The Joplin Globe
May 14, 2006 01:15 am
—
By Roger McKinney
Globe Staff Writer
RIVERTON, Kan. - Andrew Jaeger read "The Chronicles of Narnia" books by C.S. Lewis while he was jailed in the juvenile detention center in Girard.
Coy New is a fan of Chris Farley and computer games.
Caleb Byrd has been involved in the American Cancer Society Relay for Life.
James Tillman has run in track.
Robby Hunt, like Jaeger, is a Boy Scout and is involved in FFA, a student agriculture organization.
Those are a few of the details that have emerged about the lives of the five Riverton High School students accused of plotting to shoot students and staff members at the school on April 20.
Despite the teens' outside appearances of normalcy, Labette County District Judge Robert Fleming said the description of the alleged plot he read in an affidavit frightened him.
"It suggested these kids were going to get together and shoot up half the school," Fleming said at a recent court hearing.
New, 18; Hunt, 17; Byrd, 16; and Jaeger 15, each are charged with felony incitement to riot and felony criminal threat. In addition to those charges, Tillman, 16, also is charged with felony solicitation to commit first-degree murder.
The Kansas attorney general's office is seeking to prosecute the juveniles as adults. No bond has been set for Tillman because of the more serious charge. Those who have made bond are under house arrest with electronic monitoring and under tight conditions including prohibitions from any contact with anyone at the school.
All but Tillman are expected to be in court on Tuesday. A hearing will be conducted on a prosecution motion to prosecute the juveniles as adults. New's preliminary hearing date is expected to be set.
Most of the information about the students comes from their fellow students.
Jaeger's parents and attorney cooperated, sharing a large amount of information about him, but they declined to share any specific information about the other students charged.
The five students often sat together at lunch, said fellow students and Jaeger's mother.
"I think most of them were all friends," said Chasity Turner, 17. "I saw them at lunch and stuff. They're all friends, but they're all complete opposites."
'Picking up the slack'
Jaeger was on the third-term honor roll at Riverton High School, for having a grade-point average between 3.5 and 3.999 with no grade below a "C." He was the only one of the five on the third-term honor roll.
He is a member of Riverton Friends Church.
Jaeger earned a 2006 FFA district and state proficiency awards for fruit production, but he was arrested on the day of the awards presentation. He is a Boy Scout, with several merit badges. He is enrolled in a program to become an Eagle Scout. He is certified to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid. He recently received his lifeguard certification at the Joplin (Mo.) Family Y and had worked there as a lifeguard for a few weeks before his arrest, according to an official at the Y.
"He enjoyed the work," said his mother, Chasinee Jaeger, "He was proud of his first paycheck."
Jaeger took karate classes twice a week.
Jaeger's father, Wes Jaeger, has progressive multiple sclerosis. He gets around using a large English mastiff named "Tiny" as a service dog, for stability.
"Since 2002, Andrew has been picking up the slack," his father said. "He walks the dog. He mows the lawn. He tends the garden. Since then, he's assumed more and more responsibility around the house."
He said his son also worked in his grandmother's garden and fruit orchard, where he did the work that earned him the FFA awards. Jaeger wants to duplicate the fruit orchard at home, his father said.
"That was his plan for the summer," Wes Jaeger said.
Jaeger's attorney, JoAnna Derfelt, said items seized by police during a search of the Jaegers' house include "Legends of Zelda" and "Spider-Man" video games, computer printers, Quicken financial software and a plastic bag containing some .22-caliber bullets.
Jaeger's father said his son had gone hunting with him a few times after he had received his disabled-hunting permit.
"I've only had him out two or three times, but he's always with me," Wes Jaeger said. He said the guns in the house belong to him and have cable-locks on them. They were not seized.
Seized from his locker at school was the Tom Clancy book "The Hunt for Red October," Derfelt said.
Andrew Jaeger lived in Japan with his parents from January 2000 to August 2001 and attended school there, where his father was working. Jaeger's mother is from Thailand and works as a researcher for an abstract company.
Classroom projects
Tillman's attorney, Sam Marsh, said he would not be willing to share any personal information about his client, considering the more serious charge he is facing.
"James Tillman wore a trenchcoat," said student Chasity Turner. "He was more a gothic type. I didn't know him very well."
Gothic, or "goth" is defined by wikipedia.com as a subculture that is an offshoot of the post-punk genre. "Its imagery and cultural proclivities show influences from nineteenth-century gothic literature, mainly by way of horror movies (particularly cinematic depictions of vampires,)" the Web site reads.
"He was kind of like the kids who tried to make everybody laugh," said senior Daniel Koucky, 18.
Student Justine Bicknell said Tillman ran on the track team.
Micheaela Ferneau, a 17-year-old sophomore, told the Globe earlier that Tillman was her former boyfriend and had issued her a warning in January.
"He told me not to go to school on 4/20, and that there might be another Columbine," Ferneau said on the day after Tillman's arrest.
Cherokee County Sheriff Steve Norman said that the alleged shootings were to take place on April 20, the seventh anniversary of the Columbine shootings. He said items recovered in the students' lockers indicated a fascination with the Columbine shooters and Adolf Hitler. April 20 also is the anniversary of Hitler's birth.
Sophomore Andrew Weaver, 16, said on the day the five were charged that Jaeger and Tillman last year gave a report on the Columbine school shootings.
Without saying that Tillman participated with him on the report, Jaeger's parents confirmed that their son gave a report on Columbine for a class last year.
Jaeger's mother said the report made the point that the Columbine shooters had so much potential, but they threw it away by their actions.
"He wasn't adoring them or anything," Chasinee Jaeger said. Wes Jaeger said he helped his son prepare a computerized slide presentation for the Columbine report, as he did for a report his son gave on World War II and Hitler. He said they were classroom projects and nothing more.
Bullied
"He's an average kid," said Byrd's attorney, Eddie Battitori, about his client. "He has been involved in the American Cancer Society Relay for Life for the past four years."
"He was always quiet and shy," said student Chasity Turner. "He kept to himself."
Turner said she had never known Byrd to call anyone any names.
Hunt's attorney, Doug Steele, said his client also is a Boy Scout and is preparing to become an Eagle Scout, but did not know what project he would be working on. He said Hunt also is in FFA.
"His family is close and they're surprised by all of this," Steele said.
"I know a lot of kids made fun of him and stuff," said Turner about Hunt. She said she also was aware that Hunt had done a school report on Hitler.
Norman, the sheriff, on the day of the arrests, said the students arrested had been bullied.
"I have no reason to believe, personally, that he's fascinated with Hitler," Steele said.
As for the reported bullying, Steele said everyone in high school deals with some level of harassment from fellow students.
"That can probably be said about any high-school student," Steele said.
He said neither issue could be used as evidence against his client.
"Those issues are irrelevant to my evaluations of what's important to the case," Steele said.
Class clown
Robert Myers, Coy New's attorney, said his client was preparing to graduate when he was arrested and he hopes he can accomplish that while under house arrest.
"He's a good kid," Myers said. "He has no prior history of bad behavior."
"I think he played a lot of computer games and video games," said Koucky, who said he was most familiar with New among the five. "He was kind of a class clown."
A profile purporting to be that of New on MySpace.com includes a photo of the late comic actor Chris Farley. The site plays the song "Kick Some A--" by the band Stroke9. His height is listed as 5-foot-9. In a section headed "Coy's interests" in the movies category is listed "All with Chris Farley! Long live the fat man!!!!"
For the category "heroes" is listed Farley again, and Buddhist monks.
"I think he did like Chris Farley quite a bit," said Koucky.
On another page, dated Monday, March 13, 2006, is a poem titled "Coy New Sr. Poem."
It reads in part: "Coy New had always been the class clown. You'd hardly see that kid frown. He always had the need to go fast. You always knew the golden bullet that flew past."
Another part of the poem reads: "He plans on raising dogs as his career. Reason is raking in 70K a year. He wishes to restore old cars with his money, and just maybe spend some on his honey!"
Myers did not respond to requests to verify that the profile was that of his client.
The students interviewed were divided on the seriousness of the threat on April 20.
Koucky said he was surprised about all the arrests.
"After a couple of days, I began to wonder if it was blown out of proportion," Koucky said. "It's difficult to tell right now."
Tuesday hearing
All but Tillman are expected to be in court on Tuesday. A hearing will be conducted on a prosecution motion to prosecute the juveniles as adults. New's preliminary hearing date is expected to be set.
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.