Shaker Heights - Episode 3: The Crush | Forensic Files

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

Shaker Heights - Episode 3: The Crush

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com

In the early morning hours of Friday, September 14, 1990, 16 year old Lisa Pruett was stabbed to death in Shaker Heights. This is a 6 part true crime series. The bulk of the story comes from actual police interviews. As the story unfolds, ask yourself, who do you think killed Lisa Pruett?Directed and produced by True Crime Garage. Co-produced by The Philosophy of Crime and narration written by James Renner

A BIG Thank You to all of our voice actors!Jordan Bonaparte - www.NightTimePodcast.com Tyler Allen - www.MindsofMadnessPodcast.com Jessica Bettencourt - True Crime Garage & Scene of the Crime Podcasts Mike Bussing - Executive Producer of Truth & Justice with Bob RuffBob Ruff - www.TruthandJusticePod.com Tim Pilleri - www.CrawlSpace-Media.comAaron H - www.GenWhyPod.com & www.FramedPod.com Maggie Freleng - www.MaggieFreleng.com Bill Huffman - My Passion Case and Who killed Podcasts - www.SloBurnMedia.com Morgan - The Captain & Morgan Podcast Jessica Yuan - www.AsianMadnessPod.Podbean.com Melissa Lee - Victimology PodcastScotty Boombox - www.ScottyBoombox.com Jesse P Pollock - Author of “Death on the Devil’s Teeth” & “The Acid King”James Renner - www.PhilosophyOfCrime.com

The full archive of True Crime Garage is available on the Stitcher listening app - for FREE. Our show “Off the Record” is only on Stitcher Premium. For a FREE month of listening go to http://stitcherpremium.com/truecrimegarage and use promo code GARAGE

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Brief Summary

The episode details the investigation into Lisa Pruitt's murder and the suspects involved, particularly Dan Dryford and Kevin Young.

Key points

Kevin Young Named as Suspect. After discussions among friends, police focus on Kevin Young as the primary suspect.
FBI Involvement. FBI agent Dick Wrenn offers assistance in the investigation of Lisa Pruitt's homicide.
Profile of Kevin Young. Agent Wright provides a psychological profile of Kevin Young, indicating potential for violence.
Dan Messenger's Testimony. Dan Messenger provides crucial insights into the final hours of Lisa Pruitt's life.
Tragic News Breaks. A call reveals the shocking murder of Lisa, leaving friends in disbelief.
Gathering of Friends. Friends come together to share information and support each other after the tragedy.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

The murder was definitely a neighborhood thing.

Agent Wright's opinion on the murder.

6:08WatchNov 17, 2022

Tension

70/ 100High tension

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