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Witness Interview with Shane Taylor

Q=Detective T. Nelson
A=Shane Taylor

Q=Hello, Shane.

 

A=Hello, Detective Nelson.

 

Q=Shane, now you have said that you dropped your younger brother and sister off at the Eastgate Shopping Center on University Avenue, is that right?

 

A=Yes, that's right. I took them to the shopping center. The bus pulls in there. My mom asked me a few days ago to take them. They had to catch a bus to Memphis to catch the plane to Colorado.

 

Q=When did you get up on Monday morning?

 

A=Around three o' clock . That's pretty early for me. But Mom got me up about three and she were making a big deal over them, had fixed up a big breakfast for everybody, and Dad was up and dressed, and they were talking about how proud they were of them and how I should be proud too.

 

Q=You weren't proud of them?

 

A=Well sure, they're my brother and sister, you know? But I never got that kind of praise for my music, and I worked really hard on it.

 

Q=You write and sing blues songs, right?

 

A=That's right. I've got a CD coming out in a few months. I just got finished recording it.

 

Q=What happened after breakfast?

 

A=We loaded up my car with their bags and then Mom and Dad told them goodbye. Mom got all teary-eyed, like she always does. They were just leaving for a few weeks.

 

Q=Two or three weeks.

 

A=Yeah. But then we got all got into my car and I started driving them out to the shopping center.

 

Q=What happened then?

 

A=Nothing. We just rode over there.

 

Q=Nothing else happened? That look on your face tells me it was more complicated than that.

 

A=Something else did happen, actually, but it wasn't a big deal.

 

Q=What was it?

 

A=Crystal and I got into an argument.

 

Q=About what?

 

A=She started talking about how great these new coaches would be, and this and that, and then Dale said something about how he hoped she would listen to these coaches and learn something. And then she started yelling and crying at him, and he blamed her for their loss at the World Championships. I told him to back off and he started yelling at me about how he didn't think I cared about what they were doing, that I was way into music, too much, and how I should be happy for them, because I never was, he said. He said I was always jealous of their success. And then I started yelling at him, in fact, I pulled off in the parking lot of Burger King right down by the red light near the shopping center and we had it out. I told him I thought it was unfair that they were jetting off to Colorado with money from mom and dad, again, when they had promised me that they would help me press my first CD. It wasn't real cheap, but I've never asked them for anything. And when the time came to pay the company that pressed the CD's they told me that they had to put some money aside for the Colorado trip, and they only gave me half of what I had been promised. And then Dale just started laughing like a hyena. He didn't take it seriously at all, as if I hadn't even said anything. Crystal just sat there looking out the window. I mean, if they want to ice skate all their lives that's fine with me, but I'm into music, and I've always hated ice skating. But I let them know how I felt about their trip.

 

Q=Then what did you do?

 

A=Then I dropped them off.

 

Q=Where?

 

A=At the Big Star. At the front door. I dropped them off. I didn't wait on them or anything. I was still mad. I just got back on the road and went home and went back to sleep.

 

Q-What time did you leave them at the shopping center?

 

A=About three-thirty in the morning. I was back in bed by three-forty five.

 

Q=Did you talk to anybody on the way home?

 

A=Like who?

 

Q=Somebody at a gas station, maybe?

 

A=I didn't stop at a gas station, or anywhere else.

 

Q=You're sure about that?

 

A=I'm positive.

 

Q=You didn't hear from your brother or sister again? Have you heard from them at all?

 

A=Nothing at all. I hope they're okay. I really do.

 

Q=Did you ever argue with your parents about your brother and sister?

 

A=Yes. I've been over this with them a million times, and they never get it, but we've stopped talking about it.

 

Q=About what?

 

A=About the fact that they don't give me any real respect for my music, and they heap all this money and time and stuff on Dale and Crystal. They just kind of left me out of it all.

 

Q=You were jealous of your brother and sister, then?

 

A=A little. I think that's natural. I think they were a little jealous of me, too, though. Neither one of them can play an instrument like I can. But I love them both, no matter what they think of me.

 

Q=Okay, Shane. We're going to be talking to you again soon.

 

A=Okay.