Six years ago on May 4, Pellville freshman Melissa “Katie” Autry partied at a Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity end-of-the-semester celebration. Less than 24 hours later, Autry was at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville, Tenn., after a fire in her Poland Hall room. Autry was raped, doused with hairspray and burned in her room the week before finals.

The Hill faced its darkest days. Some students questioned their safety and wondered who was evil enough to tie blankets on the sprinklers, ensuring the death of a fellow human being.

Autry’s family and friends prayed she would hold on, but her body, covered with third-degree burns, was too worn. She died on May 7, 2003.

Stephen L. Soules and Lucas Goodrum became synonymous with Autry’s death.

William Van Meter grew up in Bowling Green but moved to New York in 1994 for college. His book, “Bluegrass: The True Story of Murder in Kentucky” tells how the paths of these three people became eternally intertwined.

He returns to Bowling Green every summer because his family and best friends live here. Recently, he was a guest at the Southern Kentucky Book Fair.

“I really couldn’t wrap my head around how this could happen in Bowling Green,” he said.

Van Meter planned to use the story in magazines, but it was dropped by two.

“One reason given was ‘We have too many teen murder stories,’ which seemed quite a vulgar way to turn it down.”

He realized there was a complex story waiting to be told. Researching those involved in and touched by the Autry murder was an emotional venture.

“I got the book deal the week my mother died of cancer,” he said. “I was on the way to the funeral when my agent phoned me to tell me the news. I immediately had to start working on it without a chance to mourn.”

Van Meter described the period of research as one of the darkest of his life.

“To be honest, I did this all in a severe depression – it got to the point where I couldn’t leave the bed, but then I got on another anti-depressant that gave me a kick-start,” he said.

Western provided documents, but he wasn’t allowed to talk to campus police or officials. When Autry’s childhood friends wouldn’t participate, Van Meter said it hurt the story more.

“I had many doors literally slammed in my face and was cussed out and told I would burn in hell a few times a week,” Van Meter recalled.

The interviews were often intimate and therapeutic. His goal was to “fill in the blanks” of the story, giving Autry, Goodrum and Soules dimension.

“I tried to approach it from all angles in a neutral way and let the reader come to their own conclusions – I thought that the reader would see Goodrum as innocent though,” he said.

For those familiar with the case, the book solidifies the opinions some people had before. But some have been swayed.

“Hopefully, it will change the way a university police department should be allowed to handle a multi-felony murder-rape-arson case,” Van Meter said, calling the Goodrum trial a fiasco and the campus police promotions dumbfounding.

Van Meter said he tried to portray the overlooked facets of Autry, whose character suffered once her job as an exotic dancer was revealed.

“I do not think this is a cautionary tale,” he said. “Katie’s brief tenure as a dancer had nothing to do with the case. She was a student who got a sober ride home from a frat party.”

He said that was much more responsible than he would have behaved at that age.

Reactions to the book vary.

“Some of Katie’s old friends thought it was a beautiful and sad portrait of her. Family members of those portrayed had mixed feelings, which is to be expected,” he said.

The process even gave Van Meter a connection to Autry.

“I felt very protective of her while working on the book.”