Letters from a new hampshire prison from the wrongfully convicted chad evans

P388 Tom Mikoski preparing some burgers in the Rochester grill area.

Photo P389 is a photo of Travis Hunt mugging for the camera while Laurie Gagnon looks on. From the drive-thru jackets I would guess this is 1995.

Photo P390 Another shot of the Rochester Playplace being built. I'm guessing 1995.

Photo P391 Christie Jennison prepares salads for the day. 1996.

Photo P392 The Rochester Playplace is complete.

Photo P393 Melissa Brundage, one of our crew, and Eric Bamford swing manager, mug for the camera.

Photo 394 another shot of a managers' meeting. L to R: Crewchief we were training, I think his name was Tim, Melissa Brundage, Dorothy Urrutia, Travis Hunt, Tristan Wentworth or Tanya Edwards (hard to tell in this photo) Suzanne Lavalley, Tom Mikoski.

Photo P395 a good shot of one side of the Rochester Playplace. I can't begin to describe how fun it is to crawl through these things. I used to love chasing Brent through the tubes and playing with Brent and Kyle in the ball pit. My knees would be raw but what a blast.

Photo P396 Photo of Tom Mikoski and Travis Hunt in Rochester preparing some burgers. By the grill set up, I would guess this is 1997.

Photo P397 Eric Bamford, Michelle McKewon and another crew trainer posing for Chad and his crazy camera. As you can see in far left of the photo, I have notes hanging above and off the time clock. This was key "real estate" to get your message out to the entire crew. What's selling? What are we promoting, what are the problem areas we all need to work on? etc.

Photo P399 Laurie Gagnon and the crew trainer whose name I could not recall from P397.

Photo P400 and P401 Me in blue coat red pants, brother Jason in red jacket black pants, Mary in green coat, white boots, and Mary's friend, Sue, in all red. We had a condo at Sunday River, Maine for a weekend. I believe it was 1994 or early 1995. We had a blast. The snow was great. There was a pool in the area that was heated and half indoor half out. People skied right by us as we sat in the hot tub with snow flakes coming down all around us. It was magical. They were all great skiers.

I was a bit of a novice but still had a blast.

Photo P402 Larry Lane and me at one of our company Christmas parties. This was one our company anniversary parties, I'm guessing the 25 year party, because we both rented tuxedos. Larry and I were very close then as you can see from this photo.

Photo P404 is Peter Napoli, Bob McDougall, me and Frank Morse. I'm either getting a 5 year service award or recognition for Raysway as an assistant. I was an assistant. This was at the Bull Run in Shirley Mass. I worked in Frank's area at this time.

Photo P405 Corey Pace, Me, Jason, and Tom Seymour are having drinks after a company meeting somewhere. When I started in Keene, Tom was the area supervisor that Dan worked directly for. Corey was a swing manger from Gardner that Tom had high hopes for, and had me go help train. Corey now runs the Keene area, that Tom once ran.

Photo P403, P406, + P408 were all taken in 1991. They were taken by Dan Frazier when he was told that the National McDonald's magazine was going to be running a feature story about me, the 19 year old assistant manager that ran for and was elected to the local board of education.

Photo P409 a photo of the Rochester McDonald's pre-1995 when the ground was broken for the Playplace addition. I took this standing against the fence of Spaulding High's football field.

Photo P407 Hiring boards that I saw in Ayer when I was there helping Sal. I loved the idea so I took a photo so I could duplicate it in my other restaurant (s).
September 10, 2010 (224)

Photo P436 Awesome photo of me and Kyle together holding his favorite movie. I believe this photo was taken early January 2000 right after Tristan and I split up. Kyle absolutely loved Tarzan and we watched this movie at least once everyday on those first few months after my split with Tristan when she was only allowing me to see Kyle on the weekends. Kyle would sit in my lap and play with my ear while watching Tarzan and then we could move on to doing other things. When we first split up Tristan was so angry with me that she was initially punishing me the way that she knew would most affect me. I understood her anger. Hell- I was angry at myself. I tried to roll with it the best I could. Eventually, she started talking to me again and admitted to me that she was so angry she was doing that, but night after night she listened to Kyle cry that he wanted his daddy, "when he wouldn't stop, I realized it was Kyle I was hurting." I thought this was pretty big of her to admit and was so glad that she could see it. Tristan is a very "hard, tough" woman but every now and then something pierces the armor. At the top of the photo you can see in the window over the sink the supplements I took. Which was a different question you asked. Chromium Picolanante, Xenedrine, multivitamin, fish oil pills, protein powder. I believe my mom or friend, Kim Grace took this photo.

Photo P437 this is a plaque from the football Hall of Fame in Canton Ohio, showing the greatest wide receivers to have ever played. This was taken during the HOFT (for Hall of Fame Tour when Bruce and I visited several sports Halls of Fame) getting my head out of my rear end tour that I went on with Bruce Aube in March of 2000. I had dreamed since Kyle's birth of taking him and Brent there when they were old enough to appreciate. Unfortunately, it never happened. THIS SUCKS!

Photo P438 Ah yes, the gumball machine. All of the kids, Malana (pictured), Kyle, Brent, and Kassidy loved this machine with its colorful gumballs. The kids would see it and immediately run to us for a coin. I think they liked the immediate gratification of putting a penny or nickel in and getting a gumball out. It always amazes me how the kids get so excited over the simplest things. I'm sure this photo was taken by mom in their Keene living room. When Kassidy was alive, it was in our dining room.

Photo P439 Great photo of the newly remodeled living room. This was part of my complete "change" that I spoke about when identifying previous photos. This was all the new furniture I purchased and all the re decorating that Kim Grace helped me with. This is also a great photo of the new glass coffee table. This is the same coffee table that Amanda talked about in her interview where she and Travis witnessed Kassidy slide off the sofa and bump her face on just days prior to her death, leaving a bruise under one eye. As I described, the table really blended in. It was beautiful, but I can't tell you how many times I walked into it with my shins. All of this furniture was purchased soon after Tristan and I split up. Initially I hoped it would signify a change to her. Then I just kept making changes because I liked them.

Photo P440. I believe that Kim Grace took this photo in my kitchen as we were preparing to go to dinner. Mustache was gone, I had lost some weight, I've just recently returned from the HOF tour with Bruce.

Photo P441. I was at the Rochester Walmart. I had the camera that day to take photos of some signage and additional areas that I wanted to add signage to let customers know about our McDonald's inside Walmart. We had a photo to burn so the manager at the time, snapped the photo. I believe it was Doris Francescini.

Photo P442 another photo of the football HOF in Canton Ohio, a collage of greatness.

Photo P443 I am in one of our northern McDonald's. I liked the small sign and the attached reader board and wanted to look into getting one for Greenland. However, I wasn't impressed with the message on the reader board and presented this photo to my restaurant managers at a meeting to let them know that these types of messages to our guests and potential employees are useless, flat, and a waste of precious space. "If you can't think of something catchier than this, just advertise a value meal."

Photo P444 Great photo of my two babies, Brent and Kyle, taking a snooze on the living room sofa. You can tell it's dark looking out the window. The boys were all tuckered out having played ball, tag, etc. with me all afternoon and evening. Great photo of them wearing daddy's T-shirt as a night shirt. This is something I did with my dad's shirts as a child. I know my brothers and sisters did also. It always made us feel closer to our idol.

Photo P445. Great photo of Malana and Kyle grabbing some shade on my parents' pool deck in Keene. This photo is significant, and important in that it verifies a few things. My parents had Kyle at their house during the 4th of July as this was a very busy work holiday for me at the beach. I also had plans with Amanda, Glen, and Deb to go out on Glen's boat on a bigger lake. I imagine we did that on Sat. the 3rd or Monday the 5th. I was pretty sure that Kassidy was with Jackie and now we know who had Kyle. I also have a feeling that when my mom came up to celebrate Kyle's birthday on July 6th, she and Liz Cox came up and brought Kyle with them. (My mom doesn't drive and there is no photo of my dad midweek so it is likely he didn't come up, and my mom was on vacation.) The other thing that this photo tells me is that I am correct in my recollection that my mom and Liz didn't watch the fireworks from the roof of Hampton McDonald's on the 4th of July, it had to be the following Wednesday that they spent the day at the beach with Amanda. I know that while at the beach the three ladies did a lot of playing old time games at the arcades. It's interesting to look at this photo and see how much larger Kyle was than Malana though only a year separates them. Kyle is a few days away from his 3rd birthday in this photo.

Photo P446. This goes along with previous photo that we previously highlighted of me holding Kyle at Brent's Little League game. I took this photo of Brent taking a break on 3rd base. I think his shoe came untied. I believe you have this day listed in chronology.

Photo P447 appears to be another one of Brent's seventh birthday at Chuck E. Cheese.

Photo P448 Awesome photo of my niece Malana with her dad, Jason, on the pool deck in Keene.

Photo P450 Great photo of Malana with gram and gramp on the pool deck in Keene. Nice to see a photo of mom, they are often hard to get. Mom sent me these photos knowing I would want a set.

Photo P449 Kyle and Brent appear to be wrestling in my parents' living room in Keene. This is nearly a year after Tristan and I split up and my parents still took Brent, too, whenever they could get him. Sometimes they would take the kids like this on a weekend. In this case I have a feeling that we all may have been there. (Me, Kassidy, Amanda) because if I recall correctly the day before we have photos of me and Kyle together at Nicole and Brandon's in Belmont helping them out with the house. Perhaps not, maybe my parents had the boys and I went and got them on Sunday evening.

Photo P451 This is a photo of Kyle and Brent at Tristan's parents in Milton. We had earlier photos of the boys at the beach walking through the rocks looking for shells that Tristan took. The RV in the background is one that Merle, Tristan's dad, purchased. Merle is much like me in that we will purchase things that we plan to use or can see a way to fix up a bit in preparation for resale.

Photo P452 Me sitting on top of a ladder waiting for someone to hand me some supplies. I'm guessing that Nicole took the photo.

Photo P453 My cousin, Michelle Cote, and her new husband. I'm not sure where it was or who took photo.

Photo P454 photo of Kyle and Brent I believe getting ready for some apple picking. Not sure exactly where. That is gramp in the front seat. The boys loved to do things like this. I don't believe I was there for this trip. Perhaps this is the date stamp being off by a day problem or the boys had the day off.

Photo P455 The "braintrust" at a restaurant grand opening. I'm guessing this was 1997 perhaps Townsend Mass. Not positive, L to R: Jim Bilodeau, Chris Bilodeau, Jim Kennedy Sr., me, Chuck Dickerson, Larry Lane. Everyone here are area supervisors except Chris, who ran the Gardiner Mass., McDonald's. Chuck Dickerson, the large man behind me works for Jeremy Hinton now and supervises the Concord, NH area McDonald's.

Photo P456 adorable photo of Kyle having a drink and snack with his cousin, Tyler, in the little Adirondack Chair set I purchased down the road from my office in Portsmouth. I thought this chair was so cute and the kids would look adorable in it when I bought it. As you can see, I was correct. I think I took this photo.

Photo P457 A new cooler I purchased sitting on the kitchen floor. Kyle climbed in and was driving, as if it was soap box derby. He loved to climb into things. Tristan took the photo I am sure.

Photo P458 Great photo of half time at a Patriots game at Bruce's house. As I have described, we went out at half-time and played football. I was waiting for Bruce to hike me the ball. You can see that I am in full Patriots gear, shirt, shorts, etc. The blue pick up that Bruce and I would borrow from his dad a few years later to go pick up a 3 wheeler I purchased in Mass. You can see my dad in hat leaning against the garage that was loaded with the gym equipment that Bruce and I worked out with. You can also see the back of Mr. Aube's head.

Photo P459 Great photo of Brent and Kyle sitting in that Adirondack Chair. The kids loved that seat.

Photo P460 I'm coloring Easter eggs in my mom's kitchen to hide for the kids. I'm thinking, 1998. We often colored them with the kids, I think on this year we were preparing an egg hunt for them.

Photo 461 Asst. Managers Christmas Party at the Bull Run. If I am not mistaken, this is a photo from 2000 where I recently wrote to Travis Hunt about. L to Right: Frank Gentry, me, Travis Hunt, Tanya Edwards, another asst. trainee. Standing: L to R: Frank's wife, Tom Urrutia, Doris Fransecini. This was my Rochester table.

Photo P462 so cute! Great photo of Kyle and Malana sharing something. They must have been at our house in Rochester as part of my 28th birthday party, due to the date of the photo.

Photo P463 One of our summer outing cruises. I'm guessing this was 1993 or so. We sometimes went to a club in Haverhill Mass. Other times, we went on a cruise on Lake Winnipesausake

Photo P464 Me or Jay driving Malana and Kyle or Brent on the log skidder on the Vernon, VT farm property. It's hard to tell who it is in the photo. We both loved to drive the kids. As you can imagine they liked it also. It was a lot of fun to drag a log through the woods or grade a road with them.

Photo P465 The family in my grandparents farm in Guilford VT uncle Henry, gram, gramp, Mary, I to r back: dad, mom, Nicole, Jason, me, Ronny. I'm guessing 1994. Great photos, great memories.

Photo P466 My first deep sea fishing trip. 1988 or so. L to R: Me, Dan Frazier, Chris Bilodeau, Andy Valeri in black (He is a company landscaper that did all our major work), Jason squatting down, brother Ronny behind him, dad in blue T-shirt. Making memories. I think we went out of Gloucester, Mass. We chattered a boat for the day. We did it again in the future. Another plan to do with the kids someday, another memory that didn't get made.

Photo P467 This is a photo of me on an 8th grade trip from Keene Jr. High. I told you I was a clown. I was trying to stand out as a tourist because I thought it would be a riot. You should have seen the looks I got that day.

Photo P468 I have a feeling that this was taken at the motorcycle club party Amanda and I attended with Bruce and Michelle Truell. We established date from earlier photos.

Photo P469 A photo of the door yard at my grandparents' farm in Guilford. You can see the 200x three wheeler in the background. This is the 3 wheeler that I picked up first, with Bruce in Saugus Mass. area. You can see Kyle laying on camping equipment and wearing a helmet. We just went for a little ride around the farm and were camping next door. Not sure if this photo was taken late 2000 or early 2001. Kyle is dressed warm so it could have been either.

Photo P470 Great photo of either Tim or Jay (it appears) tossing a wiffle ball to Kyle. Picture standing a good distance away from Kyle. As you can see, he has the bat cocked and ready. Anytime, anyplace, anywhere, he was ready to play ball. I recognize this location but it escapes me right now. I believe it is in Keene.

Photo P471 Late 1980's or 1990 photo of a Ronald McDonald visit to Keene McDonald's. I was an assistant manager then. A few key people from the photo that I recognize: Henry Woods, Diana Gowey, Lynne Vien, Jeff May, Billy Budd, Dan Hyatt, and Pat Healey.

Photo P472 Great photo of Amanda and I believe Mary Bullard when they were friends in high school. I think Amanda told me she was 14 or 15 in this photo. Several years before I knew her and prior to Kassidy being born. I always liked this photo of Amanda. There were several others that I had that she had given me of her growing up. So cute... I loved seeing the photos of her as she was growing up. I guess I should make a copy of this photo and mail one to each Mary and Amanda someday. I'll keep a copy for myself and give Amanda back her original. Plenty of time in the future I guess.

Photo P473, photo was taken by a hired photographer during the grand opening of our Westford, Mass. McDonald's in 1995 or early 1996. It was the first McDonald's we ever opened with a playplace right in it. On the left is one of my assistants in Rochester, Gina Garcia. On the right is the future Mrs. Evans, Tristan Wentworth. Tristan had really long hair then that she had to keep tied up while working. Tristan and Gina stayed right in Westford for a few nights as I recall.

Photo P474 Jeremy eating some of the chili that Bruce and I made during our trip to Bruce's parents' property in Pittsburg NH. We recently dated from other photos. Great trip, great time with friends.

There was a question that you asked as part of 258 that I did not respond to.

Answer: Christie Jennison lived at my house for a short while and stayed with Steve in what would later become Kyle's bedroom upstairs. The only two people to live in the basement were Tom Mikoski and later, Travis Hunt.

I hope this helps some.
September 14, 2010 (225)

I've been unable to type for a few days because I was out of typewriter ribbon. Because of the holiday last week we didn't get canteen and I underestimated how many pages you get out of a ribbon, (how few I should say) I average about 8-9 pages so that is a lot of ribbons I need to get through all of those photos, etc. Unfortunately, in here I cannot go to the local CVS when I run out of something. We have to make do. The canteen often runs out of things. I am dreading the time they run out of typewriter ribbons. My friend in Maine will be scratching his beard, wondering if

I quit on him or something.

A few misc. things before I delve into this letter's questions.

I received a letter from our friend and supporter in Rochester, Sandy. We're corresponding about Hollywood actors and she informed me that she didn't like Charlie Sheen because he was just arrested again for domestic violence. "I hate that stuff. Yes, I know about you and Tristan but at least you realized you had an issue and sought help to change. I can respect that." I found her comment embarrassing and encouraging at the same time. Embarrassing because it's a tough subject and another indication that we have put my entire life on the website. Encouraging, because something in Sandy's words made a light bulb go off in my head. I am pretty self-loathing at times and my own worst critic. I have a tendency to dwell on negative things about myself. How I reacted to Tristan was not ok. I realized this and wanted to change. I never tried to hide my stupidity to my friends, and candidly admitted what I had done. I was desperate to not make the same mistakes. I think Sandy was saying that I am not all bad. At least, I'm not the monster the state tries to make me out to be. I took steps that many men don't take to improve themselves. Now the question is, how do we get the rest of the world to see this without it sounding like I am bragging about myself because this is certainly not something to brag about?

FYI, as our September Rochester Committee meeting approaches I just wanted to remind

you that we spoke during our visit about you personally calling and trying to touch base with Chad or Linda Dalessandri. I did write to them several months ago but received no response. I know they are on your mailing list but.... They are very intelligent and would be great additions to the team. Perhaps they haven't seen all the updates to the websites or maybe they have and would like to share an opinion. These folks watched the boys for a while and saw my interaction with them on many occasions. I think it is worthwhile to reach out to qualified childcare providers who would have an opinion and also degrees in the field.

I am enclosing several news articles. a couple of them worth mentioning here. The first is an online article titled "Parents Who Clash are More Likely to Spank Kids." This is an article that Mrs. Kelley recently reviewed at one of our fathers' support groups. The article is very small print but has some facts and statistics that I am certain you will be interested in. While not exactly on point it speaks to the view that society has: if you are abusive to a partner, you are more likely to be abusive to your children as well. This got me to thinking and looking at this from an angle that I hadn't previously. Things were far more volatile and crazy with Tristan than they ever were with Amanda. Going with the percentages it would be more likely that I was abusive to Brent and Kyle yet, even Tristan who I was abusive towards, balked at this idea. I would barely raise my voice to them. I know I have the abuse label hanging on me from some of my dealings with Tristan, but things were much different with Amanda. My frustration with Kassidy and resulting loss of patience resulted in me palming her cheeks, apparently too firmly, and leaving finger tip marks on several occasions. This was totally unacceptable, especially after the first time; but far from any hitting or the types of things the police believe happened to Kassidy at my hand. I realize that our lives do not always follow averages, but it just illustrates to me again how wrong these people have it. There is no disputing that I was far worse with Tristan, yet I never touched the boys. So then what? We are stuck with Det. Linscott's hypothetical statement to Tristan, "Maybe Chad just doesn't like girls."

Another article was about a Concord man who was arrested and had threatened to kill his wife. When I read the article, it was quite disturbing. Apparently the couple is going through a divorce, and he felt she had been cheating. He drank 1/2 bottle of liquor.... The thing is... As unacceptable as this is, I can relate to what this man was going through. Your world gets turned upside down. You lose all perspective, and feel like you are going crazy. At that moment you can't see that things will get better with time. It's horrible that things sometimes go down this path. I wonder what makes some people better equipped to handle these things. I am appalled as I read this yet I have been there. It's sad really. I know it's a problem for another day but it just seems that the schools and parents should be educating children better on how to deal with these emotions, and what is acceptable, etc. Almost like a healthy relationship class before all of those "emotions" get involved. I know it something that I am always discussing with Kyle. What are positive ways, to deal with stress and anger, asking questions like how he is going to handle the inevitable, a beautiful woman breaking his heart, etc.

Ok onto letter #268

You asked about me removing the T-ball from Kyle's room after it hit Kassidy on the 8th and wondered if I threw it into Brent's/ Kassidy's room before Travis arrived and before Travis started pitching balls to Kyle. I am 90% sure that this is the case. I was a little upset right after it happened because I realized my mistake. I should have never thrown that damn ball. But as we have discussed in the past, I had thrown it before with no problems. It was that 1 in a million shot. I believe that I immediately tossed the ball into the hallway after it hit Kassidy and then when I headed to the bathroom, I kicked it into Kassidy's room. As I say, I was pissed at myself.