Brittany Rector, 18, is trying to rebuild her education and rebuild her relationship with her family after spending two weeks on the run with the fugitive group. FOX 17 talked more about that with Brittany in Thursday’s in-depth interview about what’s next for the teen.
“Softball`s my favorite sport,” says Brittany. She says she is working hard to create a new life and would like it to return to that of a normal 18-year-old. She’s thinking about how she might get back into athletics again. She’s also beginning testing to get her GED. She says she was the only one who passed the first portion of the test out of a group of four or five, giving her some pride. “That was kind of cool, that made me feel good,” says Brittany.
She is trying to prove to herself and the world she can do this after falling into a dark world of drugs at just 16-years-old. She says she feels in some ways she tried the drug so people would like her, but it turned her into something the caring and kind, friendly young woman hadn’t expected.
“Just a lot of anger and kind of just, it makes you want to put people down a lot in a way and because you`re not on that high anymore. So, you`re just fighting it and you`re wanting to get back on that high.”
At just 17-years old, Brittany then went on the run with her fugitive boyfriend, 32-year-old Kenneth Grauman II and 23-year-old Greg Bradshaw who had escaped from Lake County. Bradshaw’s girlfriend, 29-year-old Laura Grauman was also with them. Brittany considered her a good friend.
The three others were obviously much older than Brittany, and also heavy meth users. After Rector left her mom, sister and friends in Allegan behind, she says the three discussed with her that she shouldn’t call them.
“I just didn`t know what to do because I did want to call my mom, you know, because I missed her and wanted her to know I was OK. But, at the same time, me calling her would kind of put us in a position of possibly getting caught I guess,” says Brittany.
Jen: “Did one of the others tell you it just wasn`t a good idea??”
Brittany: “Yeah.”
Although her mom Judith Olexa is certain the three took advantage of Brittany’s age and naivety, Brittany doesn’t feel that way right now.
“I hear things and I don`t know what other people think or what they say and me personally and how I feel and how strong strongly my feelings are for Kenneth, I don`t think they took advantage of me,” says Brittany.
After two weeks on the run through West Michigan, Kokomo, Indiana, Iowa and Nebraska, the fugitives were finally located and captured at a hotel in Canon City, Colorado. Brittany Rector was finally all alone in a detention center and finally able to talk to her mother who had been missing her so much.
Jen: “Did you get one phone call?”
Brittany: “Yeah, not the first time though. I don`t know if they forgot or not, but that night I didn`t get a phone call, but the next day I did.”
Jen: “And, who did you call?”
Brittany: “My mom.”
Jen: “Did you understand then at that point how worried she was about you?”
Brittany: “Yeah, I kind of knew like the whole time we were on the run though. Me and my mom were really close. So, it`s almost like I could feel how much it hurt. I could feel how upset she was that whole time.”
Now reunited, mother and daughter are working on getting Brittany’s life on track again. Although for Brittany, it’s been tough to work past addiction, feelings of guilt and low-self esteem and a self-imposed pressure to get her GED before she may have to serve jail time.
“I`m excited to be able to get my life on the right track. And, knowing that I could possibly go back to jail or who knows what`s going to happen in the other states and stuff?,” says Brittany. “And, just being able to get my life back on the right track and do the right thing and finish school and go to college and try to get a job. I guess just doing the right thing before something could possibly go wrong.”
Brittany could find out more about whether or not she will serve jail time in Colorado in January. Her family says she could be sentenced at that time.
