Tuesday, February 3, 2004 -- 4:01 PM

The witness, who is a judge for the Yoknapatawpha Literature Festival Beauty Pageant, was interviewed over the telephone from his studio in Memphis, Tennessee. The interview was conducted by Detectives Armstrong and Murphy of the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department. The interview was recorded on a portable tape recorder with the witness' knowledge and consent.

TA = Detective T. Armstrong
SM = Detective S. Murphy
FM = Frank Margold

SM: Thanks for your time. Could you please state your name and address?

FM: Frank Margold. I live at 8103 Meadow Glen Drive, Germantown, Tennessee.

SM: And what is your occupation?

FM: I own Margold Studios. A photography studio.

SM: Were you in Oxford on the night of January 30th?

FM: Yes, I was.

SM: Why were you there?

FM: As you know, I'm a judge for the Yoknapatawpha County Literature Festival Pageant. There was a party that evening for the finalists. Most of the contestants were there, even those who weren't finalists. The sponsors. Town society folk. And all the judges were asked to attend, so that's why I was there.

TA: So you weren't really working that night?

FM: Not officially. In my line of business, you're always working. You never know when you might discover some supermodel at a coffee shop. So I feel like I'm always working. But no, that evening was considered more of a social event. I did take some pictures at the end of the evening, but that was it.

SM: Why do you judge these competitions?

FM: I enjoy it, for one. And for another reason, it's good exposure. I get my name out there and the type of women who want to model hear about Margold Studios. At the same time, I'm able to come into contact with a lot of beautiful women. Those are all potential clients for me. It's just all around good exposure for me and my business. If you're a sports agent, then you spend a lot of time hanging around all-star games looking for clients. Beauty pageants are my all-star games.

SM: You're known for being pretty tough on the women. Why are you so hard on them?

FM: I want to warn people about this business. When a girl enters my office, either for modeling advice or pageant advice, I put them through a grueling interview. I try to destroy them and drive them out of my industry and out of my office because I don't want their conscience on mine. I don't want someone to get a broken heart and low self-esteem because of this racket. I don't want Jacob Marley's ghost coming back to get this Scrooge. The whole series of them clanking around after me. I don't need that. The ones that make it are the ones who are determined to succeed. Or won't be turned away. They'll tell me to go to hell. But they won't be denied. That's what I'm looking for. If some girl gets teary-eyed on stage, then how is she going to handle this gig? I'm tough on them because I want to see if they can take it.

TA: What did you do after the gala that evening? After you took the photos?

FM: I went to my room and went to bed. We were supposed to have finals the next day and I wanted to get plenty of sleep.

SM: Anyone with you?

FM: While I was sleeping? No, ma'am.

TA: How did you hear about what happened to Barbara Dubois?

FM: The next morning, there was a lot of racket in the hall early in the morning. I finally went out to see what was going on, and someone told me she was dead.

TA: Who told you?

FM: One of the other finalists. Ingrid Freeman.

SM: What was your reaction when you heard the news?

FM: I was shocked. Stunned. I've never heard of anything like this happening at a pageant before.

SM: Did you know Ms. Dubois?

FM: Not personally, but I've seen her work her way up the circuit. Gorgeous girl. Very talented, very tough competitor, but--

TA: But what?

FM: Her heart wasn't in it. Oh, she was a shoo-in for this contest, no doubt about it. In a different league all together than the other two finalists. But I could tell.

SM: How could you tell? Can you give us an example?

FM: It was in her eyes mostly. She was always enthusiastic at the right times. She smiled in all the right places, said all the right things, made all the right moves.  She was a winner any way you looked at it.  But her smile, her enthusiasm never really made it all the way to her eyes. If you looked closely at her eyes, they looked a little sad. I'm a photographer, so I notice things like that.

SM: You could tell by her eyes?

FM: Yes.

SM: Anything else?  Anything more concrete?

FM: Well... I heard she'd passed on the Miss Tupelo pageant to visit family in the Delta. If she was serious about competing, she never would've done that because winning Miss Tupelo would put her on the road to Miss Mississippi, which leads to the holy grail for these girls -- Miss America.

TA: What did you do after you heard the news?

FM: Well, nothing at first. After a while, I started making calls, trying to find out what was happening with the pageant -- if we were canceling it. It took a long time for them to decide, but finally did decide to cancel it, which was the right decision in my opinion. I'm sure Allie Lamar was fit to be tied.

TA: What makes you say that?

FM: I kept hearing her on the news, saying the pageant should go on. And... well, I don't know her very well, but I doubt she was too happy that they decided to cancel it.

TA: Okay. What did you do after they decided to cancel the rest of the pageant?

FM: I had to drive back to Memphis. My assistant and I loaded my car up with all the equipment and we got the hell out of Dodge. I had an early shoot the next morning.

TA: Long drive.

FM: Tell me about it. Almost two hours door-to-door. By the time I got my gear loaded and got outta there, it was well past dark when I finally got home. I unloaded, caught a few hours of sleep and then did my next job in the morning.

SM: That's about all we need right now, Mr. Margold. Thanks again for talking with us.  Could we possibly call you again? We'll need to know more about this whole pageant business. It could really help us.

FM: Absolutely. I could talk all day about this racket.

SM: Thanks. We'll be in touch.

Interview ended 4:22 PM