Saturday, September 19, 2009 - 3:04 PM

The witness, Steven Marshall, is the organizer of the Marshall Reunion. 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
Steven Marshall

Detective Murphy: Good afternoon.  Please state your name and current address for the record so we can begin.

Steven Marshall: Certainly, my name is Steven Lloyd Marshall, and I live at 652 Edison Steet, Oxford.

Detective Murphy: How long have you been a resident of Oxford Mr. Marshall?

Steven Marshall: Please call me Steve. I have lived here all of my life. Born and raised, and raised my own children here, too.

Detective Murphy: We have some questions for you about Oscar Knight.

Steven Marshall: I figured that.  I always thought someone would kill him eventually. It was inevitable really.

Detective Armstrong: That sounds a tad harsh. I guess it is safe to assume that you didn't care for Mr. Knight?

Steven Marshall: That would be a safe assumption. I couldn't stand him.

Detective Murphy: Why is that Steve?

Steven Marshall: Well, it's a long story, and I'm sure it would bore you to death.

Detective Armstrong: Commence boring.

Steven Marshall: Ok, but remember I warned you.  My dislike for Ozzie began in my early school days. I believe I was in my second year of school the first time Ozzie beat me up. He continued to hit or shove me every time he saw me after that until my last year of high school. I'll never forget the day I surprised him and punched him before he could punch me. You see, Lizzie was my best friend and he treated her like a dog. No one even knew they were seeing each other. I was the only one who knew.

Detective Armstrong: Elizabeth Barton? She dated Oscar?

Steven Marshall: Yes, but she would never admit it now. He fed her a line of bull, and she fell for it. I tried to warn her about him, Oscar was born a jerk and he used the girls. I don't know what they saw in him, but he always got the girl he wanted.  He always dumped them afterwards, too, if you catch my drift.

Detective Murphy: We understand. So he broke Elizabeth's heart?

Steven Marshall: No, not really. But he did take advantage of her.  He never took her out publicly and part of that was because her daddy would have had a fit if he knew she was with Oscar. The other part was because her brothers would have killed him. Anyway, she came knocking on my window one night and she was a mess. She was about half drunk and crying. She never told me what happened but she broke it off with Oscar that night. She tried to act like nothing was wrong, but I would catch her with a tear in her eye for a long time after.

Detective Armstrong: So, when did you hit him?

Steven Marshall: This all happened on a Saturday night, so I didn't see him until the following Monday at school. He was already hitting on another gal!  I saw him coming toward me in the hall and all I could think about was Lizzie. I hit him with everything I had right in the face. He just stood there and laughed at me. He said, "Is that all you got little girl?" I was humiliated and turned and walked away. He never hit me again though.

Detective Armstrong: I bet that made you mad enough to want to kill him.

Steven Marshall: Yeah, it did. I'm not sayin' I never thought about it because I did. But before you go getting any big ideas in your head, I didn't kill him. I'd sure love to pat the back of whoever did, though. I want to meet the man who finally stopped Oscar from ever abusing anyone else.

Detective Murphy: If you hated him so much, why was he at the reunion?  I mean, aren't you the one who set the reunion up?

Steven Marshall: (sigh) Yep. Most people know that we have it the second Saturday of August every year but we didn't have a very big turn out last year so I thought if I put it in the paper it might make a difference. I bought a small ad announcing the reunion and said friends of the family were welcome to attend. I guess Oscar saw it because I sure did not send him a personal invite.

Detective Murphy: Are you and Elizabeth still good friends?

Steven Marshall: Oh, yes. We will always be friends, and my wife Paula loves Lizzie, too. They do all their shopping together.  Liz and Pauline and my wife get together two times a week every week.  Joe and I were good buds, too. Joe was Liz's husband. He was a good man. We always got together for birthdays too. In fact, my oldest son and Jimmy shared the same birthday. My son Todd was a couple of years younger but to this day he and Jimmy are very close. Liz and I always thought it was too funny that our boys were both born on October 24.

Detective Armstrong: Did you know that Elizabeth and Oscar had words at the reunion?

Steven Marshall: Not at first. Me, Jimmy, and Todd were fishing at the lake and when we got back to the picnic area Paula told us that Liz had gone home.

Detective Armstrong: Did you confront Oscar?

Steven Marshall: Nah, I didn't see any reason to waste a minute on that creep. I really need to get back to the house. I have a honey do list waiting on me.

Detective Murphy: All right, thank you for your time.

Steven Marshall: You're welcome, and when you catch the guy, give him an "attaboy" for me would ya? Bye.

Interview ends: 3:43 PM