November 9, 2025 • 20 mins
In remembrance of the wonderful writer, director, and actor Adrienne Shelly, we're excited to share again The Writers' Hangout Episode dedicated to her story, which we originally posted in the month she passed. It's a heartfelt chance to get to know this talented and incredible woman, whose life was tragically cut short. We hope you feel inspired and connected through her story.
The PAGE International Screenwriting Awards sponsors the WRITERS' HANGOUT.
Executive Producer Kristin Overn
Creator/Executive Producer Sandy Adomaitis
Producer Terry Sampson
Music by Ethan Stoller
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hello, my name is Sandy Adamis,the social media director for
the page, internationalScreenwriting Awards, and your
host for the Writer's Hangout.
A podcast that celebrates themany stages of writing, from
inspiration to the first draft,revising, getting a project made
and everything in between.
(00:21):
We'll talk to the best and thebrightest in the entertainment
industry and create a spacewhere you can hang out, learn
from the pros.
And have fun.
Hi, I'm Sandy Adamis.
Hi, I'm Terry Sampson.
Terry, you know how we usuallychat a little bit in the
beginning and yeah, it's myfavorite part.
I look forward to, hopefullynothing's gonna change.
(00:43):
Can we just jump into the storytoday?
I spent the whole day yesterdaycrying.
Oh, no.
Yes.
And let's just get into it.
I've wanted to tell the story ofactress, screenwriter, and
filmmaker Adrian Shelley sincethe beginning of the podcast.
I want everybody out there toget to know the screenwriters
(01:04):
behind their favorite movies,and I do this through true Crime
Stories, and this one just hitway too close to home for me.
Mm-hmm.
I don't want.
Adrian Shelly to be forgotten.
Adrian.
Shelly was born Adrian Levine onJune 24th, 1966.
(01:25):
Born in Queens, but raised onLong Island and had two
brothers.
Adrian always wanted to be anactress and began performing
when she was about 10 years old.
She made her professional debutin a summer stock production of
the musical.
Annie, when Adrian was 12, herbeloved stepfather died.
She was away at camp and theypicked her up.
(01:48):
The family sent a relative to gopick her up, but they told her
nothing.
So she drove back from camp.
She went into her house andthere was an obit.
For her stepfather on thekitchen table.
Oof.
And that's how she found outthat he died.
And then when her mom told herabout her stepfather, she
(02:10):
pretended not to know.
She understood the absurdity ofthe situation throughout her
films.
The theme of finding humor inhorrible life situation is
throughout 1985 with one yearleft of college.
In Boston University, Adriandrops out.
(02:31):
What would you have done if yourdaughter dropped out with one
year of college left?
I would say to my daughter, youhave some explaining to do
exactly what are you doing?
What are you doing?
Although she knew what shewanted to do in her heart and it
was the right thing to do forherself, she was terrified of
(02:51):
telling her mother, so shepracticed her speech on her
girlfriends.
Adrian dropped out.
Moved to New York City to becomean actress.
That was in 89.
Four months later she wassending out headshot, hundreds
and hundreds of headshots.
I don't think actors even haveto do that nowadays.
No.
Correct.
(03:12):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And having been in productionoffices my whole entire adult
life, they don't even open them.
They of course not go right intothe garbage.
Right.
and if.
They are opened.
There's just a stack of piles inthe hallway on an empty desk.
On the way to casting.
(03:33):
This is the same story for everydemo tape that ever was sent
out.
The same story of every scriptthat was not asked to be sent.
Yes.
Yes.
I mean, that's the reality ofthis.
And, and you know what makes mefeel bad about that is that,
well, for everybody I know inall the little.
Pockets of entertainment thatI've been associated with.
(03:55):
Somebody sends somethingsomewhere and feeling of
dropping that in the mail slotmm-hmm.
Is like you, it's like a, youknow, it's like a, a tiny little
bitty Christmas you go.
I can't believe it.
Yes.
She's dropped outta college.
She's been in New York for fourmonths.
She's sending out hundreds ofhead.
And she gets plucked out ofobscurity to play the lead role
(04:18):
in an independent film directedby Hal Hartley, the Unbelievable
truth.
And now I apologize for saying,sending these things out.
Is it worthless every once in awhile?
Exactly, and it just goes toshow how special Adrian was.
Now, the unbelievable truth wasabout a man who returns to his
(04:41):
hometown after serving a prisonsentence for homicide, and finds
that the details of the crimehave been forgotten and replaced
with local legends and rumors.
She was 22 years old and her momsaid, thank goodness we made the
right choice about you droppingout of school.
Ha Terry, here, take a look atthese photos of Adrian.
(05:06):
Why did you print this?
Because it's gorgeous.
You have your own little photolab, don't you?
Exactly.
It's a little I a little thatface.
Yeah.
She has a very special look.
Yes.
And says she's just a tinyperson and because of her look,
she wasn't necessarily.
Taken seriously all the time.
The unbelievable truth was a hitat the Toronto Film Festival and
(05:30):
Merrim Max bought it.
The director Hal said thatHarvey Weinstein, yeah, I don't
even wanna say his name.
Uh, this will come as nosurprise to anyone out there.
He wanted the movie Recut withnude scenes of Adrian.
Hal said, no.
So good one for the good guys.
(05:51):
Oh, and that it was not reshotthen?
No, it was not reshot and therewas no nude, extra nude footage
of Adrian shot.
You could put some of uh, Harveyin there, but that might have
affected sales.
Yes, because of the unbelievabletruth.
Adrian started to get a lot ofnotice.
She was on the cover ofmagazines, including Interview
(06:12):
magazine, and told friends thatshe was unprepared for all the
attention.
Now in 1991.
Adrian went to LA and she didthe movie.
Big Girls Don't Cry, they geteven.
And that was about a girl fed upwith her quirky, dysfunctional
family runs away from home,causing all of them to spend
(06:35):
time with each other.
The other name in the film wasGriffin Dunn, which
coincidentally, when we weretalking about Poltergeist and we
were talking about the actressDominique Dunn.
That was her brother.
Okay.
Small town.
In the nineties, Adrian foundherself in crappy roles where
(06:57):
she was kind of cast in the sexyroles that she never felt
comfortable in.
Adrian spent her twenties notfeeling alive, she said, and
when she got to her thirties,she didn't.
To live that way anymore.
She wanted to live her lifeconsciously.
She started a theater companyand funded it and did a series
(07:19):
of shorts as part of the theatercompany, and she wrote Morgan
fitting in and in her journalshe wrote that she was a nervous
wreck.
Before it premiered, Adrian feltthat the lead was miscast was
all wrong, and Adrian vowed tonot only right.
But to direct.
In 1994, Adrian wrote a shortand directed it.
(07:41):
The short was called UrbanLegend.
Adrian's writing style would bethat she would lock herself away
for like four days and herfriends would bring her food,
but they would knock on the doorand she would only open it a
crack and reach out for the foodbecause.
Her apartment was a mess, and Ican relate to that, so that's
(08:02):
why we're doing this.
That's why we're doingeverything here.
2001, Adrian was questioningwhat happiness was and if she
would find a man who wouldn'twant to control her to have a
family with.
She wanted a family.
She was scared of havingchildren, but she knew it was
something that she wanted.
(08:23):
A lot of women feel this waythat a baby is going to change
them and they, they won't everbe who they once were.
Yeah.
Adrian met her husband, AndyOstro on match.com.
She was embarrassed and shewouldn't tell her friends that
she went on match.com.
She kept saying, I met Andy at apolitical event.
(08:45):
You shared a match.
She shared a match.
We were both smoking cigarettesthen.
I think it was a politicalfundraiser.
Okay.
I love that touch of making themeet up, kind of like a step
higher than maybe a bar.
Right?
Or the post office, he was adivorce father of three and her
very first match date, theyclicked.
(09:07):
Andy is the chairman and CEO ofthe marketing firm, BII, ATRI.
Andy didn't try to diminishAdrian in any way, and he calls
himself a man.
They had a daughter, Sophie, in2003.
(09:27):
When Adrian was eight monthspregnant with Sophie and scared
about becoming a mother, Adrianwrote the film Waitress, which
starred Carrie Russell, Adrianand Cheryl Hines.
Adrian directed the film andsaid it was a love letter to her
baby.
Oh, that's nice.
Yeah.
October 31st, 2006.
(09:50):
Adrian and Andy have a Halloweenparty at their apartment in New
York with family and friends.
November 1st.
Andy, Adrian, and Sophie have acozy morning together, and Andy
said that.
You know, things were usuallyvery busy in the morning and
very rushed, but that morningthey had time to spend together.
He dropped Adrian off at heroffice at 9:15 AM watched her
(10:13):
walk away.
He did not know that he wouldnever see Adrian alive again.
Now, Adrian's office was anapartment building.
It wasn't an office building.
She just took a a one bedroomapartment and made it her office
and he went to work.
He had a lot of clients.
That day, and he did try toreach out to his wife, but there
(10:35):
was no response to emails calls,and it was atypical.
It was not like Adrian nor hadthe nanny heard from Adrian.
It started to get.
Later and later, and Andy juststarted to feel really uneasy in
his gut.
He knew something was wrong.
(10:56):
He called his friend Brian, andthey went to go check on Adrian.
There was nowhere to park, ofcourse, because it's the
village.
Brian pulls over his car andAndy goes into the building.
Adrian doesn't answer theintercom.
He gets into the building.
He yells her name.
He's climbing the stairs.
(11:17):
He bangs on the door, and thedoor opens.
Not a good sign.
No panic sets in the room wasquiet with only CNN and Wolf
blitzer on really low in thebackground.
Andy said the room felt likeevil.
Andy found Adrian in thebathroom.
Her body with a sheet tiedaround her neck was hanging from
(11:39):
the shower curtain rod.
Whoa.
Andy had to tell 2-year-oldSophie.
Her mom was never coming homeagain.
Sophie walked to the window andstared out saying, mommy died.
She's not coming home.
Yeah, at first the police wentwith Adrian died by suicide, but
the family was adamant.
(12:01):
Adrian was happy making plansfor the weekend.
She was working, she waswriting.
She would never leave, Sophienever.
When Andy heard the policebelieved Adrian killed herself.
He says he went into combatmode.
He said I had to fight for her.
The next day, the detectiveshowed up at Andy's apartment,
(12:24):
asked him to come downstairs,and they showed him a photo of a
knot and they said, uh, didAdrian know how to tie a knot
like that?
Andy shook his head no.
And said to the detectives, doyou?
The detective said, no.
World renowned pathologist, Dr.
Michael Badden did an autopsy ofAdrian and he said she fought
(12:47):
like an animal.
She had bruises to her body,face, and hands.
The detectives found a footprintin the bathtub and was checked
against everybody.
There were no matches.
Then they noticed a layer ofconstruction dust next to
Adrian's door, and they asked,is there construction in the
(13:07):
building?
Yeah.
In fact, right below Adrian's.
Office, they got the name of theworker, Diago Pillco, a
19-year-old construction workerfrom Ecuador.
They went to his apartment inBrooklyn.
Detective Irma River, Duffyasked him pedigree questions at
(13:29):
first.
Where was he from?
How long was he in the UnitedStates?
Diego answered the questionswhile holding a prayer card.
Detective Irma asked if Diegohad any kids and he said, no,
but my sister has four.
The detective asked their ages,Diego listed them, and the
youngest named Tiffany is two.
(13:53):
The detective said.
Sometimes when you do things,God doesn't punish you.
They punish someone in yourfamily.
Diego put his head down, lookedback up and said, okay, I did
it.
Irma said she got a chill goingdown the back of her neck like
Adrian was thanking her.
That her daughter didn't have togo through life thinking her mom
(14:15):
killed herself.
Diego said that Adriancomplained about the noise from
downstairs.
She yelled at him and slappedhim.
Diego got mad and that's when heattacked Adrian.
He did change his story and saidhe needed to send money home to
his mother, so he would rob theapartments where he was sent to
(14:35):
do construction.
He went to Adrian's door, andwhen he leaned his.
Ear to the door.
It opened.
He went inside and saw a purseand he took out the money.
Adrian came out from thebathroom and yelled at him that
she was calling the cops.
When she turned to pick up thephone, he went behind her, put
(14:56):
his hand over her mouth, andtold her not to call the police.
I lost my mind.
I was choking her with my hands.
I took my hands away and let hergo.
Her lips were blue.
I killed her.
I took her to the bathroom and Ihung her.
When asked, did you think yougot away with it?
He said, yes.
Waitress, which Adrian neverknew, made it to Sundance and
(15:20):
became the quirky, independent,and famous movie that it is
today.
It became a musical on Broadway.
Wow.
In 2015, August 19th, 2015 wasthe first performance of
Waitress and it ran for fouryears.
Adrian's name was up in Lightson Broadway.
(15:41):
Nice.
My research for this piece.
Was the documentary her husbandmade about Adrian, and it's on
HBO max right now.
And I beg all of you, please gowatch it.
Adrian really was a specialperson, and it's a wonderful
documentary.
You get to see a lot of Sophie,you know, Sophie's a young woman
(16:01):
now, right?
And she is definitely acombination of both her parents
and.
It's so moving to see Sophietalk about what it was like to
grow up without Adrian, and itdoes give you a sense of
satisfaction that you know thatAndy stepped up and gave Sophie
(16:25):
such a wonderful, stable life,but what it could have been,
sure if Adrian.
Was allowed to raise her and Ithought about it all last night.
What she probably would be doingtoday if she was still alive.
Right.
Yeah, I'm very suspicious ofDiego and his story in the sense
(16:48):
of he portrayed it as a man outof control.
Oh, Diego got 25 years, by theway.
I was gonna say.
Yeah.
Hopefully it's worse than 25.
Five.
Yeah, he got 25 years.
And Andy says that at the timethey thought of that as a
victory, but Adrian died at 40and he'll get out at 45.
Yeah, doesn't seem fair.
That doesn't work.
(17:09):
Now the thing about Diego, youknow, portraying himself as a
man that just lost control, but.
I wouldn't think of Nana inmaking it look like suicide.
I know it's one thing to blackout and kill someone, but then
you're calm or or panicked andyou can figure out how to make
it look like a suicide.
(17:30):
Isn't that sophisticated?
When you finally said.
He got caught doing somethingand then panicked Yes.
And killed her.
Yes.
I think that made sense.
Uh, not up to that point.
Yes.
Agree in, in the way ofdescribing what had happened.
It doesn't make sense, of coursethey ever do anything like that,
but the point is I can see wherethat was.
(17:51):
Now the, the next part, the onlything I.
Add to this is that if you are aperson who, this is now a
regular part of your living Yes.
This horrible thing of, ofstealing while you do this other
job, you are going to play inyour mind what the possible side
(18:11):
of this would be.
You're gonna have this thing inyour mind of saying, if I get
caught, I'm going to, and you'llhave a little list and Oh,
you're right.
And I think that was part ofhis.
Makeup at that time, which ishideous in every way.
Yeah.
But I see him saying, if I haveto, I'll, I'll kill somebody.
And, and how would I get rid ofthe body?
(18:33):
Well, that makes sense to me.
Yeah.
He's, uh, he need, it's allabout escaping.
This guy's life is all aboutescaping.
He's left, whatever, right.
Country.
And he's, he's here and he's gotthis gig and it's not covering
enough.
And he's got all this.
Pressure about sending moneyback and being a hero to his
(18:53):
mother and his family.
And he says, well, you know, I'msmarter than everybody else, but
if anything would happen, youknow, I think you, you're my
clients.
I think it, I think you got it.
Yeah.
In the documentary and confrontsDiego and really I, yeah, he
goes, that goes to the prison oncamera.
(19:14):
I have to watch this now.
And Yes.
And I was going to talk aboutthat.
In this podcast, it's sopowerful and such a moving
scene.
No, go watch it.
Yeah, go watch it.
Admire Andy.
Uh.
I look forward to hearing whathe has to say.
Yeah.
I, I really admire the man whenyou see what a great young lady
(19:36):
Sophie is, and when you see himhave the wherewithal, the guts,
the fortitude to go and talk tothis man.
He wrote him a letter first andhe said, look, I'm not going to
attack you.
Uh, I have to know what happenedthat day.
Yeah.
So powerful.
Sure.
And, and I think our audienceshould view it on their own.
(19:58):
But when something like thathappens, it opens the door.
For pain for the people that areleft behind.
This is the 16th anniversary ofAdrian Shelley's death.
It will continue with herdaughter Sophie.
Gone and never forgotten.
Yes.
That's a wrap for the Writer'shangout.
(20:19):
Thanks so much for listening.
If you enjoyed the show, pleasesubscribe, like, and thrive till
we get to hang out again.
Keep writing.
The world needs your stories.
The Writers Hangout is sponsoredby the Page, international
Screenwriting Awards executiveproducer Kristin Verne,
producers Terry Sampson andSandy Adamis.
(20:41):
Music by Ethan Stoller.
Hello, my name is Sandy Adamis,the social media director for
the page, internationalScreenwriting Awards, and your
host for the Writer's Hangout.
A podcast that celebrates themany stages of writing, from
inspiration to the first draft,revising, getting a project made
and everything in between.
(00:21):
We'll talk to the best and thebrightest in the entertainment
industry and create a spacewhere you can hang out, learn
from the pros.
And have fun.
Hi, I'm Sandy Adamis.
Hi, I'm Terry Sampson.
Terry, you know how we usuallychat a little bit in the
beginning and yeah, it's myfavorite part.
I look forward to, hopefullynothing's gonna change.
(00:43):
Can we just jump into the storytoday?
I spent the whole day yesterdaycrying.
Oh, no.
Yes.
And let's just get into it.
I've wanted to tell the story ofactress, screenwriter, and
filmmaker Adrian Shelley sincethe beginning of the podcast.
I want everybody out there toget to know the screenwriters
(01:04):
behind their favorite movies,and I do this through true Crime
Stories, and this one just hitway too close to home for me.
Mm-hmm.
I don't want.
Adrian Shelly to be forgotten.
Adrian.
Shelly was born Adrian Levine onJune 24th, 1966.
(01:25):
Born in Queens, but raised onLong Island and had two
brothers.
Adrian always wanted to be anactress and began performing
when she was about 10 years old.
She made her professional debutin a summer stock production of
the musical.
Annie, when Adrian was 12, herbeloved stepfather died.
She was away at camp and theypicked her up.
(01:48):
The family sent a relative to gopick her up, but they told her
nothing.
So she drove back from camp.
She went into her house andthere was an obit.
For her stepfather on thekitchen table.
Oof.
And that's how she found outthat he died.
And then when her mom told herabout her stepfather, she
(02:10):
pretended not to know.
She understood the absurdity ofthe situation throughout her
films.
The theme of finding humor inhorrible life situation is
throughout 1985 with one yearleft of college.
In Boston University, Adriandrops out.
(02:31):
What would you have done if yourdaughter dropped out with one
year of college left?
I would say to my daughter, youhave some explaining to do
exactly what are you doing?
What are you doing?
Although she knew what shewanted to do in her heart and it
was the right thing to do forherself, she was terrified of
(02:51):
telling her mother, so shepracticed her speech on her
girlfriends.
Adrian dropped out.
Moved to New York City to becomean actress.
That was in 89.
Four months later she wassending out headshot, hundreds
and hundreds of headshots.
I don't think actors even haveto do that nowadays.
No.
Correct.
(03:12):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And having been in productionoffices my whole entire adult
life, they don't even open them.
They of course not go right intothe garbage.
Right.
and if.
They are opened.
There's just a stack of piles inthe hallway on an empty desk.
On the way to casting.
(03:33):
This is the same story for everydemo tape that ever was sent
out.
The same story of every scriptthat was not asked to be sent.
Yes.
Yes.
I mean, that's the reality ofthis.
And, and you know what makes mefeel bad about that is that,
well, for everybody I know inall the little.
Pockets of entertainment thatI've been associated with.
(03:55):
Somebody sends somethingsomewhere and feeling of
dropping that in the mail slotmm-hmm.
Is like you, it's like a, youknow, it's like a, a tiny little
bitty Christmas you go.
I can't believe it.
Yes.
She's dropped outta college.
She's been in New York for fourmonths.
She's sending out hundreds ofhead.
And she gets plucked out ofobscurity to play the lead role
(04:18):
in an independent film directedby Hal Hartley, the Unbelievable
truth.
And now I apologize for saying,sending these things out.
Is it worthless every once in awhile?
Exactly, and it just goes toshow how special Adrian was.
Now, the unbelievable truth wasabout a man who returns to his
(04:41):
hometown after serving a prisonsentence for homicide, and finds
that the details of the crimehave been forgotten and replaced
with local legends and rumors.
She was 22 years old and her momsaid, thank goodness we made the
right choice about you droppingout of school.
Ha Terry, here, take a look atthese photos of Adrian.
(05:06):
Why did you print this?
Because it's gorgeous.
You have your own little photolab, don't you?
Exactly.
It's a little I a little thatface.
Yeah.
She has a very special look.
Yes.
And says she's just a tinyperson and because of her look,
she wasn't necessarily.
Taken seriously all the time.
The unbelievable truth was a hitat the Toronto Film Festival and
(05:30):
Merrim Max bought it.
The director Hal said thatHarvey Weinstein, yeah, I don't
even wanna say his name.
Uh, this will come as nosurprise to anyone out there.
He wanted the movie Recut withnude scenes of Adrian.
Hal said, no.
So good one for the good guys.
(05:51):
Oh, and that it was not reshotthen?
No, it was not reshot and therewas no nude, extra nude footage
of Adrian shot.
You could put some of uh, Harveyin there, but that might have
affected sales.
Yes, because of the unbelievabletruth.
Adrian started to get a lot ofnotice.
She was on the cover ofmagazines, including Interview
(06:12):
magazine, and told friends thatshe was unprepared for all the
attention.
Now in 1991.
Adrian went to LA and she didthe movie.
Big Girls Don't Cry, they geteven.
And that was about a girl fed upwith her quirky, dysfunctional
family runs away from home,causing all of them to spend
(06:35):
time with each other.
The other name in the film wasGriffin Dunn, which
coincidentally, when we weretalking about Poltergeist and we
were talking about the actressDominique Dunn.
That was her brother.
Okay.
Small town.
In the nineties, Adrian foundherself in crappy roles where
(06:57):
she was kind of cast in the sexyroles that she never felt
comfortable in.
Adrian spent her twenties notfeeling alive, she said, and
when she got to her thirties,she didn't.
To live that way anymore.
She wanted to live her lifeconsciously.
She started a theater companyand funded it and did a series
(07:19):
of shorts as part of the theatercompany, and she wrote Morgan
fitting in and in her journalshe wrote that she was a nervous
wreck.
Before it premiered, Adrian feltthat the lead was miscast was
all wrong, and Adrian vowed tonot only right.
But to direct.
In 1994, Adrian wrote a shortand directed it.
(07:41):
The short was called UrbanLegend.
Adrian's writing style would bethat she would lock herself away
for like four days and herfriends would bring her food,
but they would knock on the doorand she would only open it a
crack and reach out for the foodbecause.
Her apartment was a mess, and Ican relate to that, so that's
(08:02):
why we're doing this.
That's why we're doingeverything here.
2001, Adrian was questioningwhat happiness was and if she
would find a man who wouldn'twant to control her to have a
family with.
She wanted a family.
She was scared of havingchildren, but she knew it was
something that she wanted.
(08:23):
A lot of women feel this waythat a baby is going to change
them and they, they won't everbe who they once were.
Yeah.
Adrian met her husband, AndyOstro on match.com.
She was embarrassed and shewouldn't tell her friends that
she went on match.com.
She kept saying, I met Andy at apolitical event.
(08:45):
You shared a match.
She shared a match.
We were both smoking cigarettesthen.
I think it was a politicalfundraiser.
Okay.
I love that touch of making themeet up, kind of like a step
higher than maybe a bar.
Right?
Or the post office, he was adivorce father of three and her
very first match date, theyclicked.
(09:07):
Andy is the chairman and CEO ofthe marketing firm, BII, ATRI.
Andy didn't try to diminishAdrian in any way, and he calls
himself a man.
They had a daughter, Sophie, in2003.
(09:27):
When Adrian was eight monthspregnant with Sophie and scared
about becoming a mother, Adrianwrote the film Waitress, which
starred Carrie Russell, Adrianand Cheryl Hines.
Adrian directed the film andsaid it was a love letter to her
baby.
Oh, that's nice.
Yeah.
October 31st, 2006.
(09:50):
Adrian and Andy have a Halloweenparty at their apartment in New
York with family and friends.
November 1st.
Andy, Adrian, and Sophie have acozy morning together, and Andy
said that.
You know, things were usuallyvery busy in the morning and
very rushed, but that morningthey had time to spend together.
He dropped Adrian off at heroffice at 9:15 AM watched her
(10:13):
walk away.
He did not know that he wouldnever see Adrian alive again.
Now, Adrian's office was anapartment building.
It wasn't an office building.
She just took a a one bedroomapartment and made it her office
and he went to work.
He had a lot of clients.
That day, and he did try toreach out to his wife, but there
(10:35):
was no response to emails calls,and it was atypical.
It was not like Adrian nor hadthe nanny heard from Adrian.
It started to get.
Later and later, and Andy juststarted to feel really uneasy in
his gut.
He knew something was wrong.
(10:56):
He called his friend Brian, andthey went to go check on Adrian.
There was nowhere to park, ofcourse, because it's the
village.
Brian pulls over his car andAndy goes into the building.
Adrian doesn't answer theintercom.
He gets into the building.
He yells her name.
He's climbing the stairs.
(11:17):
He bangs on the door, and thedoor opens.
Not a good sign.
No panic sets in the room wasquiet with only CNN and Wolf
blitzer on really low in thebackground.
Andy said the room felt likeevil.
Andy found Adrian in thebathroom.
Her body with a sheet tiedaround her neck was hanging from
(11:39):
the shower curtain rod.
Whoa.
Andy had to tell 2-year-oldSophie.
Her mom was never coming homeagain.
Sophie walked to the window andstared out saying, mommy died.
She's not coming home.
Yeah, at first the police wentwith Adrian died by suicide, but
the family was adamant.
(12:01):
Adrian was happy making plansfor the weekend.
She was working, she waswriting.
She would never leave, Sophienever.
When Andy heard the policebelieved Adrian killed herself.
He says he went into combatmode.
He said I had to fight for her.
The next day, the detectiveshowed up at Andy's apartment,
(12:24):
asked him to come downstairs,and they showed him a photo of a
knot and they said, uh, didAdrian know how to tie a knot
like that?
Andy shook his head no.
And said to the detectives, doyou?
The detective said, no.
World renowned pathologist, Dr.
Michael Badden did an autopsy ofAdrian and he said she fought
(12:47):
like an animal.
She had bruises to her body,face, and hands.
The detectives found a footprintin the bathtub and was checked
against everybody.
There were no matches.
Then they noticed a layer ofconstruction dust next to
Adrian's door, and they asked,is there construction in the
(13:07):
building?
Yeah.
In fact, right below Adrian's.
Office, they got the name of theworker, Diago Pillco, a
19-year-old construction workerfrom Ecuador.
They went to his apartment inBrooklyn.
Detective Irma River, Duffyasked him pedigree questions at
(13:29):
first.
Where was he from?
How long was he in the UnitedStates?
Diego answered the questionswhile holding a prayer card.
Detective Irma asked if Diegohad any kids and he said, no,
but my sister has four.
The detective asked their ages,Diego listed them, and the
youngest named Tiffany is two.
(13:53):
The detective said.
Sometimes when you do things,God doesn't punish you.
They punish someone in yourfamily.
Diego put his head down, lookedback up and said, okay, I did
it.
Irma said she got a chill goingdown the back of her neck like
Adrian was thanking her.
That her daughter didn't have togo through life thinking her mom
(14:15):
killed herself.
Diego said that Adriancomplained about the noise from
downstairs.
She yelled at him and slappedhim.
Diego got mad and that's when heattacked Adrian.
He did change his story and saidhe needed to send money home to
his mother, so he would rob theapartments where he was sent to
(14:35):
do construction.
He went to Adrian's door, andwhen he leaned his.
Ear to the door.
It opened.
He went inside and saw a purseand he took out the money.
Adrian came out from thebathroom and yelled at him that
she was calling the cops.
When she turned to pick up thephone, he went behind her, put
(14:56):
his hand over her mouth, andtold her not to call the police.
I lost my mind.
I was choking her with my hands.
I took my hands away and let hergo.
Her lips were blue.
I killed her.
I took her to the bathroom and Ihung her.
When asked, did you think yougot away with it?
He said, yes.
Waitress, which Adrian neverknew, made it to Sundance and
(15:20):
became the quirky, independent,and famous movie that it is
today.
It became a musical on Broadway.
Wow.
In 2015, August 19th, 2015 wasthe first performance of
Waitress and it ran for fouryears.
Adrian's name was up in Lightson Broadway.
(15:41):
Nice.
My research for this piece.
Was the documentary her husbandmade about Adrian, and it's on
HBO max right now.
And I beg all of you, please gowatch it.
Adrian really was a specialperson, and it's a wonderful
documentary.
You get to see a lot of Sophie,you know, Sophie's a young woman
(16:01):
now, right?
And she is definitely acombination of both her parents
and.
It's so moving to see Sophietalk about what it was like to
grow up without Adrian, and itdoes give you a sense of
satisfaction that you know thatAndy stepped up and gave Sophie
(16:25):
such a wonderful, stable life,but what it could have been,
sure if Adrian.
Was allowed to raise her and Ithought about it all last night.
What she probably would be doingtoday if she was still alive.
Right.
Yeah, I'm very suspicious ofDiego and his story in the sense
(16:48):
of he portrayed it as a man outof control.
Oh, Diego got 25 years, by theway.
I was gonna say.
Yeah.
Hopefully it's worse than 25.
Five.
Yeah, he got 25 years.
And Andy says that at the timethey thought of that as a
victory, but Adrian died at 40and he'll get out at 45.
Yeah, doesn't seem fair.
That doesn't work.
(17:09):
Now the thing about Diego, youknow, portraying himself as a
man that just lost control, but.
I wouldn't think of Nana inmaking it look like suicide.
I know it's one thing to blackout and kill someone, but then
you're calm or or panicked andyou can figure out how to make
it look like a suicide.
(17:30):
Isn't that sophisticated?
When you finally said.
He got caught doing somethingand then panicked Yes.
And killed her.
Yes.
I think that made sense.
Uh, not up to that point.
Yes.
Agree in, in the way ofdescribing what had happened.
It doesn't make sense, of coursethey ever do anything like that,
but the point is I can see wherethat was.
(17:51):
Now the, the next part, the onlything I.
Add to this is that if you are aperson who, this is now a
regular part of your living Yes.
This horrible thing of, ofstealing while you do this other
job, you are going to play inyour mind what the possible side
(18:11):
of this would be.
You're gonna have this thing inyour mind of saying, if I get
caught, I'm going to, and you'llhave a little list and Oh,
you're right.
And I think that was part ofhis.
Makeup at that time, which ishideous in every way.
Yeah.
But I see him saying, if I haveto, I'll, I'll kill somebody.
And, and how would I get rid ofthe body?
(18:33):
Well, that makes sense to me.
Yeah.
He's, uh, he need, it's allabout escaping.
This guy's life is all aboutescaping.
He's left, whatever, right.
Country.
And he's, he's here and he's gotthis gig and it's not covering
enough.
And he's got all this.
Pressure about sending moneyback and being a hero to his
(18:53):
mother and his family.
And he says, well, you know, I'msmarter than everybody else, but
if anything would happen, youknow, I think you, you're my
clients.
I think it, I think you got it.
Yeah.
In the documentary and confrontsDiego and really I, yeah, he
goes, that goes to the prison oncamera.
(19:14):
I have to watch this now.
And Yes.
And I was going to talk aboutthat.
In this podcast, it's sopowerful and such a moving
scene.
No, go watch it.
Yeah, go watch it.
Admire Andy.
Uh.
I look forward to hearing whathe has to say.
Yeah.
I, I really admire the man whenyou see what a great young lady
(19:36):
Sophie is, and when you see himhave the wherewithal, the guts,
the fortitude to go and talk tothis man.
He wrote him a letter first andhe said, look, I'm not going to
attack you.
Uh, I have to know what happenedthat day.
Yeah.
So powerful.
Sure.
And, and I think our audienceshould view it on their own.
(19:58):
But when something like thathappens, it opens the door.
For pain for the people that areleft behind.
This is the 16th anniversary ofAdrian Shelley's death.
It will continue with herdaughter Sophie.
Gone and never forgotten.
Yes.
That's a wrap for the Writer'shangout.
(20:19):
Thanks so much for listening.
If you enjoyed the show, pleasesubscribe, like, and thrive till
we get to hang out again.
Keep writing.
The world needs your stories.
The Writers Hangout is sponsoredby the Page, international
Screenwriting Awards executiveproducer Kristin Verne,
producers Terry Sampson andSandy Adamis.
(20:41):
Music by Ethan Stoller.
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