Thursday, August 31, 2000 - 11:12 a.m.

Through her attorney, George Bottoms, the witness contacted the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department, offering information pertinent to the Wendy Pane Holloway investigation. Mr. Bottoms informed the detectives that he and his client were in Oxford and were interested in making a deal. The District Attorney's Office has offered immunity against prosecution on charges in the Holloway homicide in exchange for Ms. Sadlier's testimony.

TA = Detective T. Armstrong

GB = George Bottoms, Sadlier's attorney

JH = D.A. Jake Hood

SM = Detective S. Murphy

JS = Jenny Sadlier

SM: Let the record reflect that the Yoknapatawpha County District Attorney's office has granted this witness, Jennifer Lynn Sadlier, immunity from prosecution in the Holloway homicide, case # 002821-15G-2000, in exchange for her material testimony in that matter. Those present are District Attorney Jake Hood, the witness' attorney George Bottoms, Jennifer Lynn Sadlier and Detectives Ted Armstrong and Sam Murphy. For the record, ma'am, please state your name and address.

JS: Jennifer Lynn Sadlier. I live at 303 E. Pike Street, Seattle, Washington.

SM: Ms. Sadlier, you have voluntarily come forward to offer information related to the homicide of Wendy Pane Holloway. Is that correct?

JS: Yes.

SM: And you do this of your own free will, being fully advised of your rights?

JS: Yes.

SM: Mr. Hood, your office is in receipt of a sworn statement by this witness?

JH: Yes, it is.

SM: Okay, Ms. Sadlier, tell us your story.

GB: Only within the boundaries we have outlined, eh Detective?

SM: Of course. Please go ahead, Ms Sadlier.

GB: It's okay, Jenny. Tell them what you know.

JS: I'm pretty sure Peter killed her.

SM: Ms. Sadlier, you need to start at the beginning. What was your involvement with Peter Pane?

JS: I met him when we both worked at Rockwell in Dallas. We hit it off right away and started dating.

TA: When was this?

JS: About three years ago. Anyway, we dated for a little while, but I guess we weren't really meant to be together that way, you know? So, we just ended up being friends.

SM: Did you maintain this friendship over the years, after you left Rockwell?

JS: Oh sure. We stayed in touched. He was like a lost puppy dog, you know? He needed friends. He's gotten so many bad breaks in his life.

TA: What kind of bad breaks?

JS: Oh just everything. His folks divorced when he was a kid... because of Wendy. His mother had an affair with his Uncle Jeremy and Wendy was actually his daughter. When Peter's dad found out, it just all fell apart. And that was just the beginning of the end...

TA: Beginning of the end of what?

JS: His family, his life. After his dad left, it just wasn't the same. He didn't have any allies at home, since he ended up living with his mom and Wendy. They treated him terribly. His mom always blaming him for everything that went wrong and Wendy always being the perfect child. Every time he tried to do something, she always showed him up. It was hard on him. He begged his mother to let him go live with his father, but she just flat out refused.

SM: What does this have to do with anything?

GB: Let her continue, Detective. She has to tell it in her own way.

SM: Okay, go on. But get to the point please.

JS: Anyway, he just ended up a loner. I guess I just felt bad for him, he'd had so many tough breaks.

TA: When you met Wendy, did you know she was Peter's sister?

JS: Not at first, but not long afterwards I was talking to Peter on the phone and mentioned her and he just flipped out.

TA: Flipped out, how?

JS: Just got all agitated. I guess he thought I was messing with his head or something. Anyway, I assured him I had no idea about that, and he eventually calmed down. He swore me to secrecy, not to tell her we were friends. He didn't want her to know.

TA: Why?

JS: I think he was afraid it would be one more thing she could take away from him. No matter what I said to try to convince him, he just wouldn't see it any other way. So I agreed. It wasn't a problem for me. Anyway, I think in a way I had something to do with their getting back together and mending their fences some. Because I told him all about her and that maybe she was different now and maybe they should get back in touch and all that. And they actually did.

SM: Okay, I think we're getting a little off course. How does any of this relate to the murder of Wendy Holloway?

JS: Well, like I said, they got back in touch and it seemed like everything was fixed, you know?

SM: Uh-huh. Then?

JS: Well, a lot of things happened. First of all, I just want to say for the record that I always liked Wendy. But she did piss me off quite a bit. She could be so condescending and all.

SM: Did something happen that made you feel that way?

JS: Well, when she went on vacation and she met Blake, everything just went downhill. She was supposed to be back in Seattle right after New Year's, but all of a sudden she called and said she had to go to L.A. first. Then, like three weeks later, she said now she had to go to Pittsburgh before she could come back to Seattle. And this whole time, she expected me to do her work and put her name on it. I had to keep covering for her with clients while she was off with that married guy. Then she screwed up on delivering a prototype for her software and lost a deal. And she had the nerve to blame me! I mean, what was I supposed to do? Hunt her down and drag her back to Seattle against her will?

SM: I hear they have telephones and such in all those places.

JS: Sure, if a person answers their phone or emails or mail. So, anyway, it was tense with her.

SM: How tense?

JS: Well, I almost moved out, but then I don't know... I guess she was so in love and all that she decided to forgive me. Wasn't that swell of her?

TA: So, what company did she mess up the deal with?

JS: MegaMaxiNet Solutions. They just flat wouldn't take her calls any more.

SM: Then what happened?

JS: Well, this in love thing got pretty out of hand and she decided she was moving to Oxford and everything else be damned. We worked out a system where I was her relay point - more like a lackey, if you ask me - and away she went. Then, next thing I know, I hear from Peter and he's all happy they are back together and stuff, so I guess I just sort of fumed to myself.

SM: Yes...?

JS: Anyway, she got on this mad rush to beta test the software and she was expecting me to drop everything, which I more or less did, though I made her pay me very well for it.

SM: Yes, we've seen the bills.

JS: Hey, going rate. I didn't owe it to her, now did I? Anyway, at first it was kind of fun. She was letting Peter handle the marketing, since she sucked at it herself and always managed to piss those guys off anyway.

TA: Piss off who?

JS: The software company execs. She may have had the golden touch with product but she had no finesse with the corporate big guys. None of them liked her, but they sure liked Peter. He could charm anybody into believing he wasn't even selling them anything. So, she was all "I'm going to be a millionaire," you know? But as usual, nothing was good enough or fast enough for her. No matter what I did, she wanted better, faster results. It got old real fast.

TA: And you were the only one testing it? Dan Courrier, he didn't do any testing?

JS: Are you kidding? That hack? No way. I mean, I guess he has his own talents, but there is no way she would actually let him near her baby. And I don't like him, so I wouldn't have worked with him anyway.

SM: What about on the marketing end? Was Mr. Courrier involved in that side?

JS: No. Peter does his stuff solo. He wouldn't let Dan in on it. Why would he? Dan was Wendy's friend, not Peter's. I don't think Peter even knows Dan. Besides, Wendy promised Peter an exclusive as the broker. Not that she would put it in writing or anything. He just had to take her word for it.

TA: Okay, then what happened? The deal go sour?

JS: Well, she was just ragging on us all the time and we were getting pretty pissed about it. We got to talking, me and Peter, and we fantasized about just taking the software.

SM: You mean, stealing it?

JS: Well, if you want to get technical. Yeah, I guess so.

SM: You weren't afraid you'd get caught?

JS: Maybe a little, but it'd be pretty hard to prove. She never copyrighted it, she was so cocky, like she was the only one in the world who could have thought of such a thing. A good idea is a good idea, they aren't confined to one person in the universe. It's the guy who takes the ball and runs with it who wins. She was constantly getting paranoid whenever she saw an article that she thought might be about her software.

SM: But there was an article, wasn't there? You emailed her about it.

JS: She emailed me. She was always emailing me about stuff like that. I always read whatever article she mentioned, but none of them ever gave enough details to know if they were talking about her software. But does she ever do anything proactive about any of those articles? No. She just gets coked out and starts ragging on us. That did it, I guess. Then we were just "hey, screw her, let's do it." Peter had a line with MegaMaxiNet Solutions, plus he knew Wendy had screwed up a deal with them a few months earlier and it would be a big bonus for him if he could pull off a deal there when Wendy couldn't, so he started working on them and didn't tell her.

SM: Was this around the time that Peter started having financial troubles?

JS: Well, he did have that awful scare with the NASDAQ. He lost a lot on Internet stocks and stuff. He started to freak, sold his car, was going to sell his house... It was pretty ugly for a while. Yes, I guess that was about the same time.

SM: So, he struck a deal with MegaMaxiNet Solutions. What was your end of it?

JS: Every time she sent me a CD, I copied it and sent it to him. He had a couple of friends, Linda Jakovich and Tony Magro, to do a back up check after I was finished to make sure we hadn't missed anything.

TA: What did he promise you?

JS: It was fifty-fifty, after we paid Jakovich and Magro. We were finally going to get our due.

TA: So, what happened?

JS: Wendy somehow got on to it. At least, Peter thought so. We weren't sure if she just suspected or if she had any evidence, but he was really freaked. She threatened to go to an attorney. He was just wigging out, you know, and I couldn't calm him down.

SM: And that's when you two planned to kill Wendy?

JS: No! I had nothing to do with that. I mean, okay, I'm hideous bitch because I was helping him to steal her stuff, fine. But I didn't have anything to do with killing her.

SM: Then why are we talking?

JS: Peter. I think he did it. He didn't really say it.

SM: What did he say?

GB: Jenny, take a breath, calm down. Okay, better? Good, go ahead.

JS: They had some big fight on the phone and he was supposed to go down there and talk to her and get her to chill out. We just needed to stall her a little while longer and then we were home free. He was going to drive down Sunday and we had worked out a story and a plan. He was going to convince her she was overworked and all agitated behind this affair she was having. Tell her he was worried about her coke habit and get her to check herself into one of those detox places. Once she was in there, it would be weeks before she would find out what had happened and then it would be too late. You know?

SM: Go on.

JS: Well, next thing I know, I get a call from Elizabeth that Wendy is dead. And I'm like, "Oh god, what has he done?" I can't track him down, I don't know what's going on. So, I just go to the funeral, hoping I'm going to find out what happened.

TA: Did you?

JS: Yes and no. I saw him there, in Pittsburgh... but he was a mess and not making any sense. I managed to get him away and we went for a drink and he just kept babbling about how evil she was and that fate had done what it had to.

TA: Which you took to mean he had killed her? Did you ask him?

JS: I asked him what he had done and he got this weird smile on this face and said, "I'm free, Jenny, I'm finally free."

SM: Was that the last time you talked to him?

JS: I tried talking to him a couple of times on the phone. I wanted to know what we were going to do about the software and stuff. He got all angry and told me that little girls who push get what they deserve. Then I got scared and backed off. After that, he wouldn't take my calls or answer my emails. I finally figured out that he was just going to take all the money and all the credit for himself.

SM: Do you know if he ever completed the deal with MegaMaxiNet Solutions?

JS: Well, I just read an article last week that said they were premiering new email encryption software. So, what do you think?

SM: Is that what prompted you to contact this office?

JS: Yes. That and this photograph. Cute, isn't it? Me and Wendy with nooses drawn around our necks with our eyes blacked out.

TA: Where did you get this?

JS: I got it in the mail the other day, no return address, postmarked from Memphis.

SM: Do you have the envelope?

GB: Yes, the D.A.'s office has it.

SM: Do you have anything else to tell us, Ms. Sadlier?

JS: I never meant for Wendy to die. I had no idea he would do that.

SM: Yes, all right, whatever you say. You're a very lucky person, you know?

JS: Why, because I made a deal? What would you have done?

SM: That's hardly relevant, Ms. Sadlier, because I wouldn't do anything to put myself in this kind of situation.

TA: Thanks for your cooperation, ma'am. We'll be in touch with you to get any additional information we need.

End interview 11:51 a.m.