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Welcome to Shaker Heights. Episode 4. Chinese Whispers. 16-year-old Lisa Pruitt was stabbed to
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death behind a mansion in Shaker Heights, Ohio on September 14th, 1990. Her murder remains unsolved.
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This is the story of how the police detectives and 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 Dryford.
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What you will hear are actors reading from actual police interviews conducted during the course of their
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investigation. 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. This is Detective Richard Maloney at the
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Shaker Heights Police Department interviewing one Christopher N. Jones. Mr. Jones, can you continue your
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statement? Dan was pretty angry about being a suspect or the way they portrayed that. Pretty
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much from there many people came and left Dan's house that night. Eventually, me and Dan Messinger got a ride from
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Scott Freiro to the Pruitt's 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
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to Dan's house from Randy Stokes. We got back to Dan Dryfort's house and I spent the night there. We then
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went down to Dan's basement and talked there for a while. Debbie Dryfort came down and we
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discussed the possibility that Kevin Young might have done it. It started from Shane and John who had
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heard about a month before that Kevin Young wanted to kill both Dan and Lisa because he had been with Lisa for 2
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years and Dan had stolen her or taken 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 15th, 1990,
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Dan had to go to the police station and I got a ride home from Mrs. Dryfort. 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 Dryfort, myself, Tex, and Kim Cole
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may 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 Dryfort? I've been friends with him since winter of 1989.
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Could you briefly describe Dan Dryfort? He's 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.
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If he feels something's different, he'll always put on show of being in a good mood, talking and stuff.
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Under that, he's afraid to trust people. He's intelligent and he has a sense of what he should do.
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Lisa was one of the only persons he really trusted. He hasn't had that many people that he
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can trust. He loved her very much. How long have you been friends with Lisa Pruitt?
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Pretty much the same as Dan. I had done some stuff with her before, but I became good friends with her that
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winter of 1989. How long have you known Tex? I don't really know him that well. Just pretty much know of him.
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And probably no more than 6 or 7 months. Could you briefly describe Tex? From what I know, he's not really
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concerned 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 Dryfort, and
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probably about 6 or 7 months also. Could you briefly describe Kevin Young? He's really touchy, very powerful,
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a sense of that, a 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.
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I really 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
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them. If they'll do anything, like be nice to him or something, he'll take that as a fact that they like
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him more than they actually do. With the girls he's around, he's very possessive about them.
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He misconstrues and takes too personally what their actions towards him are. Annie Conrad and I were at a party.
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She was one of the girls I felt he was in love with, because he knew her from band.
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I was kind of going out with her at the time. Whenever she would come over and talk to
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me, or come and sit by me, he would give me these really dark glances. He was trying to get drunk and he was
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acting really angry and hurt, kind of. He basically simmered down after I talked to him a little bit.
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And he said to him that she didn't want to be around a guy who gets violent when
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he drinks. He just made me feel really uncomfortable, basically. Can you think of any other example of
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Kevin Young's behavior with girls? He asked Becca Boatwright to prom. But I can't really remember if she
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refused. I believe she refused. He began to hate her for that and verbally disparaged her.
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And he made a lot of rude comments about her. Seemed angry. He then asked Ellen Donald, who was a
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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
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of your friends abused Robitussin cough syrup? Yes, several. I tried it once and Andy Conrad, Becca
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Boatwright and Dan Dryfort. And Tex and Debbie Dryfort also. Could you describe what effects using
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Robitussin had on you? I took it along with alcohol. Nobody else really did that.
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I became extremely nauseous. I couldn't see straight, really. I had distorted perception of what
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things really seemed like. I became extremely talkative. Kind of dizzy, giddy feeling.
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But really nauseous. That's the only time I ever tried it. How does a young man with no ties to the
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crime scene become the main suspect in a murder investigation? It happens one flimsy story at a time.
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Remember that game we used to play in school? Chinese whispers, we called it. The telephone game.
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A rumor starts and it's passed like a virus through words from one person to another until it changes into something
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new and all together dangerous. Listen for it in this interview with Jennifer Morgalis, a 16-year-old high
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school student who was about to point the finger at Kevin Young simply because she heard his name at the right time.
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When I first found out that Dan Dryfort had come back, I was in a Youth Ending Hunger meeting after school.
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Judy Miller came into the room to tell me that Dan was back. She was very excited.
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Once I realized who she was talking about, I was also very excited. Shortly after she came in,
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Kim Rathbone came to the meeting and she was very excited and emotional, which is
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how Kim 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
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her. She had been down about band camp and the beginning of the school year because
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she couldn't do anything for him and she missed him a lot. And she kept saying that the only thing
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bad about the day was that she could not see him as much as she liked. She saw him momentarily after school and
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I asked her if she could go over later that evening and she said she had to go over to her flute lesson and her mom was
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making a special dinner in honor of her getting her driver's license. She said her father and she might stop
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at Dan's house after her flute lesson and her father only wanted to stop and say hi
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so they could get home for her celebration. When we were talking about what a good
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day it had been, she was listing the things that had made it that day. Primarily Dan being back and she got her
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driver's license. I told her not to forget that I had given her a necklace that day that she
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had ordered from my grandmother's jewelry store. When we were discussing her going to
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Dan's house after her flute lesson, I mentioned, "Can't you see him later that night?" Because sometimes they met then
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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
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and 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
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Kevin Young. I found out that Kevin was a suspect or I heard the rumor that he was a suspect
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on Saturday night right after Lisa was killed. It was Judy who told me that because she
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heard it from Becca Boatwright. That was at Dan's house on Saturday night. The minute Judy told me I got
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really upset. For some reason, it had never occurred to me before that he could be a suspect.
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Because I was running through a list of people in my mind that I thought might be capable of doing something like this
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or knew she might have been going over there. And although I thought of everyone I had ever seen at Arabica,
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Kevin never came into my head. But the minute Judy told me, I believed it. I mean, not so much in my head, but in
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some non-thinking way, I believed it. Because he was the only person that had ever entered my mind that I felt was
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capable of doing something like that. That really shook me up. So, I started thinking about why I was so convinced
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that it was he and the more I thought about it, I remembered about three or four conversations I had with him. Plus
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the general knowledge that he was pretty disturbed. Rachel Lowenthal and Ted Folkman and
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Aaron Miller and I had gone to see a Hunt for Red October at the Colony Theater.
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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. They're brothers. Kevin started talking about gays and was
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making offensive comments. And I always felt bad for him, but I was never able to tolerate it when he talked like that.
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So, Aaron and I got up and went downstairs. And when we came back upstairs, they
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were talking about Kevin's favorite topic of discussion. Which was how all women hated him. And how he hated all
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women. And why he even tried to have relationships. This was how he had talked in the past,
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but there was a specific time that I was reminded of as I listened to him talk that night. Which was another night when
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I was up at Arabica and he was telling me and I think Rachel and I don't remember who
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about a girl he had liked in middle school. I mean, one of those archetypical perfect people whose parents were going
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out of town. And she was inviting Kevin over to her house. He got the impression that there would
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be something of interest to him going on. Or just interest 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 I 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 Hunt for Red October and when I was
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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
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sluts." A lot of kids talk that way. It's an insecurity thing. He was complaining how
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guys like Dan could get [ __ ] like Lisa to suck on [ __ ] and how Kevin didn't have anyone and raving on about how
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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,
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people who hang around school and don't attend classes and Kevin was talking about how he
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didn't ever seem to have any successes with women at all. He said to Rachel and I that if we ever
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got the chance he was sure we would reject him and our friends would reject him. He said that
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if he would go out with a girl, he would call her a week later and she would put him off and ignore him
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basically. He said how he didn't like to be ignored and said "I won't let people ignore me."
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Rachel said, "How can you change how people feel? If they don't want to see you, there
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isn't much you can do about it." And he repeated that he wouldn't be ignored and that people can make impressions on
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people and it has been done. And then Chris who is a serious pragmatist said "Well, a good impression or a bad
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impression?" Kevin said, "Whatever works." It was kind of chilling at the time and
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worse when I remembered it in this context, in the context of what happened. Chris then asked Kevin,
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"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 Matsumoto. 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 Interlochen
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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.
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Then he said with him and the [ __ ] and it was either the [ __ ] or [ __ ] or [ __ ]
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in reference to Lisa. Kevin continued and said, "I was going to [ __ ] with him real good,
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but now he's not around." Or something along those lines. When Kevin said that, I looked at Rachel
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and she looked at me and I said, "You don't need to talk about our friends like that." And he apologized
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and said sorry and continued to talk about Dan. When Kevin said what I said before,
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then Rachel said it was nice to know your friends support you when you're in trouble, and she was trying to
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guilt-trip him into shutting up. As far as I remember, that was all I wanted to talk to you guys about.
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When you refer to Lisa going over to Dan's house late late that night, did she usually go to Dan's house, or did he
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come over to her house? I know she had gone over there at least once before, because she talked to me
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about it. But I think more often he went to her house late at night. When I talked to Dan last night, he said,
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"Whenever she came over, I waited for her." And it gave me the impression that she had gone over there more than once.
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Have you ever known Lisa to use any drugs or alcohol? Drugs? No. When we were in Germany, she got a
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little bit tipsy, and we all laughed about that because it was so uncharacteristic of her. Other than
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that, no. Is there anything else that you wish to add to your statement? No. The date is now September 22nd, 1990.
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It is 1 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 Dryfort'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.
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Where at? Shaker Heights High School. What grade are you in? 11th. Are you aware this statement is being
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recorded? Yeah. And is this being recorded with your permission? Yeah. Is your father aware that we are
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recording this statement at this time? Yeah. Kim, could you basically explain how you know
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Lisa Pruitt and also how you know Dan Dryford and go back and give me a little bit of background information on how you
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know these people. I met Lisa once in fifth grade in the band and we both played the flute
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together. And I didn't That's how I knew her in fifth and sixth grade. Seventh grade, I went to middle
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school with her and we were all part of the same group. All kids that hung around together in middle school and in
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high school. But I grew closer to her from eighth grade on as friends like closer friends. I know Dan Dryford
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since sixth grade. He lives right behind me so we've always been people who if you can't find anything else to do, you
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just go over to their house. So, I knew him better than I knew Lisa. He's one of
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my very best friends and Oh, I went out with him in sixth grade which is nothing. It was like for a
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month or something and we walked to school together and stuff like that. Is that all you want to know?
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Okay. What contact did you have with either Lisa Pruitt or Dan Dryford on the date of Thursday, September 13th, 1990
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to the best of your knowledge? Okay. Well, first I'll tell you about Dan first cuz he's
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not Mhm. That was the first day that he came back from the hospital and Lisa and I were
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sitting down together. I was helping her with chemistry which is funny because she's the smart one. And um
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we were sitting down and he came around the corner like he'd been there the entire time.
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So, um I saw him then, got hugs and everything cuz I hadn't seen him for a while except
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for like on weekends when we had a pass home and uh then after school I went over and I was
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cutting his hair cuz that was my special treat for seeing him at home. Because he
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never let anybody cut his hair. I got to do that. And then my boyfriend asked to go to Danny's house. So he came
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and picked me up and said hi to Dan and then we left. Not till I saw Dan, we were just talking. And uh
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uh Lisa I saw at school. I had lunch with her and band with her and maybe now and then in the halls when everybody
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else saw her. Oh and shaker right with her. That was tenth period. And that's when
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we we had both finished our articles. So that's why we were seen in the halls on
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our way home. We were anxious to get home. And um then I saw her briefly after school and then I went home. And then I
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went 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's screams all the time around Lee
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Road in South Woodland. And I was doing my history and I I had put it off. And when I heard the scream, woke up and
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looked and walked through the house. And it happened toward the back of the house.
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My little brother leaves his window open and our rooms are connected. We're through a bathroom and the bathroom
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doors were opened and his window was open. And I hear her scream and I went off. And I looked in my window to see if
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there were any bicycles or cars or anything. And there wasn't anybody. I thought it was weird. But I still
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didn't do anything about it. And I found out Friday at like 7:00. 7:00 in the morning?
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Yeah. And we didn't even know it was Lisa. It was like tapes and dogs and everything. And we didn't even know it
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was Lisa and stuff. So my parents were all in front of the house. My grandmother lives with us and my brother
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sleeps like a bump on a log and he didn't notice anything. And I guess my grandmother's windows were shut. I don't
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know why she didn't hear. Do you remember about what time that was you heard those screams?
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Around like 12:30, just a little bit after 12:30. I was hoping that it wasn't her, but but just from I heard from
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other people and everything, putting everything together, it seems to be. So, I'm not even absolutely sure that it was
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her. But it just seems like the normal way or How do you know about what time it was?
00:23:25
Were you aware then what time it was or did you just kind of hear what time it happened later and then
00:23:32
No, no. I glanced at the clock when I heard it. I don't know why because I was just like working really hard and it was
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distracting me out of my work. So, I just glanced to see what time it was. So, you were awake at the time?
00:23:43
Yeah, I I was up. Doing your homework? Studying my history. Do you remember what the clock exactly
00:23:50
what the clock said? Mhm. In other words, between 12:30 and 12:45 because I went to bed at 1:00.
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But it hadn't it was then. So that I understand you correctly, your bedroom faces Sedgwick?
00:24:05
Yes. On what side of the house? Towards facing the house. Towards South Woodland, say if you're
00:24:13
facing your house, is your bedroom towards South Woodland or towards Shaker Boulevard?
00:24:18
Woodland. My parents are towards Shaker Boulevard. The last time you saw Lisa Pruitt was on
00:24:24
Thursday at school, is that correct? And did you see her anytime after that? Mhm.
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Did you hear or mention or did she tell you what her plans were for the evening?
00:24:36
No, I didn't even know that she had been over at Dan's house before. She had left
00:24:40
the house for the night. I didn't even know that she had been over there for then. I think I must have I don't even
00:24:47
remember what I was doing that night. Ate dinner with my family. That's about all I remember.
00:24:53
Sometimes you can hear from Dan's backyard. You can all the time here. If our screen
00:24:58
doors are open, you can hear what goes on in the houses themselves. So, I guess I just really
00:25:04
wasn't concentrating on what was going on over there. Describe for me as best you can, what the scream sounded
00:25:12
like. Like a scream. Like somebody was scared. I was just It didn't exactly sound like
00:25:19
a play scream. Like when you hear people are driving by and stuff. And that's why
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I got alarmed. And I looked and stuff. But it still didn't actually occur to me that it might be somebody really getting
00:25:29
hurt cuz I don't know why. It was somebody being scared. Did it sound like a male or female?
00:25:36
Oh, a female. Definitely? Yeah. Did you hear was it a long scream or just like series of short screams?
00:25:49
Was it like continuous? Um It was uh It didn't last for hours, you know. It It was a long one and then
00:25:58
there was a long one and I don't know how you define which are short and which is long, but long.
00:26:04
Did you hear the person that was screaming yell out any words or any names? Or was it just a scream?
00:26:12
Just a scream. I didn't hear anything else. What time did you go over to the Dryford's house on that day?
00:26:19
Uh um It had to be after 4:00 because um it lasted until then. It wouldn't have been much after uh Oh,
00:26:28
I remember why my friend came over. We were studying for the history test in the afternoon also.
00:26:34
I just switched from a higher to a lower class and she was making me take the test anyway.
00:26:39
Uh Mm it must have been like 4:15 or 4:30 p.m. So, about half an hour or 45 minutes or something.
00:26:47
So, you went over there between 4:15 and 4:30 p.m. and you were over there for about 45
00:26:55
minutes? Yeah, I guess so. Who else was at Dryford's at that time? Outside with us? No one.
00:27:03
Just you and Dan? Um yeah, me and Dan and Babbitt. After my boyfriend had come, he came
00:27:11
over and said hi. That's Brian Keating? Yeah, Brian Keating. Did you see anybody else at the
00:27:17
Dryford's house? Um I'm trying to remember whether his mom was home or not. I don't really remember whether anybody
00:27:24
was home. Did you go in the house at all? No, we stayed out in his backyard. In that porch area?
00:27:31
Yeah. And you cut his hair then, right? Yeah. In general, did you and Dan talk about
00:27:38
that day? Oh, well, he had just gotten back. He was telling me about the people that
00:27:44
he had seen and just for some reason I remember Brian coming over and saying, "Well, how do you like
00:27:50
freedom now?" I guess. Oh. Oh, I had sent him a care package. It was just mementos and stuff. When he had
00:27:57
entered the hospital, I gave it to his sister and his mom to bring. But I wanted some of it back because it was
00:28:03
the only things that I had about him. And he had stuff about me, so I still needed those things. So he returned them
00:28:11
back to me. Uh He gave me a little stamp just as a joke. Then like a big surprise was cutting his
00:28:18
hair. And we were talking about how short he wanted his hair and whether he wanted me
00:28:24
to put it in a point in the back or not. Just the way he wanted it and said that
00:28:28
he trusted me and I could just do whatever I wanted to. He had complete faith in me and uh
00:28:34
I guess that's just about it. Did he talk about his plans for the afternoon or evening?
00:28:39
No. Did he mention anybody was coming over that night to visit him? No. If I had the chance, then I was supposed
00:28:47
to call him again, but I had to study for the history and then eat dinner and then I had other work to do. So, I
00:28:53
didn't end up calling him. So, you never talked to him the rest of the evening? After that, no.
00:28:58
Okay. And did you talk to Lisa Pruitt at all the rest of the evening, either in person or on the phone?
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00:33:39
today. I'm going to ask you about some people that are friends of maybe you, friends of Lisa's, that
00:33:58
are friends of Dan's, or maybe all mutual friends. And tell me what you know about them. Do you know a fella
00:34:05
named Ken Workman? Uh-uh. They call him Tex? Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. How do you know him?
00:34:13
He's Debbie's boyfriend. Debbie who? Dryfort. He's Dan's sister's boyfriend. And I went to see Dan with him and her
00:34:21
and Andy once when he was in the hospital. Andy who? Conrad. She's a girl. And Becca
00:34:27
Boatwright. And he was really nice. He didn't look like the kind of guy that would be really
00:34:33
nice to somebody, just being the first time that I had met him. And I just liked him a lot. He was a really nice
00:34:40
person, and he seemed to care about Debbie a lot. Did you see him that evening? Tex?
00:34:45
Yeah. No, I had just seen Dan. Do you know Chris Jones? Yes. Okay. How do you know him?
00:34:53
From school. Yeah. I can't even remember how long I've known him. Probably just since ninth grade, but this year I have
00:35:01
more classes with him and stuff. I have study hall with him and lunch and English. He's really nice. He's a
00:35:07
sweetie. He has these odd necklaces that he wears and always lets me wear it if I
00:35:13
like it. He's friends with um Oh, I forgot to tell you. Tex, I think, had met Lisa a couple times, but he didn't
00:35:20
really know her. And then Chris knew Dan real well, and he knew Lisa real well, too.
00:35:27
How about Dan Messinger? I've known him since either seventh or ninth grade. Oh, and uh in ninth grade, I hung around
00:35:35
with him a lot. And that kind of drifted off, I guess. He knew Lisa real well, and he knew Dan real well, and him and
00:35:42
Dan used to go over to Dan's house, and they'd mess around with the camera and stuff like that. These odd pictures that
00:35:47
they would take. He was real good friends with both of them. He was really upset.
00:35:52
Do you know anyone that might want to hurt either Dan Dryfer or Lisa Pruitt that you are aware of?
00:35:58
That would actually do it? Or that I think might do it? That might saying somebody would actually do
00:36:05
something is you don't know. We we don't know. Yeah, I have a hard time believing that
00:36:10
anybody's capable of it, but my guess is Kevin Young. Kevin Young? Well, he used to threaten them all the
00:36:16
time. He used to say weird stuff. Like what? He said he wanted to Well, he was in a
00:36:24
mental or psych ward or something when he was a sophomore, and he said that he wanted
00:36:29
Generally, he said he wanted to get back at the rest of the world for putting him
00:36:33
through what he had been put through. And he was going to do something to make everybody remember him.
00:36:39
And he said that he was going to get Lisa. He said that how come Dan could get any
00:36:43
good girl he wants, getting something girl that he wants to and to suck his dick, but he can't get anybody, stuff
00:36:51
like that. He's scary. But you never think that anybody's actually going to do something
00:36:57
even though they talk. Have you ever heard of any of these threats from Kevin Young directly, or do
00:37:04
you just hear about them? To me? Not to you, but did he ever make threats against Dan
00:37:11
or Lisa in your presence? Um he Well, I sat next to him in biology because he couldn't finish it. His
00:37:20
sophomore year, when he was in the institution, whatever it's called. He must have said something like that every
00:37:25
now and then, not really often. But do you remember any instance that he actually made threats in your presence?
00:37:33
I don't remember a day. It was in biology he did that one. But you heard it. And you were present. Do you remember
00:37:41
what it was exactly, or as close to it exact as you can remember? He was saying like, well, it was nearing
00:37:49
senior project. Do you know what that is? No, explain it. That's in the high school when seniors
00:37:57
uh I think it must be in May or something. When seniors don't have to take their last set of finals because
00:38:02
they do like a project or working project or something. Okay, I know what you mean.
00:38:07
And they don't have to take the set of finals. And he was just um it was nearing then because he was only
00:38:15
in there second semester with me. And he said he was just so happy to be out of there, and he just wanted to hurry up
00:38:21
and get out. And he was going to make everybody remember him. That's the one when he was angry at the world for
00:38:26
putting him through this. But what I was talking about specifically, did he threaten Dan
00:38:33
Dryford or Lisa Pruitt directly in your presence? No, just the world. Just the world. And this was in his
00:38:39
senior year? Yeah. That he was going to make everyone remember him? What did that mean to you
00:38:47
in your mind? Well, it was kind of freaky to have something like that said to you. But I
00:38:52
guess I'm kind of weird because I just put those kinds of things out of my mind. Just
00:38:57
Kevin's weird. I'll stay away from him and that's it. And I won't have to worry then.
00:39:02
Brian Keating sat next to him in band all the time in that concert band. And he said that he used to hear Kevin
00:39:08
talking all the time. But he never thought anything of it and that he'd actually act on it.
00:39:13
Did you go on any of these band trips like to Germany? Like to Germany? Yeah. Was Kevin Young there?
00:39:21
Yeah. Did anything happen on that trip out of the ordinary? Significant? Uh that's when Dan and Lisa were really
00:39:29
kind of started like going out, I guess. Was there any difficulty on the trip with any member of the band?
00:39:37
Did anyone get in trouble? You mean with any relation to this or did anybody get in trouble in general?
00:39:44
No, not anybody. Anybody that's connected with this group of friends that we have discussed.
00:39:51
Um No, I don't think so. I remember this one girl, but she's in the band. And so
00:39:56
she had some kind of relation to Lisa, but I don't really know her. Did you see Kevin Young at all the day
00:40:02
of Thursday, September 13th, 1990? I haven't seen him for a long time. I haven't seen him since school, I guess.
00:40:10
Now I'm going to ask you a question and the answer, I I care about who's involved in what. But, did you ever hear
00:40:20
anything about any kind of parties at Dryford's involving Robitussin, drinking Robitussin to get high?
00:40:27
Do you mean did I ever hear of a party that we did that, or did I ever hear about them doing that period?
00:40:35
Did you ever hear about them doing that period? Yeah. Okay. What do you know about that?
00:40:42
I know it doesn't show up on your drug test. It always comes up negative, and you can just tell them that you had a
00:40:47
bad cold. Uh you want me to tell you who did it, or how they did it, or Yes. Both?
00:40:55
Yes. I don't really know how they did it. I could never figure it out really. I guess they drink a lot of it. Maybe they
00:41:02
like the taste. Were you ever present when anybody ever did this? Uh-uh. I just I saw the bottles, but I was
00:41:11
never present when they ever did it. Okay. So, how did you know? Just just by seeing the bottles that somebody
00:41:20
didn't just have a bad cold? Oh, no. No. Dan had told me about it. What did he tell you about it?
00:41:28
He told me that he got high off of those because that way he wouldn't ever really
00:41:33
be using any real drugs, and he could still feel good, I guess. And that was just uh
00:41:39
I can't remember who the people he said he'd done it with. They were I remember when I was there,
00:41:45
Jamie Greenfield was there with me in the same room, and I think Steve somebody. I don't remember. Do you know
00:41:52
who they are? No. They're friends of Dan's. I don't think they ever met Lisa. What are their names?
00:41:58
Jamie Greenfield and Steve something. They go to my youth group, and that's how they know Dan.
00:42:04
It's through the Unitarian Youth Group. I just remember it was in his dining room that they like took off the
00:42:09
bottoms, and he showed them to me. And I was just like, "What are those?" Dan showed you those?
00:42:15
Yeah. Dan pulled them out of like a paper bag full. I mean, not all the way up to the rim. There was like seven
00:42:21
bottles or something. Did he ever tell you what he felt like when he took Robitussin?
00:42:27
He said the first time that he did it uh I'm trying to remember the words he used, what he used to describe being
00:42:34
high. Did he mention, other than being high, any kind of unusual reaction or effect
00:42:41
that it had on him? Well, I remember him talking about his friend was just totally like out of it. Talking
00:42:50
about like going into a forest or something. Like, there are trees right there. Hallucinating or something.
00:42:56
Do you remember who the friend was he talked to? No. You have to talk to Dan about that.
00:43:02
He knows that, but I don't ever remember him talking about I mean, he never hallucinated like that. I don't think he
00:43:10
ever did it to the point where he was like that. Why are you asking me about the
00:43:14
Robitussin, anyway? It's just something that's come up in other statements and conversations.
00:43:21
So, we have to clarify that. Well, Dan doesn't drink anymore because he was ill with Robitussin. I don't even
00:43:27
know how he heard of it. I don't know how he did it, either. That's why I ask if you might have known
00:43:33
anything about it. All right, I'm going to turn the tape over to the other side now.
00:43:39
To your knowledge, would Dan Dryford have invited Kevin Young over to his house for any reason?
00:43:44
Lately? Yeah, lately. I don't think so, cuz he and uh am I allowed to swear on this?
00:43:51
Sure. He had called Kevin an [ __ ] which he is. I mean, he's a jerk, really. So, uh
00:43:57
I remember him talking before, like at the end of 10th grade. Who talked to him before?
00:44:02
Dan. He just said that uh that's when Bill DeMarco was there, and the three of us were sitting down,
00:44:09
and he said that. You know, you don't know who that is, either. Bill DeMarco? No.
00:44:16
He's home this weekend from Bowling Green. He just graduated last year, and I said, "Damn, I heard you'd been
00:44:22
hanging out with Kevin. Why?" And he said that he had done one or two things with Kevin, and decided that he was kind
00:44:28
of a jerk, and just Kevin kept hanging around. Kevin was kind of being pushy, but Dan
00:44:33
didn't want him around. I remember that. I hadn't even thought about Kevin since
00:44:38
back in the 10th grade. When was the last time you saw Kevin Young that you can recall?
00:44:42
That I think I recall ever talking to him, or just saw him? Last time you saw him.
00:44:49
In the 10th grade. You haven't seen him since then? Uh-uh. I didn't know if he went to college
00:44:55
early, or I didn't really care. So, that would have been in the spring or early summer of 1990, this year,
00:45:04
right? Yes. What do you know of Kevin Young's feelings towards Lisa Pruitt? If he had any feelings towards her.
00:45:13
Um, you mean out of his mouth? I don't really know, but recalling from other people's mouths, and just everything
00:45:20
that I've heard. You mean since Lisa's death, or before? Then, and before, but mostly since
00:45:27
Lisa's death. Um, that, uh, it seemed like he might have been jealous of Lisa spending time with Dan.
00:45:36
Not like him being jealous of Dan because he has Lisa. It seemed like it was the other way around, just from what
00:45:42
I've heard. It sounded kind of weird. Okay. So, this is what you've heard from other
00:45:48
people. Yeah. Who has been talking to you about it? Jennifer Margolis. I've seen her around
00:45:54
lately. Lisa and me and her had diet jokes going on. Which was? We had a Skirvanas sisters, and I had
00:46:01
just gotten grounded a lot in ninth grade. That's when it started and we just thought about a lot of weird names.
00:46:07
Jennifer was Svetlana, Lisa was Chicana, and I was a No No. And we were the Turkavana Sisters.
00:46:14
What sisters? Turkavana. It's just a name we made up and we had I guess we had taped a whole bunch of
00:46:22
commercials and put them all together. And it was something like Oh Henry bars and Sprite and something. And then it
00:46:28
was just like a simple thing. Uh just to make us laugh cuz we had sat next to each other like in a row in band
00:46:35
and uh once I was grounded they brought me a package of the pop and the ten of those Oh Henry bar thingies and gave
00:46:42
them to me in a care package to make me feel better because I was grounded. Have you ever heard or do you know of
00:46:47
Lisa Pruitt sneaking out of her house and going to Dan's house prior to the incident or Dan sneaking out of his
00:46:54
house and going to Lisa's? Have you ever heard of that? Have I heard it from them?
00:47:01
Yes. From Dan or Lisa? No. Have you heard of it from anyone else before the incident?
00:47:07
Yeah, but it wasn't even a big deal. It should have been but it wasn't. What did you hear?
00:47:13
That Dan used to go all the time like to Lisa's house. I don't think that I had ever heard of Lisa going to Dan's house
00:47:20
but he used to go to her house and they'd sit down in his basement and bring his guitar and they'd play and
00:47:25
sing songs but that's all I heard. I just kind of disregarded it. You never heard of Lisa coming to his
00:47:31
house. No. And he never talked about it to you. Not really. Well, he was gone for a
00:47:37
month. I had been working. I had drivers ed in the morning on weekdays and I worked in
00:47:42
the afternoon. So there wasn't really a lot of time for me to see him in the beginning of summer.
00:47:48
And then I had called him to see if he wanted to go out to a movie with me or something and that's when I found out he
00:47:53
was in the institution. So then every chance I got I talked to Debbie and his mom to see how he was
00:47:59
doing, things like that. What were you aware of, if anything? Or did Dan mention anything to you about
00:48:07
the relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Dryford and Dan? How did they get along? Well, Dan and his father have always had
00:48:15
this thing going. I mean, it's a lot. It's a lot less worse now. I mean, I haven't uh
00:48:22
because I told you when the screen doors are open, you can hear everything. You could hear Dan's father screaming at
00:48:29
him for whatever reason. Just clean your room and shave and why don't you help me
00:48:34
with this and stuff like that. I always heard stories about what had happened when they were younger.
00:48:40
Like what? Like what? Well, they're kind of far-fetched. I never knew whether to believe them or
00:48:48
not. Um but I had heard that his father had gone violent with Dan and Deborah and I think
00:48:54
his mom. I'm not sure. And that's why Dan's started lifting weights in like the sixth grade. Um he wanted to stand
00:49:01
up to his father and uh I had heard it once. And this sounds really far-fetched, but I remember it
00:49:09
and I don't remember whether I heard it from Debbie or Dan. But when Dan was little, he had to use
00:49:14
the bathroom and his father said, "No, hold it as long as you could." And then he couldn't hold it any longer. So, he
00:49:20
ended up wetting his pants and his father got mad because he wet his pants and like
00:49:25
pushed his head into the toilet or something. It sounded very far-fetched and I had always known Mr. Dryford as
00:49:31
long as I've known Dan and I've always known him to yell, but I hadn't known him to use violence.
00:49:38
Is there anything that you know or anything that you feel that could perhaps help us in any way in this
00:49:45
investigation? You mean is there anything other that I could tell you, some tip or something?
00:49:52
Anything that you've heard or anything that might have thought about telling the
00:49:56
police or thought about calling us and letting us know, something that you heard, something that you feel that
00:50:03
maybe no one else has thought about, like maybe a threat or maybe some reason that somebody would want to kill Lisa
00:50:11
Pruitt. All I know is what I've heard, some of the rumors about who has texts and stuff
00:50:17
like that. And I really don't believe that Dan or Stan or Tex, either or any of the three of them, are actually
00:50:24
capable of They They wouldn't have done it because, first of all, they wouldn't have done it
00:50:29
to Dan. Stan or Tex wouldn't have done it to Dan. Tex wouldn't have done that to Debbie and they had no reason in the
00:50:36
world to hurt Lisa anyways. They barely knew her. I really strongly don't believe that they did it. That's just
00:50:43
all that I've really thought about to tell you, just who didn't do it. I don't know who did it.
00:50:50
Who is Stan? Who are you talking about? I heard that Stan was somebody. Stan's just a friend of mine. No.
00:50:58
You know Stan? Yeah. You know his last name? No. It's funny. I've known him since the
00:51:05
ninth grade, but I don't even know his last name. But I can recognize him from a mile away.
00:51:09
Can you describe him for me? He is big. Well, everybody's big to me, but he's big and he has long hair.
00:51:16
Probably down to his, well, well, it's shorter than his shoulders now. He looks awkward. He smokes.
00:51:24
I'm trying to remember whether he had an earring or not. I don't think so. Well,
00:51:28
maybe he does. I don't know about that one. Don't know. Just Just disregard that.
00:51:34
Does he go to the high school? Well, he was kind of He did last year and then he ended up dropping out and then this
00:51:42
year he was enrolled again and he was caught smoking on school grounds and he was suspended. Then he was caught on
00:51:48
school grounds when he was suspended. So, now he's supposed to pay something or serve something in jail. Or I don't
00:51:55
know. I don't remember what the outcome is, but he's supposed to go to school. The night that you heard the screams,
00:52:01
well, it was actually the morning of September 14th, 1990. Did you hear just before or just after that, did you hear
00:52:10
any other type of noise that might have caught your attention? why I thought it was so freaky cuz I
00:52:15
heard the scream and just looked and I couldn't see anything else. So, I just said, "Oh, it must have been somebody in
00:52:21
their car or something." You didn't hear any kind of maybe a car pulling away or screeching tires
00:52:28
or Not even the police when they came in the middle of the night. You went to bed about 1:00 a.m.
00:52:33
Mhm. Just about exactly. When the police were all around looking around, you didn't get up at all?
00:52:41
I didn't hear it at all. I was so tired from staying up so late studying. And the screams that you said you heard
00:52:48
seem to be coming from behind your house. Yeah, because my windows in my room are
00:52:54
closed and so was the I have two closets and the door to the hall, two windows and the door to the
00:53:00
bathroom. The only one that was open was the door to the bathroom. So, I figured
00:53:04
it came from any other direction, it would have sounded more muffled. Did you know Lisa to keep any type of
00:53:10
diary or anything like that? I knew that she always shared her thoughts with her friends. I knew that
00:53:16
she had little poems and stuff that she liked that she would share. Not worth sharing it with some of them.
00:53:22
Worth sharing it with certain people though. Who else besides yourself would you
00:53:26
consider to be her best friends? I don't think I'm her best friend. Just Jennifer was really close to her and
00:53:35
Rachel Lowenthal was very close to her and Kim Cole grew close to her in the the
00:53:40
Dan was really close to her and Judy Miller was close to her. I guess I'm kind of on the outskirts of
00:53:46
people that were close to her. Who would you say would be Dan's best friends? Dan's best friends? Well,
00:53:53
Lisa. He was very special to me. I don't know whether he would call me a best friend.
00:53:59
We spent a lot of time together. Used to share a lot of hidden thoughts. Uh I don't know if he would actually
00:54:05
call me one. I would like to think that I was one. Um he uh I I don't know who he would call his
00:54:13
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
00:54:20
the institution with him, but I don't know if he would call him his best friend.
00:54:24
Do you know his name? Oh, he was just talking. Um I was just over at Dan's house yesterday, and he
00:54:30
was talking to him on the phone. Mike Pagel? Maybe? That's the closest I can call him. I
00:54:37
think that's it. His first name is Mike? Yeah. I answered the phone. I said, "This is the Dryhurst residence." And he
00:54:44
said, "Is Dan there? This is Mike." So, I'm really not sure on the last name. I know Bill DeMarco spends a lot of time
00:54:50
with him. Before they left, they used to call each other over the summer. Do you know a kid named David Branigan?
00:54:58
Uh-huh. He used to babysit for me. He lives a couple houses down. He's really nice.
00:55:03
Did you see him at all on Thursday? No, I didn't even know he was home. I just saw him last night at Arabica. I
00:55:10
was with my parents, and I just said, "Oh, wait a minute. That's David." And I went over and I said, "Hi."
00:55:15
The last time I saw him was I I think it was right when school was ending, and uh
00:55:20
he saw me in the hall and caught me, and took me to Arabica, and we were talking,
00:55:25
and he told me about this girl he met, and da da da da da. Do you know what the girl's name was?
00:55:30
Megan? I think he's rooming with her now, or he's going to be rooming with her soon.
00:55:36
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.
00:55:42
He's working at Arabica? Yeah. I I forgot where he's working in the flats though. He told me, but I can't
00:55:49
remember. Is there anything else you wish to add to your statement? That would help you really? I don't
00:55:55
think so. And here we come to the moment the detectives make their move. It happened
00:56:14
on September 26th, 1990, 12 days after Lisa Pruett's homicide. Six police officers from Shaker Heights
00:56:24
drive down to Ohio State University in an attempt to get Kevin Young to confess to the crime.
00:56:31
They have been briefed by FBI agents on how best to do this. The profilers told them their best
00:56:38
chance would be to surprise Kevin and talk to him at night. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp.
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Shaker Heights is directed and produced by True Crime Garage, co-produced by The
00:57:52
Philosophy of Crime, and narration written by James Renner. Stay tuned for episode 5.