Brandi Freeman's tale began with a fabrication embedded in distant national tragedy, but then imploded in to a story of personal woe as the truth came out, piece by piece.
On Friday morning, the Ashland Daily Tidings prepared to run a story about a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre. In the article, Freeman spoke before those gathered at the vigil and claimed that her cousin, Kayla Grow, was one of the deceased. Freeman also spoke about the pain of not remaining in contact with family members, and the shock of finding out that one had died in a tragedy.
Before deadline, the Tidings was notified that Kayla Grow was not on the list of the dead posted on Virginia Tech's Web site. Editors removed portions of the story containing Freeman, including a photo of her being consoled at the vigil. Further investigation began. The reporter who covered the story rechecked her notes and shared information not included in the original draft of the story, including Freeman's claim that Grow had graduated from Gladstone High School in the Portland area.
Calls made to the Virginia Tech registrar office revealed that no student of the name Kayla Grow was registered at the university. Subsequent calls to the Blacksburg Police Department and Montgomery Regional Hospital ? where the victims were transported ? indicated that no one by the name Kayla Grow died or received treatment for wounds stemming from the Virginia Tech incident. Another call to the Gladstone High School student administrations office revealed that no one named Kaylay Grow had graduated in the past two years.
Attempts to reach Freeman were made by phone and she was confronted in person on campus Friday afternoon.
"She's not?" Freeman reacted when told the person she had named was not listed among the dead.
When asked about Kayla Grow's absence from the Virginia Tech list and her absence from the Gladstone High School list, Freeman said, "Maybe she has a different last name," adding that many of her relatives have different last names and that the last name of her cousin's sister was "Grow."
Freeman said she got her information about her cousin's death from her grandmother. Freeman attempted to call her grandmother to verify, but said her phone was on low battery, and promised to call The Tidings when she had more information. Freeman also corrected the spelling of her cousin's name, from "Kaylay" to "Kayla."
University President Jonathan Eldridge, who was present at Thursday's night's vigil, was unaware Grow's name was absent from Virginia Tech's list, and asked if she was on the injured list. He promised to follow up.
At 2 p.m., Freeman contacted the Tidings and spoke to city editor Myles Murphy. During the interview, Freeman explained the discrepancies by saying that Kayla's last name might also be Wilson. Later in the interview, Freeman claimed her cousin was in a witness protection program and her name had been changed to Emily Hilscher. Hilscher, 19, was the first victim of Monday's shooting and is listed on Virginia Tech's Web site.
Parents Elizabeth and Eric Hilscher were unavailable for comment.
A call made to the Rappahannock County Public School System office confirmed that Hilscher had been enrolled in Rappahannock schools since kindergarten.
During a subsequent and lengthy phone call with the Tidings she was convinced that coming forward with the truth now would be preferable to carrying on the charade in the face of all the facts piled against her story.
City Editor Myles Murphy and staff reporter Robert Plain contributed to this report.
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