Tim Howorth interview

Monday, July 17, 2023 – 2:48 p.m.

Tim Howorth was Katy Brown's boyfriend.

Detectives Armstrong and Murphy interviewed him at the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department.

Participants:

• Detective Ted Armstrong
• Detective Samantha Murphy
• Tim Howorth

Detective Murphy: Thanks for coming in, Tim.

Detective Armstrong: Would you please state your name and address?

Tim Howorth: All right. My name is Tim Howorth, and I live at 221 Cooke Street.

Detective Armstrong: Thank you.

Detective Murphy: What was your relationship with Katy Brown?

Tim Howorth: I'm sure someone already told you that. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here.

Detective Armstrong: We'd like to hear it from you.

Tim Howorth: She was my girlfriend.

Detective Murphy: When did you start going out?

Tim Howorth: Last fall. I was her date at the Rockin' Luau.

Detective Armstrong: Did you kill her?

Tim Howorth: What kind of question is that?

Detective Murphy: Tim, we're asking everybody. You understand?

Tim Howorth: Why are you wasting time asking me questions? Why don't you people solve this? Or do you think your precious crime scene equipment is too valuable to waste on some bimbo cheerleader?

Detective Armstrong: We're doing everything possible, including talking to you.

Tim Howorth: Well, I certainly didn't kill her.

Detective Armstrong: You've been in trouble before. Do you have an anger management problem?

Tim Howorth: Look, I was told that—

Detective Armstrong: I don't care what you were told. Were you angry at Katy?

Tim Howorth: No. I didn't kill her.

Detective Armstrong: Were you angry at her about anything?

Tim Howorth: No. Like what?

Detective Armstrong: You tell us. We've heard you have quite a temper.

Tim Howorth: I do not! And I wasn't angry at Katy about anything. Who told you that?

Detective Murphy: Where were you on Saturday morning?

Tim Howorth: I was at home, probably asleep. I sleep late on Saturdays.

Detective Murphy: Can your parents confirm that, Tim?

Tim Howorth: If they did, they'd be lying. My father had left early to go fishing with a friend of his, Phil Kent. My mother was at some church thing.

Detective Armstrong: So no one can verify that you were at home, supposedly sleeping, when Katy was killed.

Tim Howorth: You're just going to have to take my word for it.

Detective Murphy: Your eyes look a little irritated. Would you like a tissue?

Tim Howorth: No, thanks.

Detective Armstrong: Maybe your eyes are red because you've been doing drugs.

Tim Howorth: I don't do drugs. My eyes are probably red because of the lousy circulation in here. It's drying out my contacts.

Detective Armstrong: That's funny. I thought you might say you were sad about your girlfriend being brutally murdered. That I could understand. That would be expected.

Tim Howorth: I cope in my own way.

Detective Murphy: Did Katy ever mention any problems to you?

Tim Howorth: Sure, all the time.

Detective Murphy: Was there anyone in particular who was bothering her?

Tim Howorth: Someone had been leaving notes in her locker.

Detective Murphy: What kind of notes?

Tim Howorth: I don't know. Something about they knew what she did or knew what she was or something like that. It sounded like some kind of stupid prank to me.

Detective Murphy: How many notes like that did she receive?

Tim Howorth: I'm not sure. Maybe five? I really don't know.

Detective Murphy: How long had this been going on?

Tim Howorth: Since school practices started, so like a few weeks, I guess?

Detective Murphy: School practices?

Tim Howorth: Yeah, you know, football, cheerleading, band, whatever.

Detective Murphy: Okay. Did Katy know who was leaving the notes?

Tim Howorth: No. She said they weren't signed, and she couldn't figure out who it was from what they wrote.

Detective Murphy: Did you ever see any of the notes?

Tim Howorth: She'd rip them up and flush them down the toilet in the girl's bathroom. Katy said she didn't want to dignify them with anything more.

Detective Armstrong: So we only have your word that these notes even existed.

Tim Howorth: She might have mentioned them to somebody else. I don't know.

Detective Murphy: Would she have told Jennifer Adams about them?

Tim Howorth: No.

Detective Murphy: Why not?

Tim Howorth: It's just not the kind of thing Katy would talk to Jennifer about.

Detective Murphy: What about Sherry Guyton? Would Katy have told her?

Tim Howorth: No, they haven't really been friends since Sherry got hurt. She's still pretty pissed, I guess.

Detective Murphy: Do you think Sherry wrote the notes?

Tim Howorth: No. It doesn't seem like her style. If she wrote them, she'd probably sign them.

Detective Murphy: What about Wanda Martin?

Tim Howorth: Wanda? What about her?

Detective Murphy: Were she and Katy friends?

Tim Howorth: Um, no.

Detective Murphy: Could Wanda have been the one writing the notes?

Tim Howorth: No. If she has something to say, she just says it. I don't think she'd take the time to write anonymous notes just to give Katy crap, you know?

Detective Armstrong: Tell us about Katy's brother.

Tim Howorth: Cody? He for damn sure didn't write those notes. He thinks Katy walks on water. It's kind of creepy, actually.

Detective Armstrong: Is that why you gave him a hard time?

Tim Howorth: A hard time?

Detective Armstrong: You like to roughhouse with him, right?

Tim Howorth: We joke around, sure. It's no big deal.

Detective Armstrong: Sure. You were singing a different tune back when those boys tried to prank you in the school gym a few years ago, weren't you?

Tim Howorth: That was totally different. I could've been killed! I had to protect myself.

Detective Armstrong: Uh-huh. So who do you think did this to Katy?

Tim Howorth: I don't know. Some random dude, I guess.

Detective Armstrong: You think a stranger killed her?

Tim Howorth: Yeah. Don't you?

Detective Armstrong: Okay, Tim. That's all for now. We'll be in touch.

Tim Howorth: I can leave?

Detective Murphy: You can leave.

Interview ended – 3:09 p.m.