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3:31

It's just after midnight. On

3:33

Friday, September 14th, 1990. In

3:36

the Cleveland Ohio suburb of

3:38

Shaker Heights, Dan Dreyford is

3:40

startled awake. The teenager can

3:43

feel his hard racing. As

3:45

he focuses his listening, he

3:48

hears the scream of a

3:50

woman outside. Dan rushes to

3:52

his parents' bedroom and flips

3:55

on the light. strains his

3:57

eyes. He sees that Dan

3:59

is already dressed. While he

4:02

scrambles for his clothes, he

4:04

directs Dan to go outside

4:07

and check on the commotion.

4:09

Outside, their eyes adjust to

4:11

the deep night, but the

4:14

two don't see anything out

4:16

of the ordinary. As they

4:19

make their way back to

4:21

the house, Dan suddenly feels

4:23

his stomach drop. He remembers

4:26

that his girlfriend Lisa had

4:28

made plans to sneak out

4:30

and meet him that night.

4:33

Dan rushes out into the

4:35

darkness, and he can feel

4:38

his pulse quickening. As he

4:40

scours the area, he makes

4:42

an unexpected discovery. In the

4:45

bushes, near-weather two usually rendezvous,

4:47

he sees an abandoned bike.

4:49

He immediately identifies it as

4:52

Lisa's. So where was she?

4:54

As his mind starts to

4:57

wander, a feeling of dread

4:59

begins to slowly sink in.

5:01

Over the course of the

5:04

next few hours, he'd have

5:06

to come to terms with

5:08

some unimaginable news. 16-year-old Lisa

5:11

Pruitt was dead. The events

5:13

of those early morning hours

5:16

have remained a mystery for

5:18

35 years. As time has

5:20

passed, the investigation has encountered

5:23

lying teenagers, a wrongful conviction,

5:25

and a potentially eerie link

5:28

to a double homicide. Leaving

5:30

everyone to question, what really

5:32

happened to Lisa Pruitt? From

5:57

Tenderfoot TV in Atlanta, this

5:59

is up in Venice. Weekly

6:01

with Pain Lindsay and Maggie

6:03

Freeling. Hey y'all, welcome back

6:06

to Up and Vanish Weekly.

6:08

I'm Maggie Freeling. Today we're

6:10

discussing the murder of Lisa

6:13

Pruitt. And I've followed this

6:15

case for a minute, but

6:17

if you've spent any time

6:19

looking into the details, one

6:22

thing becomes pretty clear. There

6:24

are a lot of layers

6:26

to this story, and there

6:28

is no shortage of strong

6:31

opinions about what happened to

6:33

Lisa and who may be

6:35

responsible. When Lisa was found,

6:38

her death caused a media

6:40

storm. Everyone in the area

6:42

was talking about it, particularly

6:44

because of where Lisa's murder

6:47

took place. Lisa was from

6:49

the community of Shaker Heights.

6:51

And this isn't your average

6:53

rust belt Ohio town by

6:56

any means. Shaker Heights really

6:58

stands out as a unique

7:00

character in this story. Here's

7:03

Rob with more. Just 10

7:05

miles east of the bustling

7:07

city of Cleveland, Ohio, sits

7:09

the upscale neighborhood of Shaker

7:12

Heights. This upper-class suburb has

7:14

been described as a weird

7:16

little utopia. The home of

7:19

doctors, lawyers, and entrepreneurs. Shaker

7:21

Heights was founded more than

7:23

a hundred years ago by

7:25

local railroad mogels who sought

7:28

to make an oasis for

7:30

the well-to-do outside the downtown

7:32

Cleveland area. But while the

7:34

upper middle-class families that reside

7:37

there are hedged in by

7:39

the security of large homes

7:41

and manicured lawns, many have

7:44

spotlighted a fracture in the

7:46

facade. The accomplishments of the

7:48

white-collar professionals that live there

7:50

have often been overshadowed by

7:53

their unruly teens, who have

7:55

a bent toward drugs, drinking,

7:57

and causing agitation. This reality

8:00

was only heightened in the

8:02

early 1990s, when the dress

8:04

of the satanic panic which

8:06

had been sweeping the US

8:09

had also reached the doorstep

8:11

of this idyllic neighborhood. As

8:13

parents grappled with usual adolescent

8:15

rebellion, they began fearing their

8:18

children could be dabbling in

8:20

more forbidden activities. Every misdeed

8:22

was inspected through the lens

8:25

of something potentially taboo. In

8:27

the late 1980s and early

8:29

1990s, A string of unsolved

8:31

crimes had put Shaker Heights

8:34

residents on edge. So when

8:36

16-year-old Lisa Pruitt was found

8:38

murdered, her death only fanned

8:40

the flames for those who

8:43

feared that something dark and

8:45

sinister was at work. to

8:47

have. She was a member

8:50

of the Student Council, a

8:52

marching band squad leader, a

8:54

member of the student group

8:56

on race relations, and she

8:59

played field hockey and softball.

9:01

She was also a mentor

9:03

in her church group, and

9:06

I'm sure she did a

9:08

thousand other things, and she

9:10

excelled at all of this,

9:12

including relationships. Here's how one

9:15

of her classmates described her.

9:18

She's the kind of person that

9:20

liked everybody, that was friends with

9:22

everybody. She always had a smile

9:25

and a cheery face for everyone.

9:27

Lisa especially loved to write. She

9:30

had a scrapbook she called her

9:32

happy book. It was full of

9:34

newspaper headlines and stories that made

9:37

her smile. But her boyfriend Dan

9:39

couldn't have been more different. Dan

9:41

had ongoing tension in his home

9:44

life and was starting to rebel

9:46

against his parents. While Lisa was

9:48

in the AP posse, a group

9:51

of top students, Dan and his

9:53

friends were in a group called

9:55

The Black Glove Club, a group

9:58

of boys who would wear one

10:00

black glove as a show of

10:02

rebellion. Dan would throw robo-parties, where

10:05

he'd buy a ton of robotessen

10:07

and robo-trip with everyone, and he

10:09

was known to get violent. Dan's

10:12

dad pulled some strings to get

10:14

him committed to a psychiatric facility,

10:16

allegedly over arguing with his father

10:19

about curfew or bedtime. Lisa and

10:21

Dan had met just six months

10:23

before, and were in their puppy

10:26

love honeymoon phase. Lisa loved bad

10:28

boy Dan and would write him

10:31

letters almost every day that he

10:33

was in the psychiatric facility. He

10:35

would write back once in a

10:38

while, but his letters were not

10:40

cheerful and lovey like Lisa's. In

10:42

one letter he tells her about

10:45

a vision he had of beating

10:47

his father and all of the

10:49

pent-up rage inside him. He says

10:52

that this place has changed him

10:54

and he admits I'm a bad

10:56

influence on people. Chillingly, he also

10:59

tells Lisa to stay away from

11:01

him when he gets out because

11:03

he doesn't want to kill her.

11:06

But despite Dan's dark and violent

11:08

side, Lisa really liked him and

11:10

thought she could change him. But

11:13

the circumstances around her death would

11:15

put her and Dan's relationship under

11:17

a spotlight as people began asking

11:20

questions. Here's Rob with the details

11:22

of how that day unfolded. Friday

11:29

September 13th was a monumental

11:31

day for Lisa. That morning

11:33

she passed her driver's exam,

11:35

taking a major step toward

11:37

coveted teenage independence. As exciting

11:39

as this milestone was, the

11:41

day also held the promise

11:43

of a long-awaited reunion between

11:45

Lisa and Dan. After a

11:47

month-long evaluation in the mental

11:49

health facility, Dan was finally

11:52

scheduled to be released. This

11:54

meant that after weeks of

11:56

communicating through letters The high

11:58

school sweethearts were finally going

12:00

to see each other again.

12:02

In fact, that afternoon Dan

12:04

surprised Lisa by stopping to

12:06

see her at school, where

12:08

he told her he was

12:10

planning to have a party

12:12

that night with friends to

12:14

celebrate. Lisa stopped by Dan's

12:16

house on her way to

12:18

flute practice that evening, and

12:20

the two arranged to meet

12:22

up just after midnight. Something

12:24

the pair did frequently before

12:26

Dan was checked into the

12:28

hospital. As the evening trudged

12:30

on, The two counted down

12:32

the hours until their meet-up.

12:35

Then, just after midnight, Lisa

12:37

snuck out of her house

12:39

and rode her bike to

12:41

Dan's a few streets away.

12:43

Around the same time, Dan's

12:45

neighbor was awoken by someone

12:47

breaking into their car in

12:49

their driveway. Then a short

12:51

time later, Dan was stirred

12:53

by the sounds of screaming.

12:55

When Dan eventually discovered Lisa's

12:57

bike in the bushes, he

12:59

tried to call Lisa at

13:01

her house. When her answering

13:03

machine picked up, he called

13:05

911. When authorities arrived at

13:07

the Dreyford residence, Dan met

13:09

police in the driveway and

13:11

explained that he feared Lisa

13:13

may have been kidnapped. Then,

13:16

as he directed officers towards

13:18

the backyard, he acknowledged to

13:20

authorities that his fingerprints were

13:22

likely on Lisa's bike, which

13:24

struck them as odd. With

13:26

no sign of Lisa, First

13:28

responders begin a search of

13:30

the area. Eventually a canine

13:32

unit picked up her scent

13:34

and began tracking it around

13:36

the block. But before long,

13:38

the search died off, and

13:40

authorities were led back through

13:42

a nearby neighbor's yard. But

13:44

as they made their way

13:46

towards the Dreyford's home, authorities

13:48

made an unnerving discovery. Just

13:50

30 yards from Dan's back

13:52

door, they spotted the lifeless

13:54

body of a young woman.

13:56

which they soon identified as

13:59

Lisa. An

14:01

autopsy would later show that

14:03

Lisa had been stabbed 21

14:05

times. As her loved ones

14:08

and the Shaker Heights community

14:10

mourned this senseless loss of

14:12

life, authorities would now begin

14:14

the hard work of piecing

14:16

together the evidence. Dan's identification

14:19

of Lisa's bike and his

14:21

admission about his fingerprints immediately

14:23

raised suspicions. Very quickly, he

14:25

became the key person of

14:27

interest. As police began their

14:30

investigation, they soon discovered the

14:32

letters that Dan had written

14:34

to Lisa. But these were

14:36

not typical teenage love letters.

14:38

No. These held a more

14:41

aggressive tone, including one which

14:43

read, Someday, I'll go too

14:45

far and do something very

14:47

bad. And you'll yell at

14:49

me and be serious and

14:51

I won't be able to

14:54

handle it. But you can't

14:56

let me get away with

14:58

murder. I look

15:00

at you and see what

15:03

I've done to you. Authorities

15:05

now held some damning evidence,

15:08

and a leading theory was

15:10

taking shape. But investigators still

15:13

had a difficult question to

15:15

answer. Were these merely hyperbolic

15:18

letters from a troubled teen?

15:20

Or had Dan actually fulfilled

15:23

one of his violent manifestos?

15:30

It is chilling that the day Lisa

15:33

died she told her close friends that

15:35

this was the happiest day of her

15:37

life. She passed her driver's test and

15:39

her boyfriend Dan was getting out of

15:42

the psychiatric facility. No one could have

15:44

predicted what would come next. Here's what

15:46

a classmate told New Center 8. It's

15:48

really hard. People are really upset. People

15:51

are crying in the halls. And the

15:53

school is really quiet today. Everyone is

15:55

very, everyone is very. She's an honor

15:58

student. She's involved in her school, the

16:00

marching band. She used to be in

16:02

student council. I mean, this is not

16:04

the type of person that this should

16:07

happen to. Such a violent murder. I

16:09

used to think this is a really

16:11

safe neighborhood and that I could, you

16:13

know, that you could just roam out

16:16

here whenever you want it and you'd

16:18

be okay, but I'm going to like

16:20

change the way I think now. I

16:23

no longer feel safe. Today,

16:28

little is known about what happened

16:30

in the backyard that night, and

16:33

it's reasonable to believe that whoever

16:35

was responsible likely knew about Lisa's

16:37

plan to sneak out and meet

16:39

Dan. When Lisa was found murdered,

16:41

just yards from Dan's house, naturally

16:44

the question was raised. Was Dan

16:46

somehow involved? Dan says he forgot

16:48

Lisa was coming over that night,

16:50

which also raises alarms. As police

16:52

began to look into Dan. They

16:54

found his letters to Lisa, and

16:57

his violent side quickly became a

16:59

focal point. Almost immediately, Dan became

17:01

a lead person of interest. Here's

17:03

an early statement from authorities. I

17:05

will say that Mr. Dreyford is

17:08

one of the people we're talking

17:10

to, but numerous others, I can't

17:12

really say that he is the

17:14

number one suspect, are a suspect,

17:16

is a person we are talking

17:19

to very strongly and others. But

17:25

Dan would eventually be cleared and

17:27

the focus would be turned to

17:29

another young man. For the past

17:31

several decades, many residents in the

17:34

Shaker Heights area have believed that

17:36

Kevin Young, a troubled classmate of

17:38

Lisa and Dan, was responsible for

17:41

Lisa's death. Kevin even went to

17:43

trial for her murder. But as

17:45

I've looked into this case, I

17:47

can tell you that there are

17:50

a lot of questions that are

17:52

still unanswered. including a potential link

17:54

between Lisa's death and two homicides

17:56

from years earlier, which another man...

17:59

is doing time for. This was

18:01

something my good friend, journalist, author,

18:03

and colleague James Renner honed in

18:05

on when he was investigating Lisa's

18:08

murder. James has a book on

18:10

the case called Crazy Little Children

18:12

and has dedicated years to figuring

18:14

out what exactly happened to Lisa

18:17

Pruitt. So stick around and when

18:19

we come back from a quick

18:21

break, we'll dive into all of

18:24

this with James. One

18:28

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18:30

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18:32

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20:24

back to our case. James, thanks

20:26

for coming on to talk about

20:29

your book, Crazy Little Children, and

20:31

the case of Lisa Pruitt. Yeah,

20:33

thanks for having me. It's great

20:35

to be on here. One of

20:37

the things that I just adore

20:39

about you is you are a

20:41

real journalist. You go out and

20:43

you do the work. You're not

20:45

just Googling things. And this case

20:48

really speaks to that because there's

20:50

not much out there at all

20:52

other than really the work that

20:54

you have done on Lisa's case.

20:56

Yes. Lisa's case has been with

20:58

me for a long time. I

21:00

remember when I was a senior

21:02

at Kent State University and I

21:04

was supposed to study for an

21:07

exam. And I took all my

21:09

books with me and headed for

21:11

Taco Bell. I was just going

21:13

to camp out there and get

21:15

some burritos. And on the way

21:17

I passed a news kiosk and

21:19

it was first seen, this paper.

21:21

And on the cover was Lisa's

21:23

picture. I could tell it was

21:26

a crime story. And I'm like,

21:28

oh, let me pick that up.

21:30

So I took it with me.

21:32

And I sat down and talked

21:34

about him and never got any

21:36

studying done because I just devoured

21:38

this article, which was about this

21:40

unsolved murder in this well-to-do suburb

21:42

in Cleveland that had never been

21:45

solved. And it did two things

21:47

for me. It kind of opened

21:49

my eyes to... the case itself

21:51

and the mysteries that surround it,

21:53

but also it made me fall

21:55

in love with long-form journalism and

21:57

realizing that you could tell a

21:59

story as a journalist with, you

22:01

know, all the facts and all

22:04

the work involved, but make it

22:06

as interesting to read as fiction.

22:08

You know, you can tell a

22:10

narrative, you can shape a narrative.

22:12

I'm fascinated by unsolved mysteries. I

22:14

love diving into them and what

22:16

is interesting for me. really digging

22:18

in and getting to know the

22:21

people involved in these stories, you

22:23

know, their back stories and just

22:25

how these cases have ripple effects

22:27

across a community, across a generation.

22:29

So this has really been with

22:31

me for a while. So James,

22:33

what made you decide that you

22:35

needed to look into Lisa's case?

22:37

At that time, not much had

22:40

been written about it because the

22:42

word around town was that... Kevin

22:44

Young was guilty, everybody knows it,

22:46

and so it's not worth revisiting.

22:48

And he had fancy lawyers and

22:50

got away with this murder. I

22:52

was confused about how the police

22:54

ended up focusing on this kid

22:56

Kevin Young, who was the weird

22:59

kid at the high school, who

23:01

wore black and listened to Metallica

23:03

and played D&D. And there was

23:05

never any evidence linking him to

23:07

the crime scene. And I was

23:09

curious, what else we might not

23:11

know. that would be in those

23:13

files, that could anything point to

23:15

anybody else? So Dan seems like

23:18

the most obvious suspect, and he

23:20

was for a little bit. They

23:22

told him, you are a suspect.

23:24

They questioned him. How do we

23:26

get to Kevin Young? The first

23:28

time they hear about Kevin Young

23:30

is the morning after the murder,

23:32

when a few of Dan's friends

23:34

go to police and they say,

23:37

hey, Our friend Dan couldn't have

23:39

done it. He's such a nice

23:41

guy. It's got to be the

23:43

weird kid in school this Kevin.

23:45

And they're like, well, do you

23:47

have any evidence he did it?

23:49

And of course not, but you

23:51

know, he said some crazy things.

23:53

He's just a weirdo. Well, and

23:56

it's, it's prime satanic panic, right?

23:58

So the police are primed for

24:00

a kid, like Kevin, to be

24:02

a suspect, right? Like, they're looking

24:04

for that. He plays Dungeons and

24:06

Dragons? Oh, he must be evil,

24:08

yeah. There's another character here. A

24:10

young man named Tex. Texas is

24:13

kind of hanging out with Dan

24:15

when Lisa comes over on her

24:17

way to flute practice. So he's

24:19

there when they come up with

24:21

this plan. He says, I'm going

24:23

to go run and get cigarettes.

24:25

So Dan gives him some money

24:27

to buy cigarettes. And Tex rides

24:29

Dan's bike to Shaker Square, which

24:32

is like a mile or two

24:34

away, and buy some cigarettes. And

24:36

then he stops in at Arabica

24:38

coffee shop. And it's where all

24:40

the teens hung out at the

24:42

time. Tacks goes in for a

24:44

coffee and he sees their friend

24:46

Kevin Young sitting in a booth.

24:48

And he goes over, sits next

24:51

to Kevin, they get to talking,

24:53

and Tacks tells Kevin that Lisa

24:55

is sneaking out. The police hear

24:57

from Tacks and find out that,

24:59

oh my God, Kevin knew that

25:01

Lisa was sneaking out. So maybe

25:03

what the kids are saying is,

25:05

maybe it's true. So the police

25:07

start looking into Kevin. and they're

25:10

really super focused on him at

25:12

this point and they do a

25:14

search warrant at his house and

25:16

they find some very disturbing journals

25:18

in his in his room not

25:20

talking directly about like murdering Lisa

25:22

or anything mostly it's about you

25:24

know doing terrible things to other

25:26

people or like you know he's

25:29

mad at his mother but they're

25:31

just as disturbing as bands. letters.

25:33

They're like, oh my God, we

25:35

have a couple kind of, you

25:37

know, crazy kids here. Did you

25:39

ever talk to Kevin? I did.

25:41

I talked to him. When I

25:43

was working as a reporter, back

25:45

in 2008, Cleveland's still kind of

25:48

a small town in a big

25:50

city. And one of his friends

25:52

found out that I was trying

25:54

to get a hold of him.

25:56

And he wrote me an email.

25:58

He's like, hey, look, I know

26:00

how you can get an interview

26:02

with Kevin, but you have to

26:05

kind of lie. Kevin paints houses,

26:07

and you have to pretend to

26:09

be somebody who's interested in having

26:11

like your renovated home painted. And

26:13

so, I'm like, I don't know

26:15

if I'm comfortable doing that. He's

26:17

like, I already set it up.

26:19

It's like, he's meeting us at

26:21

like four o'clock. So we met

26:24

at this coffee shop and, you

26:26

know, he shows up about five

26:28

minutes late. Kevin is like strikingly

26:30

handsome, by the way. He looks

26:32

like a, you know, he's got

26:34

like a young Bruce Campbell thing

26:36

about him, you know, chiseled, you

26:38

know, chin. And so I recognized

26:40

him right away, he walks him

26:43

right away, he walks over, he

26:45

walks over, he walks over and,

26:47

you know. I don't see anything

26:49

that links you to this murder

26:51

and I want to know what

26:53

you think. He's like, I'm out

26:55

of here and he walks out.

26:57

So I kind of go after

26:59

him and I meet up with

27:02

him in the parking garage. I'm

27:04

like, hey man, I know you've

27:06

had it really rough and the

27:08

media here is treated you terribly.

27:10

But from what I can see,

27:12

I don't see anything that links

27:14

you to this murder and I

27:16

want to know what you think.

27:18

And he stopped for a minute

27:21

and he said, well. What do

27:23

you think happened? And he said,

27:25

you know what I think happened.

27:27

And he was implying that at

27:29

the time he thought it was

27:31

he thought it was Dan too,

27:33

or somebody in that house. Kevin

27:35

has a lot of problems. He's

27:37

kind of antisocial. They'll say these

27:40

crazy things sometimes. Kevin was all

27:42

bark and no bite. Super, super

27:44

smart. He's a chess champion. He's

27:46

just different. He's just different. Kevin's

27:48

dad was an attorney. That was

27:50

the source of many conspiracy theories

27:52

because Kevin's dad actually worked at

27:54

the same law office as the

27:57

mayor of Shaker Heights. So there

27:59

was this. theory, like the mayor's

28:01

trying to shut this down, we

28:03

know who did it. There were

28:05

all these rumors about him, like

28:07

being cruel to animals and things

28:09

like that. None of it ever

28:11

checked out, none of it was

28:13

true, but what was true is

28:16

he would say these horrible, despicable

28:18

things. One of the questions I

28:20

always had was why were the

28:22

police so focused on Kevin? They

28:24

even pulled a fingerprint from the

28:26

scene and it did not match

28:28

Kevin. Right. And what I found

28:30

in the... in the investigator reports

28:32

on the murder regarding this fingerprint

28:35

that was found at the crime

28:37

scene all they really did was

28:39

tested to see if it matched

28:41

Kevin because that's who they wanted

28:43

and they didn't compare it to

28:45

I don't know if they compared

28:47

it to anybody else I don't

28:49

know if they even compared it

28:51

to Dan so they were laser

28:54

focused on Kevin they wanted it

28:56

to be him so to this

28:58

day we don't know whose fingerprint

29:00

that is there are 12 police

29:02

officers that drove down to his

29:04

dorm room, pulled him out of

29:06

the dorm room, took him to

29:08

a hotel and interrogated him in

29:10

a hotel room connected to a

29:13

lie detector machine throughout the night.

29:15

They picked him up at 8

29:17

p.m. They gave him the first

29:19

lie detector test at like 1

29:21

a.m. They gave him another one

29:23

around, I don't know, 3 or

29:25

4 a.m. He wasn't back to

29:27

his dorm room until like noon

29:29

the next day. They bring in

29:32

this expert, who is this guy.

29:34

He's like some expert and he's

29:36

how to use the best psychological

29:38

coercion they can to get a

29:40

confession from him, whether he did

29:42

it or not. They're going to

29:44

clockwork Orange, Kevin. I'm so angry

29:46

every time I think about this,

29:48

this part of it. Yes, they

29:51

were trying to get a confession

29:53

from Kevin Young. No matter what?

29:55

Yes, they recorded the call between

29:57

the detectives and a psychologist out

29:59

of the University of Syracuse. and

30:01

they consulted with him as kind

30:03

of like a profiler. So the

30:05

detective calls him up and he's

30:08

like how do we how do

30:10

we get a confession out of

30:12

Kevin and then the psychologist says

30:14

and it's recorded and then transcribed

30:16

he says well, I guess that's

30:18

academic Because whether Kevin did it

30:20

or not here's how you get

30:22

him to confess I want to

30:24

throw shit at the wall right

30:27

now. I just want to fucking

30:29

throw everything These are like so

30:31

many professionals were on that call

30:33

and nobody said like, what the

30:35

fuck are you talking about? Like

30:37

we want the truth here? Maybe?

30:39

No. Like here, if you did

30:41

it or not, here's how you

30:43

break his mind, here's how you

30:46

get a confession. And by the

30:48

end of that, his mind was

30:50

broken. He had to call his

30:52

parents and he was admitted into

30:54

a psychiatric unit the next day.

30:56

Even after being interrogated for that

30:58

long, under that amount of pressure.

31:00

He never said that he murdered

31:02

her. He always maintained that he

31:05

had nothing to do with it.

31:07

And he didn't understand why they

31:09

were focused so much on him.

31:11

Kevin is acquitted, but his life

31:13

is ruined. Then he passes away

31:15

from alcohol abuse, correct? Yeah, Kevin

31:17

died in 2017, and it was

31:19

from effects of chronic alcohol abuse.

31:21

They also found in his apartment

31:24

in his apartment, you know. crack

31:26

pipes, you know, it was a

31:28

really sad situation. From speaking with

31:30

him, do you think a lot

31:32

of that is because of what

31:34

happened with Lisa and the trial

31:36

and everything? I think it's absolutely

31:38

100% what happened. When all this

31:40

started, when Lisa was murdered, he

31:43

was just, it was his first

31:45

week as a freshman at Ohio

31:47

State University. And so this all

31:49

happens and just... You know, his

31:51

life takes a detour and never

31:53

recovers from it. More of our

31:55

discussion after a quick break. You're

31:57

listening to Up and Vanish Weekly.

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here's John with this week's

33:49

critical missing case. So here's

33:51

what I have this week,

33:53

Maggie. At approximately 11 p.m.

33:55

On Tuesday, December 17th, 2024.

33:57

18-year-old Kayla Rose Sobchak was

33:59

seen leaving the 6,000 block

34:01

of 12th Avenue in Kenosha

34:03

Wisconsin. Now it's believed she

34:05

was picked up by an

34:07

unidentified male who was driving

34:09

a charcoal gray sedan. Now

34:11

it's not clear who the

34:13

driver was or where the

34:15

two were going, but Kayla

34:17

is known to frequent Racine

34:19

Wisconsin and Waukegan Illinois. Kayla

34:21

is of African American and

34:23

Caucasian ethnicity. She has a

34:25

height of 5 foot 3

34:28

inches and a weight between

34:30

140 and 175 pounds. She

34:32

would now be 19 years

34:34

old. Kayla has black curly

34:36

hair and brown eyes, and

34:38

she wears dark, large-framed glasses,

34:40

and she was last seen

34:42

wearing a black windbreaker or

34:44

sweatshirt with dark-colored pants. So,

34:46

listeners, if you know any

34:48

information about Kayla's disappearance, please

34:50

contact Detective Philip Brightshaft with

34:52

the Kenosha Police Department at

34:54

262, 6505203. All

34:59

right, now back to our case.

35:01

So when you were going through

35:03

these documents, you actually came across

35:05

another name that is equally a

35:07

good suspect. I just had this

35:09

feeling that there was more to

35:12

this story. So I kept putting

35:14

in public records requests, thinking one

35:16

day maybe it'll be a book.

35:18

And over the years gathered, you

35:20

know, these boxes that I'd take

35:22

with me from one house to

35:25

the other. I went into this

35:27

project with two goals. One, to

35:29

exonerate Kevin in the court of

35:31

public opinion, because I thought he

35:33

had gotten a terrible deal. And

35:35

two, to show that the boyfriend

35:38

was the most likely suspect. But

35:40

what I didn't expect to find

35:42

is in these records, I came

35:44

across the name of another young

35:46

man who was at the scene

35:48

of the crime, the night of

35:50

the murder. and makes for a

35:53

much better suspect than either Dan

35:55

or Kevin, and I think this

35:57

is the person that killed Lisa

35:59

Pruitt. That person is Dave Brannigan.

36:01

Dave Brannigan ends up on the

36:03

police's radar the day after the

36:06

murder, because like some killers do,

36:08

he inserts himself into the investigation.

36:10

He goes to the police department

36:12

and says, hey, I was at

36:14

this bus stop today, and this

36:16

black guy shows up at the

36:18

bus stop in Chaker Heights. you

36:21

know if if you if you

36:23

say that you get the police's

36:25

attention. So like this black guy

36:27

showed up at the bus station

36:29

and he mentioned Lisa and the

36:31

police officers like what's this kid

36:34

you know what's he all about

36:36

and the police officers like well

36:38

where were you the night of

36:40

the murder and Dave says oh

36:42

I took my girlfriend out on

36:44

a date and then I I

36:47

took her home and I walked

36:49

home from her house and turns

36:51

out Dave lives on Sedwick. that

36:53

road that runs behind the B,

36:55

where the dog was leading the

36:57

police officers. And he says he

36:59

walked by the crime scene at

37:02

about 1230 that night, and he

37:04

describes it accurately. He says there

37:06

were two officers in a canine

37:08

unit, which jumped out to me

37:10

too, because the canine unit was

37:12

never reported in the newspaper. The

37:15

only way you know that dog

37:17

was there is if you actually

37:19

did see it. Which tells me

37:21

that Dave saw them, but they

37:23

didn't see him. Dave's somewhere spying

37:25

on them. Like they don't see

37:27

this kid ever and he sees

37:30

them. Then he says he goes

37:32

back home it's about 1 o'clock

37:34

1.30 in the morning. He says

37:36

his mom is still up and

37:38

they talk for a while and

37:40

then he takes a shower and

37:43

goes to bed. And the police

37:45

officer falls up with his mom

37:47

and turns out she was not

37:49

awake and he's like oh yeah

37:51

I made that that part up.

37:53

I think the way he kind

37:56

of develops is really interesting. You

37:58

find out that he was also

38:00

at Arabic when Tex was saying

38:02

that Lisa was going to sneak

38:04

out that night. Nobody put this

38:06

part together until I kind of

38:08

dug it out of the records

38:11

and this... this was my favorite

38:13

moment of the whole thing. We're

38:15

always trying to find that connection

38:17

of how the killer knew Lisa

38:19

was sneaking out. And they did

38:21

a ton of investigation, but nobody

38:24

really followed up with all the

38:26

clues that the barista at the

38:28

coffee shop gave them. And it

38:30

was the defense attorney's private investigator

38:32

who finally interviews them, but didn't

38:34

put this piece together, because they

38:37

didn't know about Dave Brannigan. But

38:39

they say to the barista, like,

38:41

like, who was at the coffee

38:43

shop that night. And he said,

38:45

oh, It was just Kevin and

38:47

Tex, they were talking about Lisa,

38:49

and he's like, was anybody else

38:52

there? He said, yeah, there was

38:54

one other person there, Dave Branigan.

38:56

And that name just kind of,

38:58

like, that connection was just never

39:00

made. That was the, that was

39:02

kind of like the, oh my

39:05

God moment. Because it was, right,

39:07

whoever killed her knew she was

39:09

going to be sneaking out. And

39:11

now we know this kid also

39:13

knew. Years later, you know, I

39:15

start looking into this and... I

39:17

tracked down Dave Brannigan's ex-girlfriends. That

39:20

girl that he dropped off that

39:22

night and took on a date

39:24

and she was ready for my

39:26

call. She's like, I've been expecting

39:28

this call. She said he absolutely

39:30

had time to get from my

39:33

house to the murder scene. I

39:35

think he's capable of it. He

39:37

would tell her that he had

39:39

a hobby where he would sneak

39:41

into the homes of people who

39:43

lived on that block and steal

39:46

stuff from them. Not like money,

39:48

but like little trinkets, like little

39:50

pieces of jewelry or knickknacks, and

39:52

he would keep him in a

39:54

box under his bed. And he

39:56

gave her a ring that he

39:58

stole from somebody's house. So he

40:01

was breaking into home, sneaking into

40:03

homes, and he had a collection

40:05

of hunting knives, like the kind

40:07

used to kill Lisa. And that's

40:09

another important part. They never found

40:11

the murder weapon. And he's a

40:14

collector of the type of knives

40:16

that were used in this case.

40:18

At around midnight, the owner of

40:20

the property behind Dan's house heard

40:22

someone breaking into a rental car

40:24

in the driveway, which can also

40:26

place Brannigan there. He's known to

40:29

break in to homes. I think

40:31

absolutely, yeah. Yeah, one of the

40:33

first calls the police got that

40:35

night was, you know, about that,

40:37

you know, the woman who lived

40:39

in that house, heard somebody breaking

40:42

into her car, and that's the

40:44

same property where her body was

40:46

found. you know, around the time

40:48

that Dave would have been passing

40:50

by. And as part of your

40:52

research, you also came across very

40:55

compelling evidence that there may be

40:57

a link to another double murder

40:59

that happened a couple years earlier.

41:01

Can you talk a bit about

41:03

the porters and how all of

41:05

that ties together? So Lisa was

41:07

murdered in 1990. In 1985, five

41:10

years before, same block, five houses

41:12

down the road. was this couple,

41:14

Philip and Dorothy Porter. One day

41:16

in 1985, their grandson finds they've

41:18

been stabbed to death in their

41:20

home, murdered. It was very obviously

41:23

an interrupted burglary. Like somebody had

41:25

been in the house and Dorothy

41:27

heard it, came down, there was

41:29

a struggle, she was murdered, and

41:31

then whoever did it, went up

41:33

and murdered Philip. They found out

41:36

the three young boys from the

41:38

neighborhood at the time of the

41:40

murders, which was like 9 p.m.

41:42

on a Friday evening. These three

41:44

boys went to the house next

41:46

door to the porters because it

41:48

was abandoned and they broke in

41:51

to set off some fireworks. And

41:53

they say when they got out

41:55

of the house, they look over

41:57

and they see a black man

41:59

running out of the back of

42:01

the porters' homes. And then this

42:04

quote unquote black guy chased them

42:06

down the street and they made

42:08

it home safely. One of those

42:10

kids. was Dave Brannigan. And Dave

42:12

Brannigan's house was directly behind the

42:14

porter's house, and you could walk

42:16

through the backyards to get there.

42:19

And what I believe, after looking

42:21

at this for a long time,

42:23

is I think Dave's a really

42:25

good suspect for those murders, too.

42:27

You know, this is a kid

42:29

who likes breaking into homes. It's

42:32

an interrupted burglary. No cash what's

42:34

taken. I think a motivation for

42:36

killing Dorothy was that whoever broke

42:38

into her house was somebody she

42:40

recognized. In the moment, he's like,

42:42

oh shit, I gotta take care

42:45

of this. The reason I didn't

42:47

at first look too deeply into

42:49

that case was because somebody else

42:51

had confessed to that murder around

42:53

the time of Lisa's case. In

42:55

1990, that same fall, this man

42:57

named Donnie Soki. confessed to the

43:00

porter's murders and was convicted. And

43:02

his story that he told was

43:04

that he and his father and

43:06

this other guy, these three guys

43:08

in an old jolapi of a

43:10

car, rode into Shaker Heights to

43:13

rob and kill the porters and

43:15

the motivation he gives is that

43:17

his father was a member of

43:19

the Hell's Angels. And in the

43:21

60s, the plane dealer wrote a

43:23

bunch of bad articles about the

43:25

Hell's Angels and that really upset.

43:28

his father, so they were going

43:30

to go kill this former executive

43:32

editor of the plane dealer and

43:34

steal his money. I looked into

43:36

it further and found that his

43:38

confession was elicited by a detective

43:41

from Eastlake with a really shady

43:43

history of dealing with informants in

43:45

prisons. Eventually I reach out to

43:47

Donnie Soke himself. I go down

43:49

there, I interview him in prison,

43:51

and Donnie says, yeah, he's like,

43:54

you're right. I didn't have anything

43:56

to do with these murders. It

43:58

was to get better accommodations in

44:00

here. They fed me a line

44:02

of getting out. out of here

44:04

and it just kept me in

44:06

here longer. So he got screwed,

44:09

everybody got screwed, and these two

44:11

murders that should be unsolved were

44:13

kind of written off. There's a

44:15

ton of circumstantial evidence that points

44:17

to Dave at this point. And

44:19

the one commonality between all three

44:22

of those homicides is Dave Brannigan.

44:24

The best story that I came

44:27

across was from his common-law wife.

44:29

So he died in 2017, and

44:31

just like Kevin, he died of

44:34

chronic alcoholism. At the time he

44:36

was living with this woman, they

44:38

had a kid together. And I

44:41

went to talk to her, figuring

44:43

she just slammed the door in

44:45

my face and I want to

44:47

talk about it. But she was

44:50

really sweet. She invited me and

44:52

we had a long conversation. And

44:54

finally I asked her if she

44:57

thought it was possible, he killed

44:59

Lisa. And she said... Yes, and

45:01

I'll tell you why. She said,

45:04

when he was in preschool, a

45:06

boy pushed him down on the

45:08

playground. And Dave didn't react, he

45:11

didn't get up and fight the

45:13

kid, but when lunchtime came around,

45:15

he made a point to sit

45:18

next to this bully. And when

45:20

the kid wasn't looking, he poured

45:22

comic cleaner in the kid's sandwich

45:25

and tried to kill him in

45:27

preschool. She said, that was Dave,

45:29

that's how he was his whole

45:32

life. She's like, do I think

45:34

he killed me? He said yes.

45:36

So that to me was, you

45:39

know, if his own, the mother

45:41

of his child and, you know,

45:43

common law wife can think that,

45:46

I think he's a very good

45:48

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48:01

this is what I want people

48:03

to know is that when you

48:05

get people to falsely confess or

48:07

when you wrongly convict somebody, there

48:09

is a killer still out there.

48:11

If the right person who killed

48:13

the porters was caught, Lisa would

48:15

be here, assuming it is Branigan

48:18

who killed both of them. That's

48:20

absolutely true. Lisa would be here

48:22

if they did their fucking job.

48:24

So I want to ask you,

48:26

what do you think happened? Why

48:28

did we get to... wrongfully arrested

48:30

and one wrongful incarceration. I think

48:32

it's the town of Shaker Heights.

48:35

I think at the place where

48:37

these sort of things are not

48:39

supposed to happen. They're not equipped

48:41

with the sort of detectives that

48:43

will separate their emotions from the

48:45

logic of the cases. And there's

48:47

so much public pressure for them

48:49

to arrest somebody, anybody. Just these

48:52

murders don't happen here. You've got

48:54

to figure out who did it.

48:56

We've given you Kevin Young on

48:58

a platter. Just say a pin,

49:00

you know. Going forward, is this

49:02

case solvable? I know there is

49:04

a fingerprint that can be tested.

49:06

So tell me about the evidence

49:09

that's left and you kind of

49:11

speaking with detectives about what can

49:13

happen. Yeah, I was asked to

49:15

come in to talk to the

49:17

detectives at Shaker Heights about a

49:19

year ago. It was, yeah, February

49:21

of last year. Wow. And we

49:23

had a conversation. And at the

49:26

time, I was very optimistic because

49:28

it seemed like they really wanted

49:30

to do a little work on

49:32

it. There are a couple things

49:34

that could solve these cases. Like

49:36

you said, let's test the ironing

49:38

cord for DNA. I think they're

49:40

open to maybe doing a little

49:43

bit of work, but the person

49:45

who's in charge of the detective

49:47

bureau at Shaker Heights these days

49:49

is the son. of the man

49:51

who gave Kevin his lie detector

49:53

test. So he grew up being

49:55

told no. Kevin, we had him,

49:57

we had him good, he just

50:00

got off because he had a

50:02

lawyer. And so there's this weird

50:04

father-son thing, you know, you don't

50:06

want to undo your father's legacy

50:08

to an extent, I think it's

50:10

going on. They did have one

50:12

young detective who seemed interested in

50:14

doing one thing that I highly

50:17

suggested is, so the other two

50:19

kids who were with Branigan, the

50:21

night of the porters murders, when

50:23

they were interviewed the detective said

50:25

hey these kids are lying I

50:27

can't figure out about what but

50:29

they're they're lying my guess is

50:31

they were there and saw Dave

50:34

go into the house and then

50:36

come out after the murders I've

50:38

talked to them both their stories

50:40

do not match up at all

50:42

they're telling me two different stories

50:44

and one of them I've never

50:46

been more sure wanted to get

50:48

something off his conscience And this,

50:51

and when I had that inkling,

50:53

I tried to push him a

50:55

little bit. I'm like, I can

50:57

tell there's guilt there. Something's bothering

50:59

you. Talk to me about this.

51:01

What really happened? And he was

51:03

close. I, you know, I feel

51:06

that he was close. And there's

51:08

been two occasions where he called

51:10

me at like 11 p.m. 11.30

51:12

at night. And I've got him

51:14

in my phone now and I

51:16

answer and he doesn't say anything.

51:18

And I'm just like, hey, do

51:20

you want to talk? Are you

51:23

ready to talk? Doesn't say anything,

51:25

and then just hangs out. That's

51:27

happened twice. So I said, go

51:29

talk to him. He's so close

51:31

to saying something. And I don't

51:33

know if they even want to

51:35

talk to him. So I don't

51:37

know where they're at. Do you

51:40

think they're going to test the

51:42

evidence that's left? I mean, I've

51:44

got a nonprofit that will do

51:46

that for free for free for

51:48

them. I've offered our services. But

51:50

nobody's taken me up on it.

51:52

I don't know that they will

51:54

test it. I don't understand why

51:57

her case isn't solved. A man

51:59

was acquitted. You should see. be

52:01

investigating that, Lisa. It's a no-one

52:03

situation for them, in their minds.

52:05

I mean, I'm all for finding

52:07

out what really happened, but like,

52:09

go back and open up that

52:11

can of worms and show that,

52:14

you know, the detectives that are

52:16

now at Shaker Heights, that their

52:18

parents railroaded this kid, they got

52:20

the wrong kid, the real, the

52:22

real guy that did it is

52:24

dead, there's no justice. It's just

52:26

a sad situation and I don't

52:28

think they want to wait into

52:31

it even though that's what they

52:33

should absolutely do if their job

52:35

is to find the truth. The

52:37

only thing at this point that's

52:39

going to solve the case is

52:41

one of these men that were

52:43

with Dave Brannigan when they were

52:45

kids says something. I think that

52:48

that would get the ball rolling.

52:50

So, you know, if they listen

52:52

to these things, you know, we're

52:54

waiting on you to bring this

52:56

all together. James Renner, you are

52:58

amazing. Thank you so much for

53:00

coming on the podcast. Where can

53:02

listeners find you, find your work,

53:05

the new book you have coming

53:07

out? Yes, the new book is

53:09

Scout Camp, out February 25th, wherever

53:11

you get your books. There's an

53:13

audio book that's coming out for

53:15

that. I'm at James renner.com. I

53:17

also host the podcasts, True Crime

53:19

This Week, and The Philosophy of

53:22

Crime. So, yeah, check me out.

53:24

This is a case where

53:26

too many lives were ruined

53:28

and it was completely preventable.

53:31

The possible answers were there

53:33

from the beginning. David Brannigan

53:35

was at the coffee shop.

53:37

He knew Lisa was going

53:39

to dance. If police had

53:41

looked into Dave, perhaps they

53:43

would have noticed the commonality

53:45

between the porter murder and

53:47

Lisa's. Despite 12 jurors finding

53:49

him not guilty, Kevin Young's

53:51

life was ruined by gossip

53:53

and rumor. However, the department

53:55

stands by their investigation. The

53:58

homicide cases a lot of

54:00

times, either it's everything is

54:02

plain and simple or it's

54:04

very technical and difficult. This

54:06

is not one of those

54:08

simple and easy cases. I

54:10

don't feel anybody has botched

54:12

anything. I don't feel anybody

54:14

has done any errors in

54:16

anything and when this is

54:18

over I have no problem

54:20

with anybody reviewing everything that

54:23

we did. I think they'll

54:25

find out that it was

54:27

done at the highest professional

54:29

level that could be done.

54:31

But I can't stop rumors

54:33

and I'm not about to

54:35

try. Wrongful convictions don't only

54:37

hurt the people accused and

54:39

convicted. They hurt the families

54:41

of the victim. There is

54:43

no justice for Lisa in

54:45

this story. There's no justice

54:48

for Kevin Young. Lisa's case

54:50

is still unsolved and that's

54:52

unacceptable. Lisa Pruitt and her

54:54

family deserve answers and the

54:56

police should look back into

54:58

this case and stop being

55:00

so stubborn. Humans make mistakes

55:02

and that's okay. There's always

55:04

time to write a wrong.

55:06

Thank you so much for

55:08

listening to this week's episode

55:10

of Up In Spanish Weekly.

55:13

Be sure to tune in

55:15

next Friday as we dig

55:17

into another new case. Until

55:19

next Friday as we dig

55:21

into another new case. Until

55:23

next time. Up

55:31

and Vanish Weekly is a

55:33

production of Tinderfoot TV in

55:36

association with Odyssey. Your host

55:38

are Maggie Freeling and myself

55:40

Pain Lindsay. The show is

55:42

written by Maggie Freeling, Myself

55:44

and John Street. Executive producers

55:46

are Donald Albright and myself.

55:49

Lead producer is John Street.

55:51

Additional production by Meredith Steadman

55:53

and Mike Rooney. Research for

55:55

the series by Jamie Albright

55:57

Salicia Stanton and Carolyn Talmad.

56:00

Edit and Mix by Dylan

56:02

Harrington and Sean Nurney. Supervising

56:04

producer is Tracy Kaplan, Artwork

56:06

by Byron McCoy, Original Music

56:08

by Makeup and Vanity Set.

56:10

Special thanks to Orin Rosenbaum

56:13

and the team at UTA,

56:15

Beck Media and Marketing, and

56:17

the Nord Group. For more

56:19

podcasts like Up and Vanish

56:21

Weekly, search Tenderfoot TV on

56:24

your favorite podcast app or

56:26

visit us at Tenderfoot. TV.

56:28

Thanks for listening.