M. William Phelps

While Kyle had decided to give them a complete confession, hinting that Clara Schwartz was also involved, investigators tried figuring out if these three young people acted alone or Clara had prior knowledge of what went down that night.

Then, out of nowhere, a new witness stepped forward, blowing this case wide open.

I reached out to Patrick for both my book and this podcast, and he showed no interest in talking to me.

Patrick was 20 years old, straight-laced, shortly cropped brown hair, clear, pale skin.

He came across more as an accountant than a medieval role-playing gamer.

Patrick met Clara through Mike after Mike bumped into Patrick inside the office waiting room of a psychiatrist one day in 2000.

Later, their paths crossed again at Walmart, and they started hanging out.

Clara would tag along.

Clara found Patrick a bit odd, like her, and they seemed to bond over a shared interest in the gaming world.

Patrick once spoke of how he cast a spell that had killed 13 people who were trying to kill him, reporter Jason Cherkus wrote in a Washington City paper article.

When Clara heard that, she realized Patrick was speaking her language.

In the underworld game, he had been selected to be the Queen's assassin long before the group had even met Kyle.

When they began playing Clara's underworld game, Patrick viewed it as nothing more than make-believe, a fantasy to deal with the stressors of reality.

But as time went on, Patrick noticed that Clara became more serious whenever she talked about her father.

In fact, one day while speaking to Mike, Patrick said, I'm going to kill Clara's father.

Clara despised her father and wanted him out of her life forever and had a good reason, she told Patrick.

Here's Detective Greg Locke.

Loudoun County investigators had not found any evidence of this whatsoever.

Patrick told them that as the Thanksgiving holiday approached, Clara began pressuring him, asking, not hinting anymore, for help in getting rid of her father.

Knowing her as well as he did, Patrick considered that maybe her comments weren't just part of the fantasy she'd created in the underworld, but that she had actually wanted him to kill her father.