Denny Buchanan interview #2

Thursday, May 6, 2021 – 1:10 p.m.

Denny Buchanan dated Barbara Dubois in college and reportedly got into a scuffle with her ex-boyfriend from high school when both were at the YCCC the night of the murder.

Detectives Armstrong and Murphy spoke with him by telephone at his office in Madison, Mississippi.

Participants:

• Detective T. Armstrong
• Detective S. Murphy
• Denny Buchanan

Detective Murphy: Thank you for talking to us.

Denny Buchanan: Of course, but you should know that I'm at work and that I'm surrounded by lawyers, so if I have to bring in reinforcements, I can certainly do that.

Detective Murphy: We'll try to keep that in mind. Would you please state your name and address?

Denny Buchanan: I live at 982 Maple Forest Court in Madison, Mississippi. As we discussed the first time we spoke, I also still own a home in Oxford near Beanland.

Detective Murphy: What is your occupation?

Denny Buchanan: I'm a business manager at Buchanan, Ives, and Allen.

Detective Armstrong: That's your daddy's law firm, isn't it

Denny Buchanan: Indeed it is. What does your father do, officer?

Detective Murphy: We're detectives, Denny. And we're not the subject of this interview, so let's go back to you.

Denny Buchanan: Establish control. Interrogation 101. You're a good student.

Detective Murphy: This isn't an interrogation. You are not under arrest, and you haven't been charged with any crime. This is an interview. Tell us about your relationship with Ingrid Freeman.

Denny Buchanan: Well, I don't know if you can call it a relationship. But for five or six hours or whatever, it was a pretty good one.

Detective Murphy: In our last discussion, you said you spent the night with Ingrid Freeman. Is that still your statement?

Denny Buchanan: Yes.

Detective Armstrong: You were with her the entire night?

Denny Buchanan: Yes.

Detective Armstrong: Was she there when Bill Lamar was knocking you around?

Denny Buchanan: Who told you that?

Detective Armstrong: He did. Said you fight like a girl.

Denny Buchanan: That little— I won that fight. You can take that to the bank, no matter what anyone else told you.

Detective Armstrong: Sure you did. What were you two fighting about?

Denny Buchanan: Nothing. He was bugging me. That's all.

Detective Armstrong: So it wasn't about Barbara?

Denny Buchanan: Why would we fight about her? I told you she didn't mean anything to me.

Detective Armstrong: Yes, you did. So why didn't you tell us about the fight the first time we talked?

Denny Buchanan: I didn't even think of it. Like I said, it was nothing.

Detective Murphy: Let's go back to Miss Freeman. How would you characterize your evening with her? Business or—

Denny Buchanan: Oh, we were taking care of business all right.

Detective Armstrong: Ingrid Freeman indicated that her interest in you was purely professional and that she was seeking your financial backing.

Denny Buchanan: Yeah, right. Ingrid said it was just business, okay. I'll play along with that.

Detective Murphy: We don't want you to play along, Denny. We want the truth.

Denny Buchanan: Okay, then it wasn't business. We talked for about five minutes on business. The rest of it was all personal, real personal.

Detective Murphy: Exactly what is your opinion of beauty pageant contestants?

Denny Buchanan: Those girls act like they're all proper and all that. That's bull— uh, baloney. They're as dirty as porn stars. They just like to act like it's not true. It's all lies. They're all liars. That's what's true.

Detective Murphy: Then why date Barbara Dubois?

Denny Buchanan: I didn't date her. I was just hooking up with her. What's better than having a hot beauty queen on your arm?

Detective Armstrong: Are you suggesting you had no feelings for her?

Denny Buchanan: I had plenty of feelings with her, just not the emotional kind.

Detective Murphy: We've been told that you were quite upset when you two broke up. Why was that if you didn't care for her?

Denny Buchanan: It was her attitude. She was nothing, and yet she walked around with this goody-two-shoes attitude. Like she was better than me. I could care less if I had ever seen the girl again, but her attitude is what irritated me.

Detective Murphy: It sounds like Barbara brought out pretty strong reactions in people. How did Ingrid feel about her?

Denny Buchanan: Ingrid hated her. If you want to interrogate someone, you should talk to her.

Detective Armstrong: Both of you disliked Barbara, and then you spent the entire night together on the night of Barbara's murder.

Detective Murphy: Pretty convenient, huh?

Denny Buchanan: I'm not going to listen to that.

Detective Murphy: Denny, were you in any way responsible for Barbara Dubois' death?

Denny Buchanan: This interview is now over. I'm going to instruct my secretary that if you call again, you can speak with my father, the senior partner in this law firm. Goodbye.

Interview ended – 1:23 p.m.