Thursday, May 17, 2001 - 3:30 p.m.

The witness, a twenty-six-year-old female, is employed as a groundskeeper for the University of Mississippi. At the detectives' request, Lorie Jones came into the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Office for an interview. The interview was recorded on a portable audio tape recorder with the witness's knowledge and consent.

TA = Detective Ted Armstrong

SM = Detective Sam Murphy

LJ = Lorie Jones

SM: Thank you for talking to us today.

LJ: Certainly. Anything I can do to help.

SM: For the record, could you please state your name and address?

LJ: I'm Lorie Jones. I live at 119 Chestnut, Oxford.

SM: Can you tell us where you are employed?

LJ: I work for the University. Just do some general maintenance and groundswork.

SM: Were you at work on Monday, April 30, 2001?

LJ: Of course. That was the day we found the body.

SM: I know that you were briefly interviewed by our officers, but we wanted to check with you to get some more details.

LJ: Okay.

SM: First of all, we have some questions about the truck you were using. Do you always leave the keys in your vehicles?

LJ: Most of the time, yeah. There's no real reason to be worried about someone stealing them. Who wants a beat up truck with Ole Miss Physical Plant stenciled on the side?

TA: Did the groundskeepers use each other's trucks?

LJ: Oh yeah. That's another reason why we leave the keys in them. In case someone needs it, they don't have to run all over the place looking to find me for keys.

SM: Do you remember anything being unusual about your truck on that day?

LJ: Well, it was parked in a different spot than I left it. But that's not really all that weird.

TA: That's not odd?

LJ: Heck no. One of the guys probably just needed it or else they moved it out of the way or something. I don't know where the thing is half the time. They're always doing something with it.

SM: Do you know specifically which one of them moved it that day?

LJ: No. Guess I didn't think to ask. What with all the excitement and stuff.

TA: In your initial interview, you mentioned that you didn't notice anything unusual that day. Is that still accurate?

LJ: No, I don't remember anything odd.

TA: No unusual cars, no unusual people, nothing?

LJ: No. It was closed so no one was really around.

SM: Can you tell us a little bit about your co-workers?

LJ: What do you want to know?

SM: Just describe them a bit.

LJ: Well, Tate is pretty cool. He had some wild times in the past, but he's really done well lately. He's been working hard and straightening out his life and it's paying off.

TA: What do you mean with "wild times" and "straightening out his life?"

LJ: I'm sure you guys could look it up, but he's gotten in some trouble for getting into fights and stuff. He had to take these anger management classes and he wasn't real fired up about it at first. But it's really helped him out a lot. I used to be sort of scared of him before, but he's a lot better now.

SM: Okay. What about Scott Prein?

LJ: He's okay too. Pretty quiet guy. Nice though. He'll always take time out of whatever he's doing to help you. He was working with me on a door that day the body was found. Him and Tate.

SM: Cal Swinney?

LJ: You want the truth?

SM: Of course.

LJ: Truth is that he's a sonuvabitch from way back. Don't no one like him.

TA: The other guys, they don't like him?

LJ: Guys can put up with him easier, but no one likes him. He's a jerk and treats women like crap. I've got no use for him at all.

SM: Do you have any reason to think that any of your co-workers could be involved with this murder?

LJ: No way. Even Cal, who nobody likes. I can't imagine how anybody would've even known that poor guy who got killed.

SM: Had any one of them been behaving unusually before or after the murder?

LJ: Not that I can remember. I'll be honest with you, I just do my work and get home. It's not like I want to socialize and goof off. I'm looking to do my chores and leave. So, although Tate and Scott are nicer to me than Cal, I can't claim to be really close with any of them.

SM: Do you know if any of them use computers or play computer games?

LJ: I've heard Cal mentioning that he and his wife have a computer and e-mail people now and then. But I don't know that I'd say any of them are serious computer users.

SM: Okay. One last question for you, what shoe size do you wear?

LJ: I'm a seven and a half.

SM: All right. Thanks for your time.

End interview 3:54 p.m.