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Saturday, February 19, 2005 --
2:40 PM
After locating Jimmy Riddle in Ohio, YCSD investigators traveled
there to talk with him. Jimmy Riddle was interviewed at his residence in Cleveland,
Ohio. 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
- JR = Jimmy Riddle
SM: For the record, please state your name, age,
address and occupation.
JR: Jimmy Riddle, 28 years old. I live at 2056 East 4th
Street, Cleveland, Ohio. I tend bar
at the Marriott.
SM: Mr. Riddle, would you describe your relationship to
the victim, Denise Hartigan.
JR: Denise stayed in the spare bedroom at my apartment from
November 20 to
December 22 last year.
TA: So she was your roommate?
JR: Kind of. I guess you could say we were romantically involved
during that time too.
TA: Did you know her before November 20?
JR: No, I did not.
TA: How did she approach you?
JR: Well, you know, being a bartender, chicks come up all the
time, but I had nothing better to do, so... She showed up at the bar
where I work one evening around 9
o'clock or so and, uh, essentially seduced me. She
opened a tab and started drinking, talking to me the
whole time. She asked me when I got off work, and I told
her 2:00 a.m. She invited me up to her room for more
drinks, so I agreed. Hey, she was a striking young lady,
and she was very interesting. We were having a good
discussion about the state of affairs in this country.
She was telling me about some of the more upsetting
things she'd seen around the country, and I was
intrigued.
SM: What sort of upsetting things?
JR: Let's see, she talked a lot about the anger she
saw in young people today and how it was misdirected.
She talked about a kid she knew, somebody who traveled
around with her when she followed Widespread Panic, some
kid who was severely beaten by some other people at a concert. She
said the whole thing just started making less and
less sense, that things were too out of control among the
mass culture followers. Uh, then she told me a story
about a friend of hers in California who killed himself by
jumping off a bridge, how he
had been pent up with this anger. We continued talking
about these ideas and possible solutions, and it just
spread out in all different directions. We went upstairs
and continued this way. I remember it being one of the
most interesting and enlightening conversations I've ever
had. We must've talked for like ten hours straight. And
then she got familiar with me, if you know what I'm
saying.
SM: Was this the start of your romantic involvement
with her?
JR: I suppose so, although I don't know how romantic
we were. She seemed to feed off of my sexual energy.
She even mentioned that, told me something like I was
"embossed with lusty menace." I don't know what that meant, but I liked
the sound of it. I told her she
was pretty good too. But I don't think she was romantic.
She wasn't that kind of girl. She was intense and kind
of crazy. And, as it turned out, she was using me to get
the scoop on her sister, Rita. You can imagine my
surprise when, about two days after I met her, she told
me that her sister was Rita Hartigan -- the same one I
spent a little time with down in Oxford, Mississippi, so many
years ago. I got mad, and then kind of freaked out. It
seemed like it could be a scary, peculiar thing, like maybe she was some
kind of Fatal Attraction psycho woman.
TA: What did you say to her?
JR: Well, you know, hey, every guy wants to do sisters, so I
just kept going. I'm a pushover when it comes to a pretty
lady -- psycho or not. Denise was just the kind of
freaky babe I was looking for at the time. I thought it
was best to stick it out because the situation was
getting interesting.
TA: She didn't ask about her sister right away, when she
first approached you?
JR: No. I guess she was toying with me or something.
It was strange how her mind worked. But that's what I
liked about her. She was out there.
SM: So you did, in fact, have a relationship with
Rita Hartigan some years earlier, correct?
JR: Right. Well, it was more like we hooked up, you
know? I mean, I was a kid then. I was coming back from
boot camp. Me and some boys took a trip to New Orleans
when it was all said and done, and on the way back I
stopped in Oxford. I had a friend once who lived
there and I wanted to see if he was still there, but he
wasn't. I liked the town anyway, so I stayed a few days.
I was at a bar there, and this cute little girl comes up and sits in my lap and is all
playful.
SM: This was Rita Hartigan?
JR: I didn't know her name until later, but yeah.
SM: You didn't notice she was too young to be in a bar?
JR: She looked a little young, sure, but it was a college
town... I didn't know. I mean, she did get in the bar, right?
TA: Okay, so she came over and sat in your lap. Then what?
JR: Yeah, so she tells me about herself while I'm steadily
buying her beers and she's getting wasted. I ended up
taking her to my motel room and she conked out right
there. Next morning she was gone, and she left me her
phone number. She wanted me to call and take her out the
next night, so I called her and her father answered. He
was none too pleased to hear my voice. He basically told
me to go to hell, that he didn't like the sound of me.
So I thought that was that, and I was all ready to pack
up and catch a bus home.
SM: But you didn't go home?
JR: No, I was just about to go check out when she arrived at my door. She
was going on and on about how she'd never made love and
wanted me to show her. I let her in and she started
talking about her family life. A real screwed-up
household. She took me to this big overpass outside of
town where she liked to hang out, and we sat underneath
it while she cried and talked my ear off. And we messed
around a little, nothing much. I saw more during the infamous wardrobe
malfunction than I saw that night. You could show everything I did with
Rita on TV and not hear a word from the FCC. Or at least, before they
got so crazy, you could. Now? Who knows?
SM: Okay, Mr. Riddle, before we get off on a tangent here,
let's focus on that night in Oxford. You were under the bridge. The two
of you messed around. Then what?
JR: Then nothing. She went home. I went back to the motel and I left
town the next day. Not a week later, she's calling me up telling me she's
pregnant with my baby. Don't know how she got the
number and, most importantly, don't know how she got the
idea it was my baby. We didn't even do anything except kiss and fondle.
I barely touched her and that's the truth.
TA: You never had intercourse?
JR: No way. She was too messed up, crying and everything.
TA: And that stopped you?
JR: I think
I was really just upset by her whole predicament. It
wasn't like a sexy weekend affair or anything. For
whatever reason, these sisters have -- at two different
times in my life -- felt compelled to confess their
strange, sad lives to me. Don't you find that kind of
strange?
SM: And why was that, you think?
JR: Maybe it was because I could identify with them, coming from an abusive home
too. Only my brother got tired of dad beating on us every day
when we got home from school, so one day he brought home
a pool cue and beat old Daddy down. Killed the old man
in his own living room. Now my brother's doing life in
the penitentiary in Michigan. So you see? We all been
down in it. Just some more than others.
TA: From talking to either sister, what sort of abuse did you believe had gone on in their household?
JR: Hatred. A lot of hate in that family. I
remember one time when Denise was talking to me and
playing mind tricks with me. You know, I was saying
some typical male macho stuff, and I asked her how she
could have such a slippery mind like that, and she told
me, "Years of psychological, family freeze tag." Now, I
don't what that means exactly, but you can imagine. And
what family doesn't play games with each other and act
weird? We're all weird! But I think, personally, she was
repressing some really bad experiences. Little things
she said and ways she'd react when I touched her a
certain way, she'd been handled before by somebody. Her
baby sister was like that too, and that's all in that letter she sent me.
That's why I don't care to recall it, you see.
SM: What letter is this? Did you have more communication with
Rita Hartigan after she called you
and told you about her pregnancy?
JR: Yeah, she called several times, just talking
crazy. So I had my number changed. Then she sent me
this big letter that told everything about her family
life and about her wanting to run away to me. She said
her parents were blaming her and me for having a kid,
knowing damn well it wasn't mine. It scared me to death.
'Cause, like a fool, I had given her my address. I had told her
to come visit, but all that was before she started
talking about carrying my baby. So I was afraid this
little girl was gonna come up here and make me marry her
or something. Go to the cops or God knows what else.
And at that time I was just training in the ROTC, trying
to pay my way through school. So I joined full time and
next thing I know they send me off to Bosnia. Can
you believe that? Let a woman chase me off to war.
TA: What was her letter about?
JR: Mainly about how she couldn't take it anymore
living at home. Couldn't take the abuse. Said her dad was
messed up, just not right. I really felt bad leaving her
out in the cold, but it had done something to her head.
We all have to walk boldly down our own paths.
SM: Did the letter give any details about her relationship with her
father?
JR: Some. I don't remember it all, to tell
you the truth. But I gave it to Denise, and after
she read that, she really went off the deep end. Stayed
locked up in her room. She would get on the phone and
yell at people, okay? It was hard not to eavesdrop. I
don't know if I ever heard her have a civil conversation.
All that anger she was talking about, it was her. She
was all of those seething, violent kids. I remember she
called her mom -- she had told me a few days before that she hadn't spoken to her in six
or seven years -- and the two of them were bickering like she'd never been
away. I could hear her in the next room with the door
shut. Denise telling her, "You're as crazy as Daddy! Why would I want
to come home to that?" She was on the
phone another time talking about her dad to someone, I
don't know who. It wasn't her mom, I don't think, 'cause
she kept saying, "You gotta come up to Oxford and help me
take care of him. This can't go unpunished. We gotta
take care of him." And she wasn't talking about being
his wet nurse. She meant, "Daddy's gotta go."
SM: Do you recall any other conversations she had on
the phone?
JR: Yeah, just one. One night some guy called for her, which
surprised me because I didn't think anyone knew she was here. I answered it, and
he asked to speak to Denise Hartigan, so I told her, "Telephone." I hollered it through the bedroom door. I
heard her pick up and, whoever this dude was, she was
arguing with him. She kept saying, "I don't need you. I
don't want to see you." Something like that. I remember
thinking, "What a life, to be surrounded by people trying
to help you, but people that you hate trying to help
you." But she wouldn't let me talk to her about it.
TA: Did she tell you why she was going to
Oxford?
JR: I didn't even know she was going back. After I
gave her that letter, I thought she was gonna go psycho. She locked herself up. We were
having a swell time until all that.
SM: When did you give her the letter?
JR: I gave it to her probably about a week or so before she left.
SM: What did she do during that week?
JR: Ranted and raved to herself. Made some phone
calls to Oxford and to New Orleans.
TA: Do you know what numbers she called?
JR: I've probably got that phone bill around here somewhere. I
could look for it for you.
TA: That'd be great. When we're done talking. Did she ever
call anyone before then? Before you gave her the letter?
JR: No, I don't think so. Didn't show up on my phone bill if
she did.
SM: You say she left on December 22?
JR: Without a word.
TA: You didn't take her to the airport?
JR: No way. She just up and left. Never heard from
her again.
SM: What did she say about Rita? Had she been
aware of anything going on between Rita and her
father?
JR: She knew, I think. She acted like she didn't,
but it was something she expected. She really didn't say
a whole lot, except asking a lot of cold, direct
questions. Just like you're doing now. But when I gave
her that letter, the questions came to a screeching halt.
I guess that letter answered everything she needed to know. I
don't think she spoke twelve words to me after that. God
rest her soul.
SM: You said she didn't talk to you much, but what did she say
to you in those days after you gave her the letter?
JR: One day -- maybe a day or two after I gave her the letter
-- she asked me where the closest Western Union office was. I guess
someone was sending her some money.
SM: What was she doing for money before that?
JR: I don't know. She had some, not a lot, but I don't know
where she got it.
TA: Did you ever see Rita Hartigan after you left Oxford?
Ever hear from her when you got back from overseas?
JR: Nope. Not a word. And that's just the
way I wanted it. I mean, I didn't deserve any of the
responsibility. I wasn't the father of the kid. I don't
know what happened to Rita.
TA: Did you know what happened to Denise Hartigan after she
left here?
JR: Not until you just told me.
SM: Did you ever go back to Oxford after the time you met Rita
there?
JR: No, no reason to.
TA: Do you know who might have wanted to hurt or kill Denise?
JR: I have no idea. I'm telling you, Denise stayed
at my place, and we were lovers in the off hours. A
little tender company, know what I mean? She stayed home
all day while I was at work, and I can tell you some
strange things were going on here. I would come home
most nights and it smelled like wicked magic, if you can
dig that. She was fond of chants and all that witchy
stuff. She'd chant up a storm in her room, but it was
like she shut it all off when she came to me. And I was
glad of that. Matter of fact, I almost felt taken
advantage of sometimes. I mean, not that I wasn't
getting my fair share for letting her stay. I just mean,
well... she never really liked me much, I don't think. As
much as we loved, I think it was all me, you know?
SM: What kind of car do you drive?
JR: Honda Passport. '96.
SM: What color is the interior?
JR: Maroon.
SM: That's the same car you had when Denise was here?
JR: Yeah.
SM: Did she ever ride in it?
JR: Yeah, she took me to work a couple of times. I
let her borrow it to run errands and see the city.
TA: Thank you. That'll be all for now. If we need to
get back in touch with you, Mr. Riddle, you'll be
around?
JR: I don't think I'm going anywhere for a
while.
Interview ends --
4:04 PM |
