Former DE editor Brenner calls himself a ‘bad journalist,’ but says he is innocent

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — The former DAILY EGYPTIAN reporter who first wrote the story of a little girl whose father was serving in Iraq says he recently has spent many hours agonizing over his role in an elaborate deception.

One phone call could have prevented a two-and-a-half year hoax.

During a six-hour interview at his aunt and uncle’s home in Evansville, Ind., 25-year-old Michael Brenner called himself a “bad journalist” and said he is gullible and nave. In hindsight, Brenner says he should have realized that some things just weren’t adding up.

“Looking back, it just seems so obvious,” said Brenner. “The explanations and stories all sound so stupid now.”

A clearly distraught Brenner told a story that at times contradicted Jaimie Reynolds’ version of events and at times was inconsistent with his own version.

“The truth has some holes, but I’m not going to lie,” Brenner said.

Brenner said he was blinded by a semester of good stories and accolades, and “really wanted to go out with a bang.”

The story of Kodee Kennings would light the fuse.

Through multiple e-mails and phone conversations with the girl’s guardian, Colleen Hastings, Brenner learned the story of the tomboy whose father, Dan Kennings, was serving in Iraq with the 101st Airborne.

Brenner said after his first meeting with Kodee and Colleen Hastings at Turley Park in Carbondale, he wrote “Forced apart.” The lengthy article detailed the girl’s struggles adjusting to life with Colleen Hastings and her husband, Matt Hastings, who was also identified as Dan Kennings’ adoptive brother. The article appeared online as “American refugee.”

Response to the article was overwhelming, and the DAILY EGYPTIAN was flooded with letters, e-mails and phone calls wanting to hear more from the little girl. Numerous staff members befriended Kodee, who would write letters and draw pictures for them. Sometimes, Kodee would call the newsroom and be transferred from phone to phone, chatting with editors and reporters for hours at a time.

The girl who lent a face to Kodee said she was not on the other end of the line during these calls. She also said she did not write any letters, columns or draw any pictures for DAILY EGYPTIAN staffers, some of which hung in the newsroom.

Brenner said he was proud of the story, enjoyed the recognition he received from it and was disappointed the piece did not win any state or national student journalism awards. For years, Brenner, who said he graduated in December 2004, has included the story with his resume while searching for jobs and internships.

“Enjoying the response doesn’t make it a crime,” Brenner said. “I thought it was a damn good story. … I always knew I was a better writer than a reporter.”

When staff members received word that Dan Kennings had been killed in battle two weeks ago, they were crushed. Then they learned the truth.

There was no Dan Kennings, Kodee Kennings or Colleen Hastings. It was a hoax, and at the center was Reynolds, a 27-year-old former SIUC student who acted as Colleen Hastings, and recruited friends and family members who say they unknowingly participated in the twisted tale.

The girl who played Kodee was in fact Caitlin Hadley of Montpelier, Ind., who was told that she was participating in a documentary film that was being recorded by hidden cameras. The man who played Dan Kennings is actually Patrick Trovillion of Vienna, who contends Reynolds paid him to appear in the Daily Egyptian newsroom in fall 2004 as Dan Kennings for the documentary.

Reynolds contends she did not act alone, and the scheme was actually masterminded by Brenner, which he vehemently denies. Reynolds said Brenner invented the story to help boost his career, though in the spring of 2003, Brenner said he “was on fire,” having lined up an internship with the Springfield Journal-Register. He later served as an intern at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Brenner said he first learned of Kodee and Colleen Hastings through an e-mail he was handed one day at work. In the e-mail, Kodee had asked what an editor was and mentioned that she was a fan of Brenner’s column. Reynolds, however, said she and Brenner met months before that, in January 2003 at a Carbondale bar. According to SIU officials, Brenner and Reynolds shared a journalism class in spring 2002, which neither mentioned.

Reynolds alleges Brenner wrote the story and later recruited her to find a child to lend a face to the character of Kodee Kennings. Reynolds said she knew Caitlin through her best friend’s son. After her initial role, Reynolds said Brenner threatened her into further participation.

Basic fact checking would have caught the lie.

Brenner said he should have called to confirm that Dan Kennings was in the U.S. Army, but that was just one of many mistakes he made in the “Forced apart” article.

He also admitted to other mistakes at the beginning of his career at the Daily Egyptian.

In his Dec. 9, 2004, farewell column, Brenner wrote, “I’ve made some mistakes in my time here” and described himself as “generally untrustworthy for a while.”

On Saturday, he said these statements referred to a tape recorder he would hide early in his reporting career while talking to sports contacts, which is illegal in Illinois. Brenner said he knew it was wrong, but when he first started as a sports reporter in spring 2002, he could not get sources to talk to him.

Furthermore, in “Forced apart,” several misrepresentations were made.

Namely, Brenner wrote the story as if he was at Fort Campbell, Ky., when Dan Kennings was preparing to board a plane for Iraq.

Brenner wrote of Kodee ripping her father’s helmet from him, saying he couldn’t fight without it. However, Brenner was never at Fort Campbell and said he was told about what happened by Colleen Hastings.

“I know it was wrong, but that was my writing style at the time,” Brenner said.

Additionally, though Brenner met with Kodee at Turley Park before the story was published, he said she was very quiet and conducted most of his interviews with her over the phone. During an interview with the Daily Egyptian at her home on Saturday, Hadley said she never spoke with Brenner for the interview.

Brenner said Kodee seemed like two different people on the phone but thought she was just shy in person.

On top of never confirming if Dan Kennings was in the military, Brenner said he also never checked to see if Matt Hastings, Colleen Hastings’ husband, was actually an SIUC student, as was reported in the story. Brenner said he had not met Matt Hastings in person at the time of the phone interview.

It is still unclear who pretended to be Matt Hastings on the phone and who represented himself as Matt Hastings at a birthday party that Daily Egyptian staff members later held for Kodee at a Carbondale Pizza Hut.

Brenner said the mysterious appearance of Colleen’s twin sister named Jaimie the night before the story was published also should have piqued his suspicion. He said Jaimie came by the newsroom and gave him a collage of Dan Kennings, which included a photo of him that ran in the paper.

Colleen Hastings also gave Brenner numerous letters and a poem that were exchanged between father and daughter, he said.

The poem is actually the first verse and chorus of “She Walks With Me” by Michael W. Smith, a prominent Christian artist.

In an interview on Thursday, Reynolds said Brenner told her to pretend to be the twin so people wouldn’t ask why she was hanging around campus so much. Reynolds majored in radio and television.

“I don’t know how people didn’t figure it out,” Reynolds said. “It should have been so obvious. Why people believed there was a twin, I don’t know.”

Reynolds contends she went along with the deception because Brenner threatened to commit suicide and leave her name in a suicide note. Brenner said he has attempted suicide once and may have revealed that to Colleen Hastings during the course of their correspondence. Brenner said he last saw Colleen Hastings and Kodee on Aug. 20 at a memorial service for Dan Kennings at an American Legion hall in Orient.

To further complicate explanations, Reynolds said Brenner invented the story of Kodee Kennings to get his name in other sections of the newspaper besides sports. In almost every single “Kenninsology” column, Brenner’s name is mentioned. He says it is a coincidence he cannot explain.

“That’s just it,” Brenner said. “She’s been making this up all along. She has had two years to think of answers. I don’t have all the answers because I’m telling the truth.

“But in the cynical journalism world, there’s no room for the truth. Every single word I’m saying is being analyzed. I’m scared to slip up and say the wrong thing.”

Brenner quit his job at a sportswriter for a Pendleton, Ore., newspaper on July 16. He is also considering taking legal action against Reynolds.

Reporter Monique Garcia can be reached at [email protected]