Gavin Price interview #2

Monday, August 29, 2022 – 2:30 p.m.

Gavin Price was a guest in room 119 at the Rebel Inn on August 20, 2022.

Detectives Murphy and Parker re-interviewed him via telephone.

• Detective S. Murphy
• Detective E. Parker
• Gavin Price

Detective Parker: State your name and address for the record.

Gavin Price: Hello to you too. As you already know, my name is Gavin Price, and I live at 3743 N. 11th Street, Phoenix, Arizona.

Detective Murphy: We need to ask you a few more questions about your stay at the Rebel Inn in Oxford, Mr. Price.

Gavin Price: All right, but I really don't have anything else to tell you.

Detective Murphy: You told us that you're a salesman and you sell coffins. Who were you selling them to at the Rebel Inn?

Gavin Price. Very funny. I don't sell to hotels. Are you serious? I was in town to visit and take orders from the local funeral homes and mortuaries.

Detective Murphy: Did you sell any on that visit to Oxford?

Gavin Price: Yes, I did, I'm happy to say.

Detective Parker: Can anyone verify that?

Gavin Price: I'd prefer that you didn't drag any of my customers into this. I'm sure I have my sales slips for that weekend.

Detective Murphy: You told us you heard someone yelling, and then you heard banging on the walls at the Rebel Inn on the night of August 20th. Can you explain why you didn't check it out or at least make a call to the front desk?

Gavin Price: You have to understand that I spend a lot of time in hotels. If I called the front desk every time I heard something odd, I would never get any sleep. You do know that weird stuff goes on in hotels all the time, don't you?

Detective Murphy: Yes, we're aware of that, Mr. Price.

Detective Parker: Can you tell us how you ended up in room 119?

Gavin Price: I asked for a room at the end of the hall. It's usually quieter.

Detective Parker: It wasn't because you wanted to be close to one of the other guests?

Gavin Price: No. I didn't know anyone else who was staying there.

Detective Murphy: It's apparent that you aren't going to come clean with us about your prior involvement with Oscar Knight.

Gavin Price: I have no idea what you are talking about.

Detective Murphy: The Sweetgum Lounge, Tupelo, Mississippi, in 2020.

Gavin Price: That was him? That was this Oscar Knight? Oh my god, no wonder you guys think I wanted that room. I had no idea it was him.

Detective Parker: We understand he shoved you around quite a bit that night in Tupelo. The police came, and you filed a complaint.

Gavin Price: Yes, I did. But the next day, I changed my mind. My business was finished in Tupelo. I had appointments the following Monday in another state, and Sophie's birthday celebration was coming up that weekend. I didn't have time to deal with a court case, so I dropped the charges. Besides that, the man was so drunk, he didn't even know he'd done anything to me.

Detective Murphy: You dropped the charges because your plate was too full?

Gavin Price: Basically.

Detective Parker: So then when you ran into him again two years later, you decided to get even?

Gavin Price: No! I never recognized him at the Rebel Inn. I never even knew it was the same guy until you told me just now. I knew the name sounded familiar, but I didn't connect it with that night at the Sweetgum.

Detective Parker: You expect us to believe that you didn't recognize the man who beat you up and got away with it?

Gavin Price: I hope you believe it because it's the truth. I have a wife, two kids, a good job, and I'm a decent man.

Detective Parker: You work around dead bodies a lot, don't you, Mr. Price?

Gavin Price: Not a lot. But occasionally, yes. Wait. I read that you found more body parts there, but I don't know anything about that. Just because I sell coffins for a living doesn't make me some kind of freak that cuts people up. I don't want to talk with you people any longer. I know my rights.

Detective Parker: I guess we're done then. For now.

Detective Murphy: Thank you for your time. We may contact you again.

Gavin Price: Don't bother. I'm done with this.

Interview ended – 2:53 p.m.