All language subtitles for American.vandal.S02E02.WEBRip.x264-STRiFE_METCON.English-WWW.MY-SUBS.CO

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Okay, so you'll just be sitting here,

and you'll look directly into the lens.

We'll just have a conversation.
You can tell your side of the story.

Whatever you want.

If you feel uncomfortable at any point,

- you know, feel free to stop and...
- Alright.

- All good?
- Yes.

- Kevin, are you all set?
- Mm-hm.

Please state your name
and why I'm interviewing you.

My name is Kevin McClain.

St. Bernardine High School will tell you
that I am the Turd Burglar.

They will tell you how I confessed

and that it is an open-and-shut case.

But what they won't tell you

is that they forced that confession.

And they surely will not tell you

that the excrement came also
at my expense,

because I, Kevin McClain,

also...

shit my pants.

Shat? Shit? Shat my pants?

Shit. It's shit.

One more...

...time?

My name is Kevin McClain.

Kevin McClain was expelled from school,

indicted by the Bellevue Police,

and placed on house arrest
for crimes that he confessed to.

He now claims that
those confessions were coerced.

But why would anyone confess
to crimes...

that they didn't commit?

We know as a certainty
that false confessions do happen,

even in high-stakes crime,
I mean, death penalty crimes.

And you have to start with that reality,

that people who are not crazy,
people who are not starved for attention,

you know, reasonably normal people,
can be led to a false confession.

And once you start with that,
I think, undeniable fact,

it makes it much easier
to start thinking through

whether or not a particular confession
that you're looking at

might be one of the false ones.

When I was called out of class
to speak with the officers,

I figured I was simply
a name on a checklist.

Have a seat.

But my time spent with the officers

was not an interrogation.

It was theater.

They were looking to take someone down.

And I was the proverbial...

guy.

Forty innocent kids pooped in their pants.

Okay? You think poop is funny?

There was definitely good cop/bad cop.

Seeing your classmates crap their pants?

That's funny.

I'd laugh at that.

Whether it's good cop or bad cop,

interrogating somebody
is pretty much opportunistic.

You try a bunch of different things,
looking for the lever

that's going to get you
where you want to go.

You went out of your way
to knock that lemonade

out of Brother Buckley's hand,
didn't you?

The reason I went out of my way

was to talk to Jacob Linder
about an AP Bio assignment.

And, I don't know, I suppose
my mind must have already drifted

to cell transformations,

because...

I bumped into Brother Buckley.

Why not replace a lemonade

with a lemonade?

Why would you replace a lemonade
with a horchata?

But the horchata...

is only suspicious to anyone
with an unsophisticated palate.

Now, this is what I'm very excited about.

It's called panda dung tea.

Kevin's really weird with beverages.

Damn it.

So, the horchata thing
doesn't surprise me at all.

Shoot.

Our cafeteria splurges
on Sri Lankan cinnamon.

It is shockingly smooth and sweet,

and when mixed with organic whole milk,
as the Spaniards intended it,

it's divine.

And, yes, it is $1.25 more,

and I think that's a fair markup.

I felt...

terrible about bumping
into Brother Buckley,

so I bought him
the superior beverage.

Don't mind the bell.

You're on our schedule.

But school's over.

School is over, but not for you.

But my grandmother
will be waiting...

We spoke to your grandmother.
You're gonna take the later bus.

They made it sound like he was...

helping their investigation.

I asked them if I should leave work
and go down to the school,

and they said,
"Oh, it's not necessary."

I didn't know that they were
considering him a suspect.

And they kept him in
that room for hours...

with no tea.

Cops are allowed to do this
for two hours, four hours, six hours,

in part 'cause they're trying
different things,

but also because they're trying
to just wear down the suspect.

It had been hours
of relentless interrogation.

I didn't know if it was ever going to end.

Kevin, here's the thing.

We know you did it.

How?

Because your best friend told us.

And who might that be?

Tanner Bassett.

In the moment,
it was very hard to believe.

Not so hard to believe now.

Knowing it was Tanner
that went to the cops...

I just can't imagine
how that made Kevin feel.

I'm just trying to figure out,

like, so when you got over
into the parking lot...

- Excuse me, officers.
- Hey, Kathy.

Can Kevin take a little break?

We're making so much progress.

30 minutes.

Okay.

Come on, Kevin.

At 5:15 p.m.,

Kathy Wexler, the school's
Dean of Students since 2003,

comes to give Kevin a break.

When he returns,

over 50 minutes later,

Kevin's story changes significantly.

Are you ready to cooperate?

Yes.

You ready to...

confess what you've done?

Yes.

What was said between Kevin
and Mrs. Wexler in those 50 minutes?

How do you go from maintaining
your innocence for six hours...

to confessing?

Certainly, one of the maneuvers
that gets used a lot

isgetting the person to think about...

possible punishments,
possible rewards.

I mean, if you're talking about
a police officer,

they are not allowed to say,
"If you confess, this will happen.

If you don't confess, this will happen."

I mean, they cannot do that out loud.

But what if somebody from the school

made him a promise behind closed doors?

She allowed me to stretch my limbs...

and stop by my locker.

I was able to withdraw my tea chest.

And then she took me
to the teachers' lounge.

I had never before seen a student

permitted in the private faculty quarters.

She knew I'd missed lunch, so...

she heated me some mozzarella sticks.

I know it sounds silly, but...

those were the best mozzarella sticks
I've had in my life.

She knew exactly how to get to him,

how to manipulate him.

Give him tea

and give him mozzarella sticks.

I told her I was innocent.

I was...

terrified.

I thought I could potentially...

be arrested for a crime
I didn't commit.

Mrs. Wexler...

promised me...

she wouldn't let that happen.

She told me that if I cooperated
with the officers

and told them everything
they wanted to hear,

that she could personally guarantee...

the school would not press charges.

She said that they would treat it
as a prank

and it would be
a two-week suspension.

It wouldn't even go
on my permanent record.

I mean, a two-week suspension
versus expulsion and legal action?

Mrs. Wexler made it seem
like a total no-brainer.

Even then,

I told her no.

I told her that I was innocent,

and I was sure that with the aid
of a lawyer in a court of law,

I would be exonerated.

That's when she told me
that the officers were proceeding

as if they had all of the evidence
they needed to convict,

and that even with a great lawyer,

that my grandmother couldn't afford,

I still might be convicted
and thrown in jail.

And Iunderstand...

the prison-industrial complex.

I thought that confessing
was my only way out

because that's what Mrs. Wexler told me
was the case.

She told me that she could help me.

And I believed her.

An email from Mrs. Wexler
on December 10th, 2017.

"Dear Mr. Maldonado,

I appreciate you reaching out,

but the issues in question
have been resolved

because of
Mr. McClain's own words and confession.

I could never promise a student

a reduced punishment
for crimes of this nature.

This took place a few weeks ago,

but to the best of my knowledge,

we spoke only of how he was feeling

and how he wanted the guilt
off his shoulders."

Kevin McClain confessed to
being the Turd Burglar on November 21st,

fifteen days after the Brownout.

Police are turning their attention to...

That's 15 days of news coverage.

Fifteen days of pressure
from parents and alumni

threatening to pull their donations.

Fifteen days of angry emails
and phone calls

all directed at one person,

the Dean of Students,

Mrs. Wexler.

I was so naive.

How could I be so blind?

She was working with the officers.

It was just another ploy.

All part of the show.

The Turd Burglar was a problem
that needed to be solved.

Did Mrs. Wexler find her solution

in Kevin McClain?

You did all three crimes?

Yes.

Okay.

Let's talk about the pi�ata.

Show us how you got
the poop in there, bud.

I was in Ms. Montgomery's class.

It was Vonnegut's Birthday.

Kurt Vonnegut was apparently
this famous author.

I like to think of Kurt Vonnegut as

the Kanye West of satirical
postmodern literature.

Ms. Montgomery is, like,
obsessed with him.

Vonnegut's Birthday
is such a special, fun day.

The students love it.

It's everyone's favorite day in English,

'cause we don't do shit.

This is my third year in a row of doing it
and it gets better every year.

I decorated the whole classroom

with Breakfast of Champions cake,

Slaughterhouse-Five streamers,

and a Vonnegut pi�ata.

She pays for all this shit herself.

She has a cake and a pi�ata
every period.

I got to hit the pi�ata first.

Lucky me.

I was dizzy around the second spin,

but I kind of got my balance back.

I swang the first time, they cheered.

Second time, they cheered.

Third time...

they screamed.

At first,
I thought it was for the candy.

But then I realized...

no one screams like that for candy.

Yeah!

Oh...

I took off the blindfold and...

there it was.

Eww!

Gross!

Show us how you got
the poop in there, bud.

- Okay.
- No, no, no.

- Damn it.
- I think... Can you...?

Let's try that again.

Let's just... Give it to me, here.

Why don't... I'm gonna just...

Look at it this way.

Here.

If I were putting poop in there,

which is what you did,
where would it...?

They were steering him.

If you look at the tape,

you can see,

they gave him all the the ways
the crimes were done.

He didn't know how the poop

got into the Vonnegut Pi�ata,

but they still made him write a confession

of how
he put the poop in Vonnegut's shoulder.

The police will often
supply the suspect with details

that supposedly only the guilty party
would know,

and thenlater on, the police will say,

"Look, how else could he have known this
unless he was guilty?"

And, of course,
they brush past the fact

that the suspect knew those details
because the cops supplied them.

And you left your Turd Burglar card where?

On Ms. Montgomery's desk.

You left your Turd Burglar card...?

In the pi�ata.

Thank you.

The officers told me all about
how I did it,

but worse than that,

they told me why.

Because you hated everyone in the school.

They invented an alternate reality

where I did all this to get back
at my classmates,

as some sort of revenge.

Kids have been calling you that
since sixth grade?

Right? "Shit Stain McClain!"

"Hey! Shit Stain McClain!"

Other than the Throwback Thursday
days before the Brownout,

I had not heard "Shit Stain McClain"
in years.

No, it makes no sense to me

that he would take revenge
upon his classmates.

I have never heard him complain
about his classmates.

He'll complain about the food I make,

or the fact that I make him go to church,

or he doesn't care for me

or my life choices,

but he never once complained
about his classmates.

You stick to yourself.
It's safer that way, isn't it?

Less people making fun of you,
less people taking videos of you.

They pointed to the Fruit Ninja videos
as evidence that I was bullied.

But look at the first Fruit Ninja video.

Fruit Ninja!

Fruit Ninja!

I started it freshman year
with my friend Grayson.

It was my idea.

Don't you find that annoying?

That the kids throw fruit at you?

Absolutely not.

- No?
- No.

- No?
- No, I enjoy it.

The idea that I should care
what a bunch of kids at my school

think about me...

It's preposterous.

Bullying requires
an unwilling participant.

Two-fruit combo.

Do I seem unwilling?

Maybe one or two of the videos,
out of context,

might appear to be bullying.

I can't... You can't throw
a watermelon at me.

But in general, I love being
the Fruit Ninja,

I love making the videos. It's fun.
It's a creative outlet.

I'm friends with the people
who I make them with.

He doesn't think
he's being bullied,

he thinks he's pretty cool.

Kevin's weird,

but he's not, like, on the spectrum
or anything.

He's just weird on purpose.

Kevin likes the attention.

That's why he acts the way he does.

Hey, Fruit Ninja!

Kevin and I are on different schedules,

but we still pass by each other
every day in the hall.

And, yeah, kids toss fruit at him,

but he doesn't see it as being bullied.

Boy, that was quick!

That's Fruit Ninja right there.
He real wit' it.

I wouldn't say that Kevin's bullied,

I'd say that he's...

found a creative way
to make a name for himself.

Like fuckin' Fruit Ninja.

It's fuckin' awesome.

They also pointed to Alex Wright
dressing as me for Halloween.

Look at the photo.

That's my flat cap,

that's my jacket,

that's my vest.

I lent them to him.

He wasn't making fun of me.

Or at least no more than a friend
makes fun of another friend.

It was funny.

It's not like I'm Diapey Drew Pankratz.

The cops needed to hear a motivation,

so they invented it.

Kevin, you are on a roll right now.

What...

What'd you do next, bud?

The Shit Launcher.

The Shit Launcher.

You mean this?

So there was a pep rally
before the big game against Grayling

on November 14th
and the days leading up to it.

The Turd Burglar was warning
about a third crime on that day.

The Turd Burglar mentions
committing another crime,

and now we're having a pep rally
for a basketball team that's undefeated.

Why are we even here?
It makes no sense.

Your starting point guard,

Lou Carter!

We all saw the Turd Burglar's warning,

but the gym felt safe.

There's no food or drink allowed.

I mean, you could even
get a detention for chewing gum.

Security was tight.
They checked everyone's bag.

Last but not least,

DeMarcus Tillman.

The gym is like the school's chapel,

and this school has an actual chapel.

It didn't seem like anything bad
could happen in there.

So, look, this is what we gon' do.

We gon' take it down
and we gon' turn it up.

Y'all ready?

What is this?

It smells like shit!

God, it's fucking disgusting!

This is awful!

When the T-shirt cannon launched,

it was just dust all over the crowd.

It wasn't clear that it was poop...

until someone shouted,
"It's poop!"

And then everyone knew.

We didn't know what it was
at the time,

but later we found out
that it was cat shit.

This poop was not wet and gooey.

This was more of a poop...
dusting.

You know, it was dried up

and just,

you know, broke into particles.

Yeah, I caught it.

I mean, talk about limited edition.

There's only, what, three ever made?

Show us how you loaded the shit.

I mean, you like to...

put a lot of poop in a lot of kids' faces.

- God dammit. No, Kevin.
- No.

Don't play games right now, okay?

No, it's not human shit,

and you know that it's not human shit.

So I just want to know...

what shit?

Dog.

Dog? Is that your final answer?

Want to poll the audience on this one?

Cat.

Well, that was quick.

You could see that
he didn't even know

what kind of poop was in the launcher.

He didn't know
how to get a T-shirt into the cannon.

He was folding it like a crepe.

Really, he should have rolled it
like a burrito.

He confessed to each crime,

but he didn't know any of the details.

Like, the cops definitely fed
all the lines to him.

How is that a legal confession of guilt?

It's just how it's done.

It's a pig pile.

You know, you stack on the facts
until the truth climbs out.

So, you're confident
that Kevin McClain is the Turd Burglar?

Yes, we had a confession.

But, I mean, no hard evidence.

His best friend Tanner Bassett

was with him when he bought
the laxatives.

Kevin, the night before the Brownout,

you went to Dawsey's Health Mart
with your best buddy Tanner Bassett.

Is that right?

Yeah.

And you bought stuff.

What was in the bag?

Was it laxatives?

Yes.

I lied to the officers.

I did go to Dawsey's with Tanner,
but I did not buy laxatives.

Well, what did you buy?

I do not remember.

It was two weeks after the fact
when they asked me.

Do you remember what you got at
a convenience store two weeks ago?

I don't know.

I wish I could remember, I really do,

but all I know is that
it wasn't laxatives.

We know from the police report
that the key ingredient

that caused the Brownout was maltitol.

So we decided to go
to Dawsey's ourselves

to see which laxatives contained it.

Iron oxide yellow, isopropyl alcohol.

Do any of these have maltitol?

This one doesn't.

Maybe we're just not looking
in the right place.

Let's go ask a pharmacist.

You're not going to find any laxatives
with maltitol in 'em.

Why not?

It's primarily a sugar substitute.

Do you have anything here
that has maltitol in it?

- Yep.
- No laxatives have maltitol.

We've got some candy.

Like, what kind of candy?

This one has the maltitol in it.

We discovered that
the only product in Dawsey's

that contained maltitol

was a sugar-free Gummy Bear.

It was a product with a reputation

consistent with that of the Brownout.

Says one Amazon customer,

"These Gummy Bears
made me shit like crazy.

My anus felt like
it was funneling Niagara Falls

through a coffee straw."

But the idea that Kevin
boiled down Gummy Bears

and poured them into
the lemonade dispenser

seemed unlikely.

Not to mention,

that it would have
completely changed the color

and consistency of the beverage.

- So where did the maltitol come from?
- I don't know.

I mean, obviously
not from Dawsey's, I guess.

Did the police even try and verify
what Tanner said?

I mean, if we were able
to come here

and see that none of the laxatives
have maltitol,

and they weren't able to do that,

which means they just went off
of everything that Tanner said

- and took it as facts.
- Yeah.

If he can get the maltitol from Dawsey's
then that changes everything.

You're right.

I'm almost positive that
he had laxatives

in that Dawsey's bag.

Okay.

Maltitol caused the Brownout.

But maltitol can't be purchased
at Dawsey's.

So why would Tanner tell the officers

that Kevin's bag contained laxatives?

Why would Tanner lie?

I don't know the details,

but I do know that Kevin and Tanner

haven't been best friends
for, like, a minute.

He thinks I ruined Skip Day.

Skip Day is a St. Bernardine institution.

It's an annual planned event
where students pitch in for an Airbnb

and skip class to party,

many of whom participate
in a social activity

called the Great American Challenge.

It was kind of a shitshow,

because half the party was doing
the Great American Challenge,

which is four teams of six.

It's a race to finish a case of beer...

a full pizza,

a handle of vodka,

a full JUULpod.

The big finisher:

five hundred-piece custom puzzle

of Andrew Lundgarden's mom.

Lundgarden's mom!

The puzzle has to be last.

And the pizza has to be sausage jalape�o.

It's fucking impossible.

Kevin and Tanner always made fun
of Skip Day.

They called it "Skip Chromosome Day."

So when Skip Day
rolled around this year...

Kevin was really surprised to see
that Tanner was not in school.

- This is the best Skip Day yet!
- Yeah, bro!

Guys, shh!

The cops are here!

Tanner was convinced that I...

called the authorities.

You resent your classmates.

Don't you, Kevin?

Yeah, you even went as far
as to call the police

to get a Skip Day party canceled,
didn't you?

I did not call the police.

But Tanner...

refused to believe me.

He drove to my house,

so angry, yelling at me.

He accused me of being jealous.

I wasn't there,

but Tanner told me
that things got really heated.

He said that they'd never really
fought like that before.

And then, I guess Kevin just lost it.

Finally, I had no choice but...

I had to kick him out of the band.

I got this kid Myles to replace Tanner.

He's a better fit for our audience.

I was at Kyle's bar mitzvah.

I met Kevin at the ice cream buffet.

And Kevin asked me,

"Hey,

you want to be in a band?"

And I was like, "Yeah."

So...

Now I'm in a band.

We're trying to get back into
the bar mitzvah scene,

and Myles is a middle schooler,

so he's very connected,

knows lots of 13-year-olds.

I think people thought
it was weird for high schoolers

to go and play
middle school parties.

So, when I'm with him,
it's, like, less weird

because I am a middle schooler.

Is that enough bass for you, Myles?

That's what I'm talkin' about!

Oh, Myles.

Tanner was pissed.

Wouldn't you be?

He and Tanner started that band.

And to kick him out?

And to replace him with a 10-year-old?

He can't even play an instrument.

I think Tanner is bitter.

Apparently bitter enough

to accuse me falsely of a felony.

There definitely are some holes
in his story.

I mean, why would he go to the cops
and tell 'em that

he saw Kevin with laxatives?

And not just laxatives,
everything that he brought to the police -

the horchata, the trip to Dawsey's,

the fact that he'd been
acting weird.

I mean, he had all this information
right after the Brownout.

The Brownout takes place
on November 6th,

but Tanner doesn't go to the police.

November 10th, the Poop Pi�ata.

November 14th, the Shit Launcher.

But Tanner still doesn't go to the police.

Then three days later,
they fight about Skip Day.

And on the 19th,

Kevin kicks Tanner out of the band.

The very next day,

Tanner finally goes to the police.

Why?

Because he got kicked out
of the band on November 19th.

Think he was butthurt?

Yes, he was butthurt.

Is that our best theory?

I mean, yeah, that makes sense to me.

I think it's clear that Tanner
had an ax to grind.

Everything that he brought to the police
comes with a huge grain of salt.

I think that the police
ran with Tanner's statements,

looped in Mrs. Wexler,

and forced Kevin's confession.

That theory adds up to me.

So you think Kevin's innocent?

Yeah. You don't?

No, I just...

I keep coming back to the horchata.

I don't buy
his Sri Lankan cinnamon excuse.

And this is just weird.

Look at the Turd Burglar's Instagram,
right?

Uh-huh?

Now, for every crime
he'd post a warning days before.

- Right.
- And an aftermath post right after.

Just to let the school know
that he was right under their noses

the whole time before each
shit attack occurs.

Right.

Now, November 30th and December 4th,

we've got two warnings.

Nothing after that.

That was the last thing
the Turd Burglar ever posted.

Now, why?

Think about that.

I think it's because Kevin
was already expelled,

under house arrest
with an ankle monitor.

That makes sense to me.

It is odd that the Turd Burglar
warned of a fourth crime

that never occurred,

and did so after
Kevin was placed on house arrest.

Could Sam be right?

Was this Kevin's desperate attempt

to make it seem like
the Turd Burglar was still at large?

So you think that Kevin McClain
is the Turd Burglar?

If we were placing bets...

With no hard evidence?

I actually think the most damning
piece of evidence against Kevin

is the footage of the Brownout.

Kevin was a victim of the Brownout.

Was he?

- When I see this footage, right?
- Yeah?

I see a lot of kids...

fighting to keep their shit in.

- Clenching.
- Right.

But when I see Kevin,

I see a lot of sweating,

laboring.

What are you saying?

I'm saying I think Kevin
squeezed one out.

You think he shit his own pants
to look innocent?

Yeah.

Look,

clenching...

Right.

Straining...

Clenching...

Clenching...

It's like a scared look.

- Straining.
- That's kind of a hard face.

- I don't know.
- I just did it for you.

Look at his face and tell me
that's the face of an innocent man.

I couldn't dismiss anything
Sam was saying.

I couldn't tell you
that Kevin wasn't straining.

Forced confessions...

Forced turds.

It was a lot to digest.

But fortunately, I did know one thing.

It wasn't straining that got me
interested in this case.

Hi, Peter.

My name is Chloe Lyman

and I'm a junior
at St. Bernardine Catholic...

Chloe Lyman came to me
with a story of injustice.

Her version painted Kevin
as an innocent man.

But her version fell on deaf ears.

The school and police refused
to investigate her full statement.

But why?

I know that Kevin isn't
the Turd Burglar,

because I know who is.

Why would anyone
attempt to silence Chloe?

Why was she ignored?

I was standing in line to get a soda
from the vending machine,

and there was someone
in front of me.

And when he got out his wallet to pay,

I saw the Turd Burglar card in there,

right in front of me.

It was DeMarcus Tillman.