M. William Phelps - Too Young to Kill

Table of Contents

THANKS

I need to express my gratitude to those Juggalos and former friends of Corys, Sarahs, and Nates 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, Ill 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, Johns 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 Adriannes 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. Lukes; 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 bookshas 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!

Other books by M. William Phelps

PERFECT POISON
LETHAL GUARDIAN
EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE
SLEEP IN HEAVENLY PEACE
MURDER IN THE HEARTLAND
BECAUSE YOU LOVED ME
IF LOOKS COULD KILL
ILL BE WATCHING YOU
DEADLY SECRETS
CRUEL DEATH
DEATH TRAP
FAILURES OF THE PRESIDENTS (coauthor)

NATHAN HALE: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF AMERICAS FIRST SPY

THE DEVILS ROOMING HOUSE:
THE TRUE STORY OF AMERICAS DEADLIEST
FEMALE SERIAL KILLER

KILL FOR ME

LOVE HER TO DEATH

EPILOGUE

This case was one I truly wished did not have to be written. This murder, more than some of the others I have covered, seemed senseless and tragic in so many ways. They all do, of course. But this case had a particular heartbreaking quietness about it that grew on me as I entered each stage of Adrianne Reynoldss life, and stayed with me every day I worked on it. I kept a photo of Adrianne close by. I wish I had known her.

The path of Adriannes life was predictable in its aftermath. Her killers were despicable and heartless. Sarah Kolb refused to allow others to infringe upon her Kool-Aid (whatever the flavor of the moment was), and it angered the teen to the point of murder. Cory Gregory, on the other hand, not only showed how cold and careless he was for not stopping the fight in Sarahs car, which escalated into murder, but also by participating in it. What made Cory much more selfish and heartless, in my professional opinion, was the fact that he befriended Adrianne in those days before her murder. It seemed to me, if I didnt know better, that Cory and Sarah had talked about Cory befriending Adrianne so they could, at the very least, get her into Sarahs car and beat her upif not carry out a premeditated plan to kill her.

And for what?

Jealousy?

Revenge?

I dont buy it.

The outrage the Reynolds family felt continued long after Cory Gregory and Sarah Kolb were sentenced. Nate Gaudet was being denied parole by the board year after year. Yet, in November 2008, on his twentieth birthday, Nate was released.

The boy who had carved Adrianne Reynolds into seven pieces and stuffed himself at McDonalds 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 didnt 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 angerand threatsfrom 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 Nates 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.