Heath Rushing interview #3

Sunday, October 31, 2021 – 10:55 a.m.

Heath Rushing is a board member of the Yoknapatawpha Players.

Detectives Beckwith and Magee brought him into the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department again to answer some more questions.

Participants

• Detective P. Beckwith
• Detective J. Magee
• Heath Rushing

Detective Magee: Mr. Rushing, you are being held in connection with the death of Scott Bryant. You have been read your rights. Do you understand them?

Heath Rushing: Yes. Do I need a lawyer if I accidentally killed Scott?

Detective Beckwith: Are you asking for a lawyer?

Heath Rushing: No, I was just wondering if it mattered if I should have one because of an accident. My dad wouldn't get me one. He said I had to pony up my own money given the kind of trouble I got myself into.

Detective Beckwith: It is your decision either way. If you can't afford one, and if we charge you, your case will be referred to the public defender's office on your request.

Heath Rushing: No, no, that's okay. It was an accident. It's okay.

Detective Magee: I want to be clear, here. Are you saying you will answer questions without an attorney present?

Heath Rushing: Yes.

Detective Magee: Okay, state your name and address for the record before we begin.

Heath Rushing: Heath Rushing. 112 St. Andrews Road in Oxford.

Detective Beckwith: All right, Heath— I can call you Heath?

Heath Rushing: Yeah.

Detective Beckwith: Heath, we need to know more about how you were placed in the quarantine room during the "Zombie Escape" play.

Heath Rushing: I think I've told you everything I can remember.

Detective Beckwith: Go through it again.

Heath Rushing: Janet said I had contracted some disease or something, so I had to go into that quarantine room.

Detective Magee: Did she say for how long?

Heath Rushing: No. She was acting like it was an emergency, like I was going to infect all the others. She just grabbed my arm and said I had to go in.

Detective Beckwith: Did you say anything? Protest or anything like that?

Heath Rushing: Not that I remember. I didn't really understand what was going on. She just put me in and closed the door.

Detective Beckwith: Did you panic right away?

Heath Rushing: No. I just stood there in the dark.

Detective Magee: I thought you said you panicked in your last interview?

Heath Rushing: Not right away. I stood there, trying to figure out what was going on. It wasn't easy because of the 'shrooms. Then I heard all kinds of chaos on the other side of the door, screams and banging and gunshots. That's when I freaked out.

Detective Beckwith: And you're sure the door was locked?

Heath Rushing: I thought so. I tried to turn the handle. It wouldn't budge. I kicked it, but it just knocked me over backward.

Detective Magee: Did Janet whisper to you that she'd let you out?

Heath Rushing: Not that I heard. I don't know how you'd hear anyone whisper anything during all the noise that was happening outside the quarantine room.

Detective Beckwith: What did you do next?

Heath Rushing: I kicked all the walls. I was wigging out. I was going to smash out of there no matter what. I felt like I was gonna die. That's when the back wall of the quarantine room fell down. Like I said before, I didn't know Scott was on the other side.

Detective Beckwith: All right, walk us through what you did next. I want to see if you can remember more than you could before.

Heath Rushing: Okay, well, I climbed over the wall—again, not knowing Scott was underneath there—and ended up backstage. I looked around, walked forward a bit, and then Martin came running from my right side.

Detective Magee: What was he doing?

Heath Rushing: He just came running, turned his back on me, and then ran back from where he came from. As he was running back, I saw that he had this thing that looked like a club or a baseball bat in his hand.

Detective Beckwith: Step by step now, what do you remember doing next?

Heath Rushing: Walking forward.

Detective Magee: To where Martin had been?

Heath Rushing: Yes.

Detective Beckwith: Then what?

Heath Rushing: It was dark. There was always some movement in front of me.

Detective Magee: Think hard. What was moving?

Heath Rushing: Um … I'm not sure. I think it was a person?

Detective Magee: A person? Tall? Short? What were they wearing?

Heath Rushing: I don't know. If I could tell you, I would. It was dark.

Detective Beckwith: What was the person doing?

Heath Rushing: Moving things around, maybe. They put something down near the backside of the set.

Detective Magee: Okay, good. It seems like we're getting somewhere here with your swiss-cheese memory. Did you move toward this person?

Heath Rushing: Yes.

Detective Beckwith: Did this person see you?

Heath Rushing: No … er, I don't think he did. 

Detective Magee: You said, "he." Do you think this person was a man?

Heath Rushing: Yeah.

Detective Beckwith: Why?

Heath Rushing: His stature. And he walked like a guy.

Detective Beckwith: Where did he walk?

Heath Rushing: When I started toward him, he turned away from me and started walking.

Detective Magee: So you could only see his back?

Heath Rushing: Yes.

Detective Beckwith: Was he walking faster than you were?

Heath Rushing: Yeah.

Detective Magee: Then where did he go?

Heath Rushing: I didn't see. I don't remember.

Detective Beckwith: Did he just disappear like mist?

Heath Rushing: No. I lost him when I looked down.

Detective Magee: Why were you looking down?

Heath Rushing: Because I wanted to see what the man put into the set.

Detective Beckwith: Keep going. Picture it in your mind. Did you go up to the place in the set where the man put the object?

Heath Rushing: Yes.

Detective Magee: Could you see what the object was?

Heath Rushing: No, so I reached in to pick it up.

Detective Beckwith: Keep going. Can you remember what it was?

Heath Rushing: No … I don't know. I can't remember. 

Detective Magee: What color was it?

Heath Rushing: I don't know. It was dark.

Detective Beckwith: Was it rough or smooth? Big, small, what?

Heath Rushing: I don't know. I remember picking it up, so it couldn't have been big.

Detective Magee: Was it hard or soft?

Heath Rushing: I don't know. I'm sorry, I don't know.

Detective Magee: Was it wet or dry?

Heath Rushing: Oh, yeah! It was wet!

Detective Beckwith: It was wet?

Heath Rushing: Yeah! It was a wet crumpled tarp or raincoat.

Detective Magee: If you had to pick between the two?

Heath Rushing: I don't … I'd say it was a raincoat.

Detective Beckwith: So the man hid a raincoat in a portion of the back of the set?

Heath Rushing: Yeah.

Detective Magee: What was the coat wet from?

Heath Rushing: I don't know. I can't remember.

Detective Beckwith: What did you do with the coat?

Heath Rushing: I think I put it back?

Detective Magee: You don't know?

Heath Rushing: I'm pretty sure I just tried to put it back.

Detective Beckwith: And after that, did you see the man again?

Heath Rushing: No.

Detective Magee: Then what did you do?

Heath Rushing: I walked down the outside wall backstage. It's actually pretty long because it goes nearly the length of the warehouse. I stopped sometimes. I think I was following the man to see if he knew a passageway back to the performance area.

Detective Beckwith: But you never caught up to him?

Heath Rushing: No, so I was only kinda wandering back there. Then Cammy Stargel opened a passage near me, and I think I startled her. She took me back to the evacuation area where everyone else was.

Detective Magee: Is that all you can remember about being backstage that day?

Heath Rushing: Yeah, that's all.

Detective Beckwith: Okay, we're going to have you stay here and try to remember anything else you can about that day. We'll return shortly.

Heath Rushing: When are y'all coming back?

Detective Magee: Soon.

Interview ended – 11:21 a.m.