Woody Herron interview #5

Sunday, October 31, 2021 – 5:10 p.m.

Woody Herron is the Assistant Stage Manager for the Yoknapatawpha Players.

Detectives Beckwith and Magee had him brought into the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department again for more questions.

Participants:

• Detective P. Beckwith
• Detective J. Magee
• Woody Herron

Detective Beckwith: You know, Woody, I think I'm beginning to understand why you're nervous all the time. In fact, I'm pretty nervous for you right now. What do you think, Detective Magee?

Detective Magee: Well, let's just say I sure wouldn't want to be in your shoes, Woody.

Woody Herron: What are you talking about? I didn't do anything. I never lied to you!

Detective Beckwith: You haven't told the whole truth either.

Woody Herron: I have, too!

Detective Magee: Ah, then, your first lie.

Woody Herron: Why are y'all torturing me? You're horrible, horrible people.

Detective Beckwith: As horrible as someone who steals expensive property from their employer?

Woody Herron: What do you mean? I never stole nothing.

Detective Magee: That's not what Erv Cyr told us. He said he saw you piling props into your van about a month ago, maybe that blue Grand Caravan you got parked outside the station here?

Woody Herron: Uh, I… you see, I was fixing them. They needed fixing, and I was going to do it at home.

Detective Beckwith: No, that's not true. You told us yourself, Scott never let you take props home because he was such a perfectionist, remember?

Woody Herron: This one time was different. Scott said that—

Detective Magee: Woody.

Woody Herron: There were too many repairs to do and—

Detective Magee: What did you do with the props?

Woody Herron: Oh hell. I'm a terrible liar, ain't I?

Detective Magee: What did you do with the props, Woody?

Woody Herron: I rented them out to a costume shop.

Detective Beckwith: What costume shop?

Woody Herron: Sumptuous Stitch on North Lamar.

Detective Magee: Leighton Sosebee's place?

Woody Herron: Yeah. I shouldn't have done it, I know. But when I didn't get the stage manager job, I needed the money.

Detective Beckwith: And you stole from those that passed you over for the job.

Woody Herron: Yeah.

Detective Beckwith: And killed the guy that they hired instead of you.

Woody Herron: No. God, no.

Detective Magee: You've lied to us. Why should we trust you now?

Woody Herron: Because I know something you don't.

Detective Beckwith: So you've left more out? All right. Let's hear it.

Woody Herron: The night before Erv caught me loading props into my van, I was planning how I was going to take them without Scott noticing. I figured if I drove my van up to the double doors in the southwest corner, I could sneak them out that way since the fabrication room is in the opposite corner of the warehouse.

Detective Beckwith: Fabrication room?

Woody Herron: The fabrication room is the small backstage workshop where Scott worked after hours. When his girlfriend died, Scott spent a lot of time there, making props.

Detective Magee: All right.

Woody Herron: Anyway, that night, while Scott was in the fabrication room, I looked out those doors to see how close I could get to the warehouse with my van, and I saw a guy in the dark parking lot.

Detective Magee: What was he doing?

Woody Herron: He went over to Scott's car and popped the tires with what looked like a survival knife or some other tool.

Detective Beckwith: How many tires did he pop?

Woody Herron: Can't say for sure, but it seemed like he got most if not all of them.

Detective Beckwith: Did you see who it was?

Woody Herron: Yeah. It was Denis Goodman.

Detective Magee: What did you do?

Woody Herron: When I first saw him out there, I quickly closed the door to a crack, and then when he did what he did, I waited to see if he spotted me.

Detective Beckwith: Did he?

Woody Herron: No.

Detective Magee: What did he do next?

Woody Herron: He got into his truck and blazed out of there.

Detective Magee: Did anyone else see him?

Woody Herron: No one but me.

Detective Magee: How do you know?

Woody Herron: After Scott called the police to report the damage, he said they couldn't find any witnesses and chalked it up to teen pranksters.

Detective Beckwith: Why didn't you say something?

Woody Herron: Because I saw Denis do it while I was planning to steal from the theater.

Detective Magee: But you didn't steal that night.

Woody Herron: No, but the cops would've asked me what I was doing at the theater at that time of night, and I'm…

Detective Magee: A terrible liar.

Woody Herron: Yeah.

Detective Beckwith: During the rehearsal where Scott died, do you remember Denis ever being backstage?

Woody Herron: No. I don't really even remember him being there before the rehearsal at all. He was just at the evacuation point at the end of the show when I went there to get help for Scott.

Detective Beckwith: Do you remember Neal ever being backstage that day?

Woody Herron: No.

Detective Magee: We have witnesses telling us that Janet intentionally disrupted the show many times to sabotage it. Did you see or hear her do anything like that?

Woody Herron: Not really. I don't see how she could have known that Heath would kick through the set.

Detective Beckwith: Even if she locked Heath in?

Woody Herron: How would she know Scott was even behind the set at that particular location at that particular time?

Detective Magee: Did you see Janet do anything suspicious in the days before the show?

Woody Herron: Not that I can think of. Janet and Scott were whispering together a bunch a day or two before the show, but I didn't think anything of it other than that they should've been working instead of gabbing.

Detective Beckwith: Did you happen to hear what they were saying?

Woody Herron: No.

Detective Beckwith: All right, Woody. We're finished with our questions for now.

Woody Herron: I get to leave?

Detective Magee: Sorry. We're going to bring in Detective Ragland from the Property Crimes Unit, and you're going to tell her everything about your illicit side hustle with Leighton Sosebee.

Woody Herron: I'm going to need something for my stomach.

Detective Magee: And Woody, don't leave anything out.

Interview ended – 5:31 p.m.