Wednesday, August 9, 2006 --9:47a.m.

The witness was identified as the victim's friend at the University of Mississippi. The witness was also a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He was interviewed by phone at his home in North Carolina. The interview was recorded on an audio tape recorder with the witness's knowledge and consent.

SM= Det. Sam Murphy
TA= Det. Ted Armstrong
W= Andrew Wylie

SM: Thank you for talking with us.

AW: No problem, how can I help?

SM: Let's get the formalities out of the way first. For the record, can you please state your name and address?

AW: I'm Andrew Wylie and I live at 314 Tugily Avenue, Durham, North Carolina.

SM: And how did you know the victim?

AW: Well we both attended college in Oxford and we also both attended some Christian meetings for the athletes on campus. We were friends.

TA: When did you first meet Jamie?

AW: Not long after we both started freshman year, in 1998.

TA: What was he like?

AW: He was a nice guy. I enjoyed his company, he had a good sense of humor, didn't take himself too seriously, you know? Sometimes he could be ...withdrawn? Maybe that's not the right word but sometimes he didn't really want to talk much. You could usually get him going with sports though.

SM: Did you ever find out anything about his personal life -- his family?

AW: He shared odd bits of information. He talked about his mom sometimes, like if ever I mentioned my mom, we're pretty close you see - he'd say he wished he could feel that way about his mom. I'd ask him why he didn't feel he could but he just said because they were different people. He told me about his mom leaving his dad and how hard it was without a dad. But he didn't bring it up often. I tried to tell him it couldn't have been easy for his mom either.

SM: Did he ever talk about his love life or other friends?

AW: He talked about Yvonne Bremer to me if that's what you mean. I wouldn't swear to it but I don't think there was anyone else.

TA: What did he tell you about her?

AW: He was crazy about her. Everyone thought she was unobtainable in a way. She had that long term thing going on with ... Faber? Yeah -- Hugh Faber. We were pretty shocked when they split, and all of a sudden Jamie's taking her out and he looked really happy.

TA: What happened between them?

AW: I can't say for sure, but I know it wasn't Jamie's decision to break things off. If you wanted me to speculate, I would say he tried too hard. I think he thought if he could do everything for her, she wouldn't think about Faber. He helped her out with money even. He told me they had a fight about him being too in her face, and I said it was probably the last thing she needed after those years with Faber, maybe she just needed to have some fun.

SM: Did he take your advice?

AW: I doubt it. This was right before they split up, though.

SM: When was that?

AW: March 2002 I think.

SM: Did he ever talk about his relationship with Coach Tunney?

AW: Sure he did. Jamie found Tunney difficult to get along with. He wasn't the only one.

TA: Did he mention anything specific?

AW: He told me a few times about Tunney bad mouthing him in front of the team, putting him down, questioning his commitment. Tunney hit him too, you know about that right?

TA: We are aware of that, yes. Did he say why Coach Tunney acted the way he did?

AW: Jamie didn't really understand it. After he broke his leg I know mentally he lost something from his game. Did either of you play sports at school or college? When you grow up being good at something, used to be being the best in your school or district or whatever, you build up a level of confidence in your abilities. It shouldn't ever get beyond that, but you need to feel you are going to win, that it's possible, you know? Well I think after the injury, Jamie had this doubt in his mind. I'm not sure if he was scared of getting hurt again or if he thought he couldn't be that good to get hurt like that in the first place. For a while I didn't see a much of him after his injury. I'd see him around on campus and try to get him to come for a coffee or ask him to come the to the fellowship meeting but he didn't very often. As his condition improved though he got more like his normal self, but then of course Tunney was doing his thing and Jamie lost his scholarship.

SM: That must have been hard for him.

AW: You'd think so, wouldn't you? If anything he seemed to get back on track, got the job in the library, took his academic work more seriously, I really admired him for that. I'm glad I told him so too.

SM: Why do you think you and Jamie hit it off?

AW: My bedside manner? I don't know -- why do any two people become friends? I remember when I first met him we found out our birthdays were pretty close and we said we'd have a drink together in the middle of them to celebrate or something. We just got talking about sports, basketball I think it was, and that was it really.

TA: When did you last see him, Andrew?

AW: Yeah, I was thinking about this after I got the message you called. I believe it was Friday -- April 24, I think it was. He came to a fellowship meeting and afterwards we had a coffee. He was very quiet, I mean I'd seen him quiet before, but this was different.

SM: How -- in what way?

AW: He was scared I think. He didn't want to go to any of our usual haunts. We used to go to that fantastic coffee shop with the sign, what was that place called again? I can't believe I've forgotten that. Sorry, yeah, so we went to this sort of arty place I guess. They served sushi, had a coffee area, a couple of computers for net access, that sort of thing.

TA: The Two Stick?

AW: That's the one!

SM: Why did he want to go there?

AW: He said he didn't want to bump into anyone he knew. And he also wanted to use the computer.

SM: He didn't have his own computer?

AW: No, he didn't.

SM: Do you remember what he wanted to do with the computer?

AW: Not really, I was talking while he surfed, I think there was something he wanted to look up. He asked the waitress if he could borrow her notepad and pen. I remember that.

SM: Did you ever use email to talk or stay in touch?

AW: Not often, but sometimes, yes.

SM: What sort of things would you talk about?

AW: Mostly just hey how are you? You coming to the fellowship meeting this Friday? How's the leg? Where've you been? I'd tell him about how I was doing at meets sometimes too.

SM: Did he always reply?

AW: Well he didn't always, but usually, yeah. He did send me an email to say he was going away.

TA: What did he say?

AW: He said he was going away. He made it sound like he was coming back, something about a personal situation at home. That was about it, I think -- he didn't tend to write much.

TA: Did you reply?

AW: Yes -- I told him if I could help call me or email me or anything. I asked him what was going on and said he would be in my prayers.

SM: When was this?

AW: The next day I think. Saturday. He mailed me from his Ole Miss account to mine, he usually did that if was at the library or computer lab on campus.

SM: Did he ever use Hotmail or have any other mail accounts?

AW: Not as far as I know.

SM: Do you know anyone else who was a friend of Mr. Washington?

AW: We both knew the same guys through fellowship and also from sports. He had another good friend, though I never thought a lot of him.

TA: Who was that?

AW: Zimmer, Chris Zimmer. He never did me any harm, I just thought he was ... odd. Never looked at your face when he was talking to you. Zimmer thought he was Mulder -- kind of a sci-fi freak. Jamie and him hooked up in sophomore year, they had a class together or something.

TA: Did Mr. Washington tell you anything about their friendship?

AW: Not really. He'd say Chris wasn't as bad as people said. I might have been a little jealous I guess -- Jamie sometimes spent a lot more time with Chris than he did with me.

SM: When did you learn he was missing?

AW: When he never came back I guess. Zimmer actually came to ask me if I'd seen him or heard from him. I said I hadn't. That wasn't unusual, though, in some ways. Jamie was a good friend, but he wasn't a constant friend, you know? Then there was a rumor going around that Professor Shepton had heard from Jamie, I'm sure someone said they saw him or something too.

SM: Do you remember who that was?

AW: No I don't. It was just talk on campus is all.

TA: When was this?

AW: End of May I think. Chris asked me if I'd seen him, then the rumor went round that he'd been reported missing. A couple of the faculty staff asked me if I'd heard from Jamie. Then I heard about Professor Shepton and I thought it must be okay.

SM: Did Mr. Washington have any secrets?

AW: What kind of secrets?

TA: Come on Andrew, is there something you aren't telling us?

AW: No, I don't think so.

SM: Andrew, this is really important. You aren't protecting anyone if you keep things to yourself. You've been very helpful so far, but if you have any ideas or knowledge that you aren't sharing we really need you to tell us.

AW: You're right, I'm sorry, I was thinking about this earlier but I didn't think it was related.

SM: Maybe we should decide that.

AW: He owed money.

SM: Who to and why?

AW: He never told me. He tried to tell me about it once. He just said he'd gotten in over his head in debt.I don't usually lose my temper, but I told him what an idiot he had been and he didn't come near me for a while.

SM: When was this?

AW: Early in 2002. Like I said, we didn't talk for a while after that and when I saw him again he didn't mention it, so I assumed it was over.

SM: And you have no idea who he owed money to?

AW: I'm sorry, I don't. I hate it when people get into debt -- it's about the dumbest thing you can do. I don't think there's anything else I can tell you.

SM: Okay Andrew. Thanks for talking with us.

AW: I'm glad to help. I wanted to do something for Jamie.

Interview ends 10:24a.m.