Witness Interview: Tucker Baines

Witness Interview: Tucker Baines

Tucker Baines, Assistant Professor, University of Mississippi, discovered one of the Taylors' skate bags Wednesday morning, March 4, on Mississippi Highway 7 north of Oxford. Officers searching the area eventually found more of the luggage. Baines was interviewed at the Sheriff's department Wednesday afternoon at 2:30 p.m.

N = Detective Terry Nelson
B = Tucker Baines

N: Thanks for coming by, Dr. Baines.

B: Just Mister, please. Or Tucker.

N: Mr. Baines. For the record, could you please state your full name and address?

B: Tucker Hewitt Baines, 436 Sisk Avenue, Oxford.

N: Thanks. Now, how did you find the bag you brought in to the Sheriff's department this morning?

B: I was out running this morning and my dog found it.

N: Do you run every morning?

B: Five mornings a week. Outside when the weather allows. It's been awful the past few weeks, so I grab every chance I get. You have no idea how boring it gets, trying to do distance running in the Turner Center. Distracting, too.

N: Distracting?

B: Mmmmm. Ponytails. Need I say more?

N: Yessir. And this morning?

B: Absolutely gorgeous. Not too chilly, and beautiful blue skies. Just as well I grabbed the chance, too, since it was raining by lunchtime. Again.

N: What time did you go out to run?

B: I couldn't say, precisely. I know it was after 7, though. Just a few minutes after, because I listened to the top of the hour news on NPR before heading out.

N: Where do you run from?

B: Oh, from my house. I pick different routes and just run about 40 minutes away from the house then back. Generally comes out to about eight or ten miles, depending on how hard I push it.

N: In an hour and 20 minutes?

B: More or less. That's what I shoot for, anyway. Leave the house around 7, get back around 8:30, make it to my 10 o'clock class in plenty of time.

N: What do you teach, Mr. Baines?

B: Journalism. Broadcast reporting. Cameras, y'know. Peter Jennings stuff. Our students have been following the Taylor case for Channel 12 Newswatch. This'll be a big story.

N: What will?

B: Finding the luggage. That is what I found, right? Did you find the rest of it?

N: Some luggage was recovered, yes.

B: Was it the Taylors'?

N: I couldn't say for sure at this point, sir. If we could return to the questions?

B: Oh, right. Sure. Sure. Sorry. That old reporter instinct, y'know. Grabs me sometimes.

N: You were out running this morning, sometime between 7 and 8:30 a.m. Where?

B: Okay ... I left home, ran up Sisk to 7, then decided to go north.

N: Why north?

B: Why not?

N: There was no particular reason why you chose north?

B: Nope. I generally just make decisions on the fly. I don't like being boxed in to a routine. Bad enough I have this running habit. I sure don't want to get stuck looking at the same scenery every day.

N: And you were running with your dog. Do you always run with your dog?

B: Well, not in Turner Center, that's for sure.

N: But outside?

B: About half the time, I guess.

N: Any particular reason why you took your dog this morning?

B: Nope. Just seemed like a good idea at the time. He likes the good weather as much as I do.

N: What kind of dog do you have, Mr. Baines?

B: Heinz 57. Best kind. Got him at the shelter, four years ago. I'd guess he's mostly a Lab/Shepherd mix, but small. Looks like a miniature Lab with Shepherd coloring, y'know that black and tan look? Beautiful fella. Smart as a whip. Beaucoup.

N: Beaucoup?

B: That's his name. Beaucoup. Bo, mostly.

N: I see. And were you running with your dog loose?

B: Nah. I keep him on a long leash, y'know that kind you can let out and reel back in one-handed? Bo's real reliable, but I don't like to test my luck out there on the highway. I'd hate to lose him.

N: I can understand that. So you were running north on 7, with your dog, and then what?

B: Well, I've run that way before so I know it's about five miles from my house to that little bridge over Hurricane Creek. The one just north of Woodland Hills. That's where I usually do my turnaround, and head back home.

N: You've run that way before? How often?

B: I've been running five days a week in this town for four years. There's not a whole lot of places I haven't run.

N: Before today, when was the last time you ran up Highway 7 to Hurricane Creek?

B: Hell, I don't remember. Maybe a few weeks. A month? Like I said, the weather's been wretched, so I've been doing a lot of running at the Turner this semester.

N: Okay. What happened when you got to the bridge this morning?

B: I jogged down the shoulder some and let Bo go get a drink.

N: From the creek?

B: Right.

N: On the leash?

B: It's a long leash, but not that long. No, I let him loose. And he ran right down to the water, like I knew he would, and started drinking.

N: Then what happened?

B: Well, I was getting a drink myself...

N: From the creek?

B: You must be kidding. From a water bottle, of course.

N: I see. Go on.

B: As I said, I was getting a drink and doing a few stretches to keep from cramping, and I called Bo, but he didn't come right away.

N: Was that unusual?

B: Moderately. He's generally real good, but if something interesting's caught his attention, I might have to call him a few times.

N: And then what happened?

B: I called. He didn't come. I called again, and started looking. I stepped down toward the creek a few steps and saw his tail wagging over by the water, almost under the bridge. I called him again and he raised his head and looked at me, then went back to whatever had his attention. I figured, good god, please don't let it be a skunk.

N: Go on.

B: So I got close enough that I could see he was worrying at some kind of bag, not an animal. That got me interested, so I went down to check it out. When I got there, he'd torn it a little and I saw a blade and couldn't believe what I was looking at.

N: Which was?

B: Well, it was a skate, of course. An ice skate. Face it, detective, there's not a whole lot of ice skaters in Oxford, and the Taylor case has been in the news.

N: What did you do then?

B: What anybody would do. I got the bag away from Bo, then started looking around to see if I could find anything else.

N: And did you?

B: Not on the banks. After a while I thought I could make out a shape that could've been a suitcase, hung on something against one of the bridge pilings. Was it?

N: Was it what?

B: Was it a suitcase? You guys did go look, right?

N: Some items of luggage were recovered, yes.

B: Damn. You're being awfully close-mouthed about this.

N: I just need to get the answers to a few more questions, Mr. Baines.

G: Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead.

N: What did you do next?

B: When I saw I couldn't get at anything else easily - if there was even anything else there and not just my imagination - I clipped Bo and started back toward town.

N: With the skate bag?

B: Yes.

N: And?

B: And I ran home, and called the police. Like any good citizen would.

N: And a police unit came to your home?

B: Right. I told them what I'm telling you, and that I had to go teach a class and they talked on the radio for a while and asked me to come in this afternoon. So here I am. Who do you suppose dumped the stuff in the creek?

N: Why do you ask?

B: Hey, come on. Bags of ice skates don't just fly into creeks in the middle of nowhere all by themselves. Obviously it's the Taylors' skates. And you found other stuff. So somebody must have dumped it there.

N: What makes you say that?

B: Y'know, this "Just the facts" routine gets real tiresome.

N: I'm sorry, Mr. Baines. Did you bring a copy of your class and office hours schedule?

B: Of course. You people told me to, didn't you? I am a good citizen.

N: I don't doubt that, Mr. Baines. And this is your current office number?

B: It's all accurate.

N: Thank you for your time, Mr. Baines. It's possible we may need to ask you more questions later on.

B: Sure. Of course. You're not going to tell me anything, are you?

N: I'm afraid not, Mr. Baines.

B: Okay, fine. Can I go then? I've got a 5 o'clock newscast to ride herd on.

N: Of course, sir.

B: Great..