Harvey Guillén

It's a question about identity, about whether we're defined by what we're made of or by what we choose to become.

Some people spend their lives trying to escape who they are, building new identities until they forget what's underneath.

But the better you get at wearing disguises, the harder it becomes to take them off.

At some point, you have to ask yourself, if you've replaced every piece of who you were, are you still you?

Or have you become something else entirely?

I'm Harvey Guillen, and this is Killer Stories.

It's 1976 in Norfolk, Virginia, and Steven Russell is exactly the person he's supposed to be.

He's got the conservative haircut, the starch collar, and the job at his family's produce business.

He volunteers as a deputy sheriff on weekends, helping with traffic stops and community events.

On Sundays, he plays the organ at church.

And when he marries Debbie Davis, the police chief's secretary's daughter,

It feels like the final piece clicking into place.

Three years later, they have a daughter named Stephanie.

From the outside, Stephen's life looks like a Norman Rockwell painting.

But he spent his whole life trying to fit into frames that don't quite match his shape.

He was adopted as an infant and raised by Georgia and David Russell, conservative people who loved him but never quite

understood him.

And there's another secret, one he buries deeper than the adoption.

Stevens, gay.

This is 1970s Virginia, where being gay can cost you your job, your family, and your freedom.