Taylor Boyd interview

Friday, January 5, 2024 – 10:00 a.m.

Taylor Boyd was Jared Plunk's business partner until shortly before his death.

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

Participants:

• Detective S. Murphy
• Detective E. Parker
• Taylor Boyd

Detective Murphy: Thank you for coming in, Mr. Boyd.

Taylor Boyd: That's quite all right. I'll tell you anything I can that might help you in your investigation.

Detective Murphy: Good. State your name and address.

Taylor Boyd: Sure. My name is Taylor Boyd, and I live at 1509 Smallwood Drive in Oxford.

Detective Murphy: You know why we asked you to come in?

Taylor Boyd: I'm sure it's about Jared's murder. I know you've spoken to my wife, Yvonne, more than once. I wish you'd just leave her alone.

Detective Murphy: Your wife is the one who led us to the body.

Taylor Boyd: Just being on her tour of the hotel and happening upon the body doesn't make her suspicious.

Detective Parker: It very well could, and the fact that she knew Mr. Plunk just adds to the suspicion.

Taylor Boyd: She was doing her job, and that's all. It's terrible that she had to suffer the shock and trauma of discovering his body. She'll never get over that.

Detective Parker: We want to know about your relationship with Mr. Plunk.

Taylor Boyd: We were partners until he broke it off. He decided he didn't need me.

Detective Murphy: Did that upset you?

Taylor Boyd: Of course, it upset me. I was fuming.

Detective Parker: Mad enough to kill him?

Taylor Boyd: No way. I'm not made that way. I hated him, but I wouldn't ruin my own life by ending his. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad he's gone, but I wouldn't and didn't do it.

Detective Parker: Even though he slept with your wife?

Taylor Boyd: What? How dare you?

Detective Parker: Mr. Boyd, we already know about the affair, so lying about it just makes you more of a suspect.

Taylor Boyd: I'm a suspect?

Detective Parker: Jared Plunk dropped you as a business partner and slept with your wife. Basically, he screwed both of you. Did you really think you wouldn't be a suspect?

Taylor Boyd: I didn't kill him! I wouldn't do that, no matter how much of an a*****e he was.

Detective Murphy: Where were you on the morning that Mr. Plunk was murdered?

Taylor Boyd: I couldn't sleep, so I decided to go for a walk. I left my room and took the elevator to the ground floor.

Detective Parker: Where was your wife when you left the room?

Taylor Boyd: Still asleep.

Detective Murphy: Did you see Mr. Plunk on your walk?

Taylor Boyd: No. I suddenly felt sick while I was in the elevator and had to go to the restroom. I didn't think I could make it back to the room, so I went into the public restroom.

Detective Murphy: What was wrong with you?

Taylor Boyd: I was very nauseated. I guess it was something I had eaten the night before.

Detective Parker: Did you take that walk after that?

Taylor Boyd: No, I went back to my room as soon as I was able.

Detective Murphy: Was your wife there when you got back?

Taylor Boyd: No, she had left to go to work, do her rounds.

Detective Murphy: Do you think your wife murdered Mr. Plunk?

Taylor Boyd: Of course not!

Detective Parker: She claims she took the knife and hid it because she panicked. She left her fingerprints on the murder weapon.

Taylor Boyd: Yes, she told me about that. She was telling you the truth.

Detective Parker: Isn't it possible that she killed Jared Plunk, then took the knife and left it in a spot where it would be found easily so it would point the investigation in your direction?

Taylor Boyd: Come on! She explained why she took the knife. You can't believe she would do that. Her fingerprints were on it. She would've wiped them off if she wanted to make it look like I did it.

Detective Parker: But she could easily say she covered your fingerprints with hers, couldn't she?

Taylor Boyd: I will never believe such a thing. You're trying to confuse me.

Detective Murphy: Did you happen to see anyone else during your walk that morning?

Taylor Boyd: Actually, yes. I saw someone in my hallway.

Detective Murphy: Who?

Taylor Boyd: I saw the lady Elvis tribute artist. She was all decked out in the costume already.

Detective Parker: So if we ask her if she saw you, she'll confirm that?

Taylor Boyd: Yes, she will, unless her memory is failing or she was too wrapped up in the song she was singing. I'll never get her rendition of "Love Me Tender" out of my mind.

Detective Parker: Did she see you before you went downstairs or after you came back upstairs?

Taylor Boyd: It was before I went downstairs.

Detective Parker: That doesn't help you much, does it?

Taylor Boyd: I'm tired of these accusations. I'm leaving.

Detective Murphy: We're not quite finished yet, Mr. Boyd.

Taylor Boyd: What else could you possibly want?

Detective Murphy: Tell us about those Elvis letters that Jared was going to talk about in his presentation at the conference.

Taylor Boyd: What about them?

Detective Murphy: When was the last time you saw them?

Taylor Boyd: I never saw them. That bastard let me run all over creation looking for them, and then all of a sudden, he says he has them and cuts me out? A*****e.

Detective Murphy: How did he get them?

Taylor Boyd: Hell if I know. You think he'd tell me?

Detective Murphy: Maybe he paid for them. Did the two of you have any money set aside to buy them once you found them?

Taylor Boyd: Are you kidding? Those letters were worth a fortune. We were hoping whoever had them would donate them in the spirit of academic research. Are you telling me Jared paid for them?

Detective Parker: What did the letters say exactly that would make them so valuable?

Taylor Boyd: Jared said they would change the way everyone thinks about Elvis Presley.

Detective Parker: How so?

Taylor Boyd: I don't know. He wouldn't tell me, and he wouldn't let me see them once he had them.

Detective Parker: Were these letters supposed to change the way people think about Elvis in a negative or positive way?

Taylor Boyd: I got the impression that it was in a negative way.

Detective Parker: And how did you feel about that?

Taylor Boyd: I'm a journalist, detective. My top priority is the truth, not preserving a legend, deserved or not.

Detective Murphy: If you didn't even know what was in the letters, then why did you, in your words, "run all over creation looking for them?"

Taylor Boyd: Because I was a fool. I trusted Jared. I shouldn't have, but I didn't know that then. Are we done here, or do you want to continue making me feel like an idiot?

Detective Parker: You can go for now, but we may have to talk to you again.

Taylor Boyd: Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Interview ended – 10:32 a.m.