The Murder of Howard Appledorf

In custody, Kennedy made disturbing accusations, both against his fellow defendants and against the victim. "When Kennedy ran away from home to New York City, he went onto what was called the Minnesota Strip because it's a place in New York where Midwestern kids would show up," DeCarlis related. "Shane said that the other two saw him at the bus station and that he was kidnapped by them and prostituted by them in Times Square. There was a kind of Stockholm Syndrome after that in which he became friends with his captors."

Shane Kennedy

Kennedy, together with Bown and Everson, made a very serious accusation against Appledorf, as well. DeCarlis continued, "My client and the other two said that, after the three of them first came to Dr. Appledorf's house and before they were arrested on the check forgery charge, Appledorf forcibly raped Shane Kennedy. Whether or not that is true I have no idea. That was the story I was told."

In fairness to Appledorf, it is important to note that there is no physical evidence supporting the accusation that he forced himself on Kennedy, although he would have been guiltyof statutory rape if Appledorf and Kennedy had sex at all since Kennedy was under the legal age of consent.

Murder charges against Kennedy were dropped. The NYT reported that Kennedy, then 16, was allowed to plead "guilty to burglary, robbery and grand theft of a car belonging to the victim" in October 1983. The fact that he was allowed to plead guilty to lesser charges indicates that authorities thought his involvement in the killing was limited and may have believed that, as DeCarlis contended, "Shane ran out when Paul Everson hit Appledorf with a frying pan and didn't go back into the house."