The Murder of Lauri Waterman

On November 12, 2004, Rachelle and Doc were planning on leaving Craig for the weekend. Doc spent the weekend in Juneau at a Girl Scout Leadership function and Rachelle went to a volleyball tournament in Anchorage. Lauri was spending the weekend home alone. Rachelle was really excited to go to the mall, especially to visit Hot Topic. On Sunday, November 14th, Doc and Rachelle arrived back home around the same time that evening. While unpacking and moving around the house, the two noticed that Lauri hadn’t come out yet. Her van wasn’t in the garage either. Initially, they weren’t super concerned. Lauri could’ve been out running an errand or at a friend’s home. However, Doc started to notice some strange things. The bed in the master bedroom was unmade, which was very odd for Lauri, who liked to keep things tidy. There was a bottle of wine on the kitchen counter that was partially empty. Lauri didn’t drink alcohol. He also found a small piece of latex on the floor of the master bedroom. It looked like the tip of a glove.

Doc called his wife’s cell phone several times with no answer. He called her friends, but no one knew where Lauri was. He and Rachelle got in their car and drove around town for hours, looking for any sign of Lauri or her van, but they couldn’t find anything. Finally, he decided to call the Craig Police Department to report his wife missing.

The next day, Monday, the 15th, Doc stayed home from work in case Lauri came home or there was any news about her. Surprisingly, Rachelle went to school. Since Craig was such a small town, news traveled fast, and by Monday morning, everyone knew that Lauri was missing, so they were shocked to see Rachelle at school. Teachers and classmates said that she acted very erratically that day, sometimes crying and angry, other times laughing inappropriately and giggling. A teacher asked her if she was okay and Rachelle responded that she wasn’t worried, that her mom had probably gotten drunk and driven off the road.

Meanwhile, in an area of woods north, hunters out looking for deer noticed smoke in the distance. They walked to where the smoke appeared to be coming from and found a minivan that was completely burnt out. They immediately called 911. A state trooper arrived on scene and inspected the burned frame of the vehicle. Looking closely inside, he noticed what appeared to be human remains. A skull was visible, but mostly everything else seemed to be burned beyond recognition. Investigators felt pretty confident that this was Lauri’s van. Police went to notify Doc that they likely found his wife’s vehicle and that there were human remains inside. Unfortunately, the fire had burned so hot that the license plate was melted, however police were able to trace the VIN on the vehicle and confirmed that the van did indeed belong to Lauri Waterman. 

At Craig High School, Rachelle was called to the principal’s office and told that she needed to go home, that her mother’s van had been found. Police told Doc and Rachelle that they didn’t have a positive ID on the remains, but they felt pretty confident that they belonged to Lauri. 

The Investigation

The community of Craig was devastated. Lauri was such an integral part of the town and she was very loved. Nobody could understand what happened. Police couldn’t even make a list of possible suspects because Lauri had no enemies.

Doc shared with investigators the odd things he’d found in the house when he came home that night: the small piece of latex, the half-empty wine bottle, the unmade bed. He also told them there were a few small spots of blood on the master bedroom’s sheets. Police obtained a search warrant and scoured the Waterman home. They found rope fibers in the upstairs bedroom.

With a lack of viable suspects, police turned their attention to Doc. They were at another dead end when they found that their marriage was rock solid. Lauri and Doc loved each other and there were no reports of abuse or violence. Most importantly, Doc had an alibi that checked out. In addition to interviewing Doc, police wasted no time before interviewing Rachelle as well. They asked her if there were any family problems. They told her that there were rumors of her telling people about both of her parents having affairs. They dove deeper into Rachelle’s personal life, looking for anything that might be out of the ordinary. Once they pushed past the exterior of her being a model student and great athlete, they realized that Rachelle was having a lot of problems at home. 

She began writing in an online blog that she titled, “My Crappy Life”. She referred to living in Craig as “Hell, Alaska”. Many of her entries were typical teenage brooding, but one in particular stood out to them. It was made on November 18th, 2004, three days after Lauri’s remains were found. The entry read:

“Just to let everyone know, my mother was murdered. I won’t have computer access until the weekend or so because the police took my computer to go through the hard drive. I thank everyone for their thoughts and e-mails, I hope to talk to you when I get my computer back.”

Not only had her attitude gotten worse recently, but Rachelle changed her physical appearance. She was wearing all black and painting her nails black (THOSE HEATHENS). She also began showing a lot of interest in Wiccan. She posed in pictures wearing a dog collar around her neck. She seemed to have been pushing the limits with her parents, especially over the past few months. Her anger had increased and in a recent blog post, she complained about not wanting to be the daughter that Lauri wanted her to be. It was pretty clear that there was rising tension between Rachelle and her mother. When police asked about violence in the household, she told them that her mother had hit her on her legs with a baseball bat one time and had pushed her down the stairs. She painted a picture of a very different household than they’d thought they were dealing with.

Rachelle is a real bitch 

During Rachelle’s interview, police told her that they’d found out that she’d also been hanging out with older guys that drank alcohol and used drugs. One of these men was 24-year-old Brian Radel. He met Rachelle at a party and immediately could tell that she was into older guys. Brian wasn’t really vibing with the whole underage thing, but he fixed her up with his best friend, 24-year-old Jason Arrant.

Brian and Jason had met when they were younger at a local youth group. The two became inseparable, even becoming blood brothers. Brian said that everything was his, was Jason’s, and that everything that was Jason’s, was his. Brian trusted Jason with his life, so he felt completely comfortable introducing him to Rachelle. Jason was a creepy red-headed, overweight dude who worked as a janitor at the high school. His hobbies were playing computer games, smoking pot, and living in his mother’s basement. Rachelle and Jason began a romantic relationship, keeping it a secret from mostly everyone. Her mom did not approve of her hanging out with older guys, but Rachelle didn’t care.

On the afternoon that the high school principal called Rachelle to her office to tell her about her mother, Jason burst into the office and told them that he’d take care of Rachelle and take her home. (That’s the high school where he was the janitor) The more police dug at Rachelle, the more they felt that she was most definitely hiding something from them. They asked her if she was having a sexual relationship with Jason, which she initially denied. Eventually, she admitted that they did have a sexual relationship, but that they only had sex under five times. (…sure)

Police spoke with Jason and Brian, who both denied having anything to do with Lauri. They gave an alibi that alleged the two of them were together on the night of the murder, which, of course, couldn’t be verified. Rachelle told them that she wasn’t even in Craig that weekend. She said that she’d called Jason from Anchorage around 1 or 2AM on the night of the murder because she couldn’t sleep. However, Jason and Brian’s alleged “alibi” said that they were in a place with no phone, so it was clear that they were all lying. Investigators asked Rachelle if she’d be willing to wear a wire and talk to Jason and Brian. They said that her help would be for the good of the community. Rachelle was VERY unsure about this and asked if she could have some time to think about it…

Jason however, said absolutely I will wear a wire to get Brian to confess to murder. The investigators told Jason about the evidence they had and that they knew he was involved. Jason wore the wire when he went for a drive with Brian. Brian said that things seemed kind of weird, but he never thought that Jason would wear a wire or betray their friendship. After driving around for a bit, Brian felt safe and began talking about what had happened with Lauri. He told Jason that he wanted to go to his family’s house to say goodbye. When he arrived, Brian asked his mother if he’d heard about the murder. He then told her that the cops were thinking he did it. Police were able to hear enough to bring Brian in. They told him that Jason and Rachelle had already given him up. With this, they were able to get a complete confession from him of what happened on the night that Lauri Waterman was murdered.

What the fuck did you do Brian?

Brian told police that Jason told him that Rachelle was being abused by her mother. She told Jason stories about her mother pushing her down the stairs and coming at her with a knife. When Brian heard about this, he thought they seemed a bit far-fetched, but having grown up in several abusive households himself, he wanted to protect Rachelle. He wanted to fix things for her. Rachelle had told police earlier that Brian had a horrible temper and that he’d do a lot for someone he didn’t even know. One night, Jason came to Brian and told him that they needed to protect Rachelle and get her out of her house. He said that her life was in jeopardy and that her mother might kill her. Jason knew that while Lauri was in the picture, he couldn’t be with Rachelle.

After Jason told Brian that Rachelle feared for her life, Brian was ready to rock and roll. He knew that Lauri would be outside of the school while Rachelle was inside for volleyball practice. Jason called Rachelle and told her that Brian was going to kill her mother, but Rachelle was like, hey wait, don’t do that. Brian waited in front of the school with his rifle and was prepared to shoot Lauri, but he forgot the bolt to his rifle, so he had to call it off. Brian later said that he was ready to do what he had to do, whether he liked it or not. After this near-shooting, Jason and Rachelle had been seeing and talking to each other much less frequently and he attributed that to Lauri. (I have a feeling she was just losing interest and basically controlled him.) Jason continued to tell Brian that Rachelle’s life was in danger, over and over. He told him this so many times that Brian truly began to believe that Rachelle’s life was in danger and that the only way to save her was by killing Lauri. So he did what he thought was right, and made sure he didn’t forget anything this time.

Brian said, “I got prepared. I understand forensics. I understand what police are going to be looking for.” He added that he knew he needed to confuse the crime scene so investigators wouldn’t know what to do. He had small bags of dust and dirt from random locations. He had shoes from sizes 8-15 to make multiple footprints and tracks with. He wore several layers of clothing, all of which were very well washed. He scrubbed and shaved his entire body. He brought the bottle of wine with him in order to stage the death to look like a drunk driving accident.

Brian said that the only way he was able to make entry into the Waterman home that night was through the cat door. He reached his arm up through the door and was able to unlock it. The house was dark and silent. He went upstairs and saw that Lauri was in her bedroom. After taking several minutes to get the nerve up, he rushed into her bedroom and put his hand over her mouth. He told her to do what he wanted and she’d survive. He walked her downstairs and forced her to drink a significant amount of wine. Lauri didn’t drink alcohol, so by the time she was finished, she was extremely intoxicated. Brian put her into the backseat of her minivan and began driving. He drove to the other side of the island to an isolated dirt road, where he planned to stage a drunk driving accident. 

He took the gag off of Lauri’s mouth and she continued to repeat the same thing, “Can I ask you a question?” Over and over. Jason met Brian near the road to watch as Brian finished what he’d started. Jason told Lauri that they were doing this so she could never hurt Rochelle again.

Brian forced her to kneel and tried to yank her head up and chin backwards to break her neck, but he then realized that it wouldn’t look like an accident. Instead, he put his hand over her mouth and suffocated her to death. He then placed her body back in the vehicle, poured gasoline throughout the van and lit a match. He threw his clothes into the fire as well. Afterwards, when Brian was speaking with interviewers about what he’d done, he said that he was like a robot. He was doing something to protect someone, but also absolutely sick to his stomach that he’d killed a human being. 

The Testimonies

With Brian’s confession, he tried to take as much of the blame as he could, wanting to help Jason and Rachelle, but as soon as police came to arrest Jason, he completely broke down. He eventually testified that Rachelle told him that she’d be better off if her mother was dead. He called her the mastermind of the plan, saying that she’d told him which weekend that both she and her father would be gone. 

Brian said that he didn’t really communicate much with Rachelle. He went based on the information that Jason, his best friend told him. Once he realized what was happening, that Rachelle may have been completely fabricating or, at the very least, embellishing her stories of abuse, he was horrified.

Several of her friends also testified at Rachelle’s trial. They said that Rachelle occasionally said things like, “I wish my mother would die”. They said that she claimed her mother would beat her and call her fat. She even told people that her mother wouldn’t feed her because she thought she was fat. Her friends chalked it up to just being an angsty teenager. One of her former boyfriends said that Rachelle told him that her mother left a mark on her wrist from grabbing her. He also remembered Rachelle telling him that her mother had either shoved her or pushed her down the stairs. Most of her friends also said that they didn’t truly believe that Rachelle was being abused by her mother, they just believed she was exaggerating. They never saw any injuries.

Lauri’s friends and loved ones testified as well, claiming that they never saw any violence or signs of violence between Lauri and her daughter. In fact, they said that she was incredibly worried about her daughter and the path that she was headed down. Regarding her relationship with Jason, Doc said that Lauri was worried about Rachelle being with someone older who didn’t seem to have many goals in life. She didn’t want her daughter marrying someone who wouldn’t help her realize her full potential in life. Doc also said that he never saw any violence between his wife and daughter and that Rachelle never spoke to him about any abuse. He said that his wife would discipline their daughter for minor things, but for major disciplines, she came to Doc and asked him to be the enforcer. Doc said that he would generally punish Rachelle with restrictions, such as TV, computer, or going out with friends. 

A friend of Jason’s explained several different letters to the jury that were written and exchanged between Rachelle and Jason. Since Lauri didn’t want her daughter seeing Jason, the two often wrote letters, e-mails, and sometimes Rachelle would sneak out of the basement window at night to meet him. These handwritten letters were paragraphs full of violent and sexual fantasies. They wrote about drug use and Jason downloading porn for someone underaged. They even wrote about how Lauri was planning to sell Rachelle?? And that Jason could buy her for $100,000. The letters were very graphic to say the least. 

During Jason’s testimony, he said that Rachelle first confided in him about the abuse, shortly after they became sexually involved. He noticed bruises and marks on her body and Rachelle said they were from her mother. Doc said that his daughter was a very active girl, not only with volleyball and softball, but often playing football with the boys on weekends. He said that she always had bruises on her! Jason continued recounting how Rachelle told him that she’d already spoken with police about the abuse. He made suggestions about going to the police again or beginning the emancipation process. He even offered to pack all of his shit up and they would just leave, but Jason said that she would always have an excuse not to do any of those things. She told him that it would be better if her mother weren’t around. When he asked her to clarify what she meant, Rachelle reportedly said that it would be better if her mother was dead. He said he was very apprehensive, but he’d told Rachelle that he loved her and he’d do anything for her. 

Brian testified that though Jason talked about Lauri being murdered often, he didn’t think much of it. He just assumed Jason was being overprotective. Additionally, he didn’t see Rachelle ever saying yes to the murder. Brian said that Jason finally told him that if Brian waited and didn’t do anything, then if Rachelle got hurt or killed, it would be his fault. He said that Brian was responsible for this. When Jason finally told Brian that Lauri had threatened Rachelle’s life, and that he’d witnessed Lauri physically assault Rachelle with a baseball bat over a webcam, Brian felt that he had to do something. From that moment on, around August of 2004, all of the information that Brian got about the abuse came from Jason. He didn’t receive anything directly from Rachelle. He just assumed that his best friend, his blood brother, wouldn’t lie to him.

Brian Radel pleaded guilty to first degree murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison, with the possibility of parole after 33 years. Jason Arrant also pleaded guilty to first degree murder and was sentenced to 50 years in prison, with the possibility of parole after 16 years. Both men accepted plea deals in exchange for testifying against Rachelle Waterman at her trial. Her first trial ended in a hung jury, so she was tried a second time. The judge threw out Rachelle’s confession, claiming that it was coerced, as she may have been too young to understand her Miranda Rights. Jason refused to testify at the second trial, however Brian testified. In 2011, she was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide. She was sentenced to three years in prison. She has since been released. In 2015, she appealed the Alaska Court of Appeals regarding her conviction in her mother’s death, saying that a 16-year-old should not have been tried as an adult. The court rejected her appeal, as the law says that in the case of serious crimes, 16-year-olds are treated the same as adults. She still seems to be posting on her blog and living in Florida. Her blog’s bio reads: 

“I am a person, a shell, and a being. I don’t know who I am, what I’ve done, or where I’m going. I visit hell every day and go through things you can’t imagine. So don’t go there.”

Her interests include goth, punk, evanescence, angels, art, and witching.

Here are a few postings I found interesting:

2/21/2018: “Unfortunately, that didn’t go so well. They threw out the appeal, so now I’m stuck like a hog in the tar sands.”

10/2/2018: “You know, Gainesville is so much better than Craig. It’s like getting out of prison. The road to happiness is self-paved and you need to be set free to fly first.”