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.
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.
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.