Tuesday, March 20, 2001 – 4:00 p.m.
_x000D_Roger Hammond was once married to the victim, Missy Hammond.
_x000D_At Detectives Armstrong and Murphy’s request, he came into the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff’s Department for another interview.
_x000D_He was accompanied by his attorney, Glenn Jones.
_x000D_The interview was recorded with the witness’s knowledge and consent.
_x000D_Participants:
_x000D_- _x000D_
- Detective T. Armstrong _x000D_
- Detective S. Murphy _x000D_
- Roger Hammond _x000D_
- Glenn Jones _x000D_
Detective Murphy: Thanks for coming back down to speak with us again.
_x000D_Detective Armstrong: Getting a little nervous there, Roger? Bringing in your attorney and all.
_x000D_Glenn Jones: With you in the picture, I wish Roger had included me earlier. I’m warning you, Armstrong, I’m not going to let you berate and badger my client.
_x000D_Detective Murphy: That’s fine, Mr. Jones. Now, would the witness please state his name and address?
_x000D_Roger Hammond: I’m Roger Hammond, and I live at 4314 Mockingbird in Oxford.
_x000D_Detective Murphy: OK. This can be really easy if you let it. We’ll just get right to it. Did you murder Missy Hammond?
_x000D_Roger Hammond: No!
_x000D_Detective Armstrong: Positive?
_x000D_Roger Hammond: Of course.
_x000D_Glenn Jones: Thirty seconds in and I’m already warning you, Detective.
_x000D_Detective Armstrong: Go ahead and admit it, Roger. We’ve got more than enough evidence to convict you.
_x000D_Roger Hammond: What evidence do you have?
_x000D_Detective Murphy: Admit that you did it, and we’ll tell you.
_x000D_Glenn Jones: He’ll admit nothing of the sort. If you’ve got something to say or evidence to produce, then do so. But quit baiting my client.
_x000D_Detective Armstrong: You know what, Jones? We’ll make you a deal. If your client can give us an alibi for the time of Missy’s murder — one that can actually be verified instead of this flimflam he’s been feeding us so far — we’ll drop the whole thing and we can all go home.
_x000D_Glenn Jones: Roger has already told you where he was, and at some risk to himself may I point out, since it was in violation of the custody order.
_x000D_Detective Armstrong: Well, there’s a problem. We can’t get anyone to corroborate exactly where he was from, oh say, 3:30, 3:45 until sometime around 4:30 or 5:00. His co-workers say he wasn’t at Farrell Motors. His own parents say he wasn’t with them. So where were you, Roger?
_x000D_Glenn Jones: My client has already given you his alibi. If you can’t verify it, that’s your problem.
_x000D_Detective Murphy: OK, how about this. You remember when we searched your house, right Roger? Well, one of the things we removed was a piece of rope. It was tied around a box in your storage room. Remember it? It’s Evidence #000524-47 in case you’re interested, Counselor. It just so happens that your rope is consistent with the ligature marks on Missy’s neck.
_x000D_Roger Hammond: Well, I don’t, uh, know. I don’t see how that’s possible.
_x000D_Glenn Jones: There are any number of explanations. Common types of rope often leave similar markings. It’s just bad luck that the rope he had in his house is similar to that used by the killer.
_x000D_Detective Armstrong: And is it also just bad luck that same piece of rope found in Roger’s house had a few links of gold in it? 14-carat gold that’s consistent with a necklace Missy used to wear every day. The necklace that Missy’s beloved daughter saved her allowance to buy. The necklace that has been missing since her death.
_x000D_Glenn Jones: Well, nevertheless, that’s still circumstantial evidence.
_x000D_Roger Hammond: Glenn, this is stupid. I don’t have to sit here and listen to this, do I?
_x000D_Glenn Jones: No, you don’t. Detectives, I’m warning you both. You’d better behave yourselves or else this interview is over. If you think you’ve got enough to charge my client, then you should do it. As it stands right now, I don’t see how you’ve got very much.
_x000D_Detective Armstrong: How about the fact that Missy’s fingernail fragment was found in a vacuum cleaner filter from the Farrell Motors car dealership?
_x000D_Roger Hammond: What?
_x000D_Detective Murphy: When Missy’s body was examined, there were some fingernails missing. Like she had broken them off when she was struggling with her attacker. We found one of them in a filter from your dealership.
_x000D_Roger Hammond: That’s impossible! Why I—
_x000D_Glenn Jones: Once again, Detective, that could be simply a coincidence. Or it could be the killer is trying to frame Roger.
_x000D_Detective Armstrong: He’s doing a damn good job of it, if you ask me. You doing all right there, Roger? You’re not looking so good.
_x000D_Roger Hammond: Can I have some water?
_x000D_Detective Murphy: Sure.
_x000D_Glenn Jones: You wouldn’t look so good either, Detective, if you were being treated this way.
_x000D_Roger Hammond: It’s– it’s just that I—
_x000D_Glenn Jones: Had nothing to do with Missy’s death. And that’s all there is to it.
_x000D_Detective Murphy: Let’s just have the truth, Roger. This can all be over with fairly quickly.
_x000D_Roger Hammond: I, uh, I just don’t know—
_x000D_Glenn Jones: Quit begging my client. He’s not going to confess to something just so your workday can be a little shorter.
_x000D_Detective Armstrong: Why don’t you just clam up over there for a minute, and let us get through this?
_x000D_Glenn Jones: See that’s just the kind of attitude that—
_x000D_Detective Murphy: Gentlemen! Now, Roger. You know what else we found out from Missy’s fingernails? The DNA analysis of the trace amounts of skin under her nails didn’t exclude you. It excluded Steve Kirby. And it excluded Kevin Travers. And it pretty well excluded JP Wallace. But not you. And there’s other stuff—
_x000D_Glenn Jones: This is all very interesting, but none of it—
_x000D_Detective Murphy: Why did we find your hair in Missy’s house, Roger?
_x000D_Roger Hammond: What?
_x000D_Detective Murphy: It was in her living room. It was in her bed. How do you explain that?
_x000D_Roger Hammond: I—
_x000D_Glenn Jones: He doesn’t have to explain it.
_x000D_Detective Murphy: Roger, you know that we had paternity tests performed on Liddie.
_x000D_Roger Hammond: Yes. And if that damn Steve Kirby thinks he’s going to take my daughter—
_x000D_Detective Murphy: Relax, Roger. You’re the father. The tests reveal that you are, in fact, Liddie’s father.
_x000D_Roger Hammond: I am? Thank god. I always knew she was my little girl.
_x000D_Detective Armstrong: Yup. Too bad that you won’t be able to see her from jail. Did we mention that stains on some your clothing that we took into evidence from your house matched the wine we found in Missy’s house and the wine that was spilled on Missy’s rug?
_x000D_Roger Hammond: Jail? Oh my god… Jesus, why do I always mess up?
_x000D_Detective Armstrong: Mess up how? By killing Missy when you didn’t have to?
_x000D_Glenn Jones: Detectives, this interview is over—
_x000D_Roger Hammond: Why? I was her father all along—
_x000D_Glenn Jones: Roger, shut up.
_x000D_Detective Armstrong: Go ahead, Roger, just admit it.
_x000D_Roger Hammond: I could’ve waited. The tests—
_x000D_Detective Murphy: Waited for what?
_x000D_Glenn Jones: Roger! Shut up!
_x000D_Roger Hammond: Ohhh. What is Mama going to say?
_x000D_Detective Murphy: Come on, Roger, quit babbling. Talk to us. Make some sense, and we’ll try to help you.
_x000D_Glenn Jones: No, he will not talk to you! Roger, don’t say another word.
_x000D_Roger Hammond: But– but why did I—
_x000D_Glenn Jones: Dammit, Roger! This interview is over!
_x000D_Detective Murphy: That’s OK, Glenn. We don’t need any more. The officers will meet you outside to take your client into custody.
_x000D_End interview – 4:39 p.m.