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Wednesday, January 26, 2005 --
10:25 AM
After receiving notification that DNA test results indicated and
dental records confirmed that the head found in Yoknapatawpha County
belonged to Denise Hartigan, Detectives Murphy and Armstrong returned to
the Hartigan residence and notified them of the findings. The Hartigans
were then separated and interviewed individually.
Adam Hartigan was interviewed at his residence
in Oxford.
The interview was conducted by Detectives Armstrong and Murphy and was
recorded on a portable tape recorder with the witnesses' knowledge and
consent.
- TA = Detective T. Armstrong
- SM = Detective S. Murphy
- AH = Adam Hartigan
TA: For the record, would you state your name, age, and address?
AH: Adam Hartigan. 52. 1315 Mesquite Drive in Tara Estates.
TA: Mr. Hartigan, we know this is a difficult time for you right now,
so we'll try to make this as quick and easy as possible.
AH: I'd appreciate it, Detective.
SM: Were you aware that your daughter, Denise, had come back
to Oxford
after being gone for seven years?
AH: No, I wasn't. It all came as a total shock to me, as well it
should have been. I... I still just don't know what to say or think
about any of it. I have a
million questions myself.
SM: Did you see your daughter during her seven-year absence?
AH: No, I did not. Not a word, not a telephone call. Some people might
think that lessens the sting, but I tell you, it just makes it worse. The
not knowing part, it just eats away at me. And I'm bad off enough as it
is.
SM: Did anyone you know have contact with Denise during her absence?
AH: I think my wife might have spoken to her a time or two, but you
have to understand, it's been very difficult at our house for some time
now. With my illness and having to give up the practice, it just frankly
hasn't left much room for reaching out. Let me put it this way, I always
said that if Denise was that adamant about leaving home, then we should
let her go. When I was her age all I wanted to do was get out and see
the world. That's all she was doing. And I let her, partly because she
needed it and partly because I had to get better. Maybe I was part of
it, you know. Maybe she didn't want to stick around and see her daddy
wither away from sickness.
TA: What is your health situation?
AH: Near the end of 1997, I was diagnosed with cancer of the lungs. Now I smoked the
occasional cigar, but never cigarettes. I didn't know how this had come
about, only that I had to get better so that I could live to support my
family, or what was left of it. You see, my other daughter, Rita, had
run off by that point. The world was falling in around me, see. But back
to what I was saying. The doctors told me I had a fighting chance if I
focused on recovering, and that's exactly what I did. I fought back and
danged if I didn't whip it around 1999. The blight went into
remission, thank God. Cancer's a terrible killer, but it's not
invincible... or so I thought. You see, early this year it started
creeping back on me. And now it's full-blown again. It's eating up my
lungs, and I'm trying hard as ever to fight back, but the last time took
so much out of me. I haven't been the same. I had to give up my law
practice. My daughters both disappeared on me.
SM: Mr. Hartigan, we kind of got off the subject a bit. We need to
know if anyone else had kept in contact with Denise during her absence.
AH: I'm sorry. I'm just prone to ramblings, you know, trying to say
all I can while I still can. Before the blight crawls up in my head.
SM: Of course.
AH: Let's see, there's Grant. Grant Sexton. Denise was engaged to him
before she left Oxford. He hasn't had much luck keeping up with her, but
he always keeps us informed about what little he hears. He found out that she
was living in New Orleans, and he seemed to think she was caught up in
some voodoo nonsense down there. It really upset Alicia and me, but we
kept praying that she was safe. I keep contact with her that way, you
know. Through prayer. God always let me know she was safe.
TA: But now it seems like she wasn't.
AH: I like to think the Lord needed her for something.
That's why he took her from us. We don't know what happened to her out
there. Her life may have been a sacrifice for the greater good.
SM: Mr. Hartigan, what about your other daughter, Rita? What were the
circumstances behind her disappearance?
AH: Rita was a much more rebellious child than Denise. The second
children always are. I was a second child myself. My parents wanted me
to become a lawyer, and I did. But lately I've started to realize that I
may have ignored the call to become a preacher for God. Can you believe
that? I think God had been talking to me, but I wasn't listening. Of
course, now I hear loud and clear.
SM: Mr. Hartigan, if we could get back to Rita.
AH: Rita... We had a devil of a time keeping a hold on her.
She was the type to creep outside the house at night. Had all kinds of
boyfriends and what have you. Well, when she was 17 years old, she met a fella in town who was passing through on his way home, somewhere up
North. He'd been in boot camp, a Marine. She'd fallen in love with this
guy after one night. I never met this guy, but he's all she ever talked
about, no matter what we said. We raised her better
than that. We gave her everything she ever wanted and taught her right
and wrong. But she was disobedient. It was her way, every time. So she
got fed up with us, for showing her her mistakes and for making her feel
guilty, which, I admit, was the wrong way to handle things. We should
have shown her more love and tried to help her through this thing
better, but in the heat of battle.... Anyway, she kept saying she was
going off to live with this character -- Jimmy, I believe, his
name was. And then she did. Just up and disappeared. And we didn't know
where this guy lived, only that he was from up North. There was no way
to get in touch with her. Believe me, we searched and searched. But then
my cancer came on and there was less time to look, even though I wanted
to find Rita worse than ever. I had realized by this time what we had
done wrong. But it was too late. I truly think my cancer was a wake up
call from God. He smacked me upside the head because I'd been ignoring
his call my whole life. Understandably, this was a difficult time in our
home. And it was in the thick of it that Denise left.
TA: How did you search for Rita?
AH: Just gathering clues, talking to friends. Nobody knew much about
it. We hired a private investigator, but he couldn't turn up anything.
TA: Who was this private investigator?
AH: I don't remember his name. Something Shaw, maybe. He was a real
jackass. I think he was pulling a fast one on us. He disappeared from
town.
SM: Why did you not contact the authorities when Rita disappeared?
AH: What could the police have done?
SM: They could have helped search for her.
AH: She didn't want to be found. Involving the police would have made
her resentful. She would never have come back. We were hoping she'd come
back when she ready. I mean, we knew where she'd gone.
TA: But you said you didn't know where the boyfriend lived.
AH: We didn't know the exact location, but we knew she went to stay
with him. It wasn't like she just up and disappeared one day, even if it
looked that way to people outside the family. If we had
called the police, we'd have been looking at a major scandal. Major
embarrassment. Alicia is heavily involved in the community. It would
have just been trouble. I mean, don't get me wrong. We loved Rita to
death....
TA: No one knew this boyfriend?
AH: How does anyone know what they'd do at any
given time?! Do you know what a tragedy that was for our family? Do you
know how much we've suffered? Do you know what's it like to see some
f****** psycho chopping your daughter's head off every time you go to
sleep?
SM: Mr. Hartigan, you need to calm down. Take a few deep
breaths. Have some water.
AH: I apologize. I get very emotional these days.
SM: We understand. Are you ready to continue?
AH: Yes.
TA: You and your wife have a swimming pool. Is that correct?
AH: Yes, it is.
TA: What brand of sanitizing products do you use?
AH: The chlorine? AquaChem. It's the standard brand. I bought
it at Wal-Mart, same as anybody in Oxford who has a pool.
SM: Have you noticed any missing buckets in the past couple of months?
AH: No. All my buckets are accounted for.
TA: How do you mean?
AH: I mean, none of them disappeared. I use a bucket, then when it's
empty I throw it away. There's a dumpster just down the road from me,
and that's where I take them. Somebody could have taken it out of there
for all I know.
SM: Have you ever thrown away a bucket still containing chlorine?
AH: Nope. I use every bit. No sense wasting it.
TA: Do you know of anyone who might have wanted to harm Denise?
AH: I really can't think of anyone. But then again, I don't
know the people she associated with over the past seven years. There could
be any number of people. I mean, she supposedly traveled all over the
damn country following some band. I don't know what kind of people
that lifestyle attracts. And this voodoo business. Who knows? Who could
say?
SM: Has anyone asked about her since she left?
AH: People ask about her all the time. It's a small town, and she was
well liked.
SM: Who asked?
AH: Old friends, acquaintances. Harmless people. It's all polite talk.
They all gossip about it, I'm sure. Word gets around how she's up to God-knows-what with hoodlums from all over. They just want to see me cringe.
But I just smile and say, "Denise? She's doing just fine. Just seeing
the world, sowing her oats. She's going be a strong woman some day."
SM: Mr. Hartigan, you mentioned earlier that Grant Sexton told you
Denise was living in New Orleans and practicing voodoo. How much do
you know about that?
AH: That's pretty much it. I find it hard to believe. I didn't
want to know anything about voodoo, but she was raised Christian, and it
seems to me that cutting up chickens and chanting and all that
would just be Satanic to her. But Grant also tried to tell us she was messing around
with marijuana and PCP, cocaine and LSD. It... it's not something a
father wants to think about his daughter, you know what I mean? The
Denise Hartigan I knew and raised was not a drug abuser or a cult
worshiper. The truth can so easily become distorted, and I don't know
what to believe about Denise. Seven years is a long time. And drugs can
change a person, if in fact she was hooked on drugs, which I hate to
think about. But all I know is what my daughter
was like when she lived at home.
TA: Tell us then.
AH: Tell you what?
TA: Tell us about your daughter, Denise, when she lived at
home.
AH: My daughters were my life. The soul of me. When you have children,
you dole a little of yourself out, and then you nurture that child as it
grows. Both of my girls were part of me. It's when the outside world
gets ahold of them that they become something else. And that's fine.
It's the way life works. I just don't know what got ahold of my
daughters. Other than it was punishment from God. Now my girl, Denise,
she was an angel. She was polite. She made good grades in school. She
was respectful, and she had a huge capacity for love. Enormous. I truly
believed she and Rita both were the good parts of me that went
unrealized. I always told them that life was a relay race, and that I
was passing on everything to them. All my love. And they ran with it....
Only thing is, neither one of them finished the race.
SM: We're sorry for your loss, Mr. Hartigan. That will be enough for today. If we need
anything more, we'll get in touch with you.
AH: I'm sorry too.
Interview ends --
11:07 AM |
