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Rochester, New York

I t’s dawn and Kristine is looking at the Facebook page, aghast.

She posted an exclusive video that has news programs calling her constantly; her phone is ringing off the hook.

It shows Maddie and Kaylee on the sidewalk, en route from the Corner Club to the Grub Truck. Hoodie Guy is accompanying them, a little bit off to the side, but it looks as though he’s there to help. The two women are not walking entirely steadily.

Kaylee asks Maddie: “What did you say to Adam?”

Maddie replies: “I told Adam everything.”

Everyone on the Facebook page and in the media is now fired up about the identity and role of Adam.

Oh God, Kristine thinks. This is not good. Not good at all. The opposite, in fact, of what her intention had been.

The point of posting the video was to show everyone that Hoodie Guy—Jack Showalter—apparently had good intentions that night, not bad.

She wanted to provide much-needed context to the Grub Truck Twitch video in which he seemed to stare at them and follow them for no reason.

This new video showed there was a perfectly good reason: He’d been walking with them all along.

The video had been given to police soon after the investigation began by someone who worked at Saint Andrews, but nothing was released to the public.

Kristine had gotten this video from a man who did not want his name out there or his connection, via his girlfriend, to New Saint Andrews College, the building on which the camera perched.

The source had followed the online mania and the speculation about Hoodie Guy and wanted to help clear his name. At first he’d wanted Kristine to show a still, but they ultimately decided that the best choice was the simplest: just play the video.

Prior to posting it, Kristine sent the video over to Alivea Goncalves. It turned out that the family knew who Adam was.

He’s Adam Lauda, a close friend of Jack DuCoeur—and Maddie and Kaylee. The former high-school basketball star bartends at the Corner Club.

The video has gone viral because of the mention of Adam.

“Who Is Adam?” That’s the headline run by major media outlets—including Fox News and Inside Edition —and it’s the topic of numerous posts on the Facebook page.

Marc Trivelpiece, the owner of the Corner Club and Adam’s boss, is livid.

Not just because he’s gone overboard to protect Adam and all his employees from media intrusion but because weeks ago police interviewed them all, and they figured the way to protect the investigation was to stay quiet.

He knows at once where this video came from: New Saint Andrews College, the school founded and owned by Christ Church. Which makes him even madder.

“They like chaos,” he said of the church. “Anything that can get the people who are dead set on being in Moscow to loosen their grip and make it easier for their people to come in, they’re going to do it.”

Appearing on Fox in a split screen with Shanon Gray on December 17 is Steve Goncalves, who surprises Kristine by saying, “We’ve had that film for a while.”

Even so, she’s glad he’s doing this interview to set the record straight about Adam.

“I believe the business reached out to us directly after they had given it to the police,” Steve says, though his attempt to calm the waters once again roils Kristine, who’d thought she had an exclusive.

The video, Steve says, “was kind of comforting to us because it’s just two girls having a good time, talking about, you know, asking about their bartender, just being girls on their way to the Grub Truck…

We did the obvious due diligence and looked into that, and it was pretty clear that this individual was not a part of the investigation as far as a suspect. ”

Phew, thinks Kristine.

But even as the speculation about Adam is dying down, another problem appears: Pappa Rodger. This Facebook page is meant to be a place to discuss the murders, not rant.

His posts continue to needle other members. It’s not just his arrogance. It’s some undefinable feeling of aggression. He keeps making snide comments like Why is proof so hard for you?; Help me help you; Maybe you should consider post-secondary education?; and Do you have emotional issues?

On December 14, he posted about law enforcement: Fight me… LE is no closer to solving this than they were 30 days ago?

Two days later: The killer has a sexual dysfunction. Thoughts?

And in another instance of seeming overconfidence, of possibly having peculiar insight into the case, when he was asked how long he suspected the killer was in the house, Pappa Rodger answered: 15 minutes.

On December 22 he posted: The killer is not in the victims immediate circle.

And on December 24 someone asked: You think the assailant has left the area?

Pappa Rodger replied, Likely.

Sitting in his office at the police station, Chief Fry is interested in following this. The team has appointed an investigator to track all the social media discussions about the case, including the Facebook page.

By now the police have a good idea of who their suspect is.

And Pappa Rodger is right. The suspect is not in the victims’ immediate circle. And, yes, he has left the area.

The question for the investigator is: Why is Pappa Rodger right?

Is it because he knows the suspect?

Or because he is the suspect?