Hartigan Case Summary: The Investigation So Far

After reviewing the scenes, Detectives Murphy and Armstrong interviewed David Whitehead, as well as his son Kyle and Kyle's friend Megan Ferris. Kyle described to police how he and Megan found the vandalism scene. Megan also talked about the circumstances surrounding the discovery. Investigators then conducted a canvass of residents in the area to learn whether anyone had seen or heard anything unusual in recent weeks.

Following up on evidence recovered at the vandalism scene, YCSD investigators uncovered information that a Denise Hartigan had lived in the Yoknapatawpha County area in recent years and interviewed her parents to determine whether their daughter had been in the area lately.

The detectives contacted law enforcement in neighboring counties to find out whether any partial human remains had been found in their jurisdictions recently. They learned that various body parts had been discovered in Pontotoc County, Panola County and Calhoun County.

Armstrong and Murphy then urged the Coroner to process the remains found in Yoknapatawpha County as quickly as possible and compare the DNA with the remains found in the surrounding counties and provide a preliminary report regarding the identity of the victim. Once they learned who the victim was, the detectives met with her father and her mother. After notifying the parents of their daughter's death, they interviewed the father and then the mother separately, to learn more about their past and present relationships with their daughter.

After speaking with the victim's parents, Detectives Murphy and Armstrong contacted the victim's ex-fiancé for an interview. The ex-fiancé told them about his relationship with the victim over the years, his trip to New Orleans to visit the victim and the surprising information he learned about her while he was there. He also told the detectives that his former roommate was acquainted with the victim, as well.

Armstrong and Murphy interviewed the former roommate, who told them more shocking stories about the trip to New Orleans and about her history with the victim.. They also learned from the former roommate the date the victim was expected to arrive in Oxford. Following the interview, the former roommate provided investigators with a report from a private investigator she'd hired, a telephone message from the victim, copies of telephone bills showing outgoing long distance calls from her residence, and information about the victim's travels since she left Oxford.

Detectives Murphy and Armstrong also interviewed a second former roommate of the victim's ex-fiancé. This former roommate told more about the relationships between the victim and the other roommates and between the roommates themselves.

Upon learning that Mark Lynch, who lives near the scene where the head was found, had returned to his home in Taylor, the detectives called him in for an interview. Mark Lynch told them he had never met the victim and that he did not know anything about the murder or about any unusual activities in his neighborhood.

Preliminary forensic analysis results received from the State Crime Lab provided some new leads to pursue, but further results are expected and investigators are hopeful those results will help identify one or more strong suspects.

After interviewing friends and associates of the victim's family, YCSD investigators learned the identity of the best friend of the victim's sister. The friend told the detectives more about the victim's sister and about the family in general. She also provided more information about the sister's possible current whereabouts and the full name of the Marine who allegedly was involved with the sister before her disappearance. Armstrong and Murphy then traveled to the city where he lives to interview him. He also provided a copy of his long distance phone bill for the time the victim was staying with him.

In response to information the Marine provided, Armstrong and Murphy checked into whether the victim had received any money just prior to her death, particularly enough money to fund her trip to Oxford, and found one transaction of interest.

Detectives Murphy and Armstrong located Eddie Lynch, Mark Lynch's brother, and interviewed him by telephone at his residence in Florida. Lynch described some of the unusual things he witnessed in the Taylor area, near where the victim's head was found, during his visit to Oxford in December 2004.

The detectives also learned that Joey Grimes, former landlord of the victim's ex-fiancé, was in town and made arrangements to interview him. In addition to describing the damage he found at his home, Grimes also provided a copy of his phone bill showing the outgoing long distance calls placed during the time the ex-fiancé was living there.

Investigators also conducted a thorough search of records in Yoknapatawpha County and other areas of interest. Their efforts turned up a speeding ticket and a red light camera photo that provide more information on the whereabouts of one of the suspects around the time the victim likely arrived in town.

On February 23, one of the suspects placed a 911 call asking for assistance with a strange incident at his residence. Following up on that incident, as well as unanswered questions in the homicide investigation, detectives conducted a second interview with that suspect during which he made several startling revelations. He later wrote out a statement describing the relevant events.

To follow up on that statement, investigators conducted a canvass of the Coles Point neighborhood in an effort to find any corroborating witnesses. The canvass led them to a man who may have seen or heard something relevant to the investigation. Detectives Murphy and Armstrong interviewed the man and uncovered some promising new information. Working from that information, the detectives obtained the records for a nearby pay phone.

Pursuing leads obtained from the witness at Coles Point, as well as the pay phone records, the detectives then re-interviewed the victim's father and mother. Next, they obtained search warrants for several key witnesses to search their residences and vehicles.

Before all of the search warrants could be executed, there was a surprising new development. Following that incident, K-9 units were brought in to assist with investigation of the scene, which led to a pivotal discovery. Initial review of other evidence from the scene also turned up some correspondence of interest to the investigation.