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Oxford Eagle
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Victim's parents refuse to cooperate in murder
investigation
By Loretta Winston
STAFF WRITER
The parents of Denise Hartigan have refused to give further aid to
the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department in the ongoing
investigation of their daughter's murder. According to a statement
released Wednesday, Adam and Alicia Hartigan will answer no more
questions from detectives because of the "disrespectful treatment
[they] and [their] friends and neighbors have been subjected to"
during the course of the investigation.
"We simply feel that this is not a serious investigation into the
death of our daughter," Alicia Hartigan read from a prepared
statement at a
small press conference outside the Hartigans' home Wednesday
afternoon. "Instead of catching the murderer, the
investigators are digging up vicious rumors and hearsay regarding our daughters'
and our own personal life. Even my husband and I, who had not
seen Denise in seven years, are apparently considered suspects in
this so-called investigation. It's an insult to our daughter
and to justice itself, and we will not cooperate any longer.
We would rather go on in the dark about our daughter's
killer or killers than to face the daily barrage of insults
and accusatory remarks made by the police and the
public."
"We have opened our home and our privacy to the detectives, and they
return these gestures with slander," Adam Hartigan said. "Any further correspondence will be done
through our attorneys."
Hartigan was an attorney himself until a cancer diagnosis forced him
to retire. The family has hired the firm of Frye & Pierson to
represent them.
Denise Hartigan's head was found inside a bucket in Taylor on
January 15, and was linked through DNA testing to several earlier discoveries of body
parts in surrounding counties. Autopsy results indicate that Hartigan may have been murdered as
much as a
month prior to the discovery of her head. Almost 300 yards north of
where the bucket was found, a
strange ritual site was discovered that reportedly has investigators
seeking information as far away as the New Orleans voodoo district, where
it's believed Hartigan lived for several years.
Just prior to her death, Denise Hartigan is thought to have been in
Cleveland, Ohio. Friends say she had gone there in hopes of reuniting
with her younger sister, Rita, who walked away from her family and her
life in Oxford in 1997.
The Hartigan parents have not been named as official
suspects by police, and investigators are said to be "disappointed" by
the Hartigans' decision to withdraw their assistance. In a statement,
the Sheriff's Public Information Officer Elizabeth Jones responded to
the Hartigans' remarks: "It is in the best interest of Mr.
and Mrs. Hartigan to continue their participation in this
investigation. Their goals and the goals of the
Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department are one and the same
-- to bring Denise Hartigan's killer to justice."
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