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Wednesday, March 18, 1998
Guest: Detective Terrence Nelson
Opening Remarks:
Well, there's been quite a twist in Christian's story
it seems. I received an email from a young lady by the
name of Tania. She claims that Christian was online
talking to her early that morning after 1 am...when
during their conversation, Christian up and left with no
good-byes or anything. Now this may not be anything, but
it would make Christian's story not totally airtight.
I've set up a phone interview with her and she has agreed
to be interviewed on Crimescene tomorrow evening. The
phone interview is also tomorrow.
I'll take questions.
Question and Answer Session:
Q: Do you think Dale and Christian were lovers?
A: No, Christian has a girlfriend, and apparently has a
few online female crushes. He stated that he and Dale
were never lovers, I have no reason to disbelieve him on
that.
Q: Would you say that Christian is the prime suspect
right now?
A: No, I wouldn't, but I also won't rule him out until
after I've investigated this a little more. He's
definitely someone we are keeping in our limelight. And
now with this little piece of info that we've received
from Ms. Hotchkiss, well, I'd like to examine Christian a
little further.
Q: Have Christian's cars been checked for trace
evidence?
A: We'd like to have some, but we don't have enough
probable cause for the warrant on him or his vehicle.
Q: How reliable is the email from Tania and what doors
has it opened in the investigation?
A: Well, that's what we are trying to determine. I
haven't been able to fully investigate her yet, but it
does put a hole in Christian's story...the timing is
off...he said he was studying for an exam and then was
online all evening with a friend. If she says that he
logged out in the middle with no explanation, well,
something isn't matching up.
Q: Are you going to check with AOL or whatever online
service Christian and Tania have to see if he was really
online?
A: If the interview with Tania warrants it, then we will,
but we need probable cause for that because we also need
a warrant for that.
Q: Have you questioned Crystal's dad about their
relationship?
A: Yes, and we've also subpoenaed the medical records -
he's denying anything happened. That investigation is
already in progress.
Q: Have you checked into the possibility that
Christian is homosexual and maybe had feelings for
Dale?
A: Christian has disbanded that rumor. He states that
there was no relationship of that sort between he and
Dale. We've no reason to disbelieve him.
Q: Can you tell us more about the knife that was
found? Prints, blood, the jacket, and can we assume it
was Dale's knife?
A: There are only Dale's prints that we've found, and it
is definitely a murder weapon in this case. The blood
found on the knife matches Crystal's blood type but we
haven't gotten the DNA test results back to totally
confirm that. We have been told that Dale did own a knife
like that, however that hasn't been confirmed either.
This doesn't necessarily mean that Dale is the murderer,
sometimes items found like this have been used as self
defense...that's why we sent the blood samples in for DNA
testing.
Q: Will you be wanting to confiscate Christian's
computer for what ever info might be in it?(love messages
to other men, death and sex fantasy, etc.)?
A: If it's warranted, sure the computer would be included
in a search, but again we don't have probable cause for
such a confiscation yet.
Q: Tania is from New York I believe? If he was online
with Tania at 4:00 a.m., what time would it be in
Oxford?
A: 3 a.m., Oxford is CST.
Q: Wondering if Shane had been questioned regarding
either father or Dale abusing Crystal?
A: That is part of the other investigation, we haven't
found any reason to question him again about this case at
the moment.
Q: Can forensic science be fooled by just putting
blood on a weapon that wasn't used to perpetrate a
crime?
A: If that's all there was on the knife maybe yes, but
there are too many other factors taken into
consideration. Blood smeared on would be different than
tissue and so on in microscopic pores on the surface. The
tests can usually tell.
Q: Christian was upset before the bus left and went to
met Dale and had a fight.
A: We don't have any proof of that or really any actual
reason to believe that, but it's definitely a theory to
look into.
Q: Do you have any suspects under surveillance?
A: Right now we are keeping many different people under
surveillance. We haven't ruled anyone out totally as a
suspect because this case is VERY complicated.
Q: Have you questioned the mother on her drinking
problem? What really was going on in this family?
A: That's a good question, we're trying to find that out.
There is major investigation on with that. We've been
questioning, but the whole family...rather what's left of
the family...has not been very helpful. They haven't been
very forthcoming with answers to our questions, I'm
afraid.
Q: What is the first time the morning of the death
that anyone actually saw Christian and what was his
state?
A: We don't really know the answer to that, the only time
I've interviewed him was when this was a missing persons
case, and there wasn't a reason to ask that.
Q: What is the connection between Maggie and
Christian? Also, since Christian played music as well as
Shane are they connected?
A: As far as we know, they just know each other from when
they were in school together...they aren't really friends
to our knowledge, other than that there is no connection
we've found. Shane and Christian have met, but they
haven't worked on any music together.
Q: With this new evidence on Christian will you
interview him again, is he a suspect, and when will you
interview again, also what is the time of death of the
victims?
A: We plan to interview him tomorrow. About the hours
because he is still a suspect.
Q: Any idea on when Crystal's medical records will be
received?
A: The deadline is the 20th as required by the
subpoena.
Q: Has Christian (or anyone, for that matter) been
asked about Dale's missing amulet, and who gave it to
Dale in the first place?
A: We've questioned everyone on it, and it hasn't turned
up yet. Dale received the amulet from a family in Egypt
as a good luck talisman while he and Crystal were at
competitions. Their mother is providing a sketch and some
information on it, but we don't know when we'll have that
for you all.
Q: Wonder if that's an Ego Shovel connection?
Woolworth's been in Egypt.....just a thought.
A: Good question, I'll have the guys look into that.
Q: Has Christian agreed to come in for another
interview voluntarily and does he know about the email
that you received from Tania?
A: He has agreed...and no he doesn't know about the email
we've received. Unless he reads about it on the site
tonight. I read a transcript of the interview last night
and he seems to have kept tabs on what was being said on
the site.
Q: What's your next move Detective?
A: Well, we're going to question Christian about the
timing. It's our number one priority right now. Then
we're going to see what the lab results come back as. And
if it looks like it's warranted by what we get back from
the interview and the results from the lab...then search
warrants...do you all have any other suggestions?
Q: Have the parents identified the knife as Dale's
property?
A: The knife will be back tomorrow and we hope to get a
confirmation from Dale's parents on the knife.
Thanks for the suggestions everyone! We'll be keeping
them in mind.
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