This book is based on interviews, police reports, documents written by Gary Wilensky, hundreds of print articles and television transcripts, as well as my own memory, which occupies the same organ responsible for emotional responses and invention. Capitalization is used to denote direct quotations from Gary Wilensky’s own writing.
The timeline of events in Gary Wilensky’s life is based on reporting. Undocumented moments, chronologies, and conversations from the distant past are pulled from my imperfect memory and intended to reflect an honest but individual interpretation of events.
Several names have been altered to protect those private figures who made their way into this book. For privacy, Bianca, Sarah, and the boys from other prep schools are composite characters based on multiple students I knew growing up.
In addition, an early police report referred to Gary Wilensky’s final two victims as Mother and Daughter. Their names were made public in subsequent articles published after the incident. Out of respect for the Daughter’s privacy, the victims are referred to herein as the Mother and the Daughter.
Gary Wilensky is Gary Wilensky’s real name.