WhenKaylyn Whitakermet Connor Scott during her senior year in high school, their bond was “pretty instant,” recalls a friend.
“He was sweet,” says Elizabeth Grassick, Kaylyn’s close pal since junior high and her co-worker at the Green Acres Dairy Bar in Terre Haute, Indiana. “He was good to Kaylyn. He took Kaylyn out on a lot of dates, spent money on Kaylyn. … They were in love, for sure.”
Fifteen months after Kaylyn’s high school graduation, she had an engagement ring and had settled with Connor into the basement of his parents’ home in Martinsville, Illinois.
courtesy Leslie Roberts
It was there, on the morning of October 31, 2014, that Connor told police Kaylyn used a gun to kill herself.
Nothing in Kaylyn’s past had pointed toward the tragedy, say her disbelieving parents.
Kaylyn “was definitely a high-spirited, life-loving person,” with an artistic streak and a love for stray animals and country music, says her mom. And though Roberts raised concerns about the acceleration of Kaylyn’s move-in with her fiancée, “if she had her mind set on something, she did it,” she says.
But the shock of Kaylyn’s death instantly revived the red flags in the young couple’s relationship.
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In one of their last times together, Grassick says she and Kaylyn were at Grassick’s house, with Kaylyn’s phone in another room as Kaylyn showered, and Connor “was blowing up my phone,” she recalls. When Kaylyn finally emerged, her own phone was loaded with missed calls and voicemails from Connor. “I was like, ‘oh my god, that’s really obsessive,” says Grassick.
“He would continually check on her, making sure she was doing what she said she was,” says Roberts. “He didn’t like her being with her friends.”
Clark County Sheriff’s Department
For more than four years, her family wondered whether they’d ever know the truth.
But in February, authorities say 24-year-old Connor voluntarily walked into a police station with a very different story — and he’s since been charged with Kaylyn’s murder. Connor has pleaded not guilty.
For more about the investigation and Connor’s alleged confession, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.
source: people.com
