Tuesday, May 1, 2001 - 10:30 a.m.

This witness, who traveled to Oxford with the victim, was interviewed in the motel room he shared with the victim. This interview was recorded on a portable tape recorder with the witness's knowledge and consent.

TA = Detective T. Armstrong

SM = Detective S. Murphy

WH = Wenzel Hitzig

SM: Would you please state your name and address for the record?

WH: Wenzel Hitzig. I live at 250 10th Street NE in Atlanta, but I'm staying here at the Ole Miss Motel for as long as we're in town.

SM: Thank you. You were acquainted with the deceased, Achim Michaelis?

WH: Yes, we knew each other when we were children. After I came here to the US, we stayed in touch and, of course, we're working together. Or we were, before...

SM: What were you working together on?

WH: We're creating an internet-related computer game.

SM: Can you tell us a little more about it?

WH: It's essentially a murder mystery. The players are agents searching for an international serial killer who has a passion for murdering his victims in famous literary locations. Its a metalevel game, with fragments spread all over the world. If you find all the parts and assemble them in the right order you get the answer to the enigma!

SM: And Mr. Michaelis came here from Germany to work with you on this?

WH: Yes.

SM: Why? Why didn't you work with someone who was already in this country?

WH: Achim has an exceptional talent for this kind of game design. We felt like he could do it better and faster than anyone else. We had worked together in the past, we'd known each other for years, and we felt like we could work well together on this project.

SM: What were you doing in Oxford?

WH: We were considering using Rowan Oak as a setting for our game, among other places, so we wanted to get some photographs and find out more about the area to determine whether it would work for our project.

SM: You are also traveling with a woman, right?

WH: Yes. Arlene Melton.

SM: And what's her role? Is she helping you create the game or is she along with you for personal reasons?

WH: She is playing one of the characters in the game. She is a fellow agent to the player, the person the player talks to and works with to solve the mystery. She is with us because we need to get photographs of her in each of the locations we're using for the game.

TA: So she's an actress.

WH: She is for us.

SM: Is that how she makes a living? Are you paying her to be in the game?

WH: She's agreed to work for a low rate up front in exchange for a piece of the profits when the game comes out.

SM: So how does she support herself now?

WH: She has a job in Atlanta.

SM: What kind of job?

WH: She is a dancer at a club called the Blue Peacock.

TA: So, she's a stripper?

WH: Yes.

TA: But she's branching out to act in your game?

WH: I don't appreciate your attitude, Detective. Arlene is a very nice young lady. She's had some hard times, but she found a way to support herself when she had very few options. There's nothing wrong with that.

TA: Hooker with a heart of gold, huh?

WH: She is not a hooker!

SM: Gentlemen, please. How long have you been in Oxford, Mr. Hitzig?

WH: We arrived Thursday evening.

TA: How did you get here?

WH: We drove from Atlanta.

SM: When did you leave Atlanta?

WH: Thursday.

TA: So you drove straight through from Atlanta to Oxford?

WH: Yes.

SM: Did any of you know anyone in Oxford before you got here?

WH: No.

SM: Have you become friendly with anyone since you got here?

WH: We've met some people around town. Arlene's very outgoing and she's met quite a few people. Achim talked to a couple of people about our project and what we were doing here. He must have talked to one or two of the local actors because people have been coming by and leaving resumes for us with notes saying they'd like to appear in the game if there's a role for them.

SM: Would you briefly tell us what you have done on a daily basis since you arrived in Oxford Thursday evening?

WH: Thursday, we checked into our motel rooms and then went out for a beer. We came back early because we were all tired from the trip. Friday, we visited Rowan Oak to take the tour and see the grounds. We also walked around the University campus and the town, visited some of your local shops. Friday night, we went to a few of your local pubs. We had heard about the... Double Decker Festival? To be held Saturday, so we didn't stay out late. We wanted to be enjoy the entire festival.

TA: So you spent Saturday at the festival?

WH: Yes, and Saturday evening as well. After the festival, we came back here to the motel. It was almost eleven o'clock when the last band finished playing and we were tired from the long day.

SM: And the three of you were together all the time you were at the festival?

WH: Yes, primarily. We weren't together every moment, of course, but most of the time we were in the same area if not together.

SM: And Sunday?

WH: Sunday, we drove to Tupelo to visit the Elvis Presley birthplace and to Memphis to visit Graceland.

SM: All three of you went on this trip?

WH: Yes.

SM: Was it a day trip? You returned to Oxford Sunday evening?

WH: Yes, that's correct.

TA: And Sunday night?

WH: We went out - all three of us - to a local restaurant.

SM: Do you recall the name of the restaurant?

WH: Uh... I'm not sure. It had a baseball theme.

TA: Home Plate?

WH: Yes, that sounds right.

SM: So you went to Home Plate for dinner?

WH: No, we ate dinner in Memphis. We went to Home Plate to have a few drinks and relax. We had heard at the festival about a local band that would be playing there and we wanted to hear them.

SM: What was the name of that band?

WH: The Kudzu Kings.

SM: How did you hear about them?

WH: I believe Arlene met one of the band members at the festival Saturday and he told her.

SM: Do you know that band member's name?

WH: No, I'm sorry. I don't.

SM: How late were you out that night?

WH: Achim and I came back to the motel before Arlene. We wanted to get up early the next morning to visit Rowan Oak. I don't know when Arlene returned. It was sometime after I was asleep.

TA: Doesn't Arlene have her own room?

WH: Yes.

TA: So how could you know when she came in?

WH: I didn't know, but her room is next to ours and if I had heard her come in, I probably would have spoken to her or phoned her to see that she arrived safely.

TA: But since you were asleep, you didn't do that?

WH: No.

TA: Did Achim?

WH: I... I couldn't say. He might have.

SM: How would you characterize your relationship with Ms. Melton?

WH: Arlene and I are... close.

TA: Is she your girlfriend?

WH: I never thought of it that way exactly, but yes I guess so.

SM: And Mr. Michaelis? What was his relationship with her?

WH: I don't know exactly. You should ask Arlene.

SM: Was Mr. Michaelis aware of your relationship with Ms. Melton?

WH: I don't know. I didn't tell him about it.

TA: Why not?

WH: It's a personal relationship. It's private between Arlene and me. There was no reason to tell him.

SM: Were you deliberately hiding it from him?

WH: Yes, I guess so, in a way.

TA: Why? Why not tell him?

WH: As I said, there was no reason to tell him. And I thought it would be better not to tell him. Achim could be competitive and I didn't want to get into a competition with him over Arlene.

TA: Did you think he would be jealous?

WH: I don't know.

TA: Were you jealous of his relationship with Arlene?

WH: No.

SM: Let's talk about yesterday, the day Mr. Michaelis was killed. Did you see him?

WH: Yes, we went to Rowan Oak together to take some photographs.

SM: Were you aware that Rowan Oak was closed?

WH: Yes, that was the point. We wanted to take some photographs of the exteriors without people.

SM: I see. And did you take these photographs?

WH: I did not, no. I'm sorry to say that Achim and I had a disagreement. I left before we had an opportunity to take any photographs.

SM: What was this disagreement about?

WH: It had nothing to do with what happened to him after I left.

SM: Then it should be no problem to tell us what it was about.

WH: Achim and I disagreed often. It was not serious.

SM: Okay, but what did you disagree about this time?

WH: It was personal. About Arlene.

SM: What about her?

WH: I... I saw Achim and Arlene in a... passionate moment that morning before we left. I was not pleased about it and I told him so.

TA: What kind of passionate moment? Were they in bed together?

WH: No! I saw him kissing her. That's all.

SM: And that made you angry?

WH: Yes, it did. I'm not proud of it, but it did. I was not aware he had that kind of relationship with her.

SM: So she was having a sexual relationship with both of you, but she wasn't telling either one of you about her relationship with the other?

WH: It seems so.

TA: And you were mad at him about that? Not her?

WH: I was upset with both of them.

TA: But you didn't argue with both of them.

WH: No, Arlene was not with us.

SM: Did you have a disagreement with her about it later?

WH: No.

SM: Why not?

WH: She was not at the motel when I returned. When I next saw her, it was when we learned what had happened to Achim and it did not seem important then.

TA: Because he was out of the picture and you didn't have to worry about him moving in on your girl anymore?

WH: No. Because his death was much more upsetting than anything else that was troubling me. Even if I had wanted to speak to her about it, that was not the appropriate time.

SM: You said you and Mr. Michaelis argued and you left him at Rowan Oak. Is that correct?

WH: Yes.

SM: How did the two of you get to Rowan Oak?

WH: We drove.

SM: And how did you get back to the motel after the argument?

WH: I walked back.

SM: Why?

WH: Why?

SM: Yes, why? Wasn't it your car that the two of you took to Rowan Oak?

WH: Yes, but Achim drove and he had the keys. I didn't want to argue with him about the car because I was too upset about the other issue. I decided to walk back.

TA: And leave your car for him?

WH: Yes.

SM: We found a white Mercury Tracer parked on Old Taylor Road near Rowan Oak with Georgia license plate number FXI 221. Is that your car?

WH: Yes.

TA: You weren't worried or surprised when Achim didn't come back?

WH: No. I assumed he was staying away to let our disagreement fade before he returned.

SM: What time did you and Mr. Michaelis leave the motel to go to Rowan Oak?

WH: Shortly before nine, I think.

SM: Can you be any more specific about the time? Was it five minutes before nine o'clock or fifteen minutes?

WH: I don't remember any more specifically than I've said.

SM: And what time did you arrive at Rowan Oak?

WH: Shortly after nine. Ten or fifteen minutes after, if I had to guess.

TA: It doesn't take that long to get to Rowan Oak from here. Did you stop somewhere on the way?

WH: Yes, we stopped at the Chevron to get something to eat. You have Krispy Kreme® doughnuts there and Achim likes them very much.

SM: What time was it when you left Mr. Michaelis at Rowan Oak?

WH: I don't know. It wasn't long after we arrived.

TA: So you got mad at each other pretty fast?

WH: The disagreement started in the car before we arrived at Rowan Oak.

SM: What time did you get back to the motel, after you left Rowan Oak?

WH: Nine-thirty or quarter to ten? I don't know exactly.

SM: And the last time you saw Mr. Michaelis alive was when you left him at Rowan Oak?

WH: Yes.

SM: He was still alive when you left?

WH: Yes, of course! Are you saying you think I killed my best friend?

TA: Your best friend who was sleeping with your girlfriend.

WH: That doesn't mean I killed him! Why would I do that? He was my best friend! And I need him to finish this project. I don't know what's going to happen with our game now. I wouldn't kill him and I didn't kill him.

SM: Do you know of anyone who might have wanted to kill him?

WH: No.

TA: What about Arlene? Do you think she would kill him?

WH: No, of course not! Why would she?

SM: Does Ms. Melton have any admirers or boyfriends that might resent her relationship with you and Mr. Michaelis? Anyone who might have wanted to get you and Mr. Michaelis out of her life for any reason?

WH: No, none that I know of.

TA: Are you sure about that?

WH: As sure as I can be, but you should ask Arlene if you don't want to take my word for it.

TA: We'll do that.

SM: How much longer were you planning to stay in Oxford?

WH: Just a few more days.

SM: Where are you going when you leave here?

WH: We were planning to go down to New Orleans, if we had enough money left, but now I'm not sure what Arlene and I will do. We'll probably just go back to Atlanta.

SM: You understand we're going to need you to stay in Oxford a little longer?

WH: Yes, but what do I do when I can't afford to stay here anymore?

SM: You let us know when that becomes a concern and we'll reevaluate our situation. I'm sure you want to stay as long as you can to help us find out who murdered your friend.

WH: Yes, of course.

TA: Are you running low on money? Is that why this is an issue for you?

WH: No, we're not running low, but I don't want to spend all the project's money on motel rooms and eating out in Oxford. If I'm going to be able to salvage this game without Achim, I'm going to need money to hire someone to take over for him. We're trying to devote all our money right now to getting this game off the ground, putting together a demo to show investors so we can raise more capital.

SM: Where did the money you have come from?

WH: Achim and I have both done well the last few years. We invested most of our savings in this project because we really believe we've got something great.

SM: Was one of you the majority investor?

WH: No, we invested equally. We were fifty-fifty partners.

TA: But now you're running out of money?

WH: Well no, we're not running out of money, but we need to spend the money to make the game the best it can be.

SM: Did you or Mr. Michaelis have insurance policies? Life insurance or business insurance? Anything that might pay out now, after the death of one of the partners in the business?

WH: No. Achim wanted to get some kind of business insurance, but I didn't want to spend the money on it. I never thought anything like this would happen.

SM: All right, Mr. Hitzig. I believe those are all the questions we have for now. We'll be in touch with you soon. And you have our condolences on the loss of your friend.

WH: Thank you.

End interview 11:24 a.m.