Sunday, June 22 – 1:15 p.m.
Bill Lamar, who found the victim's body and who witnesses have described as the victim's true love, was asked to come in for a third interview.
Detectives Armstrong and Murphy talked to him again at the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department.
Participants:
- Detective T. Armstrong
- Detective S. Murphy
- Bill Lamar
Detective Murphy: Let's get started, Bill. You know the drill.
Bill Lamar: Yes, I suppose I do. I'm Bill Lamar, and I'm currently staying with my mom at 638 South Lamar Boulevard. Oxford, Mississippi. I am a student, and I also work for my family's business, Lamar Cosmetics.
Detective Armstrong: This is now the third time we've spoken to you, Bill. Why do you think that is?
Bill Lamar: I don't know. Didn't you arrest Mrs. Webb? Didn't she kill Barbara?
Detective Armstrong: We did arrest her—and she did do something to Barbara—but it's not clear that she killed her.
Bill Lamar: I don't understand. Then what are we doing here?
Detective Armstrong: What do you think?
Bill Lamar: You're still trying to find Barbara's killer?
Detective Murphy: And why do we need to speak to you specifically?
Bill Lamar: If you're trying to scare me with those insinuations, don't bother. I know how things might look, but that's okay. I'm willing to go through this. Grill me all you want.
Detective Murphy: I'm not going to waste time here, Bill. We've got several motives for you. One, rejection. Maybe you thought Barbara was running off with Denny Buchanan. Two, we've got the troubles of your family business. There are a number of reasons you might want Barbara dead—
Bill Lamar: Yeah, but none of them I would kill for. Especially not her. That's absurd.
Detective Armstrong: Maybe you didn't kill her.
Detective Murphy: That's right. Maybe you worked with someone else. Just because you're sitting here and pretending to be willing to go through all this questioning doesn't mean you didn't have a hand in it.
Bill Lamar: That's not true! I didn't do anything!
Detective Armstrong: Maybe you didn't do anything, but maybe you know who did.
Bill Lamar: I don't know who did. I would tell you. Or else, I'd go take care of them myself!
Detective Armstrong: Just like OJ, huh? You're going in search of the real killers?
Bill Lamar: Whatever.
Detective Murphy: Bill, are you protecting someone?
Bill Lamar: The only person I ever wanted to protect was Barbara, and I did a pretty lousy job of that, didn't I?
Detective Murphy: Protect her from what?
Bill Lamar: From the beauty queen stuff—she hated it. Never mind. That was a million years ago. I'm not protecting anyone.
Detective Murphy: How about your mother?
Bill Lamar: What about her?
Detective Armstrong: You know we searched her house and her car. What did you think that was about?
Bill Lamar: I don't know. I guess I assumed you were still trying to pin this on me for some reason.
Detective Armstrong: And that's why we took hair and blood samples from her?
Bill Lamar: How do I know what you're doing? You haven't told me anything, except you think I did it, which I didn't!
Detective Murphy: We've looked into some financial records. It seems your mother was making payments on a pretty regular basis to Susan Dubois. What were those payments for?
Bill Lamar: I have no clue.
Detective Murphy: Really? Your mom has been giving money to the love of your life's mother for years, and you don't know anything about it?
Detective Armstrong: Plus the fact that you're supposed to be this business whiz kid who's going to save the family fortune. But somehow, you don't know about this money coming out of the accounts?
Bill Lamar: I don't know what the payments were for. I'm sure you could ask my mom. But to answer your insinuation, there is no way that I would know about debits and credits to our accounts. I don't work with Lamar Cosmetics on a daily basis. I don't see all the transactions. I basically just fix problems. Mom calls me up with something wrong, and I find a way to fix it. But I don't see the day-to-day details of the company.
Detective Murphy: You find a way to fix things?
Bill Lamar: Yes.
Detective Armstrong: So, taking care of Barbara could be a way of fixing things? Was Barbara blackmailing you or your mother?
Bill Lamar: No! Nothing like that at all. I don't know why Mom gave her money.
Detective Murphy: Bill, we've seen an unfinished draft manuscript of Barbara's speech for the pageant—the event you specifically came home to attend. In that speech, Barbara says she has a confession to make, something she has to make public. Do you know what she might've been talking about?
Bill Lamar: No.
Detective Murphy: Could she have some secret that would hurt your mother? Or maybe the business?
Detective Armstrong: Maybe that's a problem Mom called you about. Maybe you're Mr. Fixit, and she called you and said Barbara Dubois was going to ruin this pageant, and you'd better come home and fix the situation. There would've been a lot of pressure from your mom. It's understandable that you might give in to it.
Bill Lamar: No, I told you why I came home. It was that email. You have it. That's why I came home. My mom was surprised to see me.
Detective Murphy: Could Ingrid Freeman have written the email? Maybe she wanted you to conspire with her to murder Barbara.
Bill Lamar: I told you before that I don't even like Ingrid. Why would I kill someone with her?
Detective Armstrong: Yeah, but you also said you went out with her once or twice.
Detective Murphy: Are you sure you don't like her?
Bill Lamar: Detectives, that was a long, long time ago.
Detective Murphy: So was Barbara Dubois.
Bill Lamar: That was different. Very different.
Detective Murphy: Bill, maybe you can help us. Take us through it from start to finish. You and your mother arrived at the conference center together?
Bill Lamar: Yes. I had to help her with her bags. She didn't want to wait for a bellhop.
Detective Murphy: Okay. Then what?
Bill Lamar: I helped her unpack and get settled in, then did the same for myself. I had to do the same thing for her on the way out, too, what with everybody trying to get out of there at the same time.
Detective Murphy: Sure. Now fast-forward to the night of the murder.
Detective Armstrong: Outside of the banquet, what other times did you see Barbara that night?
Bill Lamar: None. I already told you!
Detective Murphy: What time did you see Ms. Freeman that night?
Bill Lamar: I didn't, not anytime after the banquet.
Detective Armstrong: What time did you and your mother leave the banquet?
Bill Lamar: After the photoshoot, about 10:30-10:40 p.m., something like that.
Detective Murphy: And what time did you see Ms. Webb?
Bill Lamar: I didn't see either Rachel or her mother anytime after the banquet.
Detective Armstrong: What time did you leave your mother to take your call?
Bill Lamar: 11:00 p.m., maybe a few minutes after.
Detective Armstrong: What time did you and Mr. Buchanan have your fistfight?
Bill Lamar: About 11:30 p.m.
Detective Armstrong: And you saw your mother again at 11:45 p.m., right?
Bill Lamar: No, that's not what I said. It was a few minutes after midnight. I went looking for her, and she wasn't in her room. That was about 11:20-11:25 p.m. or so. Then I was going to go down to Barbara's room, but ran into Buchanan.
Detective Armstrong: And the next time you saw your mother was after you were done drinking in the bar?
Bill Lamar: Just before. About midnight. What's all this about my mom?
Detective Murphy: Just relax, Bill. We're trying to make sure we can rule out people as suspects. You want to be ruled out, don't you?
Bill Lamar: Yes. I mean, of course. I didn't do anything. Neither did my mom.
Detective Murphy: Well, of course not. But to make sure we don't waste any more time, we need to pinpoint your location at certain times and find out if she can verify those locations. If more than one person can—like when you went to the bar—so much the better. Now, you can't vouch for Rachel's or her mother's whereabouts, can you?
Bill Lamar: No.
Detective Armstrong: Or for Ingrid Freeman's?
Bill Lamar: No. Like I said, I didn't see her.
Detective Armstrong: But you did see Denny Buchanan?
Bill Lamar: Yes. 11:30-ish. Outside Barbara's room, like I said.
Detective Murphy: And then you saw your mom.
Bill Lamar: Yes, just like I said.
Detective Armstrong: How was she?
Bill Lamar: Exhausted. Just exhausted. This has been real hard on her, you know?
Detective Murphy: Exhausted how?
Bill Lamar: Frazzled. Distracted. Jumpy. Tension in her neck and shoulders. Aching feet. Saw her with her shoes off a couple of times when she thought no one would see her, and she never does that. She was so upset, she was scratching herself, said she itched all over. Hives, she said.
Detective Murphy: Ever seen her like that before?
Bill Lamar: No, but she's never had the company's fate riding on an event like that before.
Detective Armstrong: How about the others that night, after the banquet?
Bill Lamar: Beats me. I only saw my mom and Buchanan. Buchanan looked like an ass—because he is one.
Detective Murphy: So if any of those other folks say they were with you during that time, they're lying?
Bill Lamar: Yes. Sure. They weren't with me.
Detective Armstrong: You didn't visit Ms. Freeman's room that night? Or speak with her anywhere else?
Bill Lamar: No. I told you.
Detective Armstrong: And you didn't visit Rachel Webb's room that night or otherwise meet with Rachel or her mother?
Bill Lamar: This is ridiculous. No. Neither. Not at all.
Detective Murphy: See, Bill, we got a real problem. We have your prints on the murder weapon.
Bill Lamar: What weapon? What was it?
Detective Armstrong: You tell us.
Bill Lamar: No, I don't know anything about it. Get this through your heads—I did not kill Barbara, and I don't know who did!
Detective Armstrong: Suppose we tell you that someone used a woman's shoe to kill Barbara. Would that help you know who did?
Bill Lamar: No.
Detective Armstrong: When the lab gets a match to the DNA from under Barbara's nails, we'll know.
Bill Lamar: Not my DNA. I didn't see her, didn't get close to her. I didn't even get to say goodbye—not last time, not this time.
Detective Armstrong: Do you know whose DNA we will find?
Bill Lamar: If I knew that, detectives, I'd have told you a long time ago.
Detective Murphy: You said you didn't get to say goodbye last time. What did you mean by "last time?"
Bill Lamar: Years ago, when Mom told me Barbara didn't want to see me anymore. That's when I agreed to go to Europe.
Detective Armstrong: If I told you that your prints were on a pair of Ingrid Freeman's shoes and that we connected those shoes with the murder, what would you say?
Bill Lamar: That your fingerprint guy is incompetent. I never touched anything of Ingrid's.
Detective Armstrong: How about if I said your prints were on Rachel Webb's shoes and those shoes were connected to the murder?
Bill Lamar: I'd say your fingerprint tech either needs new glasses or some time away at a mental hospital. Her mother is such a guard dog, nobody could get close to Rachel even if they wanted to.
Detective Armstrong: So you're saying you didn't have occasion to move, touch, or handle either Ingrid's or Rachel's shoes during the conference?
Bill Lamar: I'm not weird, detective. I don't have a thing for women's shoes. I had enough trouble hauling in my mom's when we brought her stuff in.
Detective Murphy: Do you think your mom would have any trouble if we talked to her again?
Bill Lamar: You mean, do I think she's involved? No way she is. Look, I'm not protecting her if that's what you're after. I don't need to. She told me that after we took care of our business that night, she went to her room and stayed there until she decided to go to the bar, and I bumped into her on the way. She went back to her room. I went and got hammered—end of story.
Detective Armstrong: And you believe her?
Bill Lamar: This is ridiculous. I'm getting really ticked off here.
Detective Murphy: Well, Bill, we have to make sure we can eliminate her from suspicion. Answer the question.
Bill Lamar: Mom won't lie to me. She knows better. I hate liars, and so did Barbara. We had that in common. It's why Barbara wanted out of the pageant biz, and I wanted her out, too. Mom knows that the one way to trash things between us is to lie to me. She wouldn't do it.
Detective Murphy: You're certain about that?
Bill Lamar: Positive.
Detective Armstrong: But she didn't tell you about the money she's paying to Susan Dubois?
Bill Lamar: No. No, she didn't.
Detective Murphy: You're sure there's nothing more you want to tell us, Bill?
Bill Lamar: I'm not sure of a lot of things right now, detective. But no, nothing else.
Detective Armstrong: We may need to speak to you again.
Detective Murphy: Bill, did you hear Detective Armstrong?
Bill Lamar: Oh. No. I mean yes. Yeah. Whatever
Interview ended – 2:10 p.m.
