Katherine Dixon interview

Tuesday, May 23, 2023 – 10:30 a.m.

Katherine Dixon is a student at the University of Mississippi and works part-time as a waitress at her father's restaurant. 

Detectives Armstrong and Murphy interviewed her in her home where she lives with her father, Carl Dixon.

Participants:

• Detective T. Armstrong
• Detective S. Murphy
• Katherine Dixon

Detective Murphy: For the record, would you state your full name and address?

Katherine Dixon: Katherine Jacqueline Dixon, 818 Country Club Circle, Oxford, Mississippi.

Detective Murphy: Ms. Dixon, we have several questions regarding the events leading up to the death of Devlin Beauchamp. Do you feel able to answer our questions at this time?

Katherine Dixon: My broken heart will not mend any time soon. What point is there in putting it off?

Detective Murphy: I see your point. Can you tell me where you were Saturday night?

Katherine Dixon: I was home, asleep.

Detective Armstrong: What time did you arrive home the night of the 20th?

Katherine Dixon: About 10:00 p.m. I had planned to be away for the whole weekend visiting friends in Jackson, but I wasn't feeling well, so I came home.

Detective Armstrong: When did you leave Oxford for Jackson?

Katherine Dixon: Late Friday afternoon. I guess it was about 4:30 p.m.

Detective Murphy: That would have been on May 19th?

Katherine Dixon: Yes.

Detective Armstrong: When did you leave Jackson to return to Oxford?

Katherine Dixon: I would say it was about 8:00 p.m. on Saturday. Margie and Jodie and I spent the day shopping and lunching and gossiping. I suppose I could have stayed another night, but as I said, I wasn't feeling well. Guess I had a touch of the bug that's been going around.

Detective Murphy: Margie and Jodie who?

Katherine Dixon: Margie Jones and Jodie Beckmeire. They live in Jackson on Missouri Street…195. We all went to school together, then they moved down to Jackson after high school graduation, though for the life of me, why they'd go to work at the Walmart… oh my, I am rambling, aren't I?

Detective Armstrong: They can corroborate your story?

Katherine Dixon: My story? They can vouch for me if that's what you mean.

Detective Armstrong: Yes, ma'am, that's what I mean. And you returned home because you felt ill, is that correct?

Katherine Dixon: Well, I don't know… ill, maybe just exhausted. I was in the middle of May Intersession classes—I've changed my major so much that I'm taking classes over the summer so I can graduate in the Spring—and so I was just wiped out, I guess. I didn't even work that week because I was so worn out.

Detective Armstrong: I see. So you arrived home at 10:00 p.m. on May 20th? What did you do then?

Katherine Dixon: I don't know. I came in, put down my suitcase, and ran a bath, I think. After my bath, I tried to wait up for Daddy, but I guess I was too tired and drifted off.

Detective Murphy: Did you see your father that night?

Katherine Dixon: Not exactly. I mean, I woke up when he came home. I turned on my light and was going to get up, but he called out and said not to. Frankly, I didn't have the energy anyway. So I called out goodnight, turned out the light, and went back to sleep.

Detective Armstrong: When did you get up the next morning?

Katherine Dixon: I guess it was about 8:00 a.m. There was an exercise class I wanted to go to. I got up, threw on my clothes, and looked in on Daddy.

Detective Armstrong: Was he awake?

Katherine Dixon: No, he was sound asleep. He looked so tired. I thought he must've needed the rest because he's usually up by then, so I turned the ringer off on his cell phone since I knew somebody from the restaurant would find a reason to call him and wake him.

Detective Armstrong: Why would they do that?

Katherine Dixon: Because they have been doing it for the last eight years. Why would it stop now? That's how restaurants are, always some stupid emergency. Never become a restaurant owner, detective. It will rule your life.

Detective Armstrong: So you turned off the ringer on his phone and left?

Katherine Dixon: Yes, I did.

Detective Murphy: Do you have a landline?

Katherine Dixon: Yes. Hardly anybody calls it anymore except people wanting to sell something and politicians, but Daddy doesn't want to get rid of it.

Detective Murphy: Does anyone from the restaurant ever call on that line?

Katherine Dixon: Not that I know of. I don't think they even know the number.

Detective Armstrong: So, you turned the ringer off on your father's phone and then…?

Katherine Dixon: Yes, I went to the class. Do you want the teacher's name or the people who saw me there?

Detective Murphy: Where was the class?

Katherine Dixon: At the high school.

Detective Murphy: We know how to contact the folks down there, so don't trouble yourself. When did you actually see your father again?

Katherine Dixon: Later that afternoon. I went by the restaurant because I was hungry and I wanted to see if Daddy was there, thought maybe we could have lunch together. And my father was having the meeting….

Detective Armstrong: He was telling the staff about Mr. Beauchamp?

Katherine Dixon: Yes, sir… I just couldn't believe it. I was so… I still don't believe it. I feel like any minute he's gonna walk through that door and whistle and say, "Hey Kat, what's cooking?"

Detective Armstrong: So, you weren't aware of Mr. Beauchamp's death until you heard your father telling your fellow employees?

Katherine Dixon: That's correct.

Detective Armstrong: And you hadn't worked at the restaurant since…?

Katherine Dixon: May 13th. I was scheduled to go back to work on May 27th.

Detective Murphy: Had you noticed any changes in Mr. Beauchamp's behavior recently?

Katherine Dixon: No. Well, yes… a little. He seemed quieter than usual. Dev could really fill up a room with his laughter and his jokes. When he was quiet, you did notice it.

Detective Murphy: Did he tell you about any problems he was having?

Katherine Dixon: He told me some woman from his past—Natalie Poster or Paster or something—was bothering him. He said he might call the police… or was it an attorney?

Detective Murphy: In what way was she bothering him?

Katherine Dixon: He didn't really say. You know women become enamored of him easily. I guess I just assumed she was following him or something like that. Annoying him, you know?

Detective Murphy: Do you know if he did contact the police or an attorney?

Katherine Dixon: He never said.

Detective Murphy: Anyone else he was having problems with?

Katherine Dixon: I think his brother was driving him to distraction. He's a writer. Jordan Rodale… heard of him?

Detective Murphy: We're aware he's Mr. Beauchamp's brother.

Katherine Dixon: I mean his books… historical novels… The Romances of George Washington and there were others. Anyway, he's all charming on those talk shows, but Dev said he could be a real bitch if he wanted something.

Detective Murphy: What did Mr. Rodale want?

Katherine Dixon: Something of Dev's. Something his mother left him, I think. He never said exactly.

Detective Armstrong: Mr. Beauchamp seems to have confided in you quite a bit.

Katherine Dixon: We were smitten with one another.

Detective Armstrong: You were?

Katherine Dixon: Well, I know Dev downplayed it because of Daddy. He didn't approve, but I knew in time, it would be out in the open.

Detective Armstrong: You had a relationship with Mr. Beauchamp?

Katherine Dixon: Well, of course.

Detective Armstrong: Excuse me, you had an intimate relationship with Mr. Beauchamp?

Katherine Dixon: Well, it was heading in that direction. If somebody hadn't… if he was… oh my, what will I do without him?

Detective Murphy: Ms. Dixon, we've been told that, in fact, you wanted a relationship with Mr. Beauchamp, but none existed.

Katherine Dixon: I'll bet I know just who said that terrible thing to you. It was Mickie Webster, right? She is such a jealous, insecure woman that she would lie to make her own mother look guilty.

Detective Armstrong: What makes you say she's jealous?

Katherine Dixon: Any time Dev talked to anybody, she was always there, lurking in the shadows, pretending not to listen. But you just knew she was!

Detective Armstrong: Was there any time that she—

Katherine Dixon: Whenever they were in the restaurant at the same time, she was practically attached at the hip to him.

Detective Armstrong: Did they argue at the restaurant, to your knowledge?

Katherine Dixon: I never saw them argue. They were just wrong for each other. Dev figured that out pretty quick.

Detective Murphy: How long did Mr. Beauchamp go out with Ms. Webster?

Katherine Dixon: Couldn't have been more than six months.

Detective Murphy: I see. And after the breakup, were there any problems?

Katherine Dixon: It was so tense, you could cut the air with a knife. She always looked like she was going to cry or something. He just tried to stay away from her.

Detective Armstrong: Ms. Webster seems to think they had an amicable breakup and that they were friends.

Katherine Dixon: Only because Dev wouldn't turn anyone away, no matter how pathetic they were. Because he had such a big heart.

Detective Murphy: Isn't it true that Mr. Beauchamp also rejected you, Ms. Dixon? And that it made you angry and bitter?

Katherine Dixon: It was because of Daddy. He didn't want there to be trouble between them. I understood. We just had to bide our time. That's why I never told Daddy about that letter.

Detective Armstrong: What letter?

Katherine Dixon: Seemed like a lawyer was saying something about making big changes in the restaurant, but Daddy wasn't mentioned. I got upset about it, and I confronted Dev. He explained to me that it was just somebody making an offer. He said people made offers all the time, and it didn't mean he was even going to consider it.

Detective Armstrong: Where did you see this letter?

Katherine Dixon: In the office at the restaurant, it was just sitting on Dev's desk.

Detective Armstrong: Out in the open?

Katherine Dixon: Not completely…

Detective Murphy: Did your father ever find out about the letter?

Katherine Dixon: Not from me. I kept Dev's secret.

Detective Murphy: I thought he said it didn't mean anything.

Katherine Dixon: Maybe it did, and maybe it didn't. I guess I just wanted to believe him, you know what I mean? When you're in love…

Detective Murphy: Do you know what happened to the letter? Did Mr. Beauchamp throw it away, file it, put it in the safe?

Katherine Dixon: He crumpled it up and threw it in the trash right in front of me.

Detective Armstrong: Did it stay there?

Katherine Dixon: Pardon?

Detective Armstrong: Did you go back later, take the letter out, and say… keep it? Put it somewhere?

Katherine Dixon: To be perfectly honest, I did go back. But the trash had been emptied, and I didn't think I could explain my fishing around in the dumpster out back.

Detective Armstrong: So you never saw the letter again?

Katherine Dixon: No, I did not.

Detective Murphy: Do you have any other information about Mr. Beauchamp that you feel we should know?

Katherine Dixon: I think I've told all, detective. My heart is broken, and I can't think any more thoughts of him. Can we end this now?

Detective Armstrong: Yes, of course. We may need to ask you some more questions later on.

Katherine Dixon: I understand.

Detective Armstrong: And we will need you to remain available. Should you decide to leave Oxford, we need you to let us know.

Katherine Dixon: Yes, of course. Goodbye, detectives.

Interview ended – 11:14 a.m.