WEBVTT 1 00:00:09.400 --> 00:00:11.800 So it was January fifth, nineteen ninety two, right, I 2 00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:12.640 believe that's great. 3 00:00:13.039 --> 00:00:15.320 And on Sunday, Sunday evening, Yes. 4 00:00:15.320 --> 00:00:17.640 Ed, were you at the video story of that year? 5 00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:18.920 Yes, I was, certainly it was. 6 00:00:20.440 --> 00:00:23.879 It was after dark, the dead of winter. Kelly day Wilson, 7 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:26.960 a small town girl from Gilmer, Texas, was finishing up 8 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:29.679 work for the night with her boss, Joe Henry. They 9 00:00:29.679 --> 00:00:32.920 were alone at Northeast Texas Video, a movie rental store 10 00:00:32.920 --> 00:00:34.399 on the town square in Gilmour. 11 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:37.119 We closed the store about eight pm. That was an 12 00:00:37.119 --> 00:00:39.280 normal time to close. I went in the back. Kelly 13 00:00:39.320 --> 00:00:41.880 stayed up front and do all the reconciling, the cash 14 00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:42.399 door and all. 15 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:44.399 That stuff, you know, for today. I go on back 16 00:00:44.439 --> 00:00:46.799 in a VCR stuff ready. And when she gets done, 17 00:00:46.799 --> 00:00:48.240 and she comes back there and we go out the 18 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:48.960 back door. 19 00:00:48.759 --> 00:00:49.560 Set the alarm. 20 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:52.920 She goes around, throws the trash away, and when she 21 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:56.520 comes back around, I say you open tomorrow and she 22 00:00:56.560 --> 00:00:57.960 says yes, And I said, okay, I'll see you. 23 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:01.920 Joe had a pickup truck, Kelly an eighty five Dodge 24 00:01:02.039 --> 00:01:06.159 Charger complete with gold paint. Both vehicles were parked on 25 00:01:06.159 --> 00:01:09.000 a side street next to the video store just across 26 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:11.359 from the Upshur County Courthouse in the middle of town. 27 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:15.079 It was around eight thirty pm when Joe says they 28 00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:18.200 left the store. He and Kelly went their separate ways, 29 00:01:18.680 --> 00:01:19.159 and I got. 30 00:01:19.079 --> 00:01:22.359 A muchat She got in her car and rased as 31 00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:22.799 I says. 32 00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:27.079 What happened next, That depends on who you ask. It's 33 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:31.719 a haunting, unsolved mystery that would destroy lives, terrorize a town, 34 00:01:32.280 --> 00:01:35.400 and go on to confound me and many others for 35 00:01:35.519 --> 00:01:39.319 thirty years. What we do know is around ten o'clock 36 00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:43.840 that night, Kelly's mom, Kathy, was already getting worried. She 37 00:01:44.040 --> 00:01:47.400 was angry too. Kelly was a popular girl, had a 38 00:01:47.400 --> 00:01:50.480 busy social life, but it wasn't like her not to call, 39 00:01:50.680 --> 00:01:53.079 at the very least to let her family know she 40 00:01:53.159 --> 00:01:57.120 wasn't coming home. The next morning, Kelly still hadn't shown up. 41 00:01:57.599 --> 00:02:00.799 Her stepdad, Robert, went out to search the street before dawn. 42 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:04.079 The family lived just two minutes from the courthouse square. 43 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:07.760 That's where Robert found Kelly's car park beside the video store. 44 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:11.400 The doors of her Dodge Charger were unlocked. One of 45 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:15.479 the tires was slashed. Most troubling of all, Kelly's purse 46 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:19.280 was still there inside the vehicle. There was no sign 47 00:02:19.319 --> 00:02:24.000 of a struggle. As for Kelly herself, this girl of seventeen, 48 00:02:24.680 --> 00:02:28.120 a senior at Gilmour High School, she was just gone. 49 00:02:28.840 --> 00:02:31.159 I mean, a little town like this, you can just 50 00:02:31.639 --> 00:02:36.400 imagine one of them impact it had. 51 00:02:37.400 --> 00:02:38.439 They were just. 52 00:02:39.879 --> 00:02:40.599 Bump fuzzes. 53 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:43.000 I mean, you know, this girl just vanished into the na. 54 00:02:44.680 --> 00:02:47.759 I remember when Kelly Wilson disappeared, because I grew up 55 00:02:47.800 --> 00:02:50.360 about twenty miles down the road from Gilmour. If you 56 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:52.520 look at a map, the town is a straight shot 57 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:55.439 east of Dallas, a two hour drive. To get here, 58 00:02:55.479 --> 00:02:57.759 you have to leave behind the big skies and open 59 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:00.879 prairies of Texas myth and venture into the piney woods 60 00:03:00.879 --> 00:03:03.120 on the eastern edge of the state, where tall pine 61 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:06.919 trees blanket the hills and secrets hide in the shadows. 62 00:03:07.800 --> 00:03:10.360 Even though I was a kid back then, twelve years old, 63 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:13.400 I'll never forget the search for Kelly. There were stories 64 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:16.120 on the front page of the local paper, reward money 65 00:03:16.120 --> 00:03:20.520 and billboards begging for clues. Kelly's school portrait was posted everywhere. 66 00:03:20.759 --> 00:03:24.479 She was pretty, blonde, had big hair. At first, the 67 00:03:24.520 --> 00:03:28.599 investigation seemed to go nowhere. Then it took a shocking turn. 68 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:32.520 It's an unsolved mystery out of Upshur County involving law enforcement, 69 00:03:32.599 --> 00:03:34.960 a Satanic cult, and a missing girl. 70 00:03:35.240 --> 00:03:38.240 Following the story that would give the small East Texas 71 00:03:38.280 --> 00:03:41.319 town of Gilmour national exposure, but not. 72 00:03:41.319 --> 00:03:42.039 The good kind. 73 00:03:42.840 --> 00:03:45.439 Although we were all obsessed with Kelly's story, I guess 74 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:47.919 I was too young to fully understand what was going 75 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:49.919 on in Gilmer at the time. I just knew it 76 00:03:49.960 --> 00:03:54.439 was bad. There were reports of cannibalism, devil worship, a 77 00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:58.240 family of murderers hiding in the forests outside of town. 78 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:00.439 It was believed they were part of a Satana cold 79 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:03.879 and had kidnapped, raped, and murdered Kelly. Claims made they 80 00:04:03.879 --> 00:04:06.319 had kept her alive for at least nine days, keeping 81 00:04:06.319 --> 00:04:09.039 her in a shed and even a toolbox before killing her. 82 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:12.360 On a daily basis, they would take Kelly out of 83 00:04:12.400 --> 00:04:15.520 the shed and take her down to this circle and 84 00:04:16.040 --> 00:04:18.000 string her up on the tree, and they do these 85 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:20.399 horrible things to her, bring her back shackling run. 86 00:04:20.839 --> 00:04:23.959 East Texas. It's a pretty place, but with all those 87 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:27.120 pine trees, you never really know who's out there deep 88 00:04:27.160 --> 00:04:31.800 in the woods. Or what they're up to. In the 89 00:04:31.839 --> 00:04:34.480 little town of Gilmer, the story of a lost girl 90 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:39.040 became so much more so out of control. No one 91 00:04:39.160 --> 00:04:42.000 really knew what was real and what was madness. 92 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:45.879 I mean, it's just so many twists and turns, and. 93 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:51.040 It is so sensational them In this series, you'll hear 94 00:04:51.160 --> 00:04:54.279 about when Kelly went missing and how a town got 95 00:04:54.279 --> 00:05:01.399 turned upside down, allegations of unspeakable evil, mass hysteria, stolen evidence, 96 00:05:01.879 --> 00:05:07.720 and maybe even some good old fashioned local corruption. I 97 00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:10.720 don't know if Kelly will ever come home, if she's 98 00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:15.160 living or dead, if any of the crazy stories about cannibalism, 99 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:19.560 Satan worship and more actually happened. But I'm here to 100 00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:22.759 find out everything I can about Kelly and get the 101 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:25.720 truth or as close to it as the locals dare. 102 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:48.279 From Imperative Entertainment, I'm Wes Ferguson. This is Deviltown. This 103 00:05:48.319 --> 00:05:59.759 is Chapter one Gone. 104 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:03.720 Hello, Hey Anna, Hey, how's it going. 105 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:05.759 It's going great. 106 00:06:05.759 --> 00:06:06.279 Most of the time. 107 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:07.560 I don't even know what day it is. 108 00:06:07.800 --> 00:06:10.439 Well that sounds pretty good, isn't that fun? 109 00:06:11.199 --> 00:06:15.000 This is Anna Pasino Walker. She's retired now, but Anna 110 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:18.240 was the editor of My Hometown newspaper for a long time. 111 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:21.000 She hired me as a reporter when I was just 112 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:24.600 nineteen years old, my first break. I don't think it 113 00:06:24.600 --> 00:06:26.839 would embarrass her too much to say that she was 114 00:06:26.879 --> 00:06:28.920 basically my second mom back then. 115 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:30.879 You were my first editor. 116 00:06:30.920 --> 00:06:33.040 You're the one who turned me into an actual writer, 117 00:06:33.639 --> 00:06:39.920 and I don't You probably don't remember this, but you said, hey, 118 00:06:39.959 --> 00:06:40.839 you're the crime reporter. 119 00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:42.560 Maybe you'll find Kelly Wilson. 120 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:45.839 Uh. 121 00:06:46.240 --> 00:06:49.360 I don't remember, but it sounds like something I would say, 122 00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:54.480 you know, Wes. Every time that I hear or see 123 00:06:54.519 --> 00:06:57.639 in the paper, you know, remains where found anywhere in 124 00:06:57.639 --> 00:07:02.240 the East Texas area, I'm like, is that Kelly? It's 125 00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:05.800 gonna be Kelly. I wonder if it's Kelly on. 126 00:07:05.839 --> 00:07:08.399 A move to East Texas with her husband Paul and 127 00:07:08.439 --> 00:07:11.680 their kids, just a year or two before Kelly disappeared. 128 00:07:12.079 --> 00:07:15.399 At that time, Leona, our oldest was sixteen years old, 129 00:07:16.360 --> 00:07:20.160 so it was really close to home, and those the 130 00:07:20.279 --> 00:07:24.759 details of those things were just you know, you can 131 00:07:24.839 --> 00:07:28.040 be a hard age newspaper person, but you also you're 132 00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:32.800 also human. That's just something that you don't even want 133 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:33.240 to think about. 134 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:33.839 As a parent. 135 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:38.720 It sticks with you despite my boss's encouragement. I didn't 136 00:07:38.759 --> 00:07:42.000 find Kelly as the local crime reporter. I was too 137 00:07:42.040 --> 00:07:46.759 busy chasing ambulances and car crashes, drug busts and burning buildings, 138 00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:49.480 the stuff that's got to get done when every morning 139 00:07:49.639 --> 00:07:52.759 there's another newspaper to fill up with stories. But I 140 00:07:52.839 --> 00:07:56.040 never stopped thinking about Kelly. It's been three decades since 141 00:07:56.040 --> 00:08:00.399 she disappeared. If she's dead, her body has never been found. 142 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:04.879 No one has ever been convicted of killing her. It's 143 00:08:04.959 --> 00:08:08.439 left this void that people still feel. As I get older, 144 00:08:08.519 --> 00:08:11.319 I also realized that I never really knew anything about 145 00:08:11.399 --> 00:08:14.480 Kelly as a person, beyond the platitudes offered up in 146 00:08:14.560 --> 00:08:17.759 news clips. It's like her bright, smiling portrait on the 147 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:21.240 news was turned into a symbol of victimhood, and that 148 00:08:21.319 --> 00:08:24.600 doesn't feel right at all. Who was Kelly as a daughter, 149 00:08:24.920 --> 00:08:28.439 a friend? And while we're at it, who knows what 150 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:32.639 clues her loved ones might share if someone would just ask. 151 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:37.480 I was twelve years old when Kelly Wilson disappeared, and 152 00:08:38.360 --> 00:08:41.799 I remember it, you know, just not all the details, 153 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:43.799 but I remember like, oh my god, this is happening 154 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:45.960 just a couple towns up from my house. 155 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:47.320 And then when I. 156 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:51.159 Was in college, I met a girl from outside gilmert 157 00:08:51.679 --> 00:08:54.720 out in the woods, and I remember like riding around 158 00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:57.960 in her white pickup truck while she's telling me, like, 159 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:02.399 out in these trees there the devil worshippers. 160 00:09:01.879 --> 00:09:03.120 You know in Cannibals. 161 00:09:03.720 --> 00:09:06.919 Just now that I'm an adult and I just want 162 00:09:06.960 --> 00:09:08.360 to know what really happened. 163 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:11.320 Have you talked to Philip Williams? 164 00:09:11.799 --> 00:09:16.519 Hmm, good idea. Last spring I went home back to 165 00:09:16.600 --> 00:09:19.919 East Texas. I drove up to Gilmer one morning from 166 00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:22.200 my mom's house to see what I could find out. 167 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:27.000 Sure enough, my first stop was to see Philip Williams. 168 00:09:27.480 --> 00:09:31.000 You have a way of introducing the town and explaining 169 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:32.240 it to people that I haven't been to. 170 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:35.039 Well, I would just be delighted to do that. 171 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:37.200 Since I can walk out the back door of this 172 00:09:37.320 --> 00:09:39.080 farge store I owned to the place where I was 173 00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:42.960 born in about two minutes, so I'm given born in Bred. 174 00:09:43.279 --> 00:09:45.639 I have lived here all but six months of my life. 175 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:49.559 Philip is kind of like Gilmer's unofficial ambassador. He's been 176 00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:52.720 a local news reporter for decades, which is how I 177 00:09:52.759 --> 00:09:56.279 know him. On Deadline, he files stories from a little 178 00:09:56.279 --> 00:09:58.919 family owned furniture store right off the town. 179 00:09:58.759 --> 00:10:02.480 Square is a small town in northeast Texas of about 180 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:06.080 five thousand, and they started to festival coll Theambry, which 181 00:10:06.120 --> 00:10:09.000 continues to this day. It's held every October and draws 182 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:13.399 thousands of people. And that's probably the most notable thing 183 00:10:13.480 --> 00:10:13.879 about it. 184 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:17.519 There's a yam queen and a barn dance. I've been. 185 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:22.240 It's fun. Philip wrote a lot of stories about Kelly Wilson. 186 00:10:22.559 --> 00:10:24.440 If you told me all that was gonna happen, We're 187 00:10:24.440 --> 00:10:26.320 going to have a seventeen year old girl advanced to 188 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:28.679 then air and one of my best friends in high 189 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:30.519 school is going to be the last guy seen with it. 190 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:32.480 I would have thought you were a good candidate for 191 00:10:32.519 --> 00:10:36.000 a statemental hospital. But it all happened and I was 192 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:37.399 right in the middle, cover and all of it. 193 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:40.759 Philip's friend is Joe Henry, the video store manager. 194 00:10:41.240 --> 00:10:43.799 Well, I've known him for over fifty years. Like I said, 195 00:10:43.799 --> 00:10:45.320 I saw him today. I want to bring out some 196 00:10:45.399 --> 00:10:48.399 diet drink Cities place and I are still good friends. 197 00:10:49.559 --> 00:10:54.480 Joe has always been a very hard working person. He 198 00:10:55.159 --> 00:10:59.399 was fascinated by movies and back when we had video cassettes, 199 00:11:00.120 --> 00:11:02.720 there was a video store here in Gilbert where he 200 00:11:02.840 --> 00:11:07.360 was the manager and Kelly Wilson worked. Joe would have 201 00:11:07.399 --> 00:11:11.000 been willing to do his twenties then, and she was 202 00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:11.879 sixteen or seventy. 203 00:11:12.279 --> 00:11:15.600 Joe was actually thirty six at the time Kelly was seventeen. 204 00:11:16.279 --> 00:11:18.799 He just hadn't to be in wrong place at the 205 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:19.399 wrong time. 206 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:23.360 The movie store closed a long time ago, but Joe 207 00:11:23.399 --> 00:11:26.799 still grills Hamburgers around the block right across the street 208 00:11:26.840 --> 00:11:27.960 from the County Courthouse. 209 00:11:28.519 --> 00:11:31.879 Joe Hetty's Hamburger place back then too. It's been in 210 00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:35.679 Vena since nineteen seventy four, but he also was managing 211 00:11:35.720 --> 00:11:41.200 that video store. He workoholic basically, and a good guy. 212 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:44.840 After I left Phillip's Furniture Store, I walked over to 213 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:47.919 the Hamburger joint, but not before stopping on a street 214 00:11:47.960 --> 00:11:51.000 corner outside the video store where Kelly was last seen. 215 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:53.519 These days, the building is not much to look at, 216 00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:56.840 just an old brick storefront. Then I rounded the corner 217 00:11:57.120 --> 00:12:01.360 and there was Joe's placed Brittain Street from the court house, 218 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:10.360 gone up the steps, big juicy hamburgers. It was kind 219 00:12:10.360 --> 00:12:13.799 of dark inside, just a long, narrow room plus a 220 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:16.159 big window that opened up to the kitchen. In the back, 221 00:12:16.519 --> 00:12:19.279 all the wall space was covered with movie posters from 222 00:12:19.320 --> 00:12:23.360 Hollywood's Golden Age. To my left, all these blue collar 223 00:12:23.399 --> 00:12:26.080 guys were sitting in a row of old theater seats. 224 00:12:26.679 --> 00:12:29.240 They were all chowing burgers and watching an old timey 225 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:32.039 black and white movie playing on the TV above the 226 00:12:32.080 --> 00:12:35.240 soft drinks on the right side wall. Way in the back, 227 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:38.399 a little guy with thin gray hair was manning the grill. 228 00:12:38.919 --> 00:12:45.600 The grill was sizzling. I was worried that Joe wouldn't 229 00:12:45.639 --> 00:12:48.600 want to talk. He's often been named as a suspect 230 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:52.440 in Kelly's disappearance, at least on message boards where Internet 231 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:55.159 sleuths hang out and parse the clues of the case. 232 00:12:56.279 --> 00:12:59.519 Instead of introducing myself, I placed an order. 233 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:00.799 Or can I keep you? 234 00:13:01.240 --> 00:13:04.240 I'd like a cheeseburger and fries. 235 00:13:04.200 --> 00:13:08.159 All playing yes, okay, you do am now, thank. 236 00:13:08.039 --> 00:13:11.279 You, thank you. I joined the guys eating burgers from 237 00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:14.600 the theater seats. We watched an old movie about tourists 238 00:13:14.600 --> 00:13:18.240 in Hawaii. I waited for the lunch rush to pass. 239 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:20.120 I didn't want to bug you earlier because I could 240 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:22.799 tell how busy you were, probably sick of talking about it. 241 00:13:22.840 --> 00:13:23.720 But I just wanted to. 242 00:13:23.759 --> 00:13:26.679 Introduce myself in and see if there would be a 243 00:13:26.720 --> 00:13:29.639 time maybe you would be willing to chat with me. 244 00:13:31.679 --> 00:13:33.440 Yeah, I guess so. Do you think it might be 245 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:33.919 okay today? 246 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:34.399 Three? 247 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:36.399 If you won't to you? Yeah, okay, you want to 248 00:13:36.399 --> 00:13:38.759 come in? Yeah, sir, come on in, all right, all right, 249 00:13:38.840 --> 00:13:39.960 all right, thank you, I'll be back. 250 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:44.960 You're well delicious burger well a hammer. 251 00:13:45.720 --> 00:13:48.759 When I came back later that afternoon, Joe handed me 252 00:13:48.799 --> 00:13:50.960 a bottle of water and sat down in one of 253 00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:54.399 the theater seats. He was an older guy in his sixties, 254 00:13:54.559 --> 00:13:57.320 a little stooped and a great T shirt spattered in 255 00:13:57.360 --> 00:13:59.879 burger grease. He sighed deeply. 256 00:14:00.679 --> 00:14:04.120 Yeah, man, I just can't begin to tell you. This 257 00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:05.679 has just been an unbelievable thing. 258 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:10.120 It is just it's almost saw something of crazy fictional story. 259 00:14:10.919 --> 00:14:13.600 Joe explained that back in the early nineties, he was 260 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:17.639 basically the manager of the movie store Northeast Texas Video. 261 00:14:18.440 --> 00:14:20.919 He was more of a business partner than an employee, 262 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:24.799 getting paid fifty percent of every rental. He also made 263 00:14:24.840 --> 00:14:30.120 side money repairing VCRs. Kelly worked the cash register, reshelved movies, 264 00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:34.440 kept the place clean, Over time, Joe says he and 265 00:14:34.519 --> 00:14:36.320 Kelly got kind of close. 266 00:14:36.440 --> 00:14:40.559 Well, very bubbly personality, you know. Friendly at Bobby's the 267 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:41.200 best word I. 268 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:44.120 Can come up with. And friends to a lot. 269 00:14:44.039 --> 00:14:47.840 Of people, tue sins and guys that were not I 270 00:14:47.840 --> 00:14:49.279 wouldn't say the best in the world. 271 00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:53.080 Eventually, Kelly also began to confide in Joe. 272 00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:56.759 Yes, she did about the divorce a lot. 273 00:14:57.320 --> 00:14:59.399 She was just very upset about her mom and dad's divorce, 274 00:15:00.039 --> 00:15:04.840 very very sword just a sticky divorce, just not a good, 275 00:15:05.159 --> 00:15:06.960 not a good, pleasant divorce. 276 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:11.399 Yes, Kelly's parents had split up six or seven years earlier. 277 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:15.759 The custody battle had been very ugly, with both parents 278 00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:19.080 fighting to keep Kelly and her little brother Kyle. For 279 00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:23.240 a while, the siblings lived with their dad, Robbie, in Nakodish, Louisiana, 280 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:27.879 but they ended up with their mom, Kathy in East Texas. Eventually, 281 00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:32.440 both parents remarried, but during her senior year, Kelly couldn't 282 00:15:32.480 --> 00:15:35.840 decide which set of parents to live with. That winter, 283 00:15:36.399 --> 00:15:39.639 she told her friends she was moving back to Louisiana 284 00:15:39.720 --> 00:15:41.879 to be with her dad and stepmom Waverin. 285 00:15:42.519 --> 00:15:43.000 She wanted to. 286 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:46.440 Leave after Christmas break and go to live with her dad. 287 00:15:46.919 --> 00:15:48.799 One night of there, she was really to say. She 288 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:51.440 was crying and she said, I just don't want to leave. Well, 289 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:53.080 you don't have to leave. I mean, you know, it's 290 00:15:53.080 --> 00:15:56.440 no big deal. And so that was sometime in December, 291 00:15:56.720 --> 00:15:59.360 and I think she basically wanted to stay and graduate 292 00:15:59.399 --> 00:16:02.200 with her friends. But her mom and dad had a 293 00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:06.200 pretty bad divorce and it was pretty uh you call 294 00:16:06.279 --> 00:16:09.000 it uh tomon if she was that, that's a good word. 295 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:11.000 It just wasn't good, and cand it was very had 296 00:16:11.039 --> 00:16:12.080 been very upset about that. 297 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:17.320 We ended up spending the Christmas holidays together in New Orleans. 298 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:19.559 That's Kelly's dad, Robbie. 299 00:16:19.960 --> 00:16:23.600 We stayed in the French Quarter. We had a chance 300 00:16:23.639 --> 00:16:25.639 to have a couple of long talks, and she wasn't 301 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:29.759 happy there, so she wanted to come back, and I 302 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:32.960 was reluctant to let her come back because I didn't 303 00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:34.840 think it was healthy for her to just just yo 304 00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:38.480 yoing back and forth. And I listened to her argument 305 00:16:38.519 --> 00:16:41.440 she wanted to finish school with her legacy friends here 306 00:16:41.519 --> 00:16:43.399 but that she growed up with, and I kind of 307 00:16:43.480 --> 00:16:44.000 understood that. 308 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:48.039 Even though Robbie was sympathetic to his daughter's wishes. He 309 00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:51.279 also took some convincing the last time she lived under 310 00:16:51.320 --> 00:16:53.840 his roof, things hadn't ended well. 311 00:16:54.120 --> 00:16:58.200 She didn't leave my custody under really great circumstances. She 312 00:16:58.360 --> 00:17:02.600 was angry with her dad because her dad had some rules, 313 00:17:02.600 --> 00:17:06.759 and I, you know, I tried to teach her some discipline. 314 00:17:06.920 --> 00:17:09.519 You know, she couldn't just run the road. She had 315 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:11.200 to be a you know, she had to meet curfew, 316 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:13.920 she had to do her do her lessons. You know. 317 00:17:14.279 --> 00:17:17.400 That's uh. Plus her mother was just you know, steadily 318 00:17:19.240 --> 00:17:22.839 agitating the situation. Like I said, it was a very 319 00:17:22.839 --> 00:17:25.759 contentious wow cushion fact. 320 00:17:26.400 --> 00:17:28.960 For the record, Kelly's mom declined to speak with me, 321 00:17:29.480 --> 00:17:32.359 so we're only hearing Robbie's point of view for now. 322 00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:35.920 You know, I was not thrilled about them moving moving 323 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:37.519 up there with her mom because I knew she wasn't 324 00:17:37.519 --> 00:17:41.400 gonna she just wasn't going to keep them disciplined like 325 00:17:41.480 --> 00:17:43.839 I would be. And I'm not I'm not a I 326 00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:47.720 wasn't that tough on, trust me, but I did. I 327 00:17:47.799 --> 00:17:49.799 did have some rules that I expected the fall. 328 00:17:50.480 --> 00:17:54.079 Robbie says he finally relented Kelly could move back in 329 00:17:54.160 --> 00:17:57.079 with him and Waverlin, her step mom, to finish her 330 00:17:57.119 --> 00:18:01.200 senior year and go to college in Louisiana within state tuition. 331 00:18:01.599 --> 00:18:04.799 She was a week away from moving back starting the 332 00:18:04.839 --> 00:18:05.880 spring semester here. 333 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:09.359 Do you know how how her mom took that news? 334 00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:12.960 Not well, but I think she agreed to let her 335 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:16.000 come back. I mean, I don't think she was going 336 00:18:16.079 --> 00:18:19.000 to stop it or could stop it. So, you know, 337 00:18:19.079 --> 00:18:21.880 once I said she was given that, I mean, Kelly could. 338 00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:24.559 Kelly could be a handful. She was giving them hell, 339 00:18:24.759 --> 00:18:27.640 they were ready for her to leave. She could stir 340 00:18:27.799 --> 00:18:31.559 things up, acting out, you know, the same way she 341 00:18:31.559 --> 00:18:33.960 did here here when she wanted to go there. You 342 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:36.880 know what I mean, she was She was She's a tarist. 343 00:18:36.920 --> 00:18:40.240 She was legitimately, you know, headstrong like that. 344 00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:44.039 During that heart to heart in the French Quarter, Kelly 345 00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:47.720 also told her dad something that to this day has 346 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:48.440 stuck with him. 347 00:18:48.680 --> 00:18:51.400 But she told me that night that there was there 348 00:18:51.400 --> 00:18:53.480 were some things going on there that she needed to 349 00:18:54.359 --> 00:18:57.000 she just needed to share with me. At some point 350 00:18:57.000 --> 00:18:59.680 in time, She said, I wouldn't like it, and I 351 00:18:59.720 --> 00:19:02.599 don't worked out of the way it was. I wouldn't 352 00:19:02.599 --> 00:19:04.359 need to know. At some point in time she really 353 00:19:04.359 --> 00:19:06.920 wanted to get out of there and come back here. 354 00:19:07.079 --> 00:19:08.440 You still don't know what that was. 355 00:19:08.480 --> 00:19:10.319 But no idea never did to get a chance to 356 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:11.039 talk to her again. 357 00:19:25.680 --> 00:19:28.440 So Kelly told her manager Joe Henry that she wanted 358 00:19:28.480 --> 00:19:31.720 to stay in Gilmer. She told her dad she wanted 359 00:19:31.720 --> 00:19:35.000 to move back to Nakedish. She also told Robbie that 360 00:19:35.079 --> 00:19:38.319 she had a secret she needed to share, something he 361 00:19:38.359 --> 00:19:42.440 wouldn't be happy about. Whatever the secret, whatever the truth, 362 00:19:43.079 --> 00:19:46.720 Kelly returned to East Texas after her Christmas vacation in 363 00:19:46.759 --> 00:19:50.799 New Orleans, either to pack her bags or get ready 364 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:53.839 for her last semester at Gilmour High School, home of 365 00:19:53.880 --> 00:19:58.039 the Buck Guys. But school wasn't starting back up just yet. 366 00:19:58.200 --> 00:19:59.480 I'm not gonna lie. You know. We were trying to 367 00:19:59.480 --> 00:20:02.240 the party, you know, we were going to parties together, 368 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:05.079 or going to the lake together, or you know, doing 369 00:20:05.079 --> 00:20:08.039 all those fun things silly girls did back in the nineties. 370 00:20:08.440 --> 00:20:11.680 That's Kelly's friend Lee, She was a senior that year too. 371 00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:14.799 Everyone thought we were so bad. Like I remember being like, 372 00:20:15.240 --> 00:20:17.119 you know, we were, you know. 373 00:20:17.079 --> 00:20:19.240 The wild group, And I look back at it and 374 00:20:19.279 --> 00:20:20.880 I'm like, we were not wild. 375 00:20:20.599 --> 00:20:21.880 Like that was so innocent. 376 00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:24.599 Lee and Kelly had been friends since Kelly showed up 377 00:20:24.599 --> 00:20:27.440 in Gilmour a couple of years earlier. Gilmer's not a 378 00:20:27.440 --> 00:20:30.519 big place, so a new girl in town was noteworthy. 379 00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:33.799 I just remember her moving to school, you know, and 380 00:20:34.759 --> 00:20:36.720 you know, we only I mean, I can probably count 381 00:20:36.759 --> 00:20:39.880 on one hand how many girls, you know, our age, 382 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:42.920 or kids our age moved in to our school and 383 00:20:43.000 --> 00:20:45.359 actually stayed. And she was just one of those girls. 384 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:47.119 And she moved in and you know, I feel like 385 00:20:47.160 --> 00:20:48.759 I probably had a class with her or something, and 386 00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:51.279 we were just fast friends. She just, you know, she 387 00:20:51.400 --> 00:20:53.960 was just one of those girls. She was just a 388 00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:58.680 fun always happy, you know, she was cute, just you know, 389 00:20:58.839 --> 00:21:01.640 one of those girls that fit in, I think with everyone. 390 00:21:02.359 --> 00:21:04.519 And I can remember like being at school and like 391 00:21:04.799 --> 00:21:07.839 gathering up all of our coin change so we would 392 00:21:07.880 --> 00:21:10.559 have enough money to go, you know, cruise around after 393 00:21:10.599 --> 00:21:12.799 school and stuff, or cruise around. 394 00:21:12.839 --> 00:21:14.240 On a Friday nine. 395 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:17.319 Back in town after Christmas and New Year's, Kelly had 396 00:21:17.319 --> 00:21:20.359 somehow heard about a party outside of town. It was 397 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:22.839 on a Sunday night, but with no school the next day, 398 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:24.440 she didn't want to miss it. 399 00:21:24.960 --> 00:21:28.079 So I was supposed to go to a party with 400 00:21:28.119 --> 00:21:31.519 her that night, and I don't remember where the party was. 401 00:21:31.599 --> 00:21:33.480