True Crime with Kimbyr - Adrienne Reynolds' Final Search for Belonging: A Troubled Teen's Path to Tragedy: Part 2

Episode Date: May 9, 2025

In Part 2 of Adrienne Reynolds' tragic case, we peel back the layers of a toxic friendship that spiraled out of control. As jealousy and manipulation festered beneath the surface, tensions between Adrienne and her so-called friends reached a boiling point. How did teenage insecurities and hidden rivalries ignite a deadly plan? Join Kimbyr as we unravel the chilling buildup to a crime that shook an entire community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Instead of doing what she did to Adrian, Sarah was more open to reconciling with her longtime friend and ex-Harley. But of course, she was way easier to manipulate as well. But there wasn't any forgiveness for Adrienne. Of course we know that even as adults, within tight friendship groups, people can spend time one-on-one or just with a few people without everyone trying to be included in every get-together. Not only is it impossible in terms of logistics with all of our busy lives, but it's important to nurture friendships in this way. In adolescence though and in your teens, the idea that not everyone is automatically included in everything can cultivate a sense of insecurity and exclusion that causes conflict. And it can also feel like a deep sense of rejection.

Adrienne knew she didn't need Sarah's permission to hang out with Harley, but she also knew that Sarah was too emotionally immature to understand that or accept it. Sarah lived in a black and white world where if you weren't with her or for her, then you were against her. Sarah openly continued disrespecting Adrienne to other people. She spread really nasty rumors about her that were not true, threatened other kids not to hang out with her, and made Adrienne incredibly distressed by telling her she should actually take her own life. Sarah even gave her a really nasty nickname, Jiffy, after the peanut butter brand. This is a term that Sarah used for girls who engaged in casual sex saying that

they spread their legs as easy as peanut butter spreads on bread. It's so childish, but for a teen, it would be considered very hurtful. Adrian finally confided in Joanne, that Sarah's bullying scared her. But still, she was willing to do anything to repair their friendship. She couldn't understand why Sarah was so toxic. She pleaded with her in one letter, wanting to know why she hated Adrienne so much

and wanted her to die. There's something special I want to start doing in these videos and I'm starting it now. And going forward, I want to do these short recaps to keep everyone up to speed on the facts. I know that so many of you are watching while you're cleaning or driving or at work. And at times, things can get so confusing.

So I'm going to offer a short little recap for you on screen with a graphic and also telling you what's going on so you can get back on track in case you miss anything. You'll know in every video that a recap is coming. So you can rest assured if you miss anything, I will make it make sense for you. Let me know if these recaps are helpful. I'm also going to include a chapter marker here so you'll know where the recap is and where it ends if you'd rather skip it. So here we go. Now for this recap, 16-year-old Adrian had a turbulent upbringing, her birth mother character. was only 16 when she had her,

so she was raised by her maternal grandma Beverly and her step-granddad, Tony, until they got divorced. Then she eventually went back to live with her birth mother when she was in the first grade. But this ultimately didn't work out. And Adrian began rebelling as she got older, eventually getting into a tough crowd at 12 years old and even getting into drugs.

So she was sent back to live with Tony and his new wife, Joanne, out in Illinois, and was enrolled in an alternative high school called Black Hawk, where she hoped to make new friends. The most popular girl at the school Sarah Kolb, who was openly bisexual, showed an interest in Adrian and took her under her wing. They became best friends at first and hung out with Sarah's ex, Harley. They were all very close until Sarah began to want more from Adrian romantically.

And even though Adrian entertained the possibility of the two girls being more than friends, Adrian ultimately found her own footing and began branching out, even deciding to get close to two guys, Corey and later Justin, who she ended up hooking up with. This infuriated Sarah who felt rejected. So she started a hate campaign against Adrian at Black Hawk School, trying to ruin her reputation, even pulling a knife on her several times, threatening her and calling her names,

trying to turn every student against her. But those who knew Sarah said she was all talk, and only trying to look dangerous, but she wasn't. Even though all of this had happened, kind-hearted Adrian still wanted to reconcile with Sarah, but no matter how hard she tried, Sarah would not forgive her. Eventually, Adrian began to do that, spending more time with Harley without Sarah.

And of course, when the two of them became close, it made Sarah even more angry. She ended up forgiving Harley, but not Adrian, who even confided in her guardian Joanne that she was scared of Sarah, and she didn't understand why Sarah said things like how she hated Adrienne and hoped she would take her own life. So now you are up to date on everything that went on

in case you missed anything. Now that the recap is over, let's go back to the story. On Friday, January 21st, 2005, Joanne woke Adrian up and she headed off to school as usual. She got a ride by her stepbrother Justin. She said good night to Tony the night before because he had to be up really early at 4 a.m. for work. Adrian had a 5 p.m. shift that afternoon at Checkers after school, so she was planning on coming home to change and then heading out to work. Later that afternoon, Tony and Joanne were at home and they noticed that Adrian's work uniform was still in her bedroom and that was odd. she should have been at work by then.

And there were no other clothes or belongings indicating that Adrienne had come home and headed back out again. When Joanne called around to see if anyone had seen Adrian, no one had. So the couple got in their car and drove up to checkers where they learned that Adrian did not show up for a shift, nor did she pick up her paycheck.

At first, Tony was irritated and rightfully so. He thought this was really irresponsible of his daughter, but he also wondered, had something happened that made her rough. As the hours passed, Tony and Joanne had this growing sense that something was really wrong. They frantically made phone calls to everyone they could think of, leaving multiple voice messages for everyone who knew Adrienne. She was only 16 years old. She was still so young and so vulnerable. Now Joanne and Tony had Harley's number along with other friends, including Sarah.

And when they talked to Sarah, she said she hadn't seen Adrian since she and Harley dropped her off earlier that day at the McDonald's on 727 Avenue. when they got out of school. Now, Sarah did mention that the two of them did have an argument, so she drove off with Harley leaving Adrian behind. When Joanne and Tony talked to Harley, she gave them the exact same story. By 7.30 p.m., Tony and Joanne's concerns had grown even more.

They drove around the town looking for Adrian, including going over to Harley's house, but there was no sign of her. If Adrian was with a friend, why didn't she reach out to them? She couldn't drive, and she didn't have a cell phone because she actually knew how much. much she talked, so she couldn't afford it because back then you used to have to pay for minutes.

So where was she? They knew Adrienne had never run away, as troubled as she had been, that just wasn't something she would have ever done. By 8 p.m., the Reynolds reported her missing to the East Maline Police Department. Tony called Adrienne's birth mother Carolyn down in Texas to let her know that Adrian was gone. And without hesitation, Carolyn began making plans to jump in her car and make a 12-hour trip to Illinois. That same night, Officer Josh Allen from East Maline Police Department called Sarah to see if she knew anything about what happened to Adrian. She explained that after leaving school at lunchtime, she, Harley, and Sarah's new boyfriend, 16-year-old Sean McKittrick, had given Adrian a ride. They dropped traffic McDonald's between about 1230 and 1 p.m.

It was the one across the street from Adrian's house. So Sarah explained, Adrian didn't want to be taken home because she didn't want her parents to see her in a car. with a boy. Now remember that Harley had not transitioned at the stage, so that's what this comment was in reference to. It was in reference to Adrian being in the car with Harley, who was Corey at the time. Sarah added that Adrian was wearing a bright orange hoodie and blue jeans. She made it clear that the pair were no longer friends, saying that she actually hated Adrian because she felt she was promiscuous. Sarah admitted that the girls had an argument at school and that Sarah wanted to sort things out. So she gave Adrian a ride home so that they could talk. But after talking, they still

would not see eye to eye. Sarah said she had no idea what happened to Adrian, but she did express concern that maybe she ran away from home. But she didn't explain why she would think that. Sarah gave the names of other people who knew Adrian so they could question them, but then she had a kind of odd question for police. She wanted to know, given she was the last person to see Adrian, did this mean that there was going to be a warrant out for Sarah's arrest? I understand you're 16, you don't really know how the law works, but Officer Allen assured her that that wouldn't be the case unless she was holding Adrian captive or preventing the police from locating her.

So Sarah told Officer Allen that she'd appreciate if they would let her know if they found her friend or her former friend. The Reynolds were distributing hundreds of flyers all around town, especially to motorists at fast food restaurants. Tony kept driving around looking for Adrian circling back to the party house at Fox Point Apartments and even peering into every car he passed. The story of Adrian's disappearance soon made news headlines

and everyone in East Molin knew about the missing teen. It was all hands on deck and as a matter of fact, a lot of agencies and officers were working on this case. Illinois State Police Special Agent Sergeant Mike Shuckle led this investigation. He was assisted by Sergeant Mike Britt, East Moline Police Chief Victor Moreno, Captain Bob Fuller, Detective Sergeant Brian Fultz,

Rock Island Police Captain John Wright, and Sergeant Tim Steins, and the Quad City Metropolitan Enforcement Group. As I said, a lot of hands on deck. Now, while all of this is going on, Tony and Joanne thought that something was off about Sarah's claim as to why she didn't just drop Adrian directly at home. Plus, recall that Adrian confided in Joanne that she was fearful of Sarah. And there And there was no way anyone would have even seen her in a car with a boy because Tony and Joanne were at work. So it didn't make any sense. Adrienne knew they were at work. She knew no one would see her with a boy.

The following night on Saturday, January 22nd, East Malian police officer Kevin Johnson checked in with Sarah at work to see if she had heard anything. She said she hadn't, but she said she let them know if she did. Officer Johnson also wanted to follow up on what Sarah originally told them because Harley had a slightly different account. Harley had told law enforcement that she didn't know what Sarah and Adrian had been arguing about. As far as she knew, the two girls had made up before Adrian got out of the car. It's a little bit of a different story. Remember, Sarah said they still didn't see eye to eye, but Sarah now told the officers that they initially drove to Taco Bell and things got physical in the vehicle when Sarah accused Adrian of being promiscuous. Sarah admitted that she hit Adrian and then Adrian fought back.

And then Sarah's boyfriend, Sean, got out of the car and took off during the argument. That's when they drove to McDonald's near Adrian's house. The girls then apologized to each other, and even though they still weren't friends, there was no longer any bad blood. Sarah then dropped Adrian off and that was it. Sarah explained that the information Harley had given police was so different because she actually told Harley not to say anything, not to alert them to the altercation because she didn't want to raise any concerns, but also wanted to tell the truth. So that's why she came clean that she and Adrian were not really friends, but that everything was cool at the end of the drive.

In the absence of any news, the Reynolds felt helpless. Joanne was so desperate she actually called a psychic for advice, but this didn't offer any insight either, but maybe at least a little hope. Since the psychic told Joanne, Adrian was still alive and in someone's basement. So of course, I can only imagine holding onto any hope that you can. Now, one day after her disappearance, Adrienne had had plans to babies,

to babysit for her coworker, John Beauchamp, on that Saturday night. But she never showed up, even though everyone was hoping that she would. It wasn't like her to disregard her responsibilities. But then, with the town being as small as it was, police started hearing rumors from the local teens. The students at Black Hawk, including Adrian's friends, wondered if something terrible had happened to her. Had Adrian been the target of violence?

It sounded too horrible to be true. But if she'd been beaten up and left somewhere to venture, for herself, she could be in real trouble. Was she lying somewhere injured? They wondered. Considering it was in the middle of winter at the time, it was freezing. The overnight temperatures got down to eight degrees. Everyone also knew about the drama between Adrian and Sarah. She'd been intertwined in Adrian's life like no one else. But Sarah was adamant. She told Tony she hadn't seen her heard from Adrian since Friday afternoon, and neither had Harley. And that's what both of them kept telling police who were checking in with them over the weekend. Tony was no longer mad at Adrian.

for not coming home or contacting them. Like Joanne, he was now really scared and he just wanted Adrian to come home. In the meantime, a couple named Vernon and Connie Bennett who were having lunch at Taco Bell the day in question had contacted police. The couple noticed a red vehicle in the parking lot at the time, and they told police that it looked like a fight

was happening in the backseat of that car. They said they saw a young woman sitting in the passenger side that fit Adrian's description. Even though Adrian was not missing at this point, Vernon was so concerned about this fight that he took down the model of the car, and then he passed his information onto his wife when she saw a picture of Adrian in the newspaper several days later. But we do know that Sarah already admitted that there was a physical alter occasion that happened between her and Adrian. So what happened after the fight? That's when investigators wanted to know.

Police knew that if anyone had any information significant or not about how things were going for Adrian in the lead-up, to her disappearance or afterward. It would be her friends at school, at Black Hawk. Amber told police that just before Adrian went missing, Sarah had called to ask for ideas about where she and Adrian could chat undisturbed. Okay? That adds up because we know that Sarah told investigators that her and Adrian were trying to discuss their issues.

Another student, James Kettering, told law enforcement that Sarah told him she was angry with Adrian and was actually going to beat her up. Now, that's a different story. He said that Sarah had actually invited him to lunch on the day that Adrian disappeared, but he declined because he had other plans. So in response, Sarah said she was going to have fun.

This makes it appear that Sarah had cruel intentions from the beginning and that she didn't merely want to chat with Adrienne, but instead she was going to harm her. And now she's missing. So that's a red flag. By Monday, January 24th with Adrian still missing a whole week and had now passed, and Sarah and her mom, Catherine, showed up with their attorney, Bob Rilly, at the police department.

They were there to give Sarah's account of what had happened so everything could be squared away. What investigators wanted was more information about what Sarah did after leaving Adrian behind. Sarah told Detective Fultz that after she dropped Adrian off, she and Harley went back to Sarah's place where she changed her outfit and then went to her grandparents for her grandmother's birthday.

She told them that Adrian was perfectly fine when she got out of that car. But Sarah refused to corroborate this with the polygraph test. Now, granted, they're not reliable. We've heard a million times. And they can also be used to intimidate witnesses. Now, Harley's mom, Teresa, she got word that Sarah had an attorney. And she was pretty surprised when Harley said that maybe she should get one.

The reason why Harley explained was because police had been asking her and Sarah a bunch of questions. And remember, they're minors. So that is a big deal. and they should have counsel to guide them. As a matter of fact, law enforcement had even searched Sarah's red 1991 Geoprism, but they didn't notice anything of concern other than maybe the trunk smelling a little bit like gasoline, and there were some lighters in the car. Teresa thought getting an attorney for Harley was kind of a weird request,

especially because she said, if you didn't do anything wrong, why do you need to worry about it? But Harley still seemed worried. So her dad, Burt, arranged legal representation so that Harley could feel more comfortable speaking with police, which for any young person could be very intimidating, so I think that's the right move for anyone that's being interviewed by police. Later that day, Harley, her attorney, and Burt showed up at the East Malian Police Department. Harley answered Sergeant Shekel and Detective Fultz questions, and everyone seemed satisfied that she told law enforcement everything she knew,

even though she too refused to sit for a polygraph. But the next day, on Tuesday, January 25th, Harley's family could see that she was in deep emotional turmoil. In the days since Adrienne had gone missing, she was weepy and emotional and she couldn't even sleep. Of course, everyone was worried about Adrian, but Harley's dad, Bert, knew that this behavior was beyond the normal level of concern.

So he confronted her. Bert asked Harley, what is going on? And that is when she caved. She said that something terrible had happened to Adrian. And now Harley wanted to talk to the police again, which she explained was why she wanted a lawyer in the first place. At the same time, State Police Special Agents Chad Bratterson and Chris Endress were in the process of organizing a search of a 160-acre farm belonging to Brian and Mary Engel, who just happened

to be Sarah's grandparents. Now this farm was situated in Millersburg, near Alito, in a rural part of Mercer County. Now this is about a 46-minute drive from East Maline, and the reason why they going out there was because Sarah's grandfather Brian had told the officers that after 6 p.m. on Friday, January 21st, there was a strange vehicle driving around without headlights on an isolated part of his property. So Brian drove out to see who was in the car and then he realized it was actually his granddaughter Sarah and Harley. Sarah told her granddad that she was just showing Harley around the farm. Brian knew she would have had to go off road to get where she was, which was difficult in her geoprism so that seemed suspicious but not as suspicious as when he later found

out that adrian had gone missing later that friday evening sarah drove to her grandparents house like she said she did while harley waited outside brian thought sarah was behaving strangely mostly because she hugged him several times and told him she loved him which was not like her it was also weird that sarah went to the farm with a friend and not her mom because she never had gone out to that farm without her mom, Catherine. Back at the East Molian Police Department, Harley told Sergeant Shekel and Detective Fultz that on January 21st, Adrian took up Sarah's offer

of a ride home from school. In the car were Harley, Sarah, Adrian, and Sean. They all left the school in Sarah's car and drove to that local Taco Bell to get some lunch, which was only down the street about a five-minute drive away from Black Hawk. Adrian was in the front passenger seat. Sarah was driving, and according to Harley,

She and Sean were in the back. Sarah said that she knew that Adrian and Harley had been making out when they hung out together two days prior on the night of January 19th. This was true. And it somehow got back to Sarah and no one knew how. But she was mad. Sarah also learned that Adrian had asked Harley out, meaning she wanted to be more than friends.

But remember, Adrian was interested in boys, but in the context of our story, Harley hadn't transitioned at this time. And even though Sarah was already dating Sean at the time, she was furious that Adrian would pursue her ex. And evidently, Adrian had also commented that Sean was hot when Sarah asked Adrian what she thought of him. It seems pretty petty, but as teenagers, the discussion soon became heated. And by the time they pulled into that parking lot, things escalated.

According to Harley, Sarah lashed out of Adrian, hitting her, cursing at her and calling her names. And then she grabbed Adrian's head, forcing her to turn around and look into the backseat at both Harley and Sean. And Sarah demanded that Adrian stay away from both of them. Harley said that while all this is going on, she was sitting in the backseat and she didn't want to intervene, even as people were walking past. She said that at least 10 people had walked by. But from her perspective, she felt that Sarah and Adrienne just needed to fight it out.

And trying to break up the physical altercation wouldn't have diffused the tension. Harley said she just sat, looked out the window, and smoked a cigarette. But Sean didn't like what was going on. and he told Sarah to stop, but she snapped back in him that if he didn't like what was happening, then he should leave. So he did. He got out of the car and he walked back to school. Harley explained that at this point, the two girls in the front seat were continuing to struggle with Adrian trying as hard as she could to defend herself from Sarah's attack. But when Adrian struck Sarah in the nose, this was a turning point and things were about to get much worse.

Apparently, according to Harley, of course, Sarah grabbed a long wooden stick that she kept in the car and used as a weapon and she began beating Adrian with it. Now just to give you a little idea of what Sarah was like, this stick was a handle of a hammer or an axe, but Sarah actually referred to it as something very offensive. She used the N-word in reference to it being used to beat off people that she called the N-word. Not cool, disgusting. As the struggle continued, the girls ended up in the backseat with Harley, who jumped out of the car and got into the front passenger side to get out of the way and i'm sitting here thinking why didn't harley intervene i mean this seemed to be an extreme attack but according to harley it was now when she decided things had to stop but instead of

going to help adrian harley jumped on her pinning adrian's arms down and restraining her what i was so surprised when i read that and then she said before she knew it sarah was actually strangling adrian in the back seat and you'd think that harley would do everything she could to stop Sarah, but instead she apparently pulled out a belt and placed it around Adrian's neck. I cannot even begin to imagine the sheer panic and horror that was going on in Adrian's mind at this point. Not because of just the attack by Sarah, but the realization that Harley, someone that Adrian thought was a friend and she trusted, had betrayed her. She was helping Sarah do something so awful and so frightening and everything crystallized in that very moment for Adrian. she knew where Harley's true loyalties were.

Harley later said very arrogantly about her actions that she would always be on Sarah's side, which is just so unbelievably chilling and it disgust me. Harley was adamant that things just got out of control and she claimed she had no idea about Sarah's intentions when she got in that car that afternoon, but then they just got to a point of no return and she found herself just following Sarah's lead.

Then Harley stated, that she and Sarah initially thought that Adrian was just unconscious, not dead. But then, when they realized what they had done, Sarah started to panic. Harley said she realized Adrian was dead because her face and her lips were blue. What did you think was going to happen if you deprive someone of oxygen? Harley explained that she and Sarah sat and worked out what they were going to do next while just smoking a cigarette. How cold and callous can these people be? Sarah then told Harley, she needed help, disposed,

disposing of Adrian's body. So they drove to Sarah's place and they got a two-gallon can of gasoline, a blue tarp, and a long forked gardening tool from the garage, throwing them into the car. Harley continued telling the police that she and Sarah drove to Sarah's grandparents' farm, and that is when they wrapped Adrian's body in the blue tarp, dragged it away from where it would be visible, then Sarah grabbed the can of gasoline, poured it all over Adrian's body, and using a butane later, she set her remains on fire to get rid of all the evidence. This is so stomach-churning to contemplate an extremely callous thing for anyone to do, let alone two teenagers. And Harley told officers that she and Sarah went and sat in the car and listened to music to pass a time. That is

unbelievable while a person is burning right outside of that car. They weren't even worried that someone would catch them in that moment. And as the time passed and the fire dwindled, they They soon realized that Adrian's remains were not just disintegrating in the flames like they thought they would. This is when Harley told police that she and Sarah drove into town and went to Sarah's grandmother's antique store called Treasure Hunt to again pass some time. Then they went and got more gasoline and went back to the farm. And that's when they ran into Sarah's grandpa, who was mad that they were on his property. After they were done speaking with her grandpa, Harley said Sarah poured the rest of the gasoline on Adrian's remains. But this did not speed up the process.

Sarah thought Adrian's body would just burn into a pile of ashes and there would be no trace of her. She would just disappear like she never existed. But now they had to figure out what to do next, which wasn't part of their plan. And I have to tell you, what I'm about to say is deeply disturbing. But Harley told police that now desperate, Sarah instructed Harley that she was going to have to dismember Adrian's body

and Harley flat out refused. to do that. But it was already dark by that time anyway. So what they did is they just concealed Adrian's body with a bunch of branches and they went back into town. Then Harley said that on Sunday, January 23rd, Sarah drove them back to her grandparents farm where they smoked some pot before Harley said that Sarah dismembered Adrian's body. Wow.