Fay Nutt interview

Monday, April 1, 2024 – 11:30 a.m.

Participants:

• Detective S. Murphy
• Detective E. Parker
• Fay Nutt

Detective Murphy: Good morning, Ms. Nutt. Thank you for coming in. That's for you. Would you please officially state your name and address for the record?

Fay Nutt: Of course. Good morning. Fay Rochelle Nutt. 1116 Grant Circle, Oxford.

Detective Parker: Where are you employed, Ms. Nutt??

Fay Nutt: I'm Pastor— excuse me, I was Pastor Martinson's secretary. I am employed at the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit Church.

Detective Parker: Did you work only for Pastor Martinson?

Fay Nutt: No, no. Pastor Ingram, too, plus additional church duties, you know, things like the church calendar, committee agendas, typing and copying bulletins, preparing the PowerPoint presentations for the services. Basically, any additional work that needed to be done, that was my job.

Detective Murphy: Did you ever observe any friction between Pastor Ingram and Pastor Martinson?

Fay Nutt: No, never. They were a team. Everybody loved Pastor Martinson.

Detective Murphy: Apparently, not everybody.

Fay Nutt: I don't understand.

Detective Parker: What was your relationship with him?

Fay Nutt: We were very close.

Detective Murphy: How did his wife feel about that?

Fay Nutt: We were all very close.

Detective Parker: What do you mean by "close?"

Fay Nutt: Wait. Oh, no. No. I'm sorry. You misunderstand.

Detective Murphy: Well then, can you clarify it for us?

Fay Nutt: We were platonically close. Pastor Wendell and Lynette are my family.

Detective Parker: Did Pastor Martinson ever share with you the private details of the conversations he had with his parishioners?

Fay Nutt: No. If it happened behind closed doors, that's where it stayed.

Detective Murphy: You didn't ever hear anything from the office when he was visiting with people?

Fay Nutt: Only if the door was open.

Detective Parker: Did you ever hear any raised voices?

Fay Nutt: No. No angry shouting or anything like that ever. Oh, except for Zina, if she wanted something. But she was just being … Zina.

Detective Murphy: Zina?

Fay Nutt: Zina Jacinto. She donated a lot of money to the church and was a little entitled, I guess?

Detective Parker: Entitled how?

Fay Nutt: She just wanted things her way sometimes.

Detective Murphy: Did she ever make any threats to get her way?

Fay Nutt: She would charge out of his office and say, "This is the last check I'm going to write you!" Last week, she nearly slammed right into Emmett Sanford as he was going in to meet the pastor. Emmett was not amused. He slammed the pastor's door and had a few words with the pastor.

Detective Murphy: A few words?

Fay Nutt: Well, I'm not sure what he was saying, but it sounded like he was talking through gritted teeth. It was a short meeting, and it wasn't on Pastor Martinson's schedule. And it was odd because Emmett had stopped going to the church.

Detective Murphy: Any idea why?

Fay Nutt: I think probably the way Emmett's marriage ended after Pastor Martinson had counseled Emmett and Deirdre. I think Emmett blamed him for their divorce.

Detective Parker: Deirdre Sanford?

Fay Nutt: Littleton. She went back to her maiden name.

Detective Parker: Ms. Nutt, were you in the church on Easter morning prior to 6:00 a.m.?

Fay Nutt: No. I was supposed to meet Pastor Ingram at 6:00 a.m. to print his service notes. And I needed to meet with him to check to find out how he wanted the tables arranged for the reception for after the service, but I was… late.

Detective Murphy: What time did you arrive?

Fay Nutt: At 6:20.

Detective Murphy: Is there anyone that can corroborate that?

Fay Nutt: Yes.

Detective Murphy: Ms. Nutt, we need the name of that person.

Fay Nutt: My boyfriend. I spent the night with my boyfriend. Jason Riley. I… we… overslept. Please, I would like to keep that confidential.

Detective Parker: Absolutely. Unless it becomes relevant to the investigation. We'll need you to write down his address and phone number, please. Now, Ms. Nutt, can you think of anyone else who may have been at the church before 6:00 a.m.?

Fay Nutt: Well, Joey Kemp would come an hour before services to get ready for when they needed to count the collection money, but our normal services are at 11:00. I'm not sure if he was going to go early for the Easter sunrise service. That's so early.

Detective Murphy: Ms. Nutt, if you were investigating this case, who would you want to talk to?

Fay Nutt: That's so hard. Hard to know who to trust anymore. I guess I would talk to Pastor Ingram since he was supposed to be there early. And Joey, since he usually was early. Oh! I remember Joey and Pastor Wendell had a couple of private meetings to talk about the church's bookkeeping. Sorry, I just remembered that.

Detective Parker: What about the church's bookkeeping?

Fay Nutt: I don't know. I'm sorry.

Detective Murphy: Okay, well, thank you. We appreciate you coming in to talk to us, Ms. Nutt. If we have any further questions, we will contact you.

Fay Nutt: Thank you.

Interview ended – 11:57 a.m.