one and um we were sitting down and he came around the corner like he'd been there
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the entire time so um I saw him then got hugs and everything because I hadn't seen him for
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a while except for like on weekends when we had a pass home and uh then after school I went over and I was cutting his
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hair because that was my special treat for seeing him at home because he never let anybody cut his hair I got to do
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that and then my boyfriend asked to go to Danny's house so he came and picked me up and said hi to Dan and then we
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left not till I saw Dan we were just talking and uh Lisa I saw at school I had lunch with her and band with her and
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maybe now and then in the Halls when everybody else saw her oh and shake a right with her that was 10th period and
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that's when we we had both finished our articles so that's why we were seen in the Halls on our way home we were
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anxious to get home and um then I saw her briefly after school and then I went home and then I went
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home and I saw Danny and cut his hair that's all I'd seen except I had heard her scream that night
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not knowing that it was her but I didn't know that she was coming over either there screams all the time around Lee
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Road in South Woodland and I was doing my history and I had put it off and when I heard the scream woke up and looked
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and walked through the house and it happened toward the back of the house my little brother leaves his window open
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and our rooms are connected we're through a bathroom and the bathroom doors were opened and his window was
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open and I hear her scream and I went off and I looked in my window to see if there were any bicycles or cars or
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anything and there wasn't anybody I thought it was weird but I still didn't do anything about it and I found out
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Friday at like seven o'clock seven in the morning yeah and we didn't even know it was Lisa it was like tapes and dogs
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and everything and we didn't even know it was Lisa and stuff so my parents were all in front of the house my grandmother
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lives with us and my brother sleeps like a bump on a log and he didn't notice anything and I guess my grandmother's
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windows were shut I don't know why she didn't hear do you remember about what time that was
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you heard those screams around like 12 30 just a little bit after 12 30. I was hoping that it wasn't
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her but but just from I heard from other people and everything putting everything
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together it seems to be so I'm not even absolutely sure that it was her but it just seems like the normal way or how do
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you know about what time it was were you aware then what time it was or did you just kind of hear what time it happened
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later and then no no I glanced at the clock when I heard it I don't know why because I was just like working really
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hard and it was distracting me out of my work so I just glanced to see what time
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it was so you were awake at the time yeah I was up doing your homework studying my history
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do you remember what the clock exactly what the clock said in other words between 12 30 and 12 45
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because I went to bed at one but it hadn't it was then so that I understand you correctly your
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bedroom faces segwick yes on what side of the house towards facing the house towards South Woodland say if you're
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facing your house is your bedroom towards South Woodland or towards Shaker Boulevard towards South Woodland my
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parents are towards Shaker Boulevard the last time you saw Lisa Pruitt was on Thursday at school is that correct
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and did you see her anytime after that did you hear or mention or did she tell you what her plans were for the evening
00:24:34
no I didn't even know that she had been over at Dan's house before she had left the house for the night I didn't even
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know that she had been over there for then I think I must have I don't even remember what I was doing that night eat
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dinner with my family that's about all I remember sometimes you can hear from Dan's
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backyard you can all the time here if our screen doors are open you can hear what goes on in the houses themselves so
00:25:00
I guess I just really wasn't concentrating on what was going on over there describe for me as best
00:25:08
you can what the scream sounded like like a scream like somebody was scared I was just it didn't exactly sound like a
00:25:18
play scream like when you hear people are driving by and stuff and that's why I got alarmed and I looked and stuff but
00:25:24
it still didn't actually occur to me that it might be somebody really getting hurt because I don't know why it was
00:25:30
somebody being scared did it sound like a male or female oh a female definitely yeah
00:25:39
did you hear was it a long scream or just like series of short screams [Music] was it like continuous
00:25:49
um it was uh it didn't last for hours you know it was a long one and then there was a long one and I don't know
00:25:59
how you define which are short and which is long but long did you hear the person that was
00:26:05
screaming yell out any words or any names or was it just a scream just a scream I
00:26:12
didn't hear anything else what time did you go over to the dryford's house on that day
00:26:18
um it had to be after four because um you'd last until then it wouldn't have been much after uh oh I
00:26:27
remember why my friend came over we were studying for the history test in the afternoon also I just switched from a
00:26:34
higher to a lower class and she was making me take the test anyway ah it must have been like 4 15 or 4 30 p.m
00:26:42
so about half an hour or 45 minutes or something so you went over there between 4 15 and 4 30 P.M
00:26:50
and you are over there for about 45 minutes yeah I guess so who else was at dryford's at that time
00:26:58
outside with us no one just you and Dan um yeah me and Dan and Babbitt after my boyfriend had come he came over
00:27:09
and said hi that's Brian Keating yeah Brian Keating did you see anybody else at the dryford's house
00:27:17
um I'm trying to remember whether his mom was home or not I don't really remember whether anybody was home did
00:27:23
you go in the house at all no we stayed out in his backyard in that porch area yeah and you cut his hair
00:27:31
then right yeah in general did you and Dan talk about that day oh well he had just
00:27:40
gotten back he was telling me about the people that he had seen and just for some reason I remember Brian coming
00:27:46
over and saying well how do you like Freedom now I guess oh oh I had sent him a care package it was just mementos and
00:27:54
stuff when he had entered the hospital I gave it to his sister and his mom to bring but I wanted some of it back
00:28:01
because it was the only things that I had about him and he had stuff about me so I still needed those things so he
00:28:08
returned them back to me uh he gave me a little stamp just as a joke then like a big surprise was cutting his
00:28:17
hair and we were talking about how short he wanted his hair and whether he wanted
00:28:22
me to put it in a point in the back or not just the way he wanted it and said that he trusted me and I could just do
00:28:28
whatever I wanted to he had complete faith in me and uh I guess that's just about it did he talked about his plans
00:28:36
for the afternoon or evening no did he mention anybody was coming over that night to visit him no
00:28:43
if I had the chance then I was supposed to call him again but I had to study for
00:28:48
the history and then eat dinner and then I had other work to do so I didn't end up calling him so you never talked to
00:28:53
him the rest of the evening after that no okay and did you talk to Lisa Pruitt at
00:28:59
all the rest of the evening either in person or on the phone no [Music] I'm going to ask you about some people
00:29:29
that are friends or of maybe you friends of Lisa's that are friends of Dan's or maybe all mutual friends and tell me
00:29:38
what you know about them do you know a fella named Ken Workman uh-uh they call him Tex oh yeah sorry
00:29:47
about that how do you know him he's Debbie's boyfriend Debbie who dreyfert he's Dan's sister's boyfriend and I went
00:29:55
to see Dan with him and her and Andy once when he was in the hospital Andy who Conrad she's a girl and back of boat
00:30:04
right and uh he was really nice he didn't look like the kind of guy that would be really nice to somebody just
00:30:10
being the first time that I had met him and I just liked him a lot he was a really nice person and he seemed to care
00:30:17
about Debbie a lot did you see him that evening Tex yeah no I had just seen Dan do you know Chris Jones yes okay how do
00:30:28
you know him from school yeah I can't even remember how long I've known him probably just since ninth grade but this
00:30:36
year I have more classes with him and stuff I have study hall with him and lunch in English he's really nice he's a
00:30:43
sweetie he has these odd necklaces that he wears and always lets me wear it if I
00:30:49
like it he's friends with um oh I forgot to tell you Tex I think had met Lisa a couple times but he
00:30:56
didn't really know her and then Chris knew Dan real well and he knew Lisa real well too
00:31:03
how about Dan Messinger I've known him since either 7th or ninth grade oh and uh in ninth grade I hung around with him
00:31:11
a lot and that kind of drifted off I guess he knew Lisa real well and he knew Dan real well and him and Dan used to go
00:31:18
over to Dan's house and they'd mess around with the camera and stuff like that these odd pictures that they would
00:31:24
take he was real good friends with both of them he was really upset do you know anyone that might want to hurt either
00:31:30
Dan driver or Lisa Pruitt that you are aware of that would actually do it or that I think might do it that might you
00:31:39
know saying somebody would actually do something is you don't know we we don't know yeah I have a hard time believing
00:31:46
that anybody's capable of it but my guess is Kevin young Kevin young well he used to threaten them all the time he
00:31:53
used to say weird stuff like what he said he wanted to well he was in a mental or psych ward or something when
00:32:02
he was a sophomore and he said that he wanted generally he said he wanted to get back
00:32:07
at the rest of the world for putting him through what he had been put through and
00:32:12
he was going to do something to make everybody remember him and he said that he was gonna get Lisa
00:32:17
he said that how come Dan could get any good girl he wants getting something girl that he wants to and to suck his
00:32:25
dick but he can't get anybody stuff like that he's scary but you never think that
00:32:30
anybody's actually going to do something even though they talk have you ever heard of any of these threats from Kevin
00:32:38
young directly or do you just hear about them to me not to you but did he ever make threats against Dan or Lisa in your
00:32:48
presence um stem in biology because he couldn't finish it his sophomore year when he was
00:32:57
in the institution whatever it's called he must have said something like that every now and then not really often but
00:33:04
do you remember any instance that he actually made threats in your presence I don't remember a day it was in biology
00:33:12
he did that one but you heard it and you were present do you remember what it was exactly or as close to it
00:33:20
exact as you can remember he was saying like well it was nearing senior project do you know what that is no explain it
00:33:29
that's in the high school when seniors uh I think it must be in May or something when seniors don't have to
00:33:36
take their last set of finals because they do like a project or a working project or something okay I know what
00:33:43
you mean and they don't have to take the set of finals and he was just um it was nearing then because he was
00:33:51
only in their second semester with me and he said he was just so happy to be out of there and he just wanted to hurry
00:33:56
up and get out and he was gonna make everybody remember him that's the one when he was angry at the world for
00:34:02
putting him through this but what I was talking about specifically did he threaten Dan dryford
00:34:09
or Lisa Pruitt directly in your presence no just the world just the world and this was in his senior year
00:34:17
yeah that he was going to make everyone remember him what did that mean to you in your mind well it was kind of freaky
00:34:26
to have something like that said to you but I guess I'm kind of weird because I just put those kinds of things out of my
00:34:31
mind just Kevin's weird I'll stay away from him and that's it and I won't have to worry then Brian
00:34:38
Keating sat next to him and banned all the time in like concert band and he said that he used to hear Kevin talking
00:34:44
all the time but he never thought anything of it and that he'd actually act on it did you go on any of these
00:34:51
band trips like to Germany like to Germany yeah was Kevin young there yeah did anything happen on that trip out of
00:35:00
the ordinary significant uh that's when Dan and Lisa were really kind of started
00:35:06
like going out I guess was there any difficulty on the trip with any member of the band
00:35:13
did anyone get in trouble you mean with any relation to this or did anybody get in trouble in general no not anybody
00:35:21
anybody that's connected with this group of friends that we have discussed no I don't think so I remember this one
00:35:30
girl but she's in the band and so she had some kind of relation to Lisa but I don't really know her did you see Kevin
00:35:37
young at all the day of Thursday September 13th 1990. I haven't seen him for a long time I haven't seen him since
00:35:44
school I guess now I'm going to ask you a question and the answer I don't care about who's involved and what but did
00:35:55
you ever hear anything about any kind of parties at dryford's involving Robitussin drinking Robitussin to get
00:36:02
high do you mean did I ever hear of a party that we did that or did I ever hear about them doing that period did
00:36:11
you ever hear about them doing that period yeah okay what do you know about that I know it
00:36:19
doesn't show up on your drug test it always comes up negative and you can just tell them that you had a bad cold
00:36:24
uh you want me to tell you who did it or how they did it or yes both yes I don't really know how they did it I
00:36:34
could never figure it out really I guess they drink a lot of it maybe they like the taste were you ever present when
00:36:41
anybody ever did this I just I saw the bottles but I was never present when they ever did it okay
00:36:50
so how did you know just just by seeing the bottles that somebody didn't just have a bad cold oh
00:36:58
no what what did he tell you about it he told me that he got high off of those because that way he wouldn't ever really
00:37:09
be using using any real drugs and he could still feel good I guess and that was just uh I can't remember
00:37:16
who the people he said he'd done it with they were I remember when I was there Jamie Greenfield was there with me in
00:37:23
the same room and I think Steve somebody I don't remember do you know who they are no they're friends of Dan's I don't
00:37:31
think they ever met Lisa what are their names Jamie Greenfield and Steve something they go to my youth group and
00:37:38
that's how they know Dan it's through the Unitarian youth group I just remember it was in his dining room
00:37:44
that they like took off the bottoms and he showed them to me and I was just like
00:37:48
what are those Dan showed you those yeah Dan pulled them out of like a paper bag
00:37:53
full I mean not all the way up to the rim there was like seven bottles or something did he ever tell you what he
00:38:00
felt like when he took Robitussin he said the first time that he did it I'm trying to remember the words he used
00:38:08
what he used to describe being high did he mention other than being high any kind of unusual reaction or effect that
00:38:17
it had on him well I remember him talking about his friend was just totally like out of it
00:38:25
talking about like going into a forest or something like there are trees right there hallucinating or something
00:38:32
do you remember who the friend was he talked to no you have to talk to Dan about that he knows that but I don't
00:38:40
ever remember him talking about I mean he never hallucinated like that I don't think he ever did it to the point where
00:38:47
he was like that why are you asking me about the Robitussin anyway it's just something that's come up in other
00:38:54
statements and conversations so we have to clarify that well Dan doesn't drink anymore because he was Ill
00:39:01
with Robitussin I don't even know how he heard of it I don't know how he did it either that's why I asked if you might
00:39:08
have known anything about it all right I'm going to turn the tape over to the other side now
00:39:14
to your knowledge would Dan dryford have invited Kevin young over to his house for any reason lately yeah lately I
00:39:22
don't think so because he and uh am I allowed to swear on this sure he had called Kevin an [ __ ] which he
00:39:30
is I mean he's a jerk really so uh I remember him talking before like at the end of 10th grade who talked to him
00:39:37
before Dan he just said that that's when Bill DeMarco was there and the three of us
00:39:44
were sitting down and he said that you know you don't know who that is either Bill Demarco
00:39:51
no he's home this weekend from Bowling Green he just graduated last year and I said damn I heard you've been hanging
00:39:58
out with Kevin why and he said that he had done one or two things with Kevin and decided that he was kind of a jerk
00:40:05
and just Kevin kept hanging around Kevin was kind of being pushy but Dan didn't want him around I remember that I
00:40:12
hadn't even thought about Kevin since back in the 10th grade when was the last time you saw Kevin young that you can
00:40:18
recall that I think I recall ever talking to him or just saw him last time you saw him
00:40:24
in the 10th grade you haven't seen him since then I didn't know if he went to college
00:40:30
early or I didn't really care so that would have been in the spring or early summer of 1990 this year right yes
00:40:43
what do you know of Kevin Young's feelings towards Lisa Pruitt if he had any feelings towards her
00:40:49
um you mean out of his mouth I don't really know we're calling from other people's mouths and just
00:40:55
everything that I've heard you mean since Lisa's death or before then and before but mostly since Lisa's
00:41:04
death um that uh it seems like he might have been jealous of Lisa spending time with Dan
00:41:12
not like him being jealous of Dan because he has Lisa it seemed like it was the other way around just from what
00:41:18
I've heard it sounded kind of weird okay so this is what you've heard from other
00:41:24
people yeah who has been talking to you about it Jennifer Margulies I've seen her around
00:41:30
lately Lisa and me and her had diet jokes going on which was we had a scarvana sisters and I had just gotten
00:41:37
grounded a lot in ninth grade that's when it started and we just thought about a lot of weird names Jennifer was
00:41:44
Svetlana Lisa was Chicana and I was a No-No and we were the turkavana sisters what sisters turkavana
00:41:54
it's just a name we made up and we had I guess we had taped a whole bunch of commercials and put them all together
00:42:00
and it was something like Oh Henry bars and Sprite and something and then it was
00:42:04
just like a simple thing uh just to make us laugh because we had sat next to each other like in a Rowan
00:42:10
band and uh once I was grounded they brought me a package of the pop and the Ten of those Oh Henry Barr thingies and
00:42:17
gave them to me in a care package to make me feel better because I was grounded have you ever heard or do you
00:42:23
know of Lisa Pruitt sneaking out of her house going to Dan's house prior to the incident or Dan sneaking out of his
00:42:30
house and going to Lisa's have you ever heard of that have I heard it from them yes from Dan or Lisa no have you heard
00:42:40
of it from anyone else before the incident yeah but it wasn't even a big deal it should have been but it wasn't
00:42:47
what did you hear that Dan used to go all the time like to Lisa's house I don't think that I'd ever heard of Lisa
00:42:54
going to Dan's house but he used to go to her house and they'd sit down in his basement and bring his guitar and they
00:43:00
play and sing songs but that's all I heard I just kind of disregarded it you never heard of Lisa coming to his house
00:43:07
no and he never talked about it to you not really well he was gone for a month I had been working I had driver's ed in
00:43:16
the morning on weekdays and I worked in the afternoon so there wasn't really a lot of time for me to see him in the
00:43:22
beginning of Summer and then I had called him to see if he wanted to go out to a movie with me or
00:43:27
something and that's when I found out he was in the institution so then every chance I got I talked to
00:43:33
Debbie and his mom to see how he was doing things like that what were you aware of of anything or did Dan mention
00:43:41
anything to you about the relationship between Mr and Mrs dryford and Dan how did they get along well Dan and his
00:43:50
father have always had this thing going I mean it's a lot it's a lot less worse now I mean I haven't uh because I told
00:43:59
you when the screen doors are open you can hear everything you could hear Dan's father screaming at
00:44:05
him for whatever reason just clean your room and shave and why don't you help me
00:44:10
with this and stuff like that I always heard stories about what had happened when they were younger like what
00:44:17
like what well they're kind of far-fetched I never knew whether to believe them or
00:44:24
not um but I had heard that his father had gone violent with Dan and Deborah and I
00:44:30
think his mom I'm not sure and that's why Dan's started lifting weights in like the sixth grade he wanted to stand
00:44:37
up to his father and uh I had heard it once and this sounds really far-fetched but I remember it and
00:44:45
I don't remember whether I heard it from Debbie or Dan but when Dan was little he
00:44:50
had to use the bathroom and his father said no hold it as long as you could and then he couldn't hold it any longer so
00:44:56
we ended up wetting his pants and his father got mad because he wet his pants and like pushed his head into the toilet
00:45:03
or something it sounded very far-fetched and I had always known Mr drayford as long as I've known Dan and I've always
00:45:09
known him to yell but I had known him to use violence is there anything that you
00:45:15
know or anything that you feel that could perhaps help us in any way in this investigation
00:45:22
is there anything other that I could tell you some tip or something anything that you've heard or anything that you
00:45:31
might have thought about telling the police or thought about calling us and letting us know something that you heard
00:45:37
something that you feel that maybe no one else has thought about like maybe a threat or maybe some reason that
00:45:45
somebody would want to kill Lisa Pruitt all I know is what I've heard some of the rumors about who has texts and stuff
00:45:53
like that and I really don't believe that Dan or Stan or Tex either or any of the three of them are actually capable
00:46:01
of they they wouldn't have done it because first of all they wouldn't have done it to Dan Stan or Tex wouldn't have
00:46:08
done it to Dan Tex wouldn't have done that to Debbie and they had no reason in the world to hurt Lisa anyways they
00:46:14
barely knew her I really strongly don't believe that they did it that's just all
00:46:19
that I've really thought about to tell you just who didn't do it I don't know who did it who is Stan who are you
00:46:28
talking about I heard that stand with somebody Stan's just a friend of mine no you know Stan yeah you know his last
00:46:37
name no it's funny I've known him since the ninth grade but I don't even know his last name but I can recognize him
00:46:44
from a mile away can you describe him for me he is big Well everybody's big to me but he's big and he has long hair
00:46:52
probably down to his well well it's shorter than his shoulders now he looks awkward he smokes
00:47:00
I'm trying to remember whether he had an earring or not I don't think so well maybe he does I don't know about that
00:47:06
one don't no just just disregard that does he go to the high school well he was kind of he did last year and then
00:47:17
he ended up dropping out and then this year he was enrolled again and he was caught smoking on school grounds and he
00:47:22
was suspended then he was caught on school grounds when he was suspended so now he's supposed to pay something or
00:47:28
serve something in jail or I don't know I don't remember what the outcome is but
00:47:33
he's supposed to go to school the night that you heard the screams well it was actually the morning of September 14
00:47:40
1990. did you hear just before or just after that did you hear any other type of noise that might have caught your
00:47:48
attention no that's why I thought it was so freaky because I heard the scream and
00:47:52
just looked and I couldn't see anything else so I just said oh it must have been
00:47:56
somebody in their car or something you didn't hear any kind of maybe a car pulling away or screeching tires or not
00:48:04
even the police when they came in the middle of the night you went to bed about 1am
00:48:09
just about exactly when the police were all around looking around he didn't get up at all I didn't hear it at all I was
00:48:18
so tired from staying up so late studying and the screams that you said you heard
00:48:24
seem to be coming from behind your house yeah because my windows in my room are closed and so was the uh I have two
00:48:33
closets and the door to the hall two windows and the door to the bathroom the only one that was open was the door to
00:48:39
the bathroom so I figured it came from any other direction it would have sounded more muffled did you know Lisa
00:48:45
to keep any type of diary or anything like that I knew that she she always shared her thoughts with her friends I
00:48:52
know that she had little poems and stuff that she liked that she would share not
00:48:56
worth sharing it with some of them worth sharing it with certain people though who else besides yourself would
00:49:02
you consider to be her best friends I don't think I'm her best friend just Jennifer was really close to her and
00:49:11
Rachel lowenthal was very close to her and Kim Cole grew close to her in the summer Dan was really close to her and
00:49:18
Judy Miller was close to her I guess I'm kind of on the outskirts of people that
00:49:22
were close to her who would you say would be Dan's best friends Dan's best friends well
00:49:28
Lisa he was very special to me I don't know whether he would call me a best friend
00:49:35
we spent a lot of time together used to share a lot of hidden thoughts uh I don't know if he would actually
00:49:41
call me one I would like to think that I was one um he uh I I don't know who he would call
00:49:49
his best friends now all of the people that I just named were close to Dan also I know there was one guy that he met in
00:49:56
the institution with him but I don't know if he would call him his best friend do you know his name
00:50:02
oh he was just talking um I was just over at Dan's house yesterday and he was talking to him on
00:50:07
the phone Mike Pagel Maybe that's the closest I can call him I think that's it his first name is Mike
00:50:15
yeah I answered the phone I said this is the dry fruit residence and he said is Dan there this is Mike so
00:50:22
I'm really not sure on the last name I know Bill DeMarco spends a lot of time with him before they left they used to
00:50:29
call each other over the summer know a kid named David Branigan uh-huh he used to babysit for me he lifts a
00:50:37
couple houses down he's really nice I'd see him at all on Thursday no I didn't even know he was home I just saw
00:50:44
him last night at Arabica I was with my parents and I just said oh wait a minute
00:50:48
that's David and I went over and I said hi the last time I saw him was I think it
00:50:54
was right when school was ending and uh he saw me in the hall and caught me and took me to Arabica and we were talking
00:51:00
and he told me about this girl he met and da da da da do you know what the girl's name was
00:51:06
Megan I think he's roaming with her now or he's going to be rooming with her soon
00:51:12
I don't think he's going back to school this year but he's working down at the in the flats at the Arabica
00:51:18
he's working at Arabica yeah I I forgot where he's working in the flats though he told me but I can't
00:51:25
remember is there anything else you wish to add to your statement that would help you really I don't think
00:51:31
so [Music] and here we come to the moment the detectives make their move it happened
00:51:50
on September 26 1990 12 Days After Lisa Pruitt's homicide six police officers from Shaker Heights
00:52:00
drive down to Ohio State University in an attempt to get Kevin young to confess to the crime they have been briefed by
00:52:08
FBI agents on how best to do this the profilers told them their best chance would be to surprise Kevin and
00:52:17
talk to him at night [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music]