Bill Dykman interview

Monday, August 18 – 4:45 p.m.

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

Detectives Beckwith and Magee interviewed him at the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department.

Participants:

• Detective P. Beckwith
• Detective J. Magee
• Bill Dykman

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

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

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

Bill Dykman: William Dykman. Everyone calls me Bill.

Detective Magee: And your address?

Bill Dykman: I live at 202 Williams.

Detective Beckwith: 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 Magee: 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's growing. It looks like we're catching on.

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

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

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

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

Detective Magee: Tell us about him.

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

Detective Beckwith: 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 he just generally pissed everyone off.

Detective Magee: He threatened you?

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

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

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

Detective Magee: Were you scared about his threats?

Bill Dykman: No, not for myself. I didn't really like Robyn being around him by herself, but if I was there, I didn't care.

Detective Magee: 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 Beckwith: 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 Beckwith: What do you mean?

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

Detective Beckwith: 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 Magee: 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 Magee: I see. Can you tell us what happened on the night of August 1, 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 Magee: And so that night?

Bill Dykman: So that night, I was dead-a** 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 see. I went and looked out the peephole in the front door. That's when I saw her.

Detective Magee: 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 Magee: 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 Magee: 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 Magee: 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 Beckwith: 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 Magee: 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 often did I need to hear the same old story? I thought it was just another example of Andy getting out of hand.

Detective Magee: 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 Magee: 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 Beckwith: And? What was up?

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

Detective Magee: 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 Magee: 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 Beckwith: 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 what I mean?

Detective Magee: 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 s**t, before Andy started acting like an a*****e 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 Magee: But you still know how to get out there?

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

Detective Beckwith: So you went out there on the morning of August 2?

Bill Dykman: Yeah.

Detective Beckwith: What time was that?

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

Detective Beckwith: You went right to the farmhouse?

Bill Dykman: Yeah.

Detective Beckwith: And?

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

Detective Beckwith: 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 Beckwith: Did you go inside 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 Magee: 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 Magee: Was the house locked?

Bill Dykman: No, but it never was that I know of—nothing in there worth stealing.

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

Bill Dykman: Nope.

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

Bill Dykman: No. What do you mean?

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

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

Detective Magee: Where did you go when you left?

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

Detective Magee: 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 Beckwith: Was he?

Bill Dykman: No, not that I could tell.

Detective Beckwith: Did you go into 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, 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 Beckwith: Uh, yeah. Where did you go then, when you left their apartment?

Bill Dykman: Home.

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

Bill Dykman: Nope.

Detective Magee: 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 Magee: 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 Beckwith: It might come to that. You never know.

Detective Magee: 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.