James Keene - Black Bird: One Mans Freedom Hides in Another Mans Darkness

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This is a true story, though some names have been changed.

Dedicated in loving memory to my Dad,

JAMES KEENE, SR.,

for always standing by my side

no matter what.

For believing I could move mountains.

In loving memory of

Robert Robbie Varvel

This book is due to the many people who, through their loyalty and contributions to my life, have helped make it what it is today.

I would like to thank all of the following, with a special thanks to Timothy Timmy Keene, my brother and partner in life through the good and the bad. My mother, Lynn, of whom I am very proud for overcoming all her setbacks and obstacles in her life and for standing by me in my darkest time. My sister, Terri Keene, for all the help and support she gave me throughout my whole ordeal. My grandmother, for her love and support throughout my life. My niece Sarina Keene.

Jeffrey Steinbeck, my attorney and personal friend, who handled, set up, and negotiated the arrangements for the situation described in this book. Lawrence Beaumont, the assistant U.S. attorney who handled my case, made me this incredible offer for redemption, and now is a close personal friend. Edward Eckhaus, for introducing Hillel and me. Kathy Psikos, for all her loyalty and support through everything. Brenda Kelleher, for always being there for me. Film producer and my close personal friend Alexandra Milchan, for whom I have immense respect and owe gratitude for believing in me and all I could be. Scott Lambert, for all his moral support. Oscar-winning producer Graham King, who saw the great potential in my story and is now making it into a Hollywood motion picture. Nat Sobel, my literary agent, of Sobel Weber and Associates, for so passionately believing in my story. Joel Gotler of Intellectual Property Group, who I have great respect for and who was a very integral part of my story becoming a book and movie. Rob Wilson, Lee Froehlich, the editors at Playboy, and the entire Playboy organization for seeing this as a great story, and for all the creative design and editing they did to present this story in their magazine. Sally Richardson, president and publisher; John Murphy, vice president and director of publicity; Charlie Spicer, executive editor; Yaniv Soha, associate editor; Allison Caplin, assistant editor; and the entire St. Martins Press staff for all their creative design and additional feedback in the process of creating my book. Paul Desmarteau, Kevin Corrigan, Mark Capriotti, Steve Themer, Scott Themer, Carol Sperry, Michael Keegan, Robbie Wilson, Johnny Olshefski, and Jimmy Olshefski. The best friends a guy could ever ask for.

Last, but not least, Hillel Levin, for all of his superior research and expert developmental skills in making my book possible. I have great admiration for Hillel and immense respect for his skill as well as his character.

James Keene

This book was the result of generous contributions from dozens of people to whom I am most grateful. I offer my sincere thanks to each of the following:

First and foremost to Jimmy Keene, who brought me his amazing story and was willing to share some painful memories in getting it told; Ed Eckhaus and Jeffrey Steinback for introducing us; my literary agent Nat Sobel of Sobel Weber Associates, who instantly saw the potential of Jimmys story for a book and for Hollywood; Joel Gotler of Intellectual Property Group who got us the best possible audience with film makers, and to producers Graham King and Alexandra Milchan, who responded so enthusiastically; Lee Froehlich and the editors at Playboy who provided the first platform for Jimmys story, which itself led to other major developments for our book; St. Martins executive editor Charlie Spicer for his patience and critical assistance with the manuscript, and to the assistant editor, Yaniv Soha, who also gave me valuable feedback and suggestions; Donna and Garry Reitler for their incredible kindness to me and for their willingness to reopen the darkest chapter of their lives; Gary Miller for his time and the guided tour of Georgetown; Lawrence Beaumont for setting Jimmys mission in motion; court reporter Toni Judd for her help in tracking down transcripts; the Rauh family for their introduction to Wabash and, in particular, to Ron Woodward, the town historian, who provided indispensible help with local history; former Iron Brigade reenactor Micheal Thompson for his memories and assistance in finding photographs, court records and old newspaper articles; former Wabash City policemen Ron Smith, Jeff Whitmer, and Phil Amones; the childhood friends of the Hall twins, Ron Osborne and Ross Davis; the excellent and thorough reference librarians at the Marion Public Library and the Springfield-Greene County Library; Randy Greer for his book, Echoes of Mercy, which provided me with important background on the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners from the perspective of its guards; criminologist Steven Egger for his writing on serial murder and reference to other research in the field; Marc Winkelman, Marc Brown, Wendover Brown, Mike Brown, and my coworkers at Calendars.com who helped me make the transition from business executive to full-time writer; Mark Coe and Coe-Truman Technologies for the technical help in designing and supporting the Web site InWithTheDevil.com; my friend artist Tony Fitzpatrick for the inspiration, each day, to get behind the mule and plow; my brothers Jay, Jonathan, and Wayne, for their constant support and encouragement; and finally, to my most important contributor, my wife, Mary Jo, who helps make everything possible, and to my sons Adam (always my best reader), Aaron, and Gabe, who all manage to put up with me.

Hillel Levin

In Life, People can take a few wrong turns that destroy them. Im one of those people. But I was given a second chancenot only to save myself but to redeem society for the wrong choices I made.

If you had shown up in my hometown of Kankakee, Illinois, and asked about me in the early nineties, most people would have told you that Jimmy Keene could do no wrong. I was considered to be some golden child with a handsome, heroic father, who had been both a police officer and a firefighter, and a beautiful mother, who had her own popular restaurant. In high school I lettered in three sports and was the star running back when our football team went all the way to the state championship game. The caption for an article about one victory read, Keene in control. As far as everyone was concerned, I was just as successful when I got out of college. After my father retired from the fire department, we ran a bunch of businesses together, ranging from trucking and construction to frozen food. Besides the house I built for myself in Kankakee, I had a couple of others in Chicago, including one in the ritzy area they call the Gold Coast. Wherever I stayed, the latest corvette was always in the driveway, with a crotch rocket and a Harley in the garage and a hot girl in the bedroom.