Saturday, May 30, 2009 - 1:00 PM

Detective Armstrong and Detective Murphy of the Yoknapatawpha Sheriff’s Department interviewed the witness, who is the father of Taylor Duncan. The interview was conducted at the Yoknapatawpha Sheriff's Department and recorded on a portable tape recorder with the witness's knowledge and consent.

Detective Samantha Murphy

Detective Ted Armstrong

Marlin Duncan

Detective Murphy: For the record please state your name and address.

Marlin Duncan:  Marlin Duncan.  I'm at 721 College Hill Road.

Detective Murphy:  Thank you for coming down, Mr. Duncan.  We wanted to talk to you about your daughter, Taylor.

Marlin Duncan.  What's to talk about?  She's dead.  Or at least I hope she is.

Detective Armstrong:  Why do you say that?

Marlin Duncan:  She disappeared a year ago.  Blanche, I suppose she told you how Taylor is still alive, that we're going to find her some day, and she's going to come home and that everything is going to be back to normal.  The girl's been gone a year.  If someone took her, she's going to be so twisted out of shape that she's never going to recover.  If someone took her, I pray she died quickly.

Detective Murphy:  She may have just run off.  Some kids do.

Marlin Duncan:  Not Taylor.  Not my little girl.  We were too close for that to happen.  She never would have gone on an adventure without telling me.

Detective Murphy:  We'd like you to take a look at his photograph.  You'll want to prepare yourself first.

Marlin Duncan:  That looks like Taylor.

Detective Armstrong:  What do you know about Blake Jenson?

Marlin Duncan:  I know she was seen in his car that night.  I talked to the boy.

Detective Armstrong:  When?

Marlin Duncan:  As soon as I learned his name.  Me and a guy from work, we sat him down and had a talk.

Detective Armstrong:  And what did Blake say?

Marlin Duncan:  He claimed she sat with him in his car for a while, and then she left.

Detective Armstrong:  Did you believe him?

Marlin Duncan:  He never changed his story.  They guy I work with, he's a lot bigger than me, tough.  I figured if we couldn't break Jenson down, maybe there was nothing for him to confess.  But then when I heard he got electrocuted, I had to wonder if providence wanted to see him fry.

Detective Murphy:  Did you take it upon yourself to interview anybody else?

Marlin Duncan:  Listen, Taylor was my daughter.  If you had a daughter that went missing, I bet you wouldn't just sit on your hands and do nothing.  Taylor was the light of my life.  When she went missing, I turned dark.

Detective Armstrong:  Refresh my memory.  When Taylor left for that party, you weren't home yet, were you?

Marlin Duncan:  No, I jumped on any overtime I could get.  We were saving money to go away, a big trip, the whole family.  Blanche spent it on psychics and commercials and fliers.

Detective Armstrong:  So it wasn't unusual for you to work late?

Marlin Duncan:  Nah.  Now of course I think I could have had that extra time with her, but if this happened, I'd regret we'd never been able to take that trip.  Whatever you do, it's wrong.  That's what it is, being a parent.

Detective Murphy:  Joey would have been what, eleven at the time?

Marlin Duncan:  Something like that, yeah.

Detective Murphy:  Was it out of character for Taylor to leave him alone in the house to go off to a party?

Marlin Duncan:  Joey could take care of himself.  Two working parents, those things happen.  So to answer your question, no, it wasn't out of character for Taylor to leave the kid alone.

Detective Murphy:  Do you know whether anything -- anyone -- was bothering Taylor?

Marlin Duncan:  Just normal stuff.  Listen.  You folks supposedly investigated this a year ago.  If you couldn't find anything when the trail was fresh, what makes you think you can find something now?  That picture, where did you find it?

Detective Armstrong:  We're not at liberty to say.

Marlin Duncan:  Sure.  Those TV cops, week after week they solve these old crimes.  Makes you folks look bad.  You want to get in on the action.  I can understand that.  I just don't want you dragging this out.

Detective Murphy:  That's not our intention, Mr. Duncan.  I'm sorry for your loss.

Marlin Duncan:  Yeah, well, if you have any other questions, you give me a call.  I think I'm going to go.

Detective Armstrong:  Of course.

Interview ends:  2:15 PM