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[Music] [Music] [Music] thank you foreign Heights episode 3 The Crush sixteen-year-old Lisa Pruitt was stabbed
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21 Times by an unknown assailant on September 14 1990 in Shaker Heights Ohio a well-to-do suburb on Cleveland's East
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Side her body was found about a hundred feet from her boyfriend's back door where he lived with his parents and
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sister this boyfriend Dan dryford had been released from a mental institution earlier that day
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after the murder Dan's friends gathered to discuss the murder and likely suspects
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we'll never know exactly what was discussed at these private meetings of grief-stricken children
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but we know that after those meetings Dan's friends went to Shaker Heights police detectives
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and said they believed that Kevin young had killed Lisa Pruitt out of jealousy over her relationship with Dan
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the police searched Kevin's house and found no murder weapon or bloody clothes nothing at all to link him to the crime
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scene and he had an alibi as the investigation continues an interview with 18 year old Stanley
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Kramer implicates Dan dryford's father and a possible conspiracy of Silence by now
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Shaker Heights police detectives have interviewed the men and women who had the means motive and opportunity
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to commit the crime and they've heard from a handful of teenagers at Shaker Heights High School
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who regard Kevin young with hatred and suspicion the case takes a turn that Monday just
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three days after Lisa's murder that's when the police detectives decide it was Kevin young who committed the crime
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what follows is a statement by a lead detective in the case which explains how FBI profilers helped convince them it
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was probably Kevin who committed the crime [Music] foreign on Monday September 17 1990 I was
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contacted by special agent dick Wrenn of the Federal Bureau of Investigation relative to the Lisa Pruitt homicide
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agent Ren advised me that he was the case agent for the Amy mihalovic case and offered to assist us in any way he
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could he further informed me that due to the circumstances surrounding the Pruitt
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case that he would need to inquire as to any similarities between the mahalovic and Pruitt homicides I invited agent
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Wren to come to our station and review our reports and other information that we had accrued
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agent Wren advised that he would visit our station at approximately 1 pm that afternoon I was unable to meet with
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agent Wren when he arrived at the station due to the fact that I was at the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office
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with Detective Sergeant Timothy Reed preparing a search warrant for the resident of Kenneth Tex Workman agent
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Wren and agent John Dunn met with other members of the investigative Bureau and reviewed reports and evidence from the
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Pruitt homicide Upon returning from the County prosecutor's office detective Sergeant Timothy Reed detective Robert
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shipling and detective David kives executed the search warrant at 2626 North Moreland apartment number two the
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residence of Kenneth Workman see supplementary report by Sergeant Reed there was nothing of evidentiary value
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located during the search later that afternoon while searching through several plastic trash bags that were
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removed from the residents of Kevin young during a search of his residence on Sunday morning September 16 1990
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investigators located several documents that contained writings and paraphrases that indicated that Kevin young had some
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sort of Behavioral problem the writings referred to Kevin's disdain for Jews Arabs and blacks he further remarked
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about his own problems with developing relationships with females other writings revealed his inner feelings
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when he observed couples male and female acting out their affection for one another further examination of the
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documents indicated an interest in Satanism and neo-nazism specifically skinheads there were several documents
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that referred to suicide after all the documents were examined I contacted agent Wren and advised him as to what we
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had found I asked him if he knew anyone locally who could review the writings and offer us an opinion on what they
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meant agent ran referred me to supervisory special agent James Wright at the FBI Academy's Behavioral Science
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section in Quantico Virginia I attempted to make contact with agent Wright but was unable to do so due to the late hour
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on Wednesday September 18 1990 I made contact with agent Wright he asked me to fax him all available documents relative
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to Kevin young he further related that he would review the documents that same evening I gathered all of the documents
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37 Pages worth and had them faxed to agent Wright the transmission was completed at 12 34 pm on Thursday
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September 19 1990 at 10 30 a.m agent Wright contacted me by telephone and advised me that he'd reviewed the
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writings of Kevin Young and the details of the police report of the murder of Lisa Pruitt he stated that it was his
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opinion from the information that he had examined that the murder was definitely
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a quote neighborhood thing unquote and that the person that we were looking for knew Lisa Pruitt agent Wright then gave
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me a personality profile on what he had learned concerning Kevin young he related that Kevin's personality profile
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definitely fit that of a person capable of committing the crime in question he further remarked that we should look at
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other sexual assaults that have been reported in the past agent Wright went on to state that Kevin young has no ego
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low self-esteem he probably realizes that people don't like him he then offered some suggestions for any further
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interviews with Kevin agent Wright suggested that Kevin young be interviewed at night the later the
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better he described Kevin as a night person he further suggested that the interview should take place in a
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non-threatening environment not in an interrogation room the interviewer must be able to bond with Kevin quote provide
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a friend unquote the interviewer should be mature looking articulate and intelligent he must not resemble Kevin's
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father or have an authoritative personality agent Wright then proffered the following interview structure one
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don't start off the interview by being threatening but do create some anxiety in the subject shown something from the
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scene put it off to the side within his peripheral vision things from the scene might quote tweak him 2. give the
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subject a face-saving scenario two Kevin's good and bad quote he lost control he's not really responsible end
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quote refer to his writings quote If I Ever Lose Control of myself withdraw into an alternative world and let animal
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instincts take over this is from an essay written by Kevin young dated January 9 1990.
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three explain that the problem needs to be resolved four be careful not to be judgmental
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five don't be confrontational and six you can expect a lot of denial for a long long time after speaking with agent
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Wright I advised him that I was not sure that I had an interviewer with expertise
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in dealing with the type of Personality that he describes I further advised him that depending on laboratory results the
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success or failure of this investigation hinged on the interview with Kevin young
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agent Wright offered to assist in any way he could other than personally conducting the interview I then asked if
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you would assist in preparing the interviewer I told him that I would be willing to come to Quantico with the
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selected interviewer if he could make his staff available to us for whatever period of time that he thought was
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necessary agent Wright reiterated that he would help in any way possible on Friday September 21st 1990 at 2 pm agent
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Wren agent Dunn members of the investigative bureau chief ogre Nick and I met in the conference room we decided
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at that meeting that Kevin Young was our primary suspect and that we should make
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arrangements as soon as possible to meet with agent Wright at Quantico agent Dunn
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offered his assistance and advised that he would be willing to accompany us to Quantico for the interview preparation
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session after the meeting I contacted agent Wright and advised him of the results of our meeting agent Wright
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stated that he would be available to meet with us on Tuesday September 25th 1990 at 11 A.M and that he would be at
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our disposal for as long as it took to structure our interview Chief Walter A ugernick after Consulting with members
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of the investigative Bureau assigned detective Sergeant Thomas Gray as the primary interviewer and detective Thomas
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kahanski as the backup interviewer he further approved travel and expenses for the trip to Quantico for sergeant Thomas
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Gray detective Richard mullaney special agent John Dunn and myself on Tuesday September 25th 1990. we departed from
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Cleveland Hopkins airport at 8 35 a.m via Continental Airlines flight number 268 B and arrived at Washington National
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Air report at approximately 9 45 AM we leased a vehicle from the airport and arrived at the FBI Academy in Quantico
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at 11 A.M is scheduled we then met in the behavioral sciences unit with supervisory special agent James Wright
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and three members of his staff special agent Dave Gomez special agent Greg Cooper a special agent Jana Monroe the
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session began with us providing a detailed description of the crime scene all events leading up to the murder and
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all events succeeding the murder they viewed all photographs illustrations and documents concerning the case each named
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suspect was described with the reason or reasons why they were still suspected or
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eliminated as a suspect their initial response was to point out the Deep anger that was demonstrated throughout this
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crime they felt this anger was demonstrated both in the type of stab wounds and in the force used to break
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Lisa's rib the anger also showed in the high risk scenario that surrounded Lisa's death they also felt that based
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on the crime scene that the knife was a weapon of choice not a weapon of opportunity agent Wright and his staff
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then shared with us a profile of Kevin young they described Kevin young as a quote John Hinckley type personality he
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described Hinckley as a person who fantasized about women from afar he further explained that Hinckley often
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wrote letters describing romantic interludes with women that he had never been acquainted with they felt that the
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papers from Kevin indicated that he had at one time had some type of homosexual experience which would explain his quote
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homophobia they described Kevin as very immature and childish and emotionally way behind his peers they estimated that
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he had the emotional development of an 11 or 12 year old and added that he probably had difficulty dealing with his
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peers but that he could function socially with both younger children and adults they also felt that because he
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was emotionally behind his peers Kevin was threatened by Dan's reefer through Lisa Pruitt they felt his papers also
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indicated he had no self-respect their profile on Kevin also LED them to believe that he had Justified his
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actions to himself before he did it one of their biggest concerns was that now that he had killed it would be easier
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for him to kill again they felt he had many traits of a serial killer we then focused on developing an approach for
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the interviewer they suggested that the interview be conducted away from any police settings preferably in a motel
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Suite they also suggested that the interview be conducted by one person and not recorded in any way it would be
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easier for Kevin to trust one person and to trust that person if there was no recording of the interview they
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explained how to get Kevin to record the quote truth unquote after the interview
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they also reminded us of the importance of having a supply of pop and cigarettes
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and of being prepared to handle meals and sleeping arrangements as the interview went on they told us up front
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that they felt Kevin would want to tell us what happened and that it would probably take him a long time they also
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suggested that the interview be done at night the later the better due to Kevin's nocturnal Tendencies the
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approach location and wording would all have to be a soft approach they stressed
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the importance of having enough patience to let them sit and talk to build his ego and to discuss his interests they
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also focused on the issue that Kevin must feel that the interviewer cares about him for the interview to be a
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success our approach was to be that the interviewer has the ability to help Kevin to present the truth to the
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prosecutor and to be an outsider to the system that will help him agent Wright suggested we could reinforce this with
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thoughts along the line of quote my boss thinks you're a killer end quote we also
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wanted to express our concern for the urgency of the matter that resulted in our late afternoon trip to Columbus the
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initial setup of the interview was all soft tones and all aimed at building trust and confidence they felt that
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giving Kevin's personality that he would have a difficult time talking to anyone
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about what happened however they suggested that his intellectual approach to everything
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could be used to our advantage they fought his personality would let him explain what had happened as a
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theoretical quote third person we decided to address the interview first in the third person they felt that if he
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was involved Kevin's personality would encourage him to discuss what happened in the third person it was felt that if
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Kevin had an opportunity to justify and rationalize what was done then it would be easier for him to confess it would be
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critical at this point to be non-judgmental about anything that Kevin said the next part of the interview
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would be indirect questioning these would address our concerns in non-threatening ways these questions
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would be in the form of putting him in the shoes of the person who did this to Lisa and asking him things like what
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would this person do with the knife with bloody clothes or with bloody hands the
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next topic was a polygraph they discussed the importance of good polygraph questions for someone like
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Kevin the questions would have to key into stress areas of the actual interview you they felt that someone
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like Kevin might pass a polygraph with standard questions suggested questions were did you get blood on yourself and
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did you get in a fight the last part of the interview if needed would be the confrontational part during this section
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we would present to Kevin an overwhelming amount of why we thought he was involved Kevin would then be asked
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to help the interviewer explain the evidence presented we also discussed the importance of doing the same type
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interview on the parents during the time that we were talking to Kevin agent Wright and his staff then discussed
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interviewing techniques to help build and reduce stress in the interview this included questions voice control and
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body positioning we also discussed items to have at hand the first were some non-threatening pictures of the area
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where Lisa was killed they suggested no more than three or four and we discussed
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how to use them in the interview as an aid for Kevin to visualize the scene the second item was a computer printout of
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our information on Kevin in a binder with his name on it and with some tabs marking key thoughts this would be use
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during the confrontational portion and would add stress during the rest of the interview we then reviewed what we had
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covered they stressed again that we had to show Kevin that we really cared that our job was to find the truth and that
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we were neutral and were there to present the truth to the justice system [Music]
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while detectives have decided to focus on Kevin young as their Prime Suspect they have actually not yet finished with
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their witness interviews on Tuesday they finally sit down with 16 year old Dan messenger
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who provides important contacts for the final hours of Lisa Pruitt's life Dan messenger also gives us our first
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insight into one of those secret meetings of Dan's friends which happened the morning after the murder
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when a handful of teenagers made the decision that it had to be Kevin young the weird
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kid in school who committed the crime I met Lisa in the third grade at Ludlow Elementary School and since then I've
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been close friends pretty much ever since I met Daniel dreifert when he got on the bus in seventh grade but I became
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close friends with him in German class in ninth grade I met Chris Jones in 10th grade in
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science class and we we became very close I met Kevin young basically in 10th Grade and I'll just say that I met
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Techs in the 10th grade a little while after we moved here on Thursday September 13 1990 I knew
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that Dan was coming home and I had talked to both Dan and Lisa about it and I knew if he wasn't coming home on the
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13th he'd be coming home soon I was uh sitting after school in my German classroom when I heard someone say Dan
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and I looked up and Dan and Lisa were together and Dan was waving at me I immediately went out of the room and I
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talked with both of them and I was very excited Lisa said that she should uh go and try to get her driver's license and
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so she and Dan would go and Dan would see her off and Dan said he would come back and see me in a few minutes in the
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German room I went back to the German room and I left momentarily I went looking for Dan but I didn't find
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him until I went outside and I saw Dan dreyfert and Chris Jones on their bikes Dan asked me why I wasn't in the German
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room because he had walked past it and I wasn't there I said because I left right away we
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talked about trying to get together and we decided that I'd ride with Chris on his bike and Dan would ride his bike
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over to my house we went over to my house and I got my bike and we rode our bikes over to
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Chris's apartment it was at Crystal's Apartments where we went inside and we talked a lot I was
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very excited we ate some of Chris's snicker bars and Dan had some letters in his backpack that he had received from
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Lisa that he had not yet read and was going to read them later Chris was getting dressed to go fencing
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So at around 5 30 p.m he left and went to go fencing Dan and I also left and decided that we would go to Leslie
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rooch's house when we got over there Leslie gave Dan a big hug actually now that I think about
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it we saw Kara Smith walking down the street Dan and her hugged first then we walked
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over to Leslie's house with our bikes and that's where Leslie gave Dan a hug at Leslie's house I began walking around
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a lot just being nervous for some reason and Dan sat and talked to Leslie Cara We
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also went outside and Dan and I and Leslie's little brother threw a round of football
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we left Leslie's I went home and Dan went home this was around 6 PM I believe I called my voice tell mailbox to see if
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I had any messages and Lisa had called it was 5 23 p.m that she had called she was very excited she said she had a
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great day and that she wanted me to call her back I was going to save the message
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but for some reason I deleted it then I called Lisa back and she had told me how
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great of a day it was because Dan had gotten home and she had gotten her driver's license she said she would be
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Dan Chris's and My Chauffeur but that we couldn't fool around too much because she knew we would she said that she had
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to go to her flute lesson soon but she would call me later that night and then we said goodbye the thing before that I
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forgot was that when Dan and I left from Leslie rooch's house Dan said that he would give me a call
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later that night as well that's all I know definitely from that night as far as I can remember
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the next day I was called around 5 a.m I did not wake up and my parents received
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a call the call was from Linda Mayer Who is my German teacher and she told me what had happened to Lisa I was woken
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between 5 AM and 5 30 a.m and my parents told me what had happened as far as they
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knew which was that Lisa had been murdered and that it happened at Lee in South Woodland
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between 6 a.m and 6 30 a.m I called Christopher Jones and I told him what had happened I was afraid and he
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wouldn't find out until later and because he was also a very good friend of Lisa's I felt that it was important
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that he found out in early time Chris told me that he didn't believe me and that I should stop joking around he said
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that he would talk to me later that day in school and hung up the phone about 20
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minutes later Chris called me back and asked me is it really true Catherine Schultz had
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called him also and told him what had happened when Chris called me back we decided that we would go over to
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Catherine's house wherever Gina Raider Christian slang and Kim Cole were also there my father drove us over and on the
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way over we listened to the news report on 1100 AM radio and this was at 7am it said that a
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Shaker Heights girl had been murdered and that she was raped and bludgeoned to death at Catherine's we all talked and
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cried and we got over there Kim Cole was talking to Kim Rathbone when she got off
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the phone she told us that Kim Rathbone had told her that she had heard screams Brian and Adam Keating Jeff Michael
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Charlie Martin also went over to Catherine's that morning we all share the information that we all
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knew at the time around 8 30 a.m I went to school with Jeff Michael Charlie Martin and Kristen
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at school a large group of friends such as Judy Miller Jennifer Margulies Rachel
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lowenthal Tanya menisi were all of Lisa's and Dan's close friends basically gathered in the band room to share
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everything we knew about what had happened Jeff steer kept trying to call Dan treifer but never got through to him
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we were told he was at the police station being questioned at second period around 9 A.M I went to my math
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class with Christian schlang who is also in the class there Reverend hivonen talked us all and tried to comfort us
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the next period we went to the German class where a lot of us who weren't even in German went
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this was basically Lisa's close friends again a lot of people I've mentioned before here Linda Mayer Reverend hivonen
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another clergyman and they all talked to us and tried to help us after this most of us went back to the
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band room again and we just talked about the great things that Lisa had done in her life
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Midway through the period we all went back to Catherine's house when we got to Catherine's Ted folkman
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Judy Miller Regina Raider Christian schlang and myself went to pick up flowers for Lisa's family
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we got back and a few people brought these flowers to Lisa's house at around 2 p.m Ted folkman took me home
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because he was also taking Jeff's steer home and I had planned to go with him and a few others to Temple that evening
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once I got home I told my parents that I was going over to the murder scene and I
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just wanted to see everything for myself I walked over and I saw the tape I asked
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a few policemen if anything had been discovered that they could tell me about no one had
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anything to say at this time Hallie Warren and Jennifer Shook saw me and stopped their car and
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parked their car and then they came over they said they had talked to my parents
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and my parents told them where I was at this particular time I saw a man who had a channel 5 camera I walked over
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because I wanted to hear what they had to say I asked the reporter if I could just
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hear his comments and that was it he said it was okay he also told me about the 3 P.M press conference at City
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Hall I heard what he had to say and once he was done he asked me questions which I
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didn't really answer he was more interested in about Dan and Lisa at 3 P.M we were at City Hall we sat
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down in the second row but because we were behind the cameras I moved to the other side so I could see the chief
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clearly I stayed for the entire time and when it was over I was ready to leave a few
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people from the Press came over to talk to me but I had no comment except to say
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how great Dan and Lisa were both as people and as a couple I also talked to the Chief and said that if he wanted to
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talk to me I'd be willing to talk I also spoke to the woman in charge of the dealing with the media from the
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police I think the public relations director she was at this time I did not feel that I was in the right state to
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talk about anything that had happened so I got in Jennifer shook's car with my with Hallie and Jennifer and we were
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driving planning on going to my house and I noticed that the tape had been taken off Lee in South Woodland I saw
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Deb dryford pull out of Dan's driveway and I asked if Dan was home said yeah go on in
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we pulled into the driveway next to Dan's and I ran up to see Dan at this time Judy Miller Rachel lowenthal
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Christopher Jones and I were all Dan's house I don't remember if anyone else was
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there Dan and I talked and he told me that he would tell me what happened later when
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other people were not around a few minutes later at around 4 30 PM most of Dan's other friends left I
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called my parents and told them that when Ted folkman called to tell him that I wasn't going to Services I talked to
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Dan and he told me what had happened that night and how he was involved Stanley Kramer
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was also there and Dan talked to Christopher Jones alone a few times later on that evening a lot of Dan's
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other friends came over but before then Christopher Jones Stanley Kramer Dan and I sat out on his
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back porch and talked about everything that had happened at this time Christopher was called to
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speak to Sergeant Gray Chris came back and Sergeant gray also talked to us he said if we ever needed
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to talk to him or needed to say anything to anyone we could call him he also reiterated that we should not speak to
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the media if asked at one point that night Jeff Michael Charlie Martin and myself were told by Dan that he would
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show us where Lisa's body was found we went with Dan at around 8pm and we went to the sidewalk and Brett Caro was
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there and he was just walking and we all went with Dan and he showed us where he
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saw the bicycle from the night before a police car came over and took down all of our names and asked us not to come by
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there again because we could either get contaminated with evidence or we could mess up what was there that's basically
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everything I can think of foreign [Music] how much have you seen Dan dryford and
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Lisa Pruitt this summer I got home from Germany on July 22nd 1990 and at this particular time Daniel was at the
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Unitarian convention he got home the following weekend and from that time on we spent a lot of our time together that
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is until he went to the hospital I was with him the night before he went to the hospital at 12 A.M
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at this time Dan and I had planned for me to come back over at about one that night we had no idea what was going to
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happen the next day with Dan going to the hospital I came back at 1am and I expect to see Dan sitting outside
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waiting for me when I came up though the lights inside Dan's house were on which
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was a surprise I went to the back and saw Dan's father yelling at Dan because he would not go to sleep I guess
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15 minutes later his father finally stopped yelling at Dan Dan came out and said everything was okay we went
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downstairs to his howling Commando room and we talked until around 3 A.M about a
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lot of things such as Lisa and how much he loved her and how upset he was with his dad everything you would expect from
00:28:51
two strange teenagers I went home around 3am and the following day Dan was put into the hospital
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Dan and I corresponded through letters and phone calls at the hospital I got Dan's pay phone number from Deb
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dryford I called it a lot but it wasn't until the following Monday that a kid answered and for some reason thought it
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was Dan's father from this time onward without me saying it they thought I was his father I would
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call just about every day one time Dan came home and I saw him actually more than one time
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another time I found out from Dan that he would be going to the severance bowling lanes
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Lisa and I went to see him and we asked for the Lane right next to it because it
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was supposed to be our lucky Lane here Lisa and Dan talked but we weren't supposed to know each other
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so I had a lot of correspondence with Dan for Lisa I spent almost every day with
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her we would talk a lot about Dan because we were mutual friends and she would come over or I would go over there
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almost every day we sent him packages she jumped in our pool with her clothes on and we basically had a great time I
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think I've said just about everything about the summer and Dan and Lisa could you describe what you know about the
00:30:05
late night meeting between Dan and Lisa and how you found out about the meeting yeah this was a normal thing for Dan and
00:30:12
Lisa to meet each other late at night when I was over at Chris's apartment on September 13th I realized that Dan and
00:30:18
Lisa would probably be meeting each other the next day after the murder I was talking to either Dan or Chris and
00:30:25
they told me one of them that Dan had told Chris that he was welcome to come also if I remember correctly Tex also
00:30:33
told Lisa we'd be coming over that night Chris did not go over that night and that's as far as I believe I know about
00:30:40
that Chris also said that he was very sad that I that he didn't go over that night
00:30:46
because he hoped that he could have done something to the attacker at least it would not have been murdered have you
00:30:51
ever gone over to the dryford's house late at night and if so how did you get into the house or get Dan's attention to
00:30:59
let him know you were there every time that I had gone over there Dan and I had planned on me coming uh
00:31:05
the first time coming over there was this past summer in 1990 damn it'd always be waiting on the porch and when
00:31:12
I came over we would either talk on the porch or go inside and talk usually in the Commando room
00:31:18
one other thing Dan mentioned to me about this night was that he had not even remembered at the time that he was
00:31:24
talking to his father that Lisa was coming over the only time where Dan was not waiting
00:31:29
for me was the time that I talked about when it was Dan's last evening before he
00:31:34
went to the hospital I know that in the past Dan and Kim Rathbone and some of his friends had met neither Dan's
00:31:41
backyard or Kim's backyard but I don't know how they signaled each other are you aware of the incident
00:31:47
where Kevin young stormed out of Arabica and if so could you describe what you know about the incident and what you
00:31:54
know about Kevin young sure at around 10 30 p.m on September 13 1990 Kevin young
00:31:59
stormed out of Arabica that's basically what I've heard this is not unusual for Kevin Young Who I consider a bit crazy
00:32:07
and I say this because in the past he has had a lot of problems with women and in relationships in fact I remember in
00:32:16
my 1990 yearbook Kevin said quote I hope you have better luck with women than I do unquote Kevin and I saw a few days
00:32:24
after I had gotten home from Germany in Arabica he said that if I saw Dan to tell him how he hated him and how he was
00:32:31
mad at him he basically just told me how much of an idiot Dan was I heard either
00:32:35
from Kevin young or someone else that he had liked Lisa and that he hated both Dan and Lisa and that he had wished that
00:32:42
he could kill both of them of course when you hear something like that being said usually do not take it seriously
00:32:49
because most people have said something like that especially Kevin young who has
00:32:53
said that about many people it would not be out of place to be totally surprised
00:32:58
if Kevin did kill someone did it make you uneasy when Kevin young said he wanted to kill Dan and Lisa I can say
00:33:05
that many things Kevin has said has made me feel uneasy but now that I think about it I remember this pretty vividly
00:33:12
because he was talking about two of my best friends and when Dan came home from his Unitarian convention
00:33:18
why Kevin had said that right now I don't remember what Dan's response was could you describe how Chris Young Kenny
00:33:26
Workman Danny dryford Stan Kramer Kevin young and yourself fit together as friends
00:33:33
Chris Dan and I are close friends Stan is not a close friend of Dan he's more someone we'd see up at Arabica every
00:33:40
once in a while Texas Deb's boyfriend and because he was always at the dry fruits residence Dan got to know him
00:33:48
better and talked to him more I had been out with Deb Dan and text bowling and a
00:33:53
few other times but his friends Tex wasn't someone Dan usually hung out with unless his sister was around
00:33:59
Kevin most of all was not hardly even a friend of Dan's or any of the rest of us
00:34:06
he was more of a person that we saw at Arabica who we didn't particularly like I had nothing against him
00:34:14
I just thought he was a bit crazy to Dan driver invite you over to his house on the evening of Thursday September 13th
00:34:21
1990. he did not invite me over on Thursday September 13th 1990 I think he may have said I could come over for a
00:34:31
few minutes before he had dinner but I'm not sure about that have you ever heard
00:34:35
or have you ever attended a party yet Dan dreyfers where Robitussin was consumed by everybody there
00:34:42
uh actually yes I did not have any Robitussin but one night Rebecca Boatwright and Andy Conrad were at Dan's
00:34:50
house I called Dan up that night and he said I could stop by he told me he had some uh
00:34:56
four ounces I believe and how Becca and Andy had some Becca's house when I got over there Becca and Andy both said how
00:35:04
it wasn't really doing anything for them Dan said it usually takes a half hour before you begin to trip
00:35:10
Dan ran with them in the backyard in circles and tried to give tried to get them to trip
00:35:16
he went to a bench or something at the back of the yard and would talk with them and try to trip with them or
00:35:22
something he tried to do with me even though I didn't have any Robitussin I kept laughing and he said it obviously
00:35:28
wasn't working if I was laughing their behavior seemed normal I guess eventually they did trip but I was never
00:35:36
able to tell they seemed normal to me to damn dry forever tell you any strange effects he got from consuming Robitussin
00:35:44
yes he told me many times he wanted me to someday try it with him once but I told him I would never do it he said
00:35:52
that there were stages to the Robitussin there was one main thing that he said it
00:35:57
did for you it just made you feel like everything was out there I'm not sure he used to say one specific thing but
00:36:05
for some reason I just can't remember it was not a big change in what you could think
00:36:10
he would say it was the added things you saw all I know is that he has had one bad trip I don't know how many times
00:36:20
he's done it but I know the first time he did it it was at the sussi convention he attended tell me what you know about
00:36:28
the relationship between Dan dreifer and Kim Rathbone well they've always been friends and just friends in fact
00:36:37
sometimes they didn't talk for a long time but they were still friends I'd ask him how he wouldn't talk to her and if
00:36:44
she just lived right behind him but he said he just didn't see her she was a friend of both Dan and his
00:36:51
family I remember during the summer Dan's parents and sister went to Toronto while Dan stayed with a friend named
00:36:57
Jamie Greenfield and Kim got the mail for them they've just been friends at times
00:37:04
during Middle School 7th and 8th grade they would meet late at night especially when Judy Miller was at Kim's house and
00:37:11
when Brian Keating was at Dan's house because at the time Dan was going out with Judy and Kim was going out with
00:37:16
Brian they have been good friends that is Kim and Dan how did you learn that Kim Rathbone had
00:37:23
heard screams on the night that Lisa Pruitt was murdered well if I remember correctly uh Kim Cole
00:37:31
was talking to Kim Rathbone when I got over to Catherine's house on the morning of the 14th of September when she got
00:37:38
off the phone she told us how Kim thought she could have done something because she thought she had heard
00:37:43
screams that night Kim Cole said that it sounded like Kim Rathbone felt that it was partly her
00:37:49
fault I also talked to Brian Keating who is still Kim rathbone's boyfriend and he
00:37:55
told me how Kim Rathbone had called him around 7am on the 14th and told him what
00:37:59
happened to Lisa and called back right after they had hung up and said that she thought she had also heard screaming
00:38:06
that night of the 13th do you recall who mentioned to you that text workman's Footprints may have been found near the
00:38:14
murder scene I believe that was Dan dreyfert to your knowledge How did Dan dryford's
00:38:21
father feel about Dan's relationship with Lisa Pruitt as far as I know he had no problem with it I don't think Dan's
00:38:29
father ever met Lisa I remember talking to Lisa about Dan's father and the way he treated Dan and
00:38:35
Lisa said that she had never met Dan's father when he's been like that and she might
00:38:41
have said that she never met Dan's father at all but I do know they met when Lisa went out with Dan one weekend
00:38:48
when Dan was home from the hospital how did you feel about Dan dreyfer dating Lisa Pruitt I remember the day
00:38:55
that I found out I believe it was April 4th 1990 and that was the day after they
00:39:01
decided to go together uh Lisa came in a German class and told me and I was so excited I remember I was
00:39:09
so happy because Dan and Lisa are two of my closest friends and I felt so highly
00:39:14
of both of them they broke up right before I came home from Germany in fact I think it was the
00:39:21
day I came home from Germany and I saw Lisa right when I got off the plane because Regina was going to stay with
00:39:27
them I asked how Dan was and she said that they didn't want to talk about it right
00:39:32
now for the next two or so weeks I spend all my time with Dan and Lisa separately I
00:39:38
kept telling them how I hope they got back together because the reason they broke up was a reason that didn't really
00:39:43
matter Dan was just confused and really just wanted some time alone for a little
00:39:48
while and Dan was not home though when I had seen Lisa and from the first time I saw
00:39:56
him in Shaker after I got back he told me how much he loved Lisa and how he wanted to get back together with her
00:40:02
Lisa wanted to get back together with him but she kept saying how everyone else thought she should be a certain way
00:40:09
since they broke up Dan and I were driven over to Lisa's One Night by some friends and Dan and Lisa
00:40:15
talked and it was obvious that they wanted to get back together in fact if I remember correctly either that night or
00:40:22
the following night Dan went over there in fact I remember he went over there a few times late at night without her
00:40:30
parents knowing during the summer on August 3rd 1990 they were a couple again so they didn't spend that much time away
00:40:39
from each other really they wanted to be together and from all my time with them I think they really
00:40:46
did love each other next up in the hot seat is 17 year old Rebecca Boatwright and the subject of
00:40:58
the conversation is Kevin Young so I know Dan dreyfert because two summers ago I went to Germany with his
00:41:07
sister Debbie dreyfert Debbie and I became close friends and through her I met her brother
00:41:13
and after that Dan dreyfert and I became pretty good friends Thursday September 13 1990 Dan called me at about 8 20 p.m
00:41:22
he had asked me if I wanted to come over later and told me a bunch of people were
00:41:26
coming over later and I said like who and he said Chris Jones Lisa Pruitt and maybe Kevin young and maybe Dan
00:41:34
Messinger I told him I didn't think I could get out I was tired and I wanted to get to bed and that was the end of
00:41:40
our conversation Friday September 14 1990 during first period at the high school Dr Rumba said
00:41:47
that Lisa Pruitt had been involved in a homicide last night and since nobody really knew how it happened the basic
00:41:53
rumor was that she had been hit on the head with a blunt object and her body had been found on the sidewalk corner of
00:42:00
South Woodland and Lee later at around 1 30 PM I went up to arbika at Shaker Square and since I was
00:42:07
waiting for Debbie dreifert to come in and since Kevin young was the only one I knew up there I sat down and talked to
00:42:12
him basically he said has your day been as bad as everybody else is and I said well it was pretty depressing
00:42:19
I said it doesn't seem like the type of thing that would happen in Shaker and I was really worried for Dan dreyfer since
00:42:25
no doubt he's probably a suspect somehow or other we got onto the topic of rape I said well if she was raped
00:42:32
isn't there a possibility that they will find some semen sample on her body and Kevin said I don't think she was raped I
00:42:39
said well just assuming from that they will be able to prove who did it and he said well tests like that are 100
00:42:45
accurate so if Dan dreyfort did it then chances are they probably know already but I really don't think she was raped
00:42:52
then I told him that I had heard she had been pulled from her bike around the corner on South Woodland before Lee and
00:42:58
that she had been hit on the head with a blunt object he said no I think she was
00:43:02
stabbed I said well that's not what I heard and he said I'm pretty sure she was stabbed then I said it would make
00:43:09
sense that her bike would have been found in the area like before you reach Lee since from what I heard her body had
00:43:15
been found on the sidewalk on the corner of South Woodland and Lee Kevin said he thought they found it
00:43:20
around there in the field nearby around that area I said not that it really matters since nobody really knows except
00:43:26
the police he said yes you're probably right then I went to get a pink lemonade and
00:43:32
when I came back I said some extremely psychotic person had to have done this and he said what makes you think that
00:43:38
and I said well it's not the type of thing a perfectly sane person does then he sort of like sat up and said really
00:43:46
loudly and really quickly well I would only kill in self-defense then he like switched to the Persian Gulf issue he
00:43:53
said what does Fabrizio think about what's going on and I said he thinks that they should reinstitute the draft
00:43:59
and to add women to it which I think is pretty unfair this was said pretty jokingly he said
00:44:04
why and I said since women are obviously the superior sex I don't think we should
00:44:09
be forced to go off to war and be killed he said but you think people who are my
00:44:13
age and are about to be headed off to college should be forced to go there and be killed and I said well that's what
00:44:19
Fabrizio thinks and Kevin started rolling his eyes and kept saying my God I should storm his house and kill him
00:44:25
then I said somewhat jokingly as long as I'm not shipped off and he said oh because you don't think women should be
00:44:31
killed and I said exactly he said I don't know about that I can think of a few women I would like to see dead
00:44:38
I said like who he said the only thing I want to know is if the U.S is in the Persian Gulf because of NATO Pride or
00:44:45
oil and he kept on babbling about this I got bored so I told him I had to go pick
00:44:49
up my mother which I did when you talk to Kevin young at Arabica on Friday afternoon did he tell you how he learned
00:44:57
of the death of Lisa Pruitt no did Kevin mention anything about being invited over to Dan dryford's house the
00:45:05
night before no did Kevin young ever indicate directly to you any kind of romantic feelings towards Lisa Pruitt
00:45:14
yeah but it was quite a while ago it was like in the context like Dan was a God because he could get any woman he wanted
00:45:21
and I said why do you care and he said because she has a great ass I said why do you like her or something and he said
00:45:28
I'm not gonna tell you because you'll go tell Dan I said I don't care one way or
00:45:32
another how people feel sexually towards Lisa and he said if you were a guy you would have you ever known Kevin young or
00:45:40
have you ever seen Kevin young carrying any type of weapon no on Friday afternoon at Arabica when you
00:45:47
spoke to Kevin young did he mention any conversation he had with Kenny Workman the night before no
00:45:55
is there anything else that you wish to add to this statement no [Music] finally
00:46:08
the police speak to 16 year old Christopher Jones a close friend of Dan dryford's
00:46:16
last Thursday September 13 1990 at the end of 10th period I was met outside my 10th period classroom by Dan dreyfert
00:46:24
and Lisa Pruitt and several friends I spoke to Dan and went to my locker got my bike out and as I was riding out I
00:46:31
ran into Dan dryford again outside the school we rode our bikes around the school
00:46:36
and met up with Dan Messinger we rode over to Dan messinger's house and he picked up his bike and we rode over to
00:46:42
my apartment we stayed there until about 4 10 pm then they both rode off on their
00:46:47
bikes and I ran back to school for fencing I got back from fencing at about 6 40 PM I had a note saying that Lisa
00:46:54
Pruitt called at 5 30 PM I called her back but her phone was busy I figured she wanted to get a hold of Dan dryford
00:47:01
it had already gotten a hold of him and so I didn't call her back again then I got a call from Dan dreifer at about 8
00:47:08
PM we talked for a while and he said that he was going to have some people over later in that I should give him a
00:47:13
call if I wanted to come I called him back at about 10 pm he said that text was over at his house and that Lisa
00:47:20
might show up later and that I could stop by if I wanted to and give him a call later I called him back at about a
00:47:27
quarter to 11 pm or so and said that I wasn't going to come over then I finished the paper I was
00:47:33
working on and went to bed I went to bed between 11 pm and 12 midnight I got a call at 6 30 a.m on September 14 1990
00:47:42
from Dan Messinger saying that Lisa Pruitt had been murdered I didn't really believe him
00:47:48
and I tried going back to sleep and I got a call about five minutes later from Catherine Schultz saying the same thing
00:47:53
I asked her if I could go over to her house because some other people were over there at the time and I called back
00:47:59
Dan Messinger and asked him if he wanted to go over to Catherine Schultz's house
00:48:03
he said he could pick me up and he picked me up about five minutes later and we drove over there we heard on the
00:48:09
news that Lisa died we got her to Catherine's house and Catherine was there Shelby hiven and Chris and Kirsten
00:48:16
from Germany in Regina who is Lisa's foreign exchange student and Kim Cole we stayed there about a half an hour
00:48:23
and all the girls left except for Kirsten and then Brian and Adam Keaton came over and Jeff Michael and Charlie
00:48:30
Martin also came over we talked for about a half an hour then I got a ride back to my apartment from the keatings I
00:48:35
stayed there until halfway through second period then I went to school I met up with some people there and we
00:48:41
talked to several teachers about the death then we walked around until third period
00:48:45
I went to third period German class about half the class were close friends of Lisa's half were regular students in
00:48:51
that class we were talked to by several counselors and ministers about Lisa's death after that class ended I went
00:48:57
outside for a while about a half a period and sat under a tree I came back into school into the band room where
00:49:04
about 15 close friends of Lisa were gathered talking about her we split up after about a half an hour and then went
00:49:10
to talk to certain teachers and we got back together and got rides to Catherine Schultz's house
00:49:16
there we talked to about 20 people at Catherine's house we ate lunch and talked about things
00:49:22
there about 3 pm myself Jennifer Margulies and Judy Miller and Rachel lewenthal went over Dan driver's house
00:49:31
Dan wasn't home the police were searching all around the house and Brett coroe was there about 15
00:49:37
minutes later Mrs dreifert came in and asked if it was all right to come into the house
00:49:43
then she went back and came back to the house with a car with Mr dreifert Dan dreyfert and Debbie dreyfert we went
00:49:49
inside we went into Dan's TV room basically sat there for a while and then a little bit
00:49:56
later Dan Messinger and Hayley Warren showed up after going to a press conference at the city hall
00:50:02
we talked about what they had heard there and eventually we watched the news Dan was pretty angry about being a
00:50:09
suspect or the way they portrayed that pretty much from there many people came and left Dan's house that night
00:50:15
eventually me and Dan Messinger got a ride from Scott Fierro to the Pruitt's house
00:50:21
we talked to Mr Pruitt we went up into their house and spent a little time in Lisa's room
00:50:26
[Music] on the next episode we'll come back to Chris Jones's interview with police but
00:50:38
until then think on what we've just learned in the hours after Lisa Pruitt's murder
00:50:44
Dan dryford is the main suspect a group of Dan's friends meet up to discuss the case
00:50:52
the kids don't want it to be their friend nobody wants it to be Dan dryford after
00:51:00
that meeting the teens tell police it was Kevin Young from that moment on the only suspect in
00:51:08
the eyes of the police is the weird kid in school Kevin Young though not one piece of evidence links
00:51:15
him to the crime while all this is going on two of Dan's friends talk their way into
00:51:23
Lisa's home to be alone in her room in what world does that request make sense what was the purpose of that visit
00:51:34
was something taken from that room all we know for sure is that police never followed up on this detail
00:51:42
they never again asked Chris what he was doing in Lisa Pruitt's bedroom [Music] [Music]