A/S/L? For those of us who grew up in the chat room era, those three letters meant maybe the start of a new friendship, a fleeting romance, or at the very least, an exciting adventure. For Thomas Montgomery, it was all 3. What began as a distraction to avoid falling off the wagon quickly turned into an obsession that would cost an innocent person their life.

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The Elan School in Poland, Maine was the last stop for troubled teens who had failed out of other programs. The program ran from 1970 to 2011 and was described by one student as a “soul eating hellhole.” The Elan School is only one of many that make up the Troubled Teen Industry and the practices employed by the school and those like it are GRIMM indeed.

In September 1978, 15 year old Mary Vincent was hitchhiking to Corona, California after running away from home. She graciously accepted a ride from 51 year old Lawrence Singleton. When Mary realized that Lawrence was headed in the wrong direction, she got nervous and felt that she was in danger. Nothing could have prepared Mary for what happened next.