Wrong Turn

0:08 All they have is a flashlight. A narrow, white beam from an iPhone. It shakes around inside the SUV, searching for where the blood is coming from. They say her name again and again, but she doesn't answer. The light lands on a wound on the left side of her neck, the blood still flowing. One of the guys puts his hand over it to stop the bleeding, but it continues, his hand sliding around uncontrollably. He grabs a cloth, pressing down harder this time. It soaks through. Outside the car, there's only darkness. It's a little after 10 p.m., and in this part of New York, the rural town of Hebron, there are no streetlights and no visible neighbors. They need an ambulance or police. Somebody. One of them pulls out

1:04 their phone and dials, but when they press call, it fails instantly. The only thing left to do is to keep pressure on the wound and drive as fast as they can. Welcome to Sword and Scale Nightmares, true crime for bedtime, where nightmare begins now. It's Saturday, April 15, 2023. A group of friends are all hanging out together at Blake Walsh's parents' house. Blake is 19 years old, and his girlfriend, Kaylin Gillis, is 20. One of them just got an invitation through Snapchat to a party in Hebron, New York. It's a boring weekend, so this invite seems like a blessing. A little after 8 p.m., the group leaves Blake's parents' place in three vehicles. a Ford Explorer, a Jeep Compass, and a motorcycle. Blake drives the Ford,

2:54 and Kaylin takes the passenger seat, while two more friends pile into the back. The plan is that one of the girls, Catherine, will lead the way in her Jeep. She knows the area better than the others, having grown up nearby. She's been to this house before, or at least she thinks she remembers enough to find it again.

3:15 But years have passed, and in the dark, the roads around Hebron don't give them much to work with. So they roll out together as sort of a loose caravan, all following the leader, hoping they won't get split up. One set of headlights follows another for the half-hour drive. But as their destination nears, the less certain they become.

3:38 The houses all have long, hidden driveways and sit far apart. An address that looks clear on Google Maps can become much harder to find in the pitch-black night Soon, Catherine makes a turn. This seems like the right one, she thinks. Their tires crunch over the gravel, trees rushing past on either side. But as they get closer to the end of the road, something feels off. There are no other cars, no people outside, no music, and no lights. This doesn't seem like a party. The driveway bends away from Patterson Hill Road and pulls them farther from the paved street.

4:21 But Catherine keeps driving, hoping there will be a spot to turn around. Blake follows behind her in the Ford Explorer. The unpaved driveway is narrow, so Rory, the guy on the motorcycle, decides to drive closer to the house to see if there's anything that looks like a party. The mistake they've made settles in. The windows are completely dark.

4:47 They're not at the right place. For a few seconds, they're all trapped in the awkward mechanics of turning around on this narrow path. Making a three-point turn in someone's driveway isn't ideal. But it's happened to all of us. Catherine turns at the steering wheel and starts to turn back towards the main road. Blake follows. Rory has already ridden back down the hill, but now his motorcycle stalls.

5:16 When the first loud pop, cuts through the driveway, he thinks for a second that the sound came from his own bike. In the Ford Explorer, Blake hears it too, a loud pop, then a metallic ping. The house lights are on, and the group can see a man standing on the porch. He's holding a gun. Then comes the second shot. This time, the sound is followed by the sharp cracking of metal inside the Ford. Blake ducks and hits the gas. The SUV tears down the gravel driveway away from the house. Finally, the tree line thins and Blake can see the main road. The two in the back are frantic, but Kaylin is silent. Blake looks over at his girlfriend in the passenger seat. She's slumped over.

6:12 Her long blonde hair is covering her face. She's been shot. At 1263 Patterson Hill Road, Kevin Monaghan was at home with his wife, Jinx. Kevin is 65 years old and the couple had lived on this rural plot of land in Hebron for years. The modern A-frame cabin is set back from the main road, hidden by trees and a long unpaved driveway. Visitors would have to turn down the gravel path and keep driving following the narrow, winding driveway as it curved up through the property toward the house.

7:14 But on this night and most other nights, Kevin and Jinx weren't expecting any visitors. A car couldn't just appear. It had to come up slowly, headlights first, moving through the pitch black. This distance allowed Kevin and his wife plenty of time to see someone coming. It was a little after 10 p.m. when Kevin heard a noise outside.

7:38 A motorcycle. Then he saw headlights. It wasn't just one, but multiple vehicles. Three that he could count. All of them were moving towards the house where he and his wife had just gone to bed. From the front of his house through giant windows overlooking the valley, Kevin could see all the way down the hill. The driveway wraps up towards a house from below, and he could see the whole thing. He watched the vehicles as they made their way up, knowing it would take some time to drive the distance. Kevin woke his wife, whispering about what he'd seen outside. He snatched the shotgun from the side of the bed and told her to stay away from the windows. Then he marched downstairs. As he opened the front door, the house lights clicked on. By the time

8:31 Kevin got outside, the vehicles were close enough for him to see movement, headlights, and shapes in the driveway. But Kevin didn't call out. He didn't ask who they were. He didn't tell them they had the wrong house or give them a chance to explain. Instead, he stood silently on the deck with a shotgun in his hands. Down below, the cars were starting to drive in the opposite direction away from the house and back towards the main road.

9:03 That's when Kevin fired. The first shot cracked across the property, missing his target. From the deck, he was above them, looking down at cars from the corner closest to the driveway. The first shot was close enough that everyone inside the Ford Explorer ducked and flinched. They felt something hit the vehicle.

9:25 Five seconds passed. Then Kevin fired again. This time the slug slipped right through the Ford Explorer's metal frame. It punched through the metal column near the rear passenger seat, through pieces of plastic and interior through the car, passed through the cabin and struck 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis in the neck.

9:49 The caravan had been driving away from the house when Kevin fired that final shot. Then the group was gone, ripping down the driveway and back into darkness. And Kevin went back inside. Kevin and his wife went upstairs and sat at the end of the bed, then moved to the kitchen table on the main floor. For the next 25 minutes, they stayed there. Then another vehicle came up the driveway. This time it wasn't kids looking for a party, it was law enforcement. The spotlight hit the house. Officers had been told a shooting happened, and they believed 1263 Patterson Hill Road was where it started. They knew someone at the house may have fired a gun. They knew that person may still be armed. So, they didn't just

10:43 walk up to the front door. That would be really stupid. From Kevin and Jakes' perspective, it Must have looked like the night was starting all over again. But Kevin didn't go back outside with the shotgun, not this time. This time he picked up the phone and did the right thing. He called 911. When the dispatcher picked up, Kevin didn't just explain that there had been a shooting at his house. No, he said, There's a car in my yard with lights shining at my house. Do you have a call here?

11:18 The dispatcher said that she'd spoken with the officers and they were in the area for a noise complaint. Kevin said, well, they're right in the driveway shining the lights in my house. My driveway is about a half a mile long. Kevin gave her an explanation. He'd been sound asleep, but there had been some guys hunting with dogs at night. Maybe that's what had caused the noise. The dispatcher clarified that no, The complaint was about a party, something about loud music coming from the house nearby. Again, he said he'd been sound asleep. He was an older man, he said. He went to bed around 8.30 and hadn't heard anything. Outside, officers were trying to get Kevin to come down and talk to them. With the phone still in his hand,

12:10 Kevin glanced at the flashing lights outside and asked the dispatcher how much longer they'd be in his yard. He wanted to go back to bed, after all. He said he wished they'd just finish up whatever they were doing and leave him alone. But that's not how it works, Kevin. You can't just shoot someone and go back to bed.

12:35 The cops wouldn't leave, obviously. And after a few minutes of shouts from law enforcement, Kevin called 911 again. This time, he was more agitated. Like a carrot. He demanded to know what was going on. The officers wanted him to come to them, obviously. And Kevin complained about the distance, saying they expected him to walk an eighth of a mile.

13:01 As if the distance of his driveway was their problem. The dispatcher tried to keep him on the phone, but Kevin said he had to make another call. Apparently something else was more important. So he hung up. Outside officers were still waiting, confused and growing impatient. After an infuriating hour, Kevin, the old out-of-it that he was, finally came outside and was promptly arrested. The standoff ended without gunfire, but not without a headache. The house at 1263 Patterson Hill Road was quiet yet again. But now the driveway, the deck...

13:44 the hill and the gravel path, all mattered. It had become one giant crime scene. Investigators would come looking for shells, wadding, residue, anything that could show where Kevin had stood, where the gun had been pointed, and what happened after the cars left the property. By then, the evidence of what he had done was no longer on his property, but inside Blake Walsh's Ford Explorer. Kalen Gillis never makes it to the hospital. After Kalen's boyfriend Blake maneuvers out of Kevin Monaghan's driveway, he tries to get the group's attention. He tells them Kalen's been shot. The group heads back towards the village of Hebron. At the intersection of Patterson Hole Road and Route 30, they stop again, shouting between vehicles,

15:04 trying to figure out where to go next. Finally, after numerous failed attempts, they connect with 911. But by then, the dispatcher tells them to stop trying to get to the hospital. They need to give their location and wait for first responders to come to them. By sheer coincidence, a local fire chief happens to be nearby, coming back from another call when he hears the radio traffic and realizes he's just past the group of cars as they're pulling over. He swings back around to help. Soon, law enforcement, EMTs, and paramedics arrive as well. They crowd around Kaylin, but they're too late. By the time she's assessed, there are no life-saving measures left to perform. The 20-gauge slug has severed her spinal cord. On a dark rural road surrounded

15:58 by her hysterical friends, Kaylin Gillis is gone. After all the noise and all the chaos, there's suddenly nothing left for them to do. The emergency is over, but only because the worst possible outcome has happened, and it's absolutely irreversible. Now the night will be taken over by deputies walking along Kevin's driveway, investigators photographing the house, prosecutors listening to the 911 call, and eventually the jurors who will have to decide what really happened that night. By the time Kevin Monaghan enters the court system, the story has already dramatically changed. Which isn't a surprise to anyone who knows him, it turns out. In the first version, Kevin didn't know anything about a party or a noise complaint. He just

16:56 wanted police to stop shining their lights on his house and let him go back to bed. But in court, Kevin's defense is a little different. After all, he's facing second-degree murder charges. Now he tells the jury that he and his wife were terrified. That they thought the house was, quote, under siege. Like it's some kind of movie. And they're the protagonist. There had been break-ins in the area over the years. And when the cars came up his driveway that night, he thought they were being attacked. Maybe he just watched a really action-packed movie and let his mind wander.

17:40 Who knows? He said he grabbed a shotgun to protect his wife, and that the first shot was a warning. He says he fired into the air to scare them off, which is illegal, by the way. The second shot, the one that killed Kalen, he says was an accident. Maybe if you're that accident-prone with a shotgun, you should never pick one up. Just my cup of tea there. According to Kevin, he tripped over nails sticking out of his shitty wooden deck. This caused the shotgun to hit the floor and fire on its own, apparently. Or so he says.

18:21 His defense attorney also argues that the gun was defective. Oh, so blame the gun. That's original. They claim that this had happened before. Which, you know, begs the question, why pick up the gun then? If it's defective. But... The prosecutors offer a much simpler version of events, which is usually, you know, a little thing they call the truth. Kevin saw vehicles in his driveway, came outside with a shotgun, and fired twice at people who were already trying to leave, just because he was annoyed that they'd woken him up.

18:58 When Kevin's neighbors offer their testimony, it becomes clear which version is closest to the truth. According to them, it was an unusually warm April night. Lots of people were outside. Households had their windows open, and people living near Kevin's property could see the caravan driving up Patterson Hill Road that night, then come back down only a few minutes later.

19:24 They say they didn't hear any screaming from the driveway. No one revved their engine or beeped their horn. And no one heard Kevin shout any warnings. What they say they heard was two gunshots. And after Kalen's death, some of these people who know Kevin started describing a guy who had quite a reputation. He wasn't known to be a frail, reclusive, scared old man, like he'd prefer a jury to believe. No. He was notoriously confrontational, hot-tempered, and especially sensitive about his property, specifically his driveway. Typical ornery old man, get off my lawn kind of shit. You know the type. You're listening to one of them. One neighbor recalls Kevin's short fuse, saying that people frequently mistook

20:20 his driveway for a road, and that Kevin complained about it all the time. You know, there's a simple solution to that. You put up a fucking sign, you lazy fuck. In fact, this one neighbor even goes as far as to call Kevin a narcissist. Can you imagine? Kevin, a narcissist. He says that Kevin could do no wrong in his own eyes, which, you know, fits the pattern of somebody that would pull out a gun and start shooting when they got annoyed. This theory is further evidenced by a recent DMV incident where prosecutors described Kevin as hot-tempered and impulsive. Apparently, he'd caused quite the scene when he was required to make an appointment and be there in person This time it's way too valuable for that. He yelled and he

21:15 stomped and even took photos of the workers before storming off like a four-year-old. We all have to do things we don't like, Kevin. Grow the fuck up. At this point, the whole situation is starting to look like a culmination of a long-running grievance. This guy's just pissed off and he wants the world to pay for it. If Kevin wants the jury to believe that he was scared and all this was just an accident, prosecutors have yet another problem for him. There was missing evidence at the scene.

21:54 You see, when you fire a shotgun, it leaves pieces behind. The shells, the wadding, maybe even a dent from where Kevin says the gun smacked into the deck. But you know what investigators found? Do you want to guess? I'll give you a guess. Oh yeah, nothing. They found absolutely nothing to substantiate his claim. Inside his house, the shotgun was propped neatly beside the bed. It had the safety nearly fully engaged and was unloaded. Kevin had tried to make it look like nothing had ever happened, but that wasn't true. He may not have known it yet, but He had killed a young woman for absolutely no reason.

22:47 The jury didn't take long to deliberate. On January 23, 2024, after just under two hours, they find Kevin Monaghan guilty on all counts. Second-degree murder, reckless endangerment, and tampering with physical evidence. For Kalen Gillis' family, the verdict puts a small band-aid on a gaping wound. At sentencing, they finally get a chance to speak directly to Kevin to tell him what he took from them. Kevin, the pussy that he is, declined to speak. In March of 2024, he was sentenced to 25 years to life. After a All the testimony, the legal arguments, the questions about warning shots and missing shells. The story comes back to just one simple thing. A group of friends found themselves in the dark trying to correct a mistake. They turned down the

23:53 wrong driveway. And Kevin Monaghan decided that was enough. If you enjoyed the show... please consider joining PLUS at swordandscale.com slash PLUS. But if you can't, consider leaving us a positive review on your preferred listening platform. Sweet dreams and good night.