Saturday, July 15, 2006 3:20p.m.

The witness was identified as the supervisor of Mike Velasquez, the man who discovered the body. He was interviewed in the first-floor conference room at the Starnes Athletic Center. The Reporting Officer, Kennon Winters, conducted a preliminary interview. The Reporting Investigators, Det. Sam Murphy and Det. Ted Armstrong, conducted a formal interview when they arrived on the scene. The interview was recorded on a portable audio tape recorder with the witness's knowledge and consent.

SM= Det. Sam Murphy
TA= Det. Ted Armstrong
DN= Donnie Nicholson

SM: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us again.

DN: Sure, no problem at all.

SM: Could you please state your name and address?

DN: Donnie Nicholson. I live at 419 South 11th Street here in Oxford.

SM: And you witnessed the discovery of the body at the football stadium renovation site?

DN: Well, I didn't see the actual moment it was discovered. I came after I heard Mike screaming and yelling.

SM: That would be Mike Velasquez?

DN: Yes, that's right. I heard him hollering and I thought maybe someone had gotten hurt or something. I got over there as fast as I could because a safe work site is really important to us and we don't usually have any injuries. So I was pretty worried.

TA: What did you see when you arrived?

DN: Mike was standing beside the crane -- white as a sheet. He looked like he was going to puke or something. He was kind of stuttering something and I looked down in the hole and saw the skeleton.

SM: What did you do then?

DN: We just kind of stood there. It was really weird. I mean, it freaked us both out, I don't mind admitting to that. But once I found out that no one was hurt, none of the crew I mean, we kind of calmed down. We wondered what to do. Should we call an ambulance? Obviously the thing we found didn't need any medical attention. Or the police? Finally we just figured to call 911 and let them decide who to send over. So I called on my cell phone and then we just sat there and waited for the people to show up.

TA: What's your opinion of how long the body had been there?

DN: Oh, I don't have any way of knowing that. I'm not a doctor.

TA: Well, yes. I guess I meant, judging from the construction materials and things like that which you do know, could you tell if the body had been there for some time?

DN: Certainly. That pillar had been there at least 4 years and the body was underneath that.

SM: So there's no way someone could have recently moved the body to that location?

DN: None. It was put there a long time ago and then basically buried by the construction.

SM: Do you know any of the details about the construction back in 01 and '02 that was involved in that area?

DN: Not much. ADS wasn't the contractor so I wasn't personally involved in it. Some of the guys worked on that job and joined our company later so I've heard a little talk. Of course, I've got all the plans and I could show you those, if you're interested. But I personally don't have any inside information on that job.

SM: Could you please have copies of the plans and any of those materials sent over?

DN: Absolutely.

SM: Okay, I think that about does it for us. Thanks for talking.

DN: Will we be able to get back to work here soon? I mean, I don't want to interfere with your work, but we're on a pretty tight schedule.

TA: It's going to be a while. We'll be in touch in a couple of days about the status.

DN: All right.

Interview ends 3:45p.m.