Too Young to Kill

by M. William Phelps

Killing Her Wasn't Enough…

Sixteen-year-old Adrianne Reynolds couldn't unravel the twisted tangles of jealousy and domination complicating her new life in East Moline, Illinois. What began as a fresh start after a troubled home life in Texas ended with Adrianne's body charred, stuffed into garbage bags, and scattered. It seemed the work of hardened criminals, but the truth was far more astonishing: her own "best friends” choked Adrianne to death and cut her up. Now, master crime writer M. William Phelps recounts this horrific saga of teen lust and violence in every gripping detail.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, Mystery, History, Horror, Ebooks

320 pages, ebook

First published January 28, 2011

About the author

Crime, murder and serial killer expert, creator/producer/writer and former host of the Investigation Discovery series DARK MINDS, acclaimed, award-winning investigative journalist M. William Phelps is the New York Times best-selling author of 30 books and winner of the 2013 Excellence in (Investigative) Journalism Award and the 2008 New England Book Festival Award. A highly sought-after pundit, Phelps has made over 100 media-related television appearances: Early Show, The Today Show, The View, Fox & Friends, truTV, Discovery Channel, Fox News Channel, Good Morning America, TLC, BIO, History, Oxygen, OWN, on top of over 100 additional media appearances: USA Radio Network, Catholic Radio, Mancow, Wall Street Journal Radio, Zac Daniel, Ave Maria Radio, Catholic Channel, EWTN Radio, ABC News Radio, and many more.

Phelps is also a member of the Multidisciplinary Collaborative on Sexual Crime and Violence (MCSCV), also known as the Atypical Homicide Research Group (AHRG) at Northeastern University, maintained by NU alumni Enzo Yaksic.

Phelps is one of the regular and recurring experts frequently appearing on two long-running series, Deadly Women and Snapped. Radio America calls Phelps “the nation’s leading authority on the mind of the female murderer,” and TV Rage says, “M. William Phelps dares to tread where few others will: into the mind of a killer.” A respected journalist, beyond his book writing Phelps has written for numerous publications—including the Providence Journal, Connecticut Magazine and Hartford Courant—and consulted on the first season of the hit Showtime cable television series Dexter.

Phelps grew up in East Hartford, CT, moved to Vernon, CT, at age 12, where he lived for 25 years. He now lives in a reclusive Connecticut farming community north of Hartford.

Beyond crime, Phelps has also written several history books, including the acclaimed, New York Times bestselling NATHAN HALE: The Life and Death of America’s First Spy, THE DEVIL’S ROOMING HOUSE, THE DEVIL’S RIGHT HAND, MURDER, NEW ENGLAND, and more.

Reviews

[Misty Marie Harms · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sixteen-year-old Adrianne Reynolds just wanted friends and to belong. New to East Moline, Illinois, she struggles to fit in. Sadly, she finds the wrong group to follow. When Adrianne doesn't return home one night, a tangled web of betrayal starts to unravel. Adrianne's body was found charred, stuffed into garbage bags, and scattered. As the detectives start digging, they uncover her so-called best friends are behind the whole scheme. Petty jealous and lies caused a group of friends to kill.

Phelps was really stretching this one out. It didn't need almost 500 pages. Though well researched, he would repeat the same facts over and over again.

[♥ Marlene♥ · Rating 2 out of 5]

What happened to M. W. Phelps. His writing has gone downhill or this is just an oldie but I am struggling. Not because of the story because this is one of my interests.

I have a lot of books where young kids kill but the writing is so annoying. From page 1 he is skipping from time to time. it is very confusing and he also very much ads his thoughts in the book so it is also quite judgemental.

Normally I would have finished in a day or 2 but this is surprisingly even getting boring because he is repeating a lot of stuff.

Update: I kept on reading because I wanted to know what happened but I just should have looked them up online. I did look at the the pictures

Okay main reason why I did not like this book:

*Jumping from time period and assuming you already know some stuff

* Lots of repetition

* But if there is one thing I hate is when true crime authors besides telling us who did what in chapter 1 is constantly letting their opinion know.
I got so sick of the sarcastic remarks about Sarah. yes we know Mister Phelps thought her not pretty (ugly) and a horrible person and a bully.
Yes it was apparent that he also did not like the prosecutor. later I found out why because that man did not grant him an interview.

yes I understand that when you write about real people it is very hard to not show your thoughts and yes in a lot of books you can read behind the lines what the author thinks, but in mr Phelps and lately also in Ann Rule's books they are constantly telling us, trying to assure us that so and so is an angel but him or her are horrible people.

They do not think we can think for ourselves apparently.

I know this author has written good books as well. I have received a lot of his books so I am not going to give up on him.

[♥ Sandi ❣ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

This book is about the murder of a teenager, Adrianne Reynolds, 16 years old, that lived approximately a mile and a half from my home. This took place in 2005 and was headline news for weeks. Two people Sarah Kolb and Cory Gregory - also teens - murdered her in a car, in the daylight, in the parking lot of a local Taco Bell.

I followed this story as it unfolded in the news throughout 2005 and 2006. However it was not until I read this book that I realized that I personally knew so many people involved in this case.

Most of the people referred to in the book are still in this area, all the businesses mentioned are still open, the alternative school is still running, the policemen and detectives are still on the job and the Judges are still sitting the bench. But in reading this book I have learned so much more than the newscasters or journalist were ever told back then. In hindsight, told through interviews and court documents, all the detectives work is brought to light.

A sad case of 3 young people - lost to the humanity of life, drinking, drugging, living a violent Juggalo (Goth) lifestyle, caring for no one but themselves. The book goes into detail about this type lifestyle and it very much surprised me that we had such a wide spread problem in my area. Knowing that this lifestyle was everywhere came as no surprise, but to pin point Juggalo houses, play houses, and exact meeting places, that I know and drive by, was alarming.

The family of the murdered girl still lives in the same place. There is a flag pole in the front yard and surrounding that pole is a memorial to their daughter. When driving past it brings the short life of Adrianne back to mind. However after now reading this book and knowing all the details that were never publicized before, I will forever look at that flag pole/memorial a bit differently.

[Landon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I honestly read this whole book in one day, I just couldn't put it down. It's sick, and twisted, but fascinating and deeply interesting. Its a non-fiction piece, the story of Adrianne Reynolds, a 16 year old girl with a rough past of broken families, depression, drugs, alcohol, and sexual activity, was murderer, burned, dismembered, and scattered. This sick crime was committed not by a serial or professional killer, but by her own friends. Sarah Kolb (currently serving a nearly 60 year sentence) and Cory Gregory (currently serving a 45 year sentence)aiding in concealing evidence by Nathan Gaude (who was released from custody November 11, 2008, only 4 years later). I think for me, what really made this book shocking was how the author tired to get into the minds of these young people. They were what you might call "Goths" though they called themselves Juggalos, how mental disorders, rough living, and heavy drug abuse really formed these children into killers. The reasons that Sarah Kolb wanted Adrianne Reynolds dead truly stunned me, and that Cory Gregory- who had a very complicated relationship with both of these girls- had the roll that he did.

[Tessa W · Rating 1 out of 5]

Author is so judgemental and condescending

Im not really sure why I read this entire book, I guess because Adrianne’s story deserves to be heard.

But this was hard to read. The author comes across as incredibly judgmental and condescending. He doesn’t have anything nice to say about one person he wrote about, victim included (until he got to his epilogue and claimed he wished he could have known her. Big eye roll.)
It’s one thing for true crime authors to throw some shade towards the perpetrators, but there is not one part of this book that this author isn’t shoving his personal judgements down the readers throat.

On top of the authors bit*hyness, holy did he drag. that. out. He repeats so many points and details. It’s constant. Many of these “points” being his personal judgments. It feels like he was desperately trying to reach some kind of word count. I was almost constantly rolling my eyes at the repetition. He needs to have a little more faith that his readers don’t need every thing repeated constantly in order for the point to get across.

It felt like he was writing about Adrianne and the people in this story from a very high horse. Not to mention that he overshadowed the point of the trial with near constant bit*hy little comments about the state attorney because the man wouldn’t give him an interview. Just so much is wrong with and annoying about this book. This is seriously the first true crime book I’ve read that I can say I hated beginning to end.

[Dierdra McGill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me start out by saying that I love True crime books. This one however was really, really just boring. The case is very interesting and more heartbreaking then most because the victim was a 17 year old girl. The writing for me anyway was to repetitiousness and really never drew me into the story.
If you are interested in Adrienne's story tho I suggest watching the episode Snapped did for her. It is more interesting and the book doesn't include anything new aside from the authors view points.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good one Mr Phelps. Loved it.

[Steve Franco · Rating 3 out of 5]

So… judgmental! (And that’s from the author!)

Never have I read a true crime book where the author is judgmental about not just the murderers, but the victim (although he does offer a mea culpa at the end… go figure), the lifestyle they were all involved in, and even the State Attorney who prosecuted the case (I found out that he never gave the author an interview, so maybe that was a source of the vitriol). I think the only people he didn’t savage with his pen were the parents of those involved.

Even Ann Rule, in her later works where she was starting to show bias towards the victims, wasn’t as quick to show judgment on everyone participating in the case.

Does this story need to be told? Yes… but it needs to be told in a respectful and impartial manner. Let’s just say I won’t be picking up any of Mr. phelps’ work any time soon.

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was OK, not spectacular. I felt there were some large gaps in the information, aside from the often-clumsy writing. The author says he exposed everything about the Juggalo subculture, for instance, and I really disagree; I learned almost nothing about it except that Phelps hates ICP's music and disapproves of their fans. I have no idea whether Juggalo-ism even had anything to do with this murder case. On the other hand he did make as much as he could out of the information and interviews he was able to get, and told us clearly when he was giving us a fact and when it was just his guess. Worth reading.

[Melody Hill · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was a compelling true story of how high school bullying turned into murder. However, the writing was so bad I had flashbacks to grading English essays. It was very distracting and I won't be reading anything else by this author.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always been a fan of M. W. Phelps. You can tell he dedicates a lot of time and energy into his books. This one was a rough read, but I think he did the story justice. I just feel awful for everyone involved. Such a senseless murder.

[Ceeceereads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the shocking case of a senseless teen murder. One thing that stood out for me was the author clearly put his heart into this and felt responsible for telling Adrianne’s story. Taking the time to walk in her shoes, learn the ups and downs of her short life and paint an honest picture of who she was- and who she didn’t get the chance to become. I think it would have been hard not to feel affected when delving into the case of a child. As the author noted, he kept a photo of her nearby as he wrote the story of her life and that of her murder. I felt it was respectfully done and the version of events was well constructed.

He portrayed the struggle of a beautiful and vulnerable young teenage girl with low self-esteem, trying to fit in and, above all, be liked. There was often an insightfulness that reflected your own strong feelings about the nature of the crime and the perpetrators. Almost a ‘took the words right out of my mouth.’ This story possessed such a seediness and dense, negative energy, you just want to step right in and pull her out of there. By the end I was left with a powerful sense of character of Adrianne, more so than anything to do with those who took her life. Her poetry and that of her fathers was a beautiful and poignant way to finish.

[Mrs. Read · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am either an incredible optimist or an incredible masochist, because every M. William Phelps book I have read has been badly written and - incredible coincidence here - Too Young to Kill is no good either! It’s repetitive, disorganized and way too l-o-n-g. And the writing’s terrible too. For example:
"....investigators had no idea Nate Gaudet was involved - better yet how."
"She was upset with Adrianne. Not angry. Or odious."

The mystery here is why Phelps chose this murder. Sure, the sawing up was an interesting touch, but not enough to carry a whole book. Is the country running out of attention-worthy killers? This crime’s entire cast of characters - victim, perpetrators and their associated step-grandmas, half-siblings, ex-spouses and all their various sex partners - are uniformly unsavory.

[Colette · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you enjoy true crime stories, this is a very good book. If you are the least bit squeamish however, you should probably skip it - although I'm not sure one can ever be squeamish if you enjoy true crime stories!

Mr. Phelps describes a very sick, sadistic, and heartless murder, and the subsequent attempt at a cover up, of a young girl by her peers but he does it with tact and without gory details beyond the briefest description of the facts.

How kids can reach the point of the darkness and depth of this type of anger, jealously and rage is beyond my imagination. My deepest and sincerest sympathy to the parents of all these teens, but especially to the parents of the victim.

[Marianne Stehr · Rating 1 out of 5]

There is not one character in this book to root for or care about, victim included. This is not entirely the authors fault, since he can only deal with the characters given to him, however this is so jumbled and mixed up that it has no flow to it at all. If you are interested in the Insane Clown Posse "Juggalos" and a bunch of kids and parents that are so messed up that you want to scream then read it, if not don't waste your time on this one, it was doomed from the start.

[Krystal Bermea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t want to be disrespectful to the family that this book covers. It’s not the subject that I’m giving this rating, it’s the writing style. It is way too detailed for me to the point where some of the details sound repetitive. it should have clicked to me when I saw that almost 500 pages would cover one murder. DNF. :/

[Jimmy Chaillot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Teenage angst, we all had it in high school whether it was against our parents, authority figures, friends or enemies we always had it.

This one takes it over the top. With insecurity, anger, jealousy, insecurity and controlling behavior it turns into a recipe for murder. I was looking forward to this book not knowing what I was getting into.

Now is this Phelps best book? No because he delves into the ICP and his hatred of their lyrics(they weren’t for me but hey to each his own) a little too much and it drug on. The main people in this case were on the fringes of being juggalos but it had nothing to do with this murder.

Good book, it gets a recommendation from me

[Sunny Willow · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was horribly written, but I finished it because I wanted to know what happened.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very disturbing and incredibly sad.

[BRNTerri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the sad story of an innocent sixteen year old girl who was only trying to fit in with her peers. Adrianne, the murder victim, had some deep and serious mental problems. She was a ‘cutter’ and had told a therapist that she’d attemped suicide thirty times. In her attempt to fit it and be liked by everyone, she became very promiscuous at a very young age. Unfortunately for her, she became involved with a group of drug abusing, troubled teens and the leader of the pack was a violent, uncontrollable sixteen year old girl named Sarah Kolb. This girl was out of her mind with jealousy and violence and hated Sarah. One day, Sarah and her male friend, Cory Gregory, sixteen, strangled Adrianne to death in Sarah’s car….right in the parking lot of a fast food resturant in January 2005. They dumped her body on Sarah’s grandfather’s farm and tried to burn her body, but only the outside burned. Two days later, they, along with another friend, Nathan Gaudet, dismembered the body and scattered the remains.

The author did a good job of telling us all about Adrianne’s troubled background and some of the past trouble she’d been it. She truly seemed like a sweet girl who only wanted to be liked. Her father and stepmother were interviewed and my sympathy goes out to them.

You can see photos of Adrianne and her killers at these places:
http://www.belch.com/blog/index.php?s...
http://qctimes.com/news/local/article...

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I lived just 2 towns over for a few years shortly after these events took place. I remember hearing about it from the locals but never really knew the story until now. Not only is the story itself sad and disturbing, but it is eerie to read a true crime book about a place you've called home yourself and actually have been to the places described...

[Ashley Hansgen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phelps is a great true crime author. The subject matter of this book is rather disturbing, but gives good insight into a teen culture that I did not know existed.

[Lenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

M. William Phelps presents another one of his true crime masterpieces. A horrific murder that's committed by sixteen year olds for no apparent reason.

[Jeanine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sad, awful story.

[Jen Cahill]

As always good read by Phelps

I am one of Phelps' favorite fans, I think. I have read most of his books. They are always thoroughly researched, well-written, and engaging. Phelps explores the backgrounds of the main players of the story--the victims and the perps. He doesn't tell the story from any other objective than a neutral third party observing the evidence and coming to conclusions based on facts, not emotions. He will put in his 2 cents worth, but he doesn't take sides. He gives all the key players a chance to tell their side without interference. Of course, it is easy for the reader to come to their own conclusions based on the story he tells.
This one is no different. I was shocked by the depravity of this story. The perps are so cold and evil that I walked away from this book having no empathy for any of them. I don't think any of them are truly sorry for killing this innocent girl who so desperately wanted to fit in and be liked by the very people who hated and bullied her. If she had had the self-esteem she needed, she would have seen the red flags this group was giving off. They were all losers who had nothing going for them. She deserved so much better. I feel for the parents of all those involved. The parents didn't seem like bad people. They all suffered and you will suffer along and pray for them as you read this book.

[Rakhi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never read a book by M. William Phelps. I only "know" him because of "Deadly Women". I found it odd and pleasantly surprising that as I read the book I could hear the narrative parts in his voice. He has this excitement and charisma about him that you can't help but hear his voice knowing it's his book. (Or it could just be me.)

At first, I thought that this book could have been 100 or so pages less because of all the extra details but as I finished the book I realized for the first time in a long time that I didn't have any questions about any detail or details regarding this case and I am in complete awe of this author and his approach and care towards this case.

He gave his opinions without sounding condescending and too harsh. Which helped you hate the people in this case just enough but also let you know they were kids. I actually watched this case on some shows on ID and am glad that I knew some background.

Not excusing anyone's behavior in any of this, but it seems as though there may have been some childhood trauma in a lot of these kids...and yet, a few seemed totally sociopathic.

This book is a great read for anyone who loves True Crime. I think Phelps's details and attention to every aspect of the case help feel like this investigation was in fact, complete. Highly Recommended!

[Theresa Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every kid in this story was messed up. Sixteen-year-old Adrianne Reynolds has been shuttled around her whole life, and now she is in East Moline, Illinois, with her adoptive father and stepmother. School has never been her thing, so she enters a GED program and tries to make friends with the other students. She is so desperate to have friends and be liked, she sleeps around with everybody, but doesn’t do all the drugs and alcohol they do. Two of the people who she thinks are her friends end up strangling her, burning her body, and then calling in a third friend to help cut up the body. These are not criminal masterminds, but after committing this heinous crime, they go back to their minimum wage jobs and drugs like nothing happened.

These kids didn’t become heartless sociopaths in a vacuum. Phelps wants to place the blame on the music they listen to, which is violent and misogynistic. Why were they attracted to this music in the first place? In no way does Phelps see poverty, lack of education, or crap parenting as contributing factors. This is just all-around depressing that there were three kids who thought nothing of killing a fellow student.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heart wrenching story, highly recommend

I had never heard of this case before reading this book. Such a bitter end to so many lives.
I admit that I was, at first, a bit upset at the author's negative words concerning the Juggalos in general as I have many friends in this group and my cousin is the popular Juggalo rapper, Boondox. While their lyrics are a bit hardcore, for ANY person to take ANY lyrics as an absolute truth defines that there is something already psychologically negative at work in their brain. It's NOT just the lyrics to a song. We went through this in the 80's with heavy metal and the PMRC. I appreciate, towards the end, that the author allowed the Juggalo crowd to come forward and say just that... One does not speak for all. I truly feel heartbroken for the Reynolds family and others. I believe, however, that Sarah's actions prove she has no remorse and possibly never will. Thankfully, the law spoke and she won't get the chance to hurt another innocent life.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

** I won a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway. **

I'm still not sure if this should be a 2 or 3 star rating. (Probably closer to 2. Let's call it 2.5 but I'm going to go with 2 b/c I can't do 1/2 stars.) While the crime is horrible and the story did need to be told, the writing is repetitious and almost juvenile (despite the cruel subject matter) at times. The author obviously hates Insane Clown Posse and makes it very clear they blame the band/music much more than anything else for this crime. There's very little about the perpetrators home life or background to help explain why they committed it. I'm not an Insane Clown Posse supporter, have never even heard any of their songs, and agree that their songs may be rotten, but bringing them up over and over and telling the reader how terrible they are detracts from the story instead of helping explain motives. It was just hard to feel for any of the characters, including the victim because of the constant repetition and going back in forth in time and the author's obvious hatred for the Clown Posse band and fans.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free book from a Goodreads giveaway and was pulled in right away.
Living in Iowa with the Quad Cities just an hour away made for a very interesting read. I had never heard of the sad murder of Adrianne Reynolds.

I rarely read non-fiction, however I found this to be well researched, and the writing was okay. Sometimes clumsy and repetitive. It is truly very sad and disturbing that young teens who are old enough to drive, work, and do adult things cannot walk away or agree to disagree, instead they commit violet crimes that punish more than just themselves. They are life changing and hurt everyone that is involved. Such a sad story about young people that only care about themselves. Broken families, depression, drugs, drinking, sex, and partying as many teens do.

Adrianne Reynolds, 16 years old, was murdered in 2005 in a car, in a Taco Bell Parking lot by her friends: Sarah Kolb (currently serving a nearly 60 year sentence) and Cory Gregory (currently serving a 45 year sentence).

If you like true crime...you will enjoy reading this book.