Page 82 of Dead Man's Hollow
Dead Man’s Hollow—The Disappearance of Heather Ryan”
Episode 4: What Really Happened in Dead Man’s Hollow?
Last week, we learned that Heather Ryan is alive and well.
But that’s only half the story. As I explained in episode 3, Heather now lives in Quebec City. Until we met, she believed she was Chloe Tremblay, a French-Canadian. The months between her disappearance from Dead Man’s Hollow and her reappearance in Montreal remain a blank. Somehow she traveled from Pennsylvania to Montreal, Canada, learned to speak fluent French, and found shelter and sustenance.
Dr. Sofia Marchand, Chloe’s neuropsychiatrist, tells us she may never recover her memories of the time between ceasing to be Heather and becoming Chloe. But she has recovered her memories of the night of May 27th, 1994. And now, for the first time, she shares her story.
CHLOE: I remember dancing at the bonfire. I was trying to avoid Rich.
Rich is Rich Marino, who is now married to one of her sisters.
MAISY: Why?
CHLOE (hesitating): I was … involved with him even though he had a girlfriend. We’d been together for several months, but by May, I was over it. I didn’t want to deal with him that night. I just wanted to have a good time.
MAISY: And did you—have a good time, I mean?
CHLOE: At first, yes. This boy from Allderdice came over while I was dancing. He started chatting me up. He was cute, really friendly.
MAISY: This was Andre Newport?
CHLOE: Yes. Well, he didn’t tell me his last name, but yes, that’s who it was.
While I was in Quebec City meeting Chloe, producer Jordana interviewed Shannon Marshall, one of Andre’s former teachers, to get a sense of what he was like.
SHANNON: Andre was a good kid. He was well-liked by adults and his classmates—especially the girls. He was outgoing. A charmer.
JORDANA: Was he ever in trouble?
SHANNON: Not that I know of. Like I said, he was a good kid. When he went missing, our school community was devastated.
The community’s pain, as well as that of his family, was compounded when the police quickly closed the investigation into his disappearance.
SHANNON: There had been a Gang Peace Summit in the Manchester neighborhood that weekend. The police received a tip that Andre had attended the summit and gotten into a dispute with some rival members. Allegedly, he skipped town for his own safety.
JORDANA: To your knowledge, was Andre in a gang?
SHANNON: Absolutely not.
Andre Newport’s mother is deceased, but his Aunt Tia agreed to speak with me.
TIA: Andre wasn’t in any gang. He wasn’t that kind of kid. He played baseball, kept his grades up, and worked at the carwash. He didn’t have time for that foolishness. He wanted to go to college, get a degree, and work in sports marketing.
MAISY: I’m sure Andre’s mother explained that to the police.
TIA: Of course she did. But they told my sister that tip came from a so-called unimpeachable source.
MAISY: That’s the phrase they used? An unimpeachable source?
TIA: That’s right. And then they just stopped looking for Andre. After seven years of heartache, my sister had him declared dead by a judge.
Chloe just told us that Andre was at Dead Man’s Hollow, not at a gang peace summit. Multiple others who were there that night, including Amy, have positively identified Andre from his photograph. He was in Dead Man’s Hollow. So what happened to him?
CHLOE: After a while, Andre and I broke off from the group and went to a more private spot in the woods where there’s a big flat rock. We were talking and kissing. Eventually, Rich and some of his friends—Chris, Frank, Brett, and I think maybe Andy—stormed up to us. They told Andre to get his hands off me. I was pissed because it was literally none of their business, but then Rich said the police were on their way, and Amy was refusing to leave without me.
MAISY: How would Rich know the police were coming?
