Real stories. Real teens. Real consequences. A murder in a small Long Island town reveals the dark secrets lurking behind the seemingly peaceful façade in this latest installment of the Simon True series. On June 19, 1984, seventeen-year-old Ricky Kasso murdered Gary Lauwers in what local police and the international press dubbed a “Satanic Sacrifice.” The murder became the subject of several popular songs, and television specials addressed the issue of whether or not America’s teens were practicing Satanism. Even Congress got in on the act, debating Satanic symbolism in songs by performers like AC/DC and Ozzy Osbourne. “The country is in crisis!” screamed the pundits. After all, it was the height of the Reagan era and Nancy Reagan’s “just say no” campaign was everywhere. But what this case revealed were bigger problems lurking at the heart of suburban America. Ricky Kasso wasn’t a bad kid, but he was lost. To feel better, he started smoking pot, moving on from that to PCP and LSD. He ended up living on the streets and thinking he had nothing to lose. Gary Lauwers went from being a victim of bullying to using drugs to fit in, and finally robbery—but then he made the mistake of stealing from Ricky, and from that moment on, his fate was sealed. A few months later, Gary went into the woods behind the park with Ricky and two other boys. Only three of them came out. The subsequent police investigation and accompanying media circus turned the village upside down. It shattered the image of an idyllic small town, changed the way neighbors viewed each other, and recast the War on Drugs. Jesse P. Pollack was born and raised in the garden state of New Jersey, and has served as a contributing writer for Weird NJ magazine since 2001. His first book, Death on the Devil’s Teeth , coauthored with Mark Moran, was published in 2015 to critical acclaim. Also an accomplished musician, Pollack’s soundtrack work has been heard on Driving Jersey , an Emmy-nominated PBS documentary series. He is married with two children, three dogs, and a couple of cats. The Acid King Chapter 1 SUNDAY, JULY 1, 1984 4:45 P.M. “THERE’S A BODY IN THE woods behind Gunther’s Tap Room.” The line went dead. Larry Springsteen stared at the telephone receiver cradled in his hand. The fifty-four-year-old lieutenant for the Northport Village Police Department had to think quick. Everyone in town knew Gunther’s. As Northport’s favorite watering hole, the bar had made a name for itself as one of writer Jack Kerouac’s favorite drinking spots. But a body? In Northport? Nothing ever happened here. Hell, that was the reason most people moved here in the first place. As far as Springsteen knew, no one in Northport was even missing. The woman on the other end of the line had sounded young. Maybe it was a prank? Either way, Springsteen had to follow up. If there really was a body in the local woods and the police brushed a tip off as a crank call, there would be hell to pay. Springsteen dialed the home of Officer Gene Roemer, who was off-duty that day. He told Roemer about the strange phone call and asked him to come into work to help trace it. Roemer obliged and soon the two were working on a trace at the small village hall that housed police headquarters on Main Street. Unfortunately, their efforts were unsuccessful. Too much time had passed since the anonymous caller hung up. Springsteen and Roemer organized a brief search of the area behind Gunther’s, but no remains were found. Maybe the call really was a prank? Roemer and Springsteen decided to continue their investigation the following morning, and both headed home. Any optimism the two policemen shared was shattered the next day when another call came in—this time from Sister Mary James, the head nun at the Madonna Heights School for Girls in Dix Hills. James told the police that one of their students, Jean Wells, had returned to the school after a weekend in Northport and told a counselor that her friend, a teenager named Gary Lauwers, had been murdered and buried in a place called “Aztakea Woods.” Once the call ended, Springsteen telephoned his boss, Northport Village Police Chief Robert Howard, and alerted him to the situation. Howard had just begun a monthlong vacation, leaving Springsteen in command. Springsteen, however, thought his chief needed to be directly involved. When Chief Howard arrived at the station, he placed Officer Roemer in charge of the investigation. At forty-two years old, Roemer had been with the department for nearly twenty years and had proven himself to be an outstanding officer. His first move was to drive over to the Lauwers residence on West Scudder Place to see if Gary was even missing. Chief Howard joined him. Once Roemer and Howard arrived, Gary’s mother, Yvonne Lauwers, insisted that she speak with the two on her front lawn. Over the past year, Gary had gotten himself into some serious legal trouble—mostly robbery and assault—and his fat