Personal Narrative: An Interview With A Police Officer

Due to the interview taking place after hours and the case not being assigned until the following day, I was unable to be present at the time of the interview. However, I have since observed a copy of that interview. The following is a summary of the forensic interview conducted that night by Megan Merrill with Deja Jones. This is a summary, not an exact transcript.

On February 9, 2011, at approximately 7:15 AM, I, GBI Special Agent Abigail Wilkes, arrived at 293 Stone Road to process a crime scene involving two deaths. When I arrived, the crime scene was secured with yellow tape. I met with Deputy Sheriff Ray Chandler. Chandler told me that the two victims, Steve Campbell and Sherry Campbell, had two gunshot wounds each. Sherry Campbell died in the master bedroom of the residence, but emergency medical services (EMS) took Steve Campbell from the scene. Chandler informed that the EMS personnel entered the residence through the front door and placed Steve Campbell on a stretcher. Steve Campbell 's injuries created a blood drip trail when he was transported to the ambulance. The drip trail began in the master bedroom, went through the hallway, out of the front door, and into the yard of the residence. Steve Campbell died on the way to the hospital.

While the coroner negligently examined the evidence, he overlooked a small amount of blood found at the crime scene. When the bodies of the boys were erected, a parole officer, Jerry Driver, was convinced that one of his juveniles, Damien Echols, was involved in the felony as a part of a cult. He immediately became the main focus of the investigation and was questioned two days after the homicide. Because of the lack of evidence, the crime became very popular and Vicki Hutchenson, an arbitrary individual who had no involvement with the investigation, chose to engage herself by getting Misskelley to introduce herself to Echols. Damien invited both to a Wiccan meeting which is a witches’ gathering where she claimed that Echols supposedly admitted to the crime in a drunken state. Hutchenson’s lack of knowledge involving the whereabouts and other information about the meeting should have prevented her from a legitimate witness. Years later, Vicki recanted and stated that she was forced by the police to fabricate her experience with Echols and Misskelley. However, the police interrogated Misskelley a day later without reason for 12 hours, and only taped 46 minutes of it. Although Misskelley was a minor, he was

On August 4, 2017 at approximately 2:40pm, Officer Lucas Griffin and I, Officer Kyeishia Evans, with the Ville Platte Police Department, was dispatched to 902 West Lincoln Street, Ville Platte, Louisiana, in reference to a business alarm. Upon arrival I witnessed a maroon 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe bearing license plate number ZTC679. I checked the vehicle and it was locked; however, I noticed the car was warm, as if the car had just been parked in the parking lot. I also noticed the back door of the business was opened. Officer Griffin and I checked the inside of the room; however, there was no door in the back room where you could enter the business. While checking the inside of the room we noticed damage to the tiles on the ceiling. I advised

-I was walking across the busy, Hallway to head back to my class after printing out my essay until-- ACHOOOOOO!!! Someone exactally five inches away from me sneezes without covering themselves! COUGH COUGH!!! And that person coughed onto their hands! Unwanted, slimy, Mucus, Irritating Saliva, and Skeevy germs fly into to the air and hands, landing onto anything across them. Eeugh, why didn’t they cover? Why did they use their hands? Why, Why, Why?!?!

“The Sheriff´s office has issued a mandatory evacuation order for your area.” A phone call like that will get you out of bed in a hurry, and it’s something you don’t get used too. I grew up in Ramona, California, a small rural town with not much to offer. Mountains, farm animals, hillbillies and fires… all a part of Ramona.

“We have identified the body of Pamela Zimmerman, and we suspect there is foul play. The Bloomington-Normal Police Department is doing everything they can: I am sorry.” These words from a police officer are permanently etched into my head. Those simple fifteen words play on repeat throughout my head a multitude of times throughout the day, sometimes never leaving my head. As the wise holocaust survivor Viktor E Frankl once said, “When we are no longer able to change a situation- we are challenged to change ourselves.” I woke up on November Fourth, 2015 thinking it was going to just be a normal day; little did I know that I was about to be hit with news that would change my life forever.

Having a black father and a white mother has always had some family members question my kinship to them. The older I got, the more my identification became reliant on one aspect of myself over the other. The African-American part of me became suspect in the eyes of certain family members with no real comprehension on my part as of why. I saw ignorance towards my whiteness, not only within society but within my own family, which resulted in the inability to perceive my blackness.

My full name is Samantha Taylor Miller, I am a criminal justice major. I am from Little Falls, New York. I currently live in North Hall with my roommate, who is also my close friend from high school. Although Little Falls is only about thirty minutes from UC, I am glad I chose to live on campus because I have met so many new people as a result of living in the resident's hall.

Over the next few days dozens of people who had seen Debbie the night of her murder went to the station where they were interviewed, gave blood and hair samples. The investigation seemed promising, but months later leads began drying out and detectives found themselves back at square one.

On February 24, 2017, I responded to 2809 W Royal Oaks Drive in reference to an intoxicated subject. Beaufort County Dispatch advised me a male was intoxicated attempting to drive a vehicle. I arrived in the area and observed a gray 2014 Chev Camero, bearing a South Carolina license plate; MMJ124 parked in the roadway. The individual was standing behind the vehicle, and appeared to be unstable by not keeping his balance while standing.

On 06-09-2016 at 1103 hours I was contacted at the front desk of the Police Department in reference to stealing.

On November 8, 2013, at approximately 6:15 p.m., I, first shift Homicide Detective Dana A. Croom #1225 and first shift Homicide Detective Guy Patete#1447 came into contact with LAURA LEAH NICOLLS. Ms. Nicolls agreed to come to Columbus Police Headquarters so detectives could interview her in reference to this homicide. This interview took place on the 2nd floor, in the cafeteria area. The following is a summarization of the interview:

After eating we went to this store that was burglarized and once we were there the lady knew Detective Turner because she worked a burglary there awhile ago. The video quality that they have is phenomenal you could see every feature of the suspect. You could see him putting the objects in his pants and you could even see the car he was driving, but you could not see the license plate because of the way he backed up. After we finished up at the store we went to talk to a victim who claimed he was beaten and robbed. The victim said someone broke into his house and hit him with a bat, took him to various bank locations to try to get money out of his account and then they brought him back and put him into his bathtub. He claims that the suspect beat him at another location because there was no blood or anything in his house or the bathtub. After talking to the victim we went back to the police department and Detective Turner called the victim sister and she was very nice. The victim sister told Detective Turner that his brother told her of a girl that could have done it, but once the girl called the victim his story changed instantly, so this case is getting quite interesting. The victim sister will be emailing Detective Turner some information sometime next

On Sunday, November 5, 2017 at approximately 7:26 AM, I, Officer Raul Marrero and Ryan Holroyd were dispatched to 820 SE 9th Ct, in reference to a suspicious vehicle complaint. Dispatch advised of a white Pontiac car that was parked in the driveway. The complainant/homeowner, James Robert Caves Sr., didn 't know who the vehicle belonged to.