Echoes in the Darkness

Just happened to see this web site. I was the Lynn Reinert that was featured in the film. My then husband, Ken Reinert, and I had been married about 2 years when all this occured. The movie is very accurate. Joseph Wambaugh sat down with me for a month and interviewed me for the book. It was a nightmare and is still hard to believe that it happened to us at all. If anyone has any questions about the whole thing, I'll try to answer them. Ken died 2 years ago this June. At least now he's with his children and knows what happened to them. It was a very disturbing thing to go thru and something that I hope no one else ever has too. As I said, if anyone has any questions I'll be happy to try to answer them.

The moral of this excellent series: never mindlessly trust someone who's all charm on the surface no matter how educated or "normal" they appear to be. The educated can be sociopaths too. Also, women shouldn't be so desperate and man-hungry that they'll fall for the first man who gives them affection and attention. How Susan Reinert could have allowed herself to be so easily manipulated and controlled is both puzzling and disturbing, especially since she had two children to consider. Both Peter Coyote and Robert Loggia give outstanding performances, but it's also infuriating that the real-life characters were able to do what they did while Bradfield's minions blindly believed his lies and (obvious) manipulations again and again. Those complicit morons should have been thrown in jail just for their cluelessness and blatant stupidity.

My step-father was Ken Reinert, and Karen and Michael were my step-brother and step-sister. My mother married Ken in the early/mid 70's and we became a family, with Karen & Michael spending the weekends and holidays with us. This movie was intense, very emotional, yet ran smoothly, and I still remember sitting in the TV room with Ken, Lynn, my little brother, Wayne, and myself week after week, watching the story of our lives played for all the world to see. It was very hard on my now X-step-father, Ken, and it took many years, a divorce,growing close with my brother,and a new loving girlfriend for him to find true happiness. I know from monthly communicating and seeing him for many years (since his divorce from my mother), that he died happy and in peace with his life finally after all of these years. My brother and I still speak of him often and the one question we don't know that will ever be answered is: "What did Dad marinate his porkloins in that made them taste so good (he was a chef)???"

It was a very impressively directed movie. It was kept clean, as opposed to the graphics that Joseph Wambaugh wrote about in his book. Like my mother stated above in her comment, feel free to contact myself if you have any questions. I actually didn't know there were websites concerning the murders. Thanks for reading this & have a great day! Thanks for caring about our family.

Bill Bradfield was my landlord back in 1982. He was preparing to go to trial for the murder of Susan Reinart at the time. My friends and I rented a fixer upper from him out near French Creek Park. He was at the house all the time. Things happened there that could never be explained, and I became very frightened. He drove a green VW, and had a very nasty dog. I had many encounters with Bill and I never felt comfortable around him. It wasn't long before I left and moved back home to live with my father. Peter Coyote was great in the movie, but the Bill that I knew at that time was a tall, manipulative, clever, and creepy man. The movie didn't make me as sick as I did when I was around the real thing. Great movie though.

I went to Upper Merion High School in 1973. The school was a regular school to me. Mr. Bradfield was my English teacher. I learned a lot from him. I invited him and Sue Myers to a bar-be-cue at my sister's house that summer and they came together and he brought me a parting gift which I still own to this day. A swiss Army knife. We all liked him and thought he was the best English teacher. Of course I did not speak any English at that time. So I owe that to him. I left UMHS that summer and based on what happened 6 years later I was glad I did. I could not believe what happened. I was shocked to say the least. I have read Echoes in the Darkness and watched the mini-series when they came out. As recently as one month ago I found out there were two other books out on this; Principal Suspect, by William Coustoupoulus and Engaged to Murder by Loretta Shwarts-Nobel. After reading all books I have concluded that Bill Bradfield masterminded the whole thing and may have paid someone to commit these atrocious crimes. I don' believe that the Mr. Bradfield I knew was capable of such heinous crimes but based on his economic circumstances I believe him capable of masterminding it all. Mr Smith may or may not have anything to do with this. According to the Pa Supreme Court Mr Smith was found guilty with lies from a convicted perjurer cop (Martray) and hearsay from all Bradfield's friends and lovers and that evidence was not admissible. So the state's investigators and lawyers messed that one up since Wambaugh wanted to have a good ending to his novel. Now Smith is a free man and Bradfield died in jail in 1998. Whew... I am glad I got that out.