Bill Dykman interview

Monday, July 21, 2014 – 4:45 p.m.

Bill Dykman is Robyn Dykman's husband and was Andy Fine's brother-in-law.

Detectives Armstrong and Murphy interviewed him at the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department.

Participants:

• Detective T. Armstrong
• Detective S. Murphy
• Bill Dykman

Detective Murphy: Hi, Mr. Dykman. Thank you for coming in and talking to us today.

Bill Dykman: Sure. Anything I can do to help.

Detective Murphy: For the record, can you please state your name?

Bill Dykman: William Dykman. Everyone calls me Bill.

Detective Murphy: And your address?

Bill Dykman: I live at 202 Williams.

Detective Armstrong: What do you do for a living, Bill?

Bill Dykman: I work at Batesville Steel and Iron. I also run a small side-business of my own, Dykman Iron Creations.

Detective Murphy: My cousin bought some of your work for her new house. It was lovely.

Bill Dykman: Thanks. The business is going well. I mean, I'm just barely breaking even at this point, but it seems like the business might be growing. It looks like we're catching on.

Detective Armstrong: And I've seen you playing your horn around town.

Bill Dykman: Yeah, I pick up a few gigs here and there.

Detective Murphy: So I guess you know why you're here.

Bill Dykman: Yeah, I'm sure you want to talk about Andy.

Detective Murphy: Tell us about him.

Bill Dykman: He was an abusive, loud-mouthed drunk. Everyone knows that.

Detective Armstrong: Doesn't sound like you cared for him very much.

Bill Dykman: No, I didn't. He was abusive to my sister-in-law, he threatened me and my family, and just generally pissed everyone off.

Detective Murphy: He threatened you?

Bill Dykman: There were a couple of times when he ran his mouth a bit.

Detective Armstrong: You're a big guy, Bill.

Bill Dykman: He didn't care. His mouth was bigger than anyone.

Detective Murphy: Were you scared about his threats?

Bill Dykman: No, not really. I thought he was just running his mouth. I personally wasn't scared, but I didn't really like Robyn being around him by herself. If I was there, I didn't care.

Detective Murphy: Was he often abusive to his wife?

Bill Dykman: Absolutely. We always tried to get Cindy to leave him, but she wouldn't ever do it.

Detective Armstrong: We've gotten a pretty clear picture of a guy who everyone hated. Was there anyone who did like him?

Bill Dykman: His brother Carl got along with him okay. You know, I don't know how those two turned out so different.

Detective Armstrong: What do you mean?

Bill Dykman: Carl has always been real square with me. I like him pretty well. I don't know how Andy turned out to be such a jerk.

Detective Armstrong: But Carl got along with him?

Bill Dykman: Yeah. I mean, he'd push Carl to his limit, and Carl would have to leave or something, so Carl definitely got tired of him sometimes, but for the most part, he tolerated him well enough. I always wondered what Carl really thought of how Andy treated people.

Detective Murphy: What do you mean?

Bill Dykman: Carl's a good guy. He treats people nicely and things like that. Andy didn't. I always wondered if Carl thought that reflected poorly on him or what.

Detective Murphy: I see. Can you tell us what happened on the night of July 3rd, when Andy was last seen?

Bill Dykman: Not much more than what happened on tons of other nights. I was asleep. I had gone to bed pretty early. It had been a busy week since I'd had a few gigs and built a wrought-iron finial for this house on North Lamar.

Detective Murphy: And so that night?

Bill Dykman: So that night, I was dead-ass asleep. At some point, I woke up. At first, I didn't know what woke me, but then I heard the doorbell. All I could think was, who the hell is that at this time of night? I got up to go see. I went and looked out the peephole in the front door. That's when I saw her.

Detective Murphy: Saw who?

Bill Dykman: Cindy. She looked like hell. Robyn must've woken up when I got up because, as soon as I opened the door, she was standing right there next to me.

Detective Murphy: Then what happened?

Bill Dykman: I don't know. Cindy was crying. Robyn was taking care of her. I've seen it a hundred times before.

Detective Murphy: What did you do?

Bill Dykman: Me? I went back to bed. Whenever Cindy comes over like that, they gotta do their thing. The two of them. They don't need me for that, and they don't really want me around for that either. Which is fine with me.

Detective Murphy: And what happened after that?

Bill Dykman: I don't know. Robyn came to bed a little while later. Next thing I knew, it smelled like coffee. It was still early, especially since we'd been up in the middle of the night, but I think that smell is what woke me up.

Detective Armstrong: I love that.

Bill Dykman: Yeah, I'm a big coffee drinker. Anyway, I went to the kitchen, and Robyn and Cindy were sitting there. Cindy was crying, and Robyn was talking to her. Same old thing, really.

Detective Murphy: Did you listen to what they were saying?

Bill Dykman: Not really. I mean, I hate to sound callous, but at the time I thought it was just like every other time. How many times did I need to hear the same old story? I thought it was just another example of Andy getting out of hand.

Detective Murphy: So, what did you do?

Bill Dykman: I patted Cindy on the back, tried to communicate that I was worried about her, but then I went into the den and watched some TV. Figured I'd leave the women to themselves.

Detective Murphy: And that's it?

Bill Dykman: Well… no. A little while later, Robyn came in and said Cindy wanted to ask me something. I figured it couldn't be good, whatever it was, but I can't say no to my wife on something like that. So I went into the kitchen to find out what was up.

Detective Armstrong: And? What was up?

Bill Dykman: Cindy wanted me to go look for Andy.

Detective Murphy: What do you mean, look for him?

Bill Dykman: She said he was out at Yocona at the farmhouse, and he didn't have a way to get home, and she was worried about him.

Detective Murphy: Why didn't he have a way to get home?

Bill Dykman: I don't know. I didn't ask. I just didn't care anymore. She was always worried about Andy for some reason, and usually, the reason only seemed logical to her. So I just stopped asking.

Detective Armstrong: Did you go looking for him?

Bill Dykman: Yeah, of course, I did. She really wanted me to, so that meant Robyn really wanted me to. So I did. Gotta keep the women happy, you know I mean?

Detective Murphy: You had been to the farmhouse before?

Bill Dykman: Yeah. Back when Robyn and I were dating and first married, before Andy let the house go to shit, before Andy started acting like an asshole more often than not, all of us used to go out there on the weekend sometimes. Hang out, have a picnic. Nothing big. But we haven't done that for years.

Detective Murphy: But you still know how to get out there?

Bill Dykman: Well, yeah. I mean, it's still in the same place.

Detective Armstrong: So you went out there on the morning of July 4th?

Bill Dykman: Yeah.

Detective Armstrong: What time was that?

Bill Dykman: I don't know. Around 9:00 a.m., maybe?

Detective Armstrong: You went right to the farmhouse?

Bill Dykman: Yeah.

Detective Armstrong: And?

Bill Dykman: And nothing. He wasn't there.

Detective Armstrong: Did you look around for him?

Bill Dykman: Yeah. Looked around, called his name a few times. He didn't answer. I never saw him. So I left.

Detective Armstrong: Did you go in the house?

Bill Dykman: Yeah, but not for long. It's disgusting in there. You must have seen it. I just walked through quickly to see if Andy was in there anywhere. He wasn't.

Detective Murphy: Did you touch anything in the house?

Bill Dykman: No. Would you touch anything in there? Oh, well, y'all have those rubber gloves, don't you? So you might. No, I didn't touch anything. I didn't do anything but walk in, check around for Andy, and walk out.

Detective Murphy: Was the house locked?

Bill Dykman: No, but it never was that I know about. Nothing in there worth stealing.

Detective Murphy: Did you see anyone else when you were there?

Bill Dykman: Nope.

Detective Murphy: Did you notice anything unusual or out of place when you were there?

Bill Dykman: No. What do you mean?

Detective Murphy: Well, you know we found Andy's body buried out there. Did you see anything that made you think someone had been digging nearby recently?

Bill Dykman: No. Wait. You think he was already dead and buried then? When I was walking around out there? Man, that freaks me out.

Detective Murphy: Maybe so, maybe not. We just need to know what you saw.

Bill Dykman: Nothing. I didn't see anything.

Detective Murphy: Where did you go when you left?

Bill Dykman: I went by Cindy and Andy's apartment, and then I went home.

Detective Murphy: Pardon me, but the Fines' apartment isn't exactly on your way home from the farmhouse.

Bill Dykman: That's true, but I figured I might as well check and see whether Andy was there before I went home.

Detective Armstrong: Was he?

Bill Dykman: No, not that I could tell.

Detective Armstrong: Did you go in the apartment?

Bill Dykman: No, I don't have a key. I just knocked on the door and waited a little while. I called him on my cell phone while I was standing outside. I could hear the phone ringing in the apartment, but he never answered. And he never came to the door either, so I left. 'Course, if he was buried out at the farmhouse, I guess that's why he didn't come to the door.

Detective Armstrong: Uh, yeah. Well, where did you go then? When you left their apartment?

Bill Dykman: Home.

Detective Murphy: Did you ever see Andy at all that day?

Bill Dykman: Nope.

Detective Murphy: When was the last time you saw him?

Bill Dykman: I don't know. He and Cindy were there when we had dinner with Robyn's folks. That wasn't too long before he got himself killed, but I don't remember exactly when it was.

Detective Murphy: Can you think of anyone who would have wanted to kill Andy?

Bill Dykman: Besides half of Oxford? No, I can't. No doubt, there are plenty of people who didn't like him, but that's a huge portion of the town. I don't guess you could interrogate the whole city.

Detective Armstrong: It might come to that. You never know.

Detective Murphy: Okay Bill. I think that's all for now. Thanks for your time. We may be in touch again if we have any more questions.

Bill Dykman: Sure thing. Just give me a ring.

Interview ended – 5:22 p.m.