The Nathaniel White Murder House

Nathaniel White, Six Murders, and a Farmhouse

April 23rd, 1992 marks the beginning of a dark time for the region surrounding Middletown, New York, and an era of questions regarding New York's ability to keep it's own populous safe - It's the date that Nathaniel White was released on parole.

Thirteen months earlier, in March of 1991, the corpse of a woman later identified as Juliana Frank was discovered along a set of railway tracks leading through Middletown, NY. She had been stabbed multiple times to her chest and neck, her corpse neatly posed into that of a restful sleep, akin to what one may expect to see at a funeral. She was pregnant with her third child at the time she was killed.

Laurette Huggins Reviere was a mother of three, and employee of the Middletown Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Her body was found beaten, stabbed, and strangled in her Middletown home on July 10th 1992. Investigators noticed that the crime-scene at the Reviere residence bore a haunting resemblance that of to the unsolved murder from the tracks just over a year earlier. Laurette's small home was filled with boxes and crates, which she had been packing her possessions into. In August she had planned to relocate back to her native homeland in the Caribbean. One of her sons was already there, awaiting his mother who would never arrive.

Over 40 miles away, Cousins Angelina Hopkins and Brenda Whiteside were spending the evening of July 20th at the Blue Note Tavern in Poughkeepsie, NY. They were last seen leaving the bar together with a few other men who were regular patrons. Brenda was 20, Angela was 23 and had a 7 month old son. Neither were heard from again.

On July 30th a corpse was discovered amongst the burned debris which once was the Hillcrest Manor Restaurant in Goshen, NY. The body was clearly the victim of a murder, made obvious by the multiple stab wounds. Distraught relatives later identified the victim as 27 year old Adriane Hunter of Middletown.

Christine M. Klebbe was a young niece to Jill Garrison, who was dating the recently released Nathaniel White. Christine was 14, just graduated from 8th grade, and was looking forward to the summer break before her first years of High School. She had gone missing on June 29th, and her family reported her absence to police on July 1st. Nathaniel White comforted family members a few days later at their 4th of July picnic. One month later Christine Klebbe's lifeless form was found on the side of Echo Lake Road in Goshen, NY.

By this point police had come to the sobering realization that there may well be a up against a serial killer. There were already four different police departments involved in the case, but the investigation was a steep uphill fight for them. Not only was there precious little evidence left at the crime-scenes, there was also an utter lack of eyewitnesses testimony. Enter the family of Angelina Hopkins, one of the missing women last seen at the Blue Note Tavern. Her mother, Anna Theresa Hopkins, along with her sister, Cecelia Hopkins, staked out the bar where Angelina was last seen. They knew that Angelina had left with one of the regulars of the place, and were intent to find out who he was. After two weeks of visiting the tavern they finally met up with one of the regular patrons who was last seen with Angelina. They strike up a conversation with the gentleman, and after a short while he volunteers his name - Nate White. The family quickly turned this information over to police.

Within 24 hours White is brought into custody, within 48 hours he had confessed to six murders, including that of Juliana Frank, who he had murdered after being convicted of an earlier crime, but before he started his prison sentence... The same sentence which he was later paroled from on “good behavior” April 23rd, 1992. He also told police where to find the bodies of the two woman who had gone missing from the bar. They were hidden away in an abandoned farmhouse, in Goshen, NY.

White was charged with six counts of second-degree murder, to which he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. The following is a direct quote from Nathaniel White, on his reasoning behind his first murder, claiming it to have been inspired by the film 'Robocop 2': “The first girl I killed was from a Robocop movie... I seen him cut somebody’s throat then take the knife and slit down the chest to the stomach and left the body in a certain position. With the first person I killed I did exactly what I saw in the movie.“ White was found guilty on all counts on April 14, 1993 and was sentenced to 150 years to life in prison. He began serving his sentence at Great Meadow Correctional Facility on May 27, 1993.

When we first saw the old farmhouse it was decades after the media frenzy surrounding the murders had passed. It stood abandoned and almost disturbingly picturesque as it decayed in a field next to a small pond. It was bitter cold, and the wind blowing from the frozen pond stung as it passed over exposed skin, leaving fingers and cheeks numb and red. The house itself no longer offers any protection from the elements, the utter lack of windows allowed even the softest winter breeze to easily flow up and through the small home. Perhaps it is just the workings of the mind, or even the result of a flooded and frozen basement, but within the walls of the old farmhouse it seemed far colder than outside.








The old house was in sorry shape.







This was once a kitchen... long ago.