Little, Crazy Children

Starred review from May 8, 2023
Who killed Ohio teen Lisa Pruett in 1990? Philosophy of Crime podcaster Renner (True Crime Addict) casts convincing doubt on the case’s official theories in this superior real-life page-turner. After midnight on September 13, the Shaker Heights police received a 911 call from teenager Dan Dreifort, who reported that his girlfriend, Pruett, hadn’t shown up at his home. Soon after officers responded, Pruett’s body was found in a nearby yard. Dreifort, who had recently returned home after his father had him committed to a psychiatric ward, was initially a suspect: berries found on his front steps matched those on a bush near Pruett’s body, and a potential murder weapon was found in his bedroom. Ultimately, though, Dreifort faced no charges. Instead, police focused on Kevin Young, a local teenager with a history of antisocial behavior (he’d called in a school bomb threat once, and he was often unkempt in public). In 1991, Young was indicted for Pruett’s murder; he was acquitted at trial the following year. Renner does a meticulous job casting doubt on the prosecution’s case against Young and using the authorities’ dismissal of Dreifort to help identify a more likely murderer, spinning original interviews and reviews of official records into a vivid and disturbing account of a rush to judgment that left Pruett’s brutal murder unsolved. True crime aficionados of all stripes will devour this. Agent: Yishai Seidman, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.