Witness Interview: Victoria Symons

 

Ms. Symons was interviewed by Federal agent Stremcha at the Las Vegas Police Department on Saturday, Oct. 18.

F = Federal agent Stremcha S= Victoria Symons
 
F: Okay. Now let's talk about your trip. Can you tell me 
where, exactly, you went?
 
S: I don't know, for sure. It's like we were trying to keep 
from going anywhere. If we went anywhere, if we made it look 
like we were heading anywhere, someone might get us. We 
couldn't stay anywhere real long.
 
F: Can you at least tell me the states you went through?
 
S: OK. I mean, we spent a couple of days just in 
Mississippi, on all these back roads. Then we went down into 
Louisiana, that's where we left Tony. We went to New 
Orleans, we were there for a couple of nights, but like in 
different places, different motels, you know? After that we 
pretty much crossed into Texas, we spent a long time there, 
we went all over the place, things were getting real bad and 
we were thinking of just going to Mexico. But then Ed knew 
some people in Las Cruces so we went to New Mexico and then 
straight through to Vegas. We didn't stop at all on the way, 
just straight through, something like eight hours.
 
F: Can you try to give me some dates?
 
S: Dates? No. I never knew what day it was, it was like it 
didn't matter any more, I only knew it was Sunday cause 
sometimes in small towns everything would be shut down. I 
guess maybe by the end of the first week we were getting to 
New Orleans and we stayed there a couple of days and by the 
end of the second week we were in Texas, and we probably 
spent a week just there, and then we went to New Mexico and 
then we came here about 12 days ago, we were in a motel for 
a couple of days, then Ed said he knew about this trailer we 
could use.
 
F: You said things were getting bad in Texas. What happened?
 
S: In Texas, yeah, things were bad. (pause) To be honest, 
things were getting worse for a long time, it was, I don't 
know, it was just real hard. Everything started out OK. I 
mean, when I first got in the car and saw Tony in the back I 
sort of thought, "uh oh," but it was okay for the first 
couple of days. We had fun just kind of driving around and 
keeping out of sight, Tony was good at stealing stuff and we 
could send him into stores cause he didn't really stand out. 
We spent a couple of nights just sleeping outside in fields 
and got high together and had a good time. Even when Tony 
started getting real sick it was okay, we talked about it 
and decided to leave him and in a couple of days he could go 
get help. He didn't really want to get caught but he wasn't 
feeling real good and he didn't think he was the one the 
cops were after anyway. Maybe he was too sick to argue, but 
anyway, we left him like we planned with lots of food and 
everything and I don't know what happened after that but the 
next thing we hear is he's dead. I felt real bad but Ed 
didn't seem to care, we were in New Orleans by then and he 
was acting real weird.
 
F: What happened in New Orleans?
 
S: He had some friends there, drug friends, I guess, and 
they spent a lot of time hanging out together and planning 
stuff, he would just leave me alone and they would go out. 
And, I don't know, we were running out of money, and he 
began saying things, like I should get us some, and he was 
getting pretty mad about not being able to get a hold of 
money, and I guess he took it out on me. His friends had all 
this weird sex stuff and they gave him the whip and he told 
me they said to break me in cause I wasn't cooperating, and 
he said I was freeloading and using all his drugs and not 
helping him. We had a real big fight and he didn't come back 
all night. I thought for sure he was gone for good but then 
he showed up and said we were good to go and we had to leave 
right away. I don't know how, but he'd gotten a hold of a 
lot of cash and some drugs, meth and a lot of pills. I asked 
him about it but he just told me to shut up and said we had 
to hit the road, we had to take the bus cause we'd left the 
car. Then in Houston -
 
F: Hold on a minute. Did you ever meet Ed's friends in New 
Orleans?
 
S: Yeah, just once. I don't know their last names, just Rick 
and Jose.
 
F: Can you describe them?
 
S: Not really, it was kind of dark in the room, I guess one 
was tall and one was short . . . I was kind of drunk, I 
guess I started drinking pretty much all the time when I 
heard about Tony, I don't know, it was like the stress was 
getting to me.
 
F: They didn't come with you?
 
S: No.
 
F: And you went straight to Houston from New Orleans?
 
S: No. We made some stops, changed around with the buses, we 
even walked for a while, but I don't really remember. I 
think maybe we were in Shreveport for like half a day. He 
was being real mean to me the whole time and I was just 
drinking and pretty doped up the whole time.
 
F: Okay. So what about Houston?
 
S: Things got real bad. We went to eat at some diner and 
then he told me to go back to the motel and wait, he said he 
was going to get us some money so we could get a car, and 
then he came back at like one in the morning with this 
blonde. I could tell she was real rich, so I was thinking 
maybe he wanted me to help steal her car or something, but 
he said this lady was going to show me how to behave. It was 
real bad.
 
F: Go on.
 
S: I kind of lit into him, yelling what the [expletive 
deleted] did he think he was doing, and he just picked me up 
and threw me on the bed, he must have been cranked up or 
something cause he's not usually that strong. He tied me to 
the bed and cut off all my clothes with his big knife, and 
then he hands this blonde [expletive deleted] the whip and 
she went at me for like fifteen minutes, whipping me up and 
down.
 
F: Did you call for help?
 
S: I thought about it, but I was too mad for that. I just 
looked at him the whole time and kept my mouth shut, and I 
just told myself I would get back at him later. It was only 
like fifteen minutes, but then she took off her clothes and 
he [expletive deleted] her right on top of me, I mean she 
was really lying on top of me and he was on her, and it hurt 
like hell from all that weight, I was bleeding in some 
places and they were lying on top of me. Then he made a show 
of giving her a hundred dollars and he told me to pay 
attention and they both left. He came back around five, I 
was pretty tired out just from being tied up for so long and 
everything hurt, he untied me and I just didn't feel like 
fighting, he didn't say anything and we got in the car and 
left town. I thought about it real hard, I'll admit that, 
cause if I could get 100 dollars we wouldn't have to worry 
about money at all, but I just couldn't see myself doing it. 
I mean, it's not like I've had a one and only, I mean I go 
with a lot of guys, but it's all about fun, we're always 
just fooling around and having fun and getting high. This 
was different and I didn't want to be part of it. We fought 
about it a lot, but he could never get me to do it, and I 
did other stuff, like you know stealing stuff from stores, 
so I think that's why he didn't force me. When he was 
cranked up and worried about money that he would start in on 
it again, it was never as bad as Houston, and after that we 
got a car again so things were better. He would sometimes 
stay out all night and I guess he was with other girls, but 
I didn't care about that, I just wanted us to get to 
California.
 
F: She didn't come with you?
 
S: No.
 
F: What about other girls? Did any of them come with you?
 
S: No.
 
F: Macy Lamar wasn't with you?
 
S: Look, I said no, okay? Sorry, I know it would make your 
job a whole lot easier, but we never had her, no matter how 
many times you ask.
 
F: You mentioned Ed had friends in Las Cruces.
 
S: Yeah, or I guess they were friends of Rick and Jose, from 
New Orleans? Acquaintances. We stopped there for a day or 
two. It was actually kind of nice, it was just a nonstop 
party and we got along okay like before the trip began, we 
all went out in the desert and looked at the stars and 
talked about being on the beach in California, one of the 
guys had been to California and he was telling Ed where to 
go in LA to score. We slept a lot and I got a little 
straighter, I was really strung out before, and he didn't 
hit me at all.
 
F: What were their names?
 
S: Rita and Tom, I think their last name was Carson.
 
F: Why did you decide to go to Las Vegas?
 
S: I don't really know, to be honest. We got a little money 
from Las Cruces but we were still running real low, but I 
thought we could make it to LA all right if we didn't stop. 
Suddenly he just said we were going to take a detour and we 
turned onto 17, I remember that, and headed north. He said 
he wanted to get us some serious money. We fought about it 
and he hit me and said he'd leave me right in the middle of 
nowhere if I didn't shut up and began talking all this weird 
[expletive deleted] about being eaten alive by ants and 
birds and threatening to cut me into pieces with his knife, 
so I just shut up, I didn't really care even though it was a 
stupid thing to do. When we got here it wasn't too bad, we 
actually decided to stay for a few days and we got the 
trailer, we would go out to the casinos and Ed was pretty 
good at getting us money. He found out about drugs and we 
had a good stash going, I was even thinking of trying out to 
be a showgirl, but he said it was too high profile. We 
fought a lot and he was cranked up pretty much all the time 
and telling me to get out there and work the Strip like the 
other hookers. But we were eating and I could get caught up 
on my sleep so I didn't really mind, I was pretty much used 
to it. It just hardly even phased me any more.
 
F: Do you regret what you've done?
 
S: We sure aren't in love, but I don't think we really were 
to begin with, you know? He's a mean bastard, but that's 
just the way it goes, I guess he's got his dues now. It was 
wild, that's for sure. I guess maybe I regret I couldn't 
take it. Maybe we would've been caught anyhow, but I wonder 
what would've happened if I hadn't called you all. Maybe we 
could've made it to Hollywood. I guess I'll never see it 
now.
 
F: All right, Miss Symons. Thank you.

**end of interview**