Too Young to Kill (43 page)

The boy who had carved Adrianne Reynolds into seven pieces and stuffed himself at McDonald’s afterward had served two and a half years of an “up to five-year” sentence. I was told Nate went into therapy while in prison, but he was quickly told he didn’t need it.

How can this happen in our American justice system?

Nate was driven to an undisclosed location in another part of the country (I heard) far away from the QC. This decision was based on the anger—and threats—from the community Nate and his family received. Many people believed Nate was more evil than his two “homies,” as one blogger put it after Nate was released. Another blogger encouraged Juggalos in the QC to find Nate upon his release and give him a beat-down.

Tony Reynolds, who had sat in front of the parole board to argue against Nate’s early release, said if Nate had planned to apologize, he could stuff it. Tony did not want to hear any words of empathy from the boy.

I reached out to Nate and his parents, who—through a third party—said they were considering talking to me. In a brief missive, I told them:

I don’t think your entire story has been told, especially by the one person who knows it best. I was hoping I could count on interviewing you. . . . I would allow you to tell your story without censorship or constraints. Allow you (and perhaps family members and friends) to talk directly to my readers and show them who you truly are. I am sure that what you admitted to in court does not define or reflect who you are as a human being, or your life as a whole.

I never heard from Nate or his mother. His father, Andrew Gaudet, called about five months after I sent that letter. We talked for close to two hours. There is a pain in Andrew’s voice I’m convinced will be there for the rest of his life. The man seemed at a loss for words as we started talking. He had a hard time understanding and comprehending why and how this had happened. Nate had called his father about a year after his release from prison.

“Hey, Dad. . . .”

“Son.”

“I’m doing all right.”

Nate would not say where he was or where he planned to live. He had a job. He was building a new life.

I got the impression from talking to Andrew Gaudet that he and his son had had a good relationship, until divorce came in between them when Nate was thirteen.

This one moment in Nate’s life—however gruesome and horrific—certainly was not something anyone in his family saw coming. There are reasons why teenagers drink and drug (which Nate was actively involved in daily), namely, to forget about their lives and the pain. I wanted you—the reader—to hear from Nate himself why he did this, which was the reason I wrote to him. In speaking with Nate’s dad, however, it’s clear to me that Nate himself is not certain what happened and why.

“While he was in jail during that first month,” Andrew told me, “Nate had this look and sense about him that he was going to walk out of jail any day. He didn’t grasp the situation.”

Nate did tell his father that Cory Gregory and Sarah Kolb threatened his life if he did not participate. Nate told a Juggalo friend the same thing.

I could find no other corroborating evidence of this, however. In fact, all of the evidence I found indicated to me that Nate Gaudet willingly and willfully dismembered Adrianne Reynolds simply because his friends had asked him.

I wrote to Sarah Kolb, who sent me back a scathing letter tainted with that same anger she had shown others throughout her life.

Sarah said she did not appreciate me intruding on
what semblance of a life
she has at this point. Nor did she like the idea of me reaching out to her stepfather (which I did via Facebook) or any other family member. (Sarah’s stepfather and mother are no longer together. Darrin Klauer was clear regarding not wanting any part of being interviewed.)

From that point on, Sarah seemed to brag about her story being of interest to other authors before me, letting me know that her life was
not a fucking story
or a
thriller
. She indicated that she had
stayed out of the media
since her story broke because she didn’t
want to talk about it.

That falls in line with who Sarah was before her arrest: the consummate denier. Unwilling to face the nightmare that has become her life, or the horrors that she has caused other families.

In her familiar condescending tone, Sarah encouraged me to write to Cory Gregory and ask him about his role in the case. She said she was
sure he’d be willing to talk about it.
(She gave me his address and prisoner identification number, just in case I didn’t have it.)

She said if I was lucky enough to find Nate (I sensed a sarcastic laugh there, as if she knew where he was), then I should speak with him, too.

Unlike what she didn’t do for the Reynolds family, Sarah apologized to me for, in her words,
being belligerent.
This entire episode was a
touchy subject
for her, she admitted.

Go figure. Sarah took the life of a sixteen-year-old girl, and talking about it (confronting it) had not made her feel so fuzzy inside.

She wished me luck with my
novels,
clearly not understanding that my books are nonfiction.

And that was it.

It is my belief she’ll talk openly about this someday in the years to come. Sarah is still immature. She is still locked in that fantasy that what happened was somebody else’s fault. That she was cajoled, tricked, and set up by a friend.

The problem is, the evidence in her case does not support that argument.

It took Cory Gregory months to get back to me. He had been “in seg” much of the time and was unable to write, I was told by his mother. In his letter, Cory asked me to call the prison and speak to the legal department so someone from that office could set up a phone call between us. Cory said he would
hear me out
and, if he liked what I had to say, he would talk to me. But
no promises.

Phone calls between inmates and journalists don’t work like that. I explained to Teresa Gregory that her son would have to put me on his call list and phone me collect. I would gladly accept any calls from Cory Gregory. I gave Cory a deadline, as I am under tight deadlines myself.

As I handed in the manuscript, I had not heard from Cory.

I asked Teresa Gregory for a final word about her son. Teresa has been beaten down by this tragedy. You can hear it in her voice. There’s a pain that will never go away. I often talk about the ripple effect of one murder—this case proves that theory.

Teresa’s astute and perceptive answer was:
If I was to say anything about this as a final word it would have to be a warning to parents and teenagers to understand that life can change in the blink of an eye. That one wrong decision can and will change your life path forever. Teenagers are very impulsive and have not had enough life experience to understand that the way they feel and think at the moment is not always going to be the way they feel or think. Depression, drugs and the longing to fit in to the point of having the willingness to do anything for a “friend” are warning signs we as parents so often miss. Please, parents, talk seriously to your teens, find out what they think and how they feel.

Good advice.

Teresa went on to say thanks
for allowing me to say a few words about my son. I love Cory and I always will. We are not a horrible family and Cory is not a horrible person at heart, even though what they did was horrific.

Both Sarah Kolb and Cory Gregory appealed their cases.

Both appeals were denied.

Tony Reynolds wanted me to publish one of the poems he wrote for Adrianne. I think it explains a lot. I have not edited this poem:

Roses are red, violets are blue.
I’m sorry Adrianne, I wasn’t always there for you.
Your life was never easy,
And a lot of it was very sad.
But after you came up here,
I just wanted to be your dad.
I wanted you to smile,
I wanted you to have fun.
I wanted you to know you were my only one.
I know before you left this world, you knew I loved you.
And I know you loved me too!
You touched everyone’s life while you were here,
In their hearts you’ll always be near.
Uncle Mike fixed your string,
But it broke again!
I got the message,
I won’t mess with it again.
Except to look at it now and then.
You’re singing with the angels now.
I see you in the front row.
Doing your best, stealing the show.
God had a plan for you,
and singing with him was it,
You keep singing girl,
Don’t you ever quit.
Cause your Adrianne Leigh.
The one I call Little Bit!
Love you, Daddy

The Reynolds family has a website:
http://www.caringbridge.org/il/adrianne/index.htm
. You can go there and read additional poems, write to the family, sign the guestbook, peruse more photos of Adrianne, and read anecdotes about her life. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of anything on the site; I did not use it as a source for this book.

THANKS

I need to express my gratitude to those Juggalos and former friends of Cory’s, Sarah’s, and Nate’s for trusting me and agreeing to interviews. Your insight into this obscure and misunderstood culture was something I valued immensely as I wrote this book, not to mention your courage for admitting your own faults and talking about the lives you led. I stripped the Juggalo movement bare in this book. I did not want to come across like Tipper Gore, circa 1985, stepping up on her soapbox in front of Congress, pooh-poohing music lyrics as evil, influential, and degrading. But come on, anyone who reads the lyrics to an ICP tune (and many of the other bands associated with Psychopathic Records) with an open mind cannot honestly deny the vulgarity and violence, not to mention disrespect and disregard for females. This sort of shock rap, or horror rap, is not confined to ICP and Psychopathic Records, of course, but I found it to be at a level of disgrace unlike anything I have come across. If I have offended fans of the band, well, I’ll own that.

Anybody who knows me understands that I am grateful for their help and support when writing a book. It takes a group of professionals to publish a successful book; my literary posse is populated with smart and hardworking people, many of whom continue to support my career and work hard for me behind the scenes.

I want to thank everyone at Beyond International for supporting me throughout the years by asking me to participate in the “Deadly Women” series. Andrew Farrell, Geoff Fitzpatrick, Therese Hegarty, Elizabeth Kaydos, and everyone else at Beyond with whom I have worked over the years have been respectful and gracious. These are top-notch people working in a tough television landscape.

Certified forensic examiner and founder of STALK, Inc., serial killer expert profiler John Kelly has been a true gentleman and longtime friend; and whether he realizes it, John’s insight helps me in more ways than I could ever put into words.

The most important part of what I do is the reader. I need all of you to know that I am entirely grateful and humbled by the fact that you keep coming back, book after book. I truly respect your opinions, read every letter and e-mail (even though I cannot answer every one personally), and write these books for you.

Many, many thanks.

Of course, I would not have written this book without the support of Joanne and Tony Reynolds, and I appreciate the trust they put in me to write about Adrianne’s life. I hope I kept my promise of answering some questions they had about this case.

Court reporters Candace Zaagman and Francine Morgensen were gracious and helpful. I appreciate how quickly they were able to turn around my orders for transcripts.

Rebecca Bernard was my only hope inside the RICSAO, a public office that needs to be schooled in what public documents truly are and why the public deserves
unobstructed
access to them. Rebecca Bernard (my savior there!) came through with thousands of pages of documents no other reporter had reviewed. Those documents, as they always do, changed this book.

Jeff Terronez refused to speak with me and did not return one of my calls or requests for interviews. He did, however, grant NBC interviews when he sat down with
Dateline.

Teresa Gregory was open with me, and I greatly appreciate her honesty.

My family is always there: Matty, Jordon, April, and Regina. My friends too: Mark and Ann Gionet; Josh, Mike and Olivia; Wendy and Dan; Katie and Alex Tarbox; Jean Valvo; everyone at St. Luke’s; and those great people who surround my life. I appreciate all of you for allowing me to talk so much about what I do.

Kensington Publishing Corp.—Laurie Parkin, the Zacharius family, in particular, and my editors, Michaela Hamilton and Richard Ember, along with Doug Mendini, and every other employee who works on my books—has been there with me for well over ten years now, supporting me and always trying to figure out how to reach more readers. I am both indebted and grateful for having such a great team of publishing people in my corner.

Lastly Peter Miller, my business manager, has been a constant in my life and career. I am blessed to have him working for me. PMA Literary and Film Management, Inc., anchors Adrienne Rosado and Natalie Horbach-evsky have been equally important and helpful to me throughout the years. Without their love of books and tenacity to get things done, I would be lost.

Thanks, ladies!

Enjoy this exclusive preview of M. William Phelps’s next exciting true-crime release!

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