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Interview: Christian Chambers

N = Detective Terrence Nelson
C = Christian Chambers

N: Christian, let’s go back over this again. Let’s talk about Crystal Taylor’s murder. Let me ask you up front, did you do this? Did you stab her to death?
C: No. I didn’t do it. I’ve told you, Dale did it.

N: Dale’s dead isn’t he? He isn’t here to back you up on that. I think you knew exactly what you were doing. I think you went to the Big Star where you knew Crystal and Dale would be waiting for the bus. You wanted to get Dale out of skating. You wanted him to stay in Oxford. You thought he’d do that if his sister was out of the way. You knew she wanted out of skating. You have access to lots of money. You promised to help her get out of Oxford, get out of skating, maybe disappear. I think you and she planned to stage a kidnapping didn’t you? You figured Dale would turn to you for support. You’d be the big hero.
C: No. No, nothing like that. I didn’t think anything like that. It was Dale, Dale was the one that talked about staging a kidnapping. That was his idea. Not mine. That was after he’d killed her, a way to cover it up.

N: I think you went over there with that in mind and then she wouldn’t go for it. I think you got ugly, I think you pushed her around, I think you threatened her with the gun. Dale saw you were serious, he pulled out his knife to defend his sister. You turned the gun on him didn’t you? I think he was going for you and Crystal got in the way. He stabbed her instead didn’t he? In the back when she tried to get out of the way. He dropped the knife and ran for help and you panicked. It wasn’t like you thought it would be. Everything went wrong didn’t it? Crystal fell on the crates and you picked up that knife and stabbed her didn’t you? You didn’t mean to do it. I don’t think you wanted to kill her, but you had no choice, she was hurt. See this picture, Christian? This stabbed her through the lung. She was gasping for breath wasn’t she? She was dying. There was no way your plan would work, she had to disappear so you were forced to kill her, you didn’t want to but you had to didn’t you?
C: No, ah, no, oh God, I didn’t do that. I wasn’t there. I never saw the knife. She was already dead. I’ve told you over and over I wasn’t there.

N: Did you think you were helping Dale, Christian? Did you think she was already dying and you would end her suffering?
C: She was dead. I didn’t kill her.

N: I think you went after Dale. You convinced him he’d killed Crystal. He was panicked but you’re his friend, you’ve always helped him out and you were going to help him out this time, too. You’d help cover up his crime. You convinced him to help you get Crystal and the luggage out of there. I think you took the blanket out of your car and wrapped Crystal in it before Dale could see her. You told him you were helping him so he wouldn’t have to see, but it was really so he wouldn’t know you stabbed her after he left wasn’t it? Then you got him to help you load her into the car. He was probably in shock wasn’t he? Leaning on you for support. You had to help him.
C: That’s not the way it happened. I swear I didn’t do anything to Crystal. She was already dead. Yeah, he was in shock. He was babbling, he was scared, crying...ah, he, it was...no, I didn’t kill her, he did.

N: That’s why you had to shoot Dale wasn’t it Christian? At the cemetery you realized that if you left the blanket around Crystal it’d be traced back to you. You had to take it off. Dale saw what you’d done and he turned on you didn’t he? That’s why you fought. You realized there was no way you were going to get away with this. Crystal was dead, Dale knew you did it, he wasn’t going to go along with you this time was he? You made him fill in that grave at gunpoint didn’t you? What did he say to you Christian? Did he say he hated you? He wanted to see you dead? You realized you only had one choice, he had to die, too. You were backed into a corner weren’t you? You had to shoot him. He just wouldn’t understand how it could work out. He said you couldn’t fix it this time, he wouldn’t listen to reason, isn’t that right?
C: No, he didn’t understand, he, he thought he could just go on, pretend nothing happened. He was...cold, heartless. He quit crying and got, got strange, mean...he, ah, I...I don’t know. I don’t know what happened.

N: So, he got strange, mean, he turned his back on you and you pulled the trigger. He pushed you too far, didn’t he?
C: Uh, I don’t know. I, he wasn’t Dale. He was someone else, it wasn’t real, I don’t know what happened, why it happened.

N: Christian, I want to believe the best of you, I don’t think you planned to kill Crystal. I think you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Either you killed her in cold blood or you wanted to help your friend and Crystal’s death was an awful part of that.
C: I didn’t do that. Dale killed her. She was dead when I knew what happened.

N: Christian, you want me to believe that you weren’t involved in Crystal’s death. What do you think happened to Crystal?
C: She wanted out of skating. She didn't want to have anything to do with her family or with him. I think he tried to stop her and she wouldn't let him and he killed her.

N: Do you think that’s what happened or was something else going on?
C: Something else?

N: Was Dale raping Crystal? Did she tell him no more? Did she fight back? Did you try to defend her, Christian?
C: Huh? Uh, that’s crazy.

N: Was she going to tell, was she going to expose Dale and ruin his career that way? Did you protect Dale by killing her?
C: That’s, that’s just...no way. Dale didn’t rape Crystal. He wouldn’t. He didn’t, did he? He couldn’t have.

N: Do you think maybe Crystal caused this to happen, maybe did something to bring on this attack?
C: Huh uh, no. She was, she was a sweet girl. She wasn’t, she wouldn’t hurt anyone. Dale, he just must have snapped, I don’t know. He was sick.

N: Christian, you want me to believe you didn’t kill Crystal.
C: I didn’t. Dale killed her. I told you, he said he did it. He was, he was out of his mind.

N: How can you prove to me you didn’t do this?
C: I guess I can’t. I didn’t kill Crystal. I wasn’t there. I was on-line with Tania when Dale showed up at my house. You know he was there. She was already dead. There wasn’t anything I could do about it, she was already dead.

N: Are you willing to take a polygraph test?
C: Yeah. Yes, I’ll take one. I didn’t have anything to do with Crystal’s murder.

N: Okay, Christian, let’s go back over what happened that night. You got home from the campus library when?
C: About 4:00 in the afternoon.

N: Then what did you do?
C: I took a shower and I called Dale to say good-bye. We didn’t talk long, they were ready for dinner. I made myself something to eat and watched the news. Then I studied for awhile, took a short nap, got up again and had something to eat and then I went on-line around 2:00 I think.

N: You were on-line with Ms. Hotchkiss?
C: Yeah. We were on-line when Dale came in.

N: That was when?
C: It was about 4:00 or a few minutes after.

N: How did Dale get in, he didn’t knock on the door?
C: No. He knew where I hid a spare key to the kitchen door, he used that and came in.

N: Tell me what happened.
C: He was out of breath, shaking, had blood and dirt on him, crying, I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I thought he’d been in an accident. He kept saying I had to help him. I tried to get him to calm down and he said Crystal was hurt. We ran downstairs and I grabbed my jacket and asked him where she was, and he said she was dead at Eastgate. He said he’d killed her. That stopped me. I just stood there for a minute I think, and stared at him. I couldn’t understand what he was saying. He was out of his mind really. He was crying and incoherent. He kept begging me to help him. He said all kinds of things, like we have to bury her, then he talked about driving to Memphis and throwing her body off a bridge and saying she’d been kidnapped, and all sorts of crazy things. Then he just stopped and seemed to get himself together a bit. He said we could stage it as a kidnapping and both go to Mexico or South America or someplace like we used to talk about and everyone would think he’d been kidnapped, too. Then he broke down again and started begging for help. From there it all seems like a dream.

N: Go on. What did you do next?
C: Dale started grabbing things. I remember he grabbed the blanket off the couch and we went in the kitchen. He wouldn’t let me turn on the light. He kept saying we had to hurry. I remember I got a flashlight out of the kitchen cupboard and then we were outside and Dale was getting shovels and things out of the shed. He kept saying we had to hurry up, we had to hurry up. I don’t know what I was thinking. I remember feeling confused and unreal and thinking we had to go help Crystal. I don’t think it had sunk in that she was dead, but Dale was acting so strange I think I knew it was real bad. It’s hard to remember exactly. Some things are real clear, like a photograph, other things are blurry and dreamlike and I’m not sure if they happened or if they are from nightmares I’ve had.

N: At this point you had the shovels, a flashlight, the blanket, what else?
C: I can’t remember. I think a few bags from the shed, plastic bags. Dale must have brought the gun out then, but I didn’t even know we had it until later.

N: And you put all this in your Honda?
C: Yeah. We did and Dale kept saying to hurry up. I remember I dropped the keys a few times.

N: You were driving?
C: Yeah. Dale wasn’t in any shape to drive. I guess I wasn’t either, but I did. We drove up McLarty and the bus was there in front of the Big Star so we stopped to wait for it to leave. I kept asking Dale where Crystal was and he finally said she was in the back behind the shopping center. We had to wait for what seemed like hours but it wasn’t long. That’s when Dale told me what happened. He said they’d been fighting. He kept saying that Crystal wanted to ruin everything, that she was going to quit. He said she wouldn’t listen to him, wouldn’t listen to reason. He said he just wanted her to skate through the next Olympics but she wouldn’t agree. He called her names, called her selfish, said she could do anything she wanted she didn’t need skating but he did. She could go to college and be happy, he said the only thing he had was what he’d get out of skating and she was going to take it away from him. She didn’t care. He said she picked up her bags and was going to leave right then and started walking to the phones. He said he wouldn’t let her go there so she went around the building and she wouldn’t stop. He said he kept yelling at her to stop and she kept going so he ran after her and killed her. He kept saying I should understand why he had to do it. He said she made him do it. He was crying and saying he didn’t mean to kill her, and things like why didn’t she listen and why was she so selfish. Then I asked him if he was sure if she was really dead. I said maybe we should call an ambulance or something. Then he got really excited and said yeah, maybe she really isn’t dead, maybe everything will be okay, and then the bus pulled out and he was saying “go, go” and we have to get over there and like that. So we went over behind the shopping center and Dale jumped out of the car almost before I stopped it, and started running around the side. I went after him and he was crying hysterically. I went over, and she was there, it was, there was nothing anyone could do. So much blood, it was....unreal, awful. I thought I was going to throw up. I went back around the side of the building and sat down. I couldn’t breath, I couldn’t think, I couldn’t believe it. Then, the next thing I knew Dale was there and he was crying and we were both crying and he kept saying we had to do something. The next thing I remember, Dale was standing there and he was carrying Crystal in the blanket and telling me to help him. We put her in the back of the car and Dale was talking about what to do next and how we didn’t have much time. It was terrible. We couldn’t fit the luggage in the back with Crystal in there so we put what we could under the back seat and dragged the rest into a drainage ditch. Dale was begging me to think of something and to hurry, hurry. I said we had to bury her. It was all I could think of at the time. I was emotionally distraught, I couldn’t absorb everything and I just focused on the idea that we had to bury her. I thought of St. Peter’s and I started driving there. When we got there, there was a grave not far from the road that looked fresh and I thought of burying her there, no one would think of looking in a fresh grave for a body that didn’t belong there.

N: It was your idea to go to the cemetery then?
C: Yeah. I guess it was. I just kept thinking we had to bury her, you know? We couldn’t just dump her someplace, I couldn’t do that.

N: You didn’t call anyone else? You didn’t think of calling the police, going to a hospital?
C: She was dead. Dale killed her. It was unreal, like a dream. There wasn’t anything I could do about it. It happened and Dale was my friend. He was begging me to help. I didn’t know what to think, what to do. There wasn’t time to think. Time just kept moving forward and Dale kept saying hurry, hurry and I had to think of one thing at a time to keep moving and that’s what I thought of. I wish I had called somebody. I wish I had done things differently. If I had, Dale would be alive. I really blew it, I really screwed up, he was counting on me and I didn’t come through. I know that. Don’t you know I know that? I wish I could take it all back. I wish I could make it different. I wish they were both alive now. I can’t change it, I can’t change anything. I don’t know how I can go on living with this. I don’t think I will ever be able to forgive myself.

N: But you went to the cemetery and you planned to bury Crystal, what did you do?
C: Yeah. I was so scared, I didn’t know what else to do. Dale got Crystal out of the car and I guess I was just standing there looking at him and he wanted me to help carry her, and I just couldn’t do it. So she was on the ground and then we had the shovels, and I really don’t remember exactly everything, and we dug the grave and Dale was scared it was going to get light or someone would come and we were rushing and we couldn’t use the flashlight. All I really remember is the motion of digging. Up and down and hurry and hurry. Then when it was time to cover her up I couldn’t stand it. I took off her jacket and put it under her head. I know it sounds funny, but somehow it was the only thing I could do for her and I did. I couldn’t put the dirt on her. Dale got hysterical and grabbed the shovel and started shoveling it in. He was talking to her but I don’t remember all he was saying, it was upsetting me. He was telling her why did you have to make me do it and why wouldn’t you listen and it was sounding like he wasn’t sorry at all, but he was crying. It was so unreal. I didn’t know this person. This person was not Dale.

N: And then what happened, Christian.
C: I, I don’t, I’m not sure. I don’t know. The gun was there.

N: Where did the gun come from, Christian.
C: I don’t know. Dale must have brought it from the house. I didn’t take it.

N: But you had it in the cemetery.
C: Yeah, it was there. On the ground.

N: Did you see anyone else at the cemetery, anyone that might have seen you?
C: No. No, there wasn’t anyone around at all.

N: So it was just you and Dale.
C: Yeah, just us.

N: And Dale was filling in the grave over his sister and talking to her.
C: Yeah, uh, yeah.

N: And then what happened, Christian?
C: I, he was talking to me then. He wanted me to finish covering up the grave. I didn’t want to. He said he was tired and I had to help him. I think I was kind of in shock then. He got mad at me. He kicked me and that sort of woke me up. I got up and we started arguing.

N: What were you arguing about?
C: I, ah, it was, he was changing his mind. He was saying I had to drive him to Memphis so he could make his flight. It was crazy. I said how was he going to just go to Colorado by himself? I said what happened to going to Mexico and the kidnapping? He laughed and said it was stupid. I couldn’t understand. I said he couldn’t just go on like this hadn’t happened, and he said why not? He was so, he was so different. I said to come on, let’s hurry and finish this and get out of here, and he said no way was he going to. He laughed at me. He said I was pathetic. I asked him how he could get me involved in this thing and just laugh at me. He said I was always that way, everyone’s doormat. I couldn’t believe it. This was my friend. The person I’d spent most of my life helping and he was calling me pathetic and a doormat. I grabbed his arms and shook him, I said he didn’t know what he was saying. He hit me. Knocked me down. He turned around and started shoveling again and said that no one would believe he killed Crystal. He said I had to help now or if he had to, he’d make sure everyone knew I killed her. He was laughing at me. He betrayed me. I saw everything in my life destroyed in that one minute. I saw how he didn’t care about anything he did, anything. He didn’t care about Crystal, he didn’t care about me, he didn’t care about anyone. He was laughing. It was crazy.

N: He laughed at you, he hurt you, you picked up the gun and shot him didn’t you Christian?
C: Uh, I, the gun was in my hand. I don’t know how, and then he was dead. He was gone. I wanted to take it back. I didn’t mean to. I just wanted him to stop saying those things. I, what had I done? In one instant, one movement, everything was changed. I couldn’t, I didn’t want him to be dead. I wanted to turn around and run and make it all go away. Wake up and find out it was a dream. But it wasn’t. It hasn’t gone away. I can’t change anything. I’ve thought about dying. I tried, but I can’t. I’ll never be able to live with what I’ve done. I don’t know how I’ve gotten this far.

N: I’m going to ask Deputy Wise to step in for minute here, Christian.

N: Deputy, Christian Chambers here has just told me that he did shoot his friend Dale Taylor in the heat of the moment and he’s feeling very sorry about that, isn’t that right Christian?
C: Ah, yeah, I did that and I’d do anything to take it back.

N: Christian I’m going to ask you to sit here with Deputy Wise and get this down on paper. I want to thank you for your honesty, son. You’re doing the right thing by getting this all out now. We’ll be talking again a bit later.