'Kristen' MySpace profile out of sync with reality

BY ANDREW STRICKLER | andrew.strickler@newsday.com

10:36 PM EDT, March 13, 2008

WALL, N.J. - The neighborhood of opulent homes and neatly trimmed lawns where Gov. Eliot Spitzer's high-priced call girl grew up would seem the flip side of the world she described for herself on her MySpace page.

Ashley Alexandra Dupré, an alleged call girl known as "Kristen," who helped bring down New York's governor, writes of a past checkered with poverty and even homelessness.

It's a tough image to reconcile with the wealthy surroundings of a childhood spent with her mother, older brother and stepfather, an oral surgeon.

The white brick home in an upscale development near the Jersey Shore, is bordered with manicured shrubs and a wide, curved driveway. Large brass letters spell "PEACE" above the polished, auburn wood door. A similar house next door, where one of Dupré's close childhood friends still lives, is on the market for more than $1.5 million, according to its owner.

Lauren Del Valle, 24, has long blond hair and drives a black BMW convertible. The pair, one year apart in age, attended Wall Township High School together until Ashley's abrupt departure after her sophomore year.

"Honestly, I can't even fathom it," she said of her old friend's alleged involvement with Gov. Eliot Spitzer. "I mean, Little Ashley. It's like, is this really happening?" Growing up, Ashley, now 22, was a "good, good girl" who was a cheerleader in middle school, baby-sat for neighborhood kids, and liked to karaoke to pop tunes in her ribbon-decorated bedroom, Del Valle said.

"We'd sing Brandi and just stupid stuff like that," she recalled.

Other than "stupid typical parent stuff," Del Valle said her friend seemed to have a close relationship with her mother and stepfather. She had "a few flings with boys," but no serious boyfriends, she said. Dupré's real name is Ashley Youmans.

Del Valle shrugged when asked about Dupré's online claims about poverty and abuse. While acknowledging that she has seen Ashley infrequently since the alleged call girl moved to North Carolina as a teenager to live with her biological father, she never saw signs of trouble.

"She would have told me because we were really close," Del Valle said. "From what I know, they had a lot of money and a lot of things. From what I know, she had a normal, fine childhood."

For her part, Dupré was in seclusion Thursday, out of the media glare and staying silent. Dupré's mother, Carolyn Capalbo, left the house early in the day carrying two bags without speaking to reporters, witnesses said.

The lack of opportunity to talk with Ashley's family did not deter a small army of reporters, photographers and television camera men. TV trucks with New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania plates circled the cul-de-sac up the street and settled in long lines along the curved streets. "Entertainment Tonight," "Inside Edition" and People magazine all were represented.

Neighbors appeared to take the media horde in good humor. "I'm going to get a hot dog cart and make a few bucks," said a woman walking with her son.

Wearing a white tennis outfit and walking her terrier mix, Baxter, Michelle Quense, 40, said she remembered Ashley as a grade schooler putting fliers for baby-sitting services in neighborhood mailboxes.

She also shrugged at the mention of Dupré's description of a hardscrabble upbringing. "It's not a rough neighborhood, as you can see," she said.