Flying high in Cocktail Cove

Keith Morrison Correspondent • Profile

They seemed so perfect, this golden couple. He who soared so fast and high, she who dazzled down below. And their life?  Why, it was a dream come true. Their plentiful money appeared as if from thin air. And here in their mansion, French chateau style, they cared for their children, collected fine things, and lived well-earned success out loud.

In fact, it could be said, that on land, and in the water, and in the air, Marcus and Michelle Schrenker made waves - perhaps of envy, among those less lucky in life. And then? Ah, yes. Then.

The stage on which this bizarre play soared, then crashed, is itself a part of the story: a sort-of nautical cul-de-sac surrounded by the kind of places where a person can truly live large. The locals even have a name for it, a cheesy reflection of a less sober time, "Cocktail Cove." A little less frothy these days, perhaps, but once upon a time, particularly in a certain imitation chateau, it was shaken — and stirred.

On a weekend, in the warm summer sun, Cocktail Cove, on the Geist reservoir, outside Indianapolis, is the place to be. The lake is manmade, as is the life: the water sports, the boating, the sense of achievement, lubricated in suntan oil, new money, and an all-day happy hour. Former Indianapolis television personality Pat Carlini lives here.

Pat Carlini: About every other house has a pool, a hot tub, and a lot of parties. They have a lot of fun.  I think the people work very hard all week long.  It comes Friday, it's the weekend.  They wanna play.  They play hard.

Keith Morrison, Dateline NBC: And almost seems to remind you of, you know, a TV show or something.

Pat Carlini: That's been talked about a lot, the whole “Desperate Housewives” feel. They dubbed the street Wisteria Lane. I can totally see it, a reality show, the Geist Gals.

But there was one of those Geist gals Pat and the neighbors didn't see very often. Yet everyone seemed to know who she was: Michelle Schrenker. The attractive young wife of the well-to-do hotshot who built one of the biggest houses on Geist.

Michelle Schrenker: I mean, it's a nice, affluent neighborhood.

Keith Morrison: Bit of a Peyton Place? Secret backbiting going on, that type of thing?

Michelle Schrenker: Yeah, that can be said about it. Absolutely, absolutely. I'm usually the one they're talking about. {laughter} So....

Keith Morrison: And what do they usually say about you? 

Michelle Schrenker: Well, I don't know if it's so much about me.  It's more about my husband. I know the backstabbing that went on, and it's just not something I wanted to participate in.  I didn't want to be part of it.

Keith Morrison: From the beginning?

Michelle Schrenker: From the beginning, yes.

The beginning.  She met him one summer in the early nineties, while both were on summer break from Perdue University.

Michelle Schrenker: He was in town for a weekend, and just kind of caught my eye.  We had a lot of fun. Our first date, we went flying. Kind of a unique first date.  But a little scary at first.

It soon became comfortable.  They married in 1995.

Michelle Schrenker: I mean, I adored him. I mean, I really, really loved him.

He was a young man in a hurry.  In his twenties, Marcus launched a career as an investment adviser.  The business seemed to grow steadily. It had several names over time, including "heritage wealth management." 

Michelle Schrenker: I would just describe him as a financial adviser, who did portfolio management for affluent individuals.  That's the best way I could describe it. You know, he managed the business, and I managed the home.  You know?  And that's how it ran.

And that may be. But go back a few years, and take a look at the heritage wealth management Web site, circa 2005. There's Marcus (from Web site video: “Hi, I'm Marcus Schrenker”) with what now seems an oddly foreboding sales pitch... (From Web site video: "Your investments are your parachute.")

Then, there's Michelle.  (From Web site video: "Hi, I'm Michelle Schrenker, the Chief Financial Officer of Heritage Wealth Management.")

Michelle Schrenker: That was done, gosh, a few years ago, and each employee at the time did a little spot.  The dialogue was written by Marcus, and it was right from a teleprompter. Marcus wanted to create an image - it was done for marketing purposes.

Keith Morrison: A big company.

Michelle Schrenker: Yeah, just to make it seem bigger than it was at the time.

Michelle says she was really a stay-at-home mom focused on her children, and by all accounts, did a wonderful job:

Cindy Gooding: They had it all.  Beautiful children.

Friends like Cindy Gooding say the Schrenkers were a perfect family.  When she took the kids to lunch one day, a stranger stopped her:

Cindy Gooding: He said, "I have to tell you, your children are the most well-behaved children I have ever seen.” I started tearing up.  You know, I was so proud of them. That's the kind of family they were.

To some, that is.  But around Geist, in recent years, strange stories began circulating about Marcus.

Tom Britt: I would describe his personality as, you know, it's been described as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I could see that.

Tom Britt, who runs the popular Geist area newsletter and Web site, knew the Schrenkers, and liked Marcus.

Tom Britt: And it was just hard to believe, it didn't synch up with the guy that I knew. You know, there's a lot of stories and they're urban legends.  But you know, you hear so many of them, you have to believe at least one of them is true.  And if any one of them are true, you just think the guy's crazy.

And as the stories got stranger and stranger, questions began to percolate in the waters of Cocktail Cove.

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