|
Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 4:45 p.m.
Bill Dykman, who was identified as the husband of Andrew Fine's sister-in-law, Robyn Campbell Dykman, was interviewed at the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department. The interview was conducted by Detectives Armstrong and Murphy and was recorded on a portable tape recorder with the witness's knowledge and consent.
- TA = Detective T. Armstrong
- SM = Detective S. Murphy
- BD = Bill Dykman
SM: Hi, Mr. Dykman. Thank you for coming in and talking to us today.
BD: Sure. Anything I can do to help.
SM: For the record, can you please state your name?
BD: William Dykman. Everyone calls me Bill.
SM: And your address?
BD: I live at 202 Williams.
TA: What do you do for a living, Bill?
BD: I work at Batesville Steel and Iron. I also run a small side-business of my own, Dykman Iron Creations.
SM: My cousin bought some of your work for her new house. It was very attractive.
BD: Thanks. The business is going well. I mean, I'm just barely breaking even at this point, but it seems like the business might be growing. It seems like we're catching on.
TA: And I've seen you playing your horn around town.
BD: Yeah, I pick up a few gigs here and there.
SM: So I guess you know why you're here.
BD: Yeah, I'm sure you want to talk about Andy.
SM: Tell us about him.
BD: He was an abusive, loud-mouthed drunk. Everyone knows that.
TA: Doesn't sound like you cared for him very much.
BD: No, I didn't. He was abusive to my sister-in-law, he threatened me and my family, and just generally pissed everyone off.
SM: He threatened you?
BD: There were a couple of times when he ran his mouth a bit.
TA: You're a big guy, Bill.
BD: He didn't care. His mouth was bigger than anyone.
SM: Were you scared about his threats?
BD: No, not really. I thought he was just running his mouth. I personally wasn't scared. But I didn't really like Robyn being around him by herself. If I was there, I didn't care.
SM: Was he often abusive to his wife?
BD: Absolutely. We always tried to get Cindy to leave him, but she wouldn't ever do it.
TA: We've gotten a pretty clear picture of a guy who everyone hated. Was there anyone who did like him?
BD: Carl got along with him okay.
SM: Carl Fine, his brother, right?
BD: Yeah, Carl. You know, I don't know how those two turned out so different. Carl has always been real square with me. I like him pretty well. I don't know how Andy turned out to be such a jerk.
TA: But Carl got along with him?
BD: Yeah. I mean, he pushed Carl to his limit and Carl would have to leave or something. So Carl definitely got tired of him sometimes, but for the most part, he tolerated him well enough. I always wondered what Carl really thought of how he treated people.
SM: What do you mean?
BD: Carl's a good guy. He treats people nicely and things like that. Andy didn't. I always wondered if Carl thought that reflected poorly upon him or what.
SM: I see. Can you tell us what happened on the night of July 3rd, when Andy was last seen?
BD: Not much more than what happened on tons of other nights. I was
asleep. I had gone to bed pretty early. It had been a busy week since I'd had
a few gigs and built a wrought iron finial for this house on North Lamar. So
that night, I was dead-ass asleep. At some point, I woke up. At first, I didn't
know what woke me, but then I heard the doorbell. All I could think was, who
the hell is that at this time of night? I got up to go see. I went and looked
out the peephole in the front door. That's when I saw her.
SM: Saw who?
BD: Cindy. She looked like hell. Robyn must've woken up when I got up because, as soon as I opened the door, she was standing right there next to me.
SM: Then what happened?
BD: I don't know. Cindy was crying. Robyn was taking care of her. I've seen it a hundred times before.
SM: What did you do?
BD: Me? I went back to bed. Whenever Cindy comes over like that, they gotta do their thing. The two of them. They don't need me for that and they don't really want me around for that either. Which is fine with me.
SM: And what happened after that?
BD: I don't know. Robyn came to bed a little while later. Next thing I knew, it smelled like coffee. It was still early, especially since we'd been up in the middle of the night, but I think that smell is what woke me up.
TA: I love that.
BD: Yeah, I'm a big coffee drinker. Anyway, I went to the kitchen
and Robyn and Cindy were sitting there. Cindy was crying and Robyn was talking
to her. Same old thing, really.
SM: Did you listen to what they were saying?
BD: Not really. I mean, I hate to sound callous, but at the time I thought it was just like every other time. How many times did I need to hear the same old story? I thought it was just another example of Andy getting out of hand. I patted Cindy on the back, tried to communicate that I was worried about her, but then I went into the den and watched some TV. Figured I'd leave the women to themselves.
SM: And that's it?
BD: Well... no. A little while later, Robyn came in and said Cindy wanted to ask me something. I figured it couldn't be good, whatever it was, but I can't say no to my wife on something like that. So I went into the kitchen to find out what was up.
TA: And? What was up?
BD: Cindy wanted me to go look for Andy.
SM: What do you mean, look for him?
BD: She said he was out at Yocona at the farmhouse and he didn't have a way to get home and she was worried about him.
SM: Why didn't he have a way to get home?
BD: I don't know. I didn't ask. I just didn't care anymore. She was always worried about Andy for some reason and usually the reason only seemed logical to her. So I just stopped asking.
TA: Did you go looking for him?
BD: Yeah, of course, I did. She really wanted me to, so that meant Robyn really wanted me to. So I did. Gotta keep the women happy, you know I mean?
SM: You had been to the farmhouse before?
BD: Yeah. Back when Robyn and I were dating and first married, before Andy let the house go to s---, before Andy started acting like an a------ more often than not, all of us used to go out there on the weekend sometimes. Hang out, have a picnic. Nothing big. But we haven't done that for years.
SM: But you still know how to get out there?
BD: Well, yeah. I mean, it's still in the same place.
TA: So you went out there the morning of July 4th?
BD: Yeah.
TA: What time was that?
BD: I don't know. Around 9:00 o'clock, maybe?
TA: You went right to the farmhouse?
BD: Yeah.
TA: And?
BD: And nothing. He wasn't there.
TA: Did you look around for him?
BD: Yeah. Looked around, called his name a few times. He didn't answer. I never saw him. So I left.
TA: Did you go in the house?
BD: Yeah, but not for long. It's disgusting in there. You must have seen it. I just walked through quickly to see if Andy was in there anywhere. He wasn't.
SM: Did you touch anything in the house?
BD: No. Would you touch anything in there? Oh, well, y'all have those rubber gloves, don't you? So you might. No, I didn't touch anything. I didn't do anything but walk in, check around for Andy and walk out.
SM: Was the house locked?
BD: No, but it never was that I know about. Nothin' in there worth stealing.
SM: Did you see anyone else when you were there?
BD: Nope.
SM: Did you notice anything unusual or out of place when you were there?
BD: No. What do you mean?
SM: Well, you know we found Andy's body buried out there. Did you see anything that made you think someone had been digging nearby recently?
BD: No. Wait. You think he was already dead and buried then? When
I was walking around out there? Man, that freaks me out.
SM: Maybe so, maybe not. We just need to know what you saw.
BD: Nothing. I didn't see anything.
SM: Where did you go when you left?
BD: I went by Cindy and Andy's apartment, and then I went home.
SM: Pardon me, but the Fines' apartment isn't exactly on your way home from the farmhouse.
BD: That's true, but I figured I might as well check and see whether Andy was there before I went home.
TA: Was he?
BD: No, not that I could tell.
TA: Did you go in the apartment?
BD: No, I don't have a key. I just knocked on the door and waited a little while. I called him on my cell phone while I was standing outside. I could hear the phone ringing in the apartment, but he never answered. And he never came to the door either, so I left. 'Course, if he was buried out at the farmhouse, I guess that's why he didn't come to the door.
TA: Uh, yeah. Well, where did you go then? When you left their apartment?
BD: Home.
SM: Did you ever see Andy at all that day?
BD: Nope.
SM: When was the last time you saw him?
BD: I don't know. He and Cindy were there when we had dinner with Robyn's folks. That wasn't too long before he got himself killed, but I don't remember exactly when it was.
SM: Can you think of anyone who would have wanted to kill Andy?
BD: Besides half of Oxford? No, I can't. Certainly, there are plenty of people who didn't like him, but that's a huge portion of the town. I don't guess you could interrogate the whole city.
TA: It might come to that. You never know.
SM: Okay, Bill. I think that's enough for now. Thanks for your time. We may be in touch again, if we have any more questions.
End interview - 5:22 p.m.
| 
