Katherine Dixon interview #2

Thursday, June 1, 2023 – 11:47 a.m.

The day after investigators searched the Dixon residence, Katherine Dixon met with the detectives for another conversation.

Detectives Armstrong and Murphy talked with her again at the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department. Ms. Dixon's attorney, Jack Diamond, was also present.

Participants:

• Detective T. Armstrong
• Detective S. Murphy
• Katherine Dixon
• Jack Diamond, Esq.

Detective Armstrong: For the record, could you state your full name and address?

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

Detective Armstrong: Thank you. For the recording, Ms. Dixon's counsel is also present, attorney Jack Diamond.

Jack Diamond: And let the record further reflect that, as I told you in Ms. Dixon's father's interview, this is absolutely ridiculous. Yoknapatawpha's finest can't truly believe that Ms. Dixon is a viable suspect in Mr. Beauchamp's murder, can they?

Detective Armstrong: Ms. Dixon is a viable witness in this case. The extent of her involvement, we hope to clarify today.

Jack Diamond: Kat, as your attorney, I advise you to cooperate, but if you don't understand a question, don't answer it without clarification.

Katherine Dixon: All right. I understand, Jack.

Jack Diamond: Go ahead with your questions.

Detective Murphy: Ms. Dixon, we have a few follow-up questions which we'll take up first, and then we'll discuss the evidence we collected from your home yesterday. Do you understand?

Katherine Dixon: I understand.

Detective Armstrong: What time did you arrive in Oxford on the night of May 20, 2023?

Katherine Dixon: I'm sure I already answered this. I guess it was about 10:00 at night.

Detective Armstrong: Phone records for Mr. Beauchamp's home show a call was made from your residence to his home on the 20th at 9:49 p.m. Did you place that call?

Katherine Dixon: Yes, I did. What's the problem? Oh, okay… I get it. Well, I guess I must've gotten home sometime before 9:49 p.m.

Detective Armstrong: When did you place the call?

Katherine Dixon: Well, detective, you seem to know better than I. You just said it was 9:49 p.m., and I don't dispute it.

Detective Armstrong: Did you place the call as soon as you arrived home or five minutes after you got there or an hour?

Katherine Dixon: It was probably within a few minutes … five minutes. He wasn't home. I left a message just to let him know I was back, but you probably know that, don't you?

Detective Murphy: And when you found he wasn't at home, did you drive over to his house and wait for him to come home?

Katherine Dixon: No, ma'am, I didn't. I took a bath, stayed up a little, waiting for Daddy… and okay, maybe thinking Dev might call me back… then drifted off to sleep.

Detective Armstrong: When he got there, you marched up to the front door.

Katherine Dixon: Excuse me? What are you talking about? Jack, what do they mean?

Jack Diamond: Ms. Dixon has made it clear she did not go to Mr. Beauchamp's that evening. Can we move on to the next question, please?

Detective Armstrong: Okay, how about this one: do you have access to a dark-colored foreign sedan?

Katherine Dixon: Access? My car is white. It's a Ford. Who has a dark foreign sedan?

Detective Armstrong: You have any friends who would lend you their car? One that would fit that description?

Katherine Dixon: I don't need to borrow anyone's car. If I did, Daddy would lend me his or rent one for me, but it wouldn't be a foreign model. I prefer American cars, and so does Daddy.

Detective Murphy: Were you angry with Mr. Beauchamp because he rejected you? Didn't want to have an affair with you?

Katherine Dixon: I was never angry with Dev.

Detective Armstrong: Were you angry with your daddy because he kept you two apart?

Katherine Dixon: My daddy did no such thing. And no, I was not angry with him.

Detective Murphy: Were you blackmailing Devlin Beauchamp?

Katherine Dixon: About what? This is positively ridiculous. Jack, do I have to answer these stupid questions?

Jack Diamond: These are stepping over the line, Murph. You have something on her that you aren't saying?

Detective Murphy: She found a letter from Franklin Enterprises to Mr. Beauchamp, effectively offering him a deal and cutting Carl Dixon out. She told us about the letter in her first interview. It turned up in the search we did of her home.

Jack Diamond: Answer the question, Kat.

Katherine Dixon: No, I wasn't blackmailing him. I didn't give Daddy the letter. He must've found it himself. Remember, I told you I went back to get it, and it was gone.

Detective Armstrong: How do you know your father had it?

Katherine Dixon: I know you didn't find it in my things, so you must have found it in his.

Detective Murphy: Do you have Mr. Beauchamp's journals? Any of them? From any time period?

Katherine Dixon: Dev's precious journals? Are you serious? How would I have come by those? I would've had to steal them. I don't steal. I don't have them. You searched my house, my bedroom, my bathroom, my laundry. Did you find them? No, you did not! I don't have them, no.

Detective Armstrong: You said you returned early from your trip on the night of the 20th. Why wasn't your father surprised to find you home that night?

Katherine Dixon: I called on my way home and left him a message that I was coming back early. You can check with the phone company if you want.

Detective Armstrong: Where was your father?

Katherine Dixon: It was during the dinner rush. I'm sure he was too busy to answer his phone. I'm sure he'll be happy to tell you if you ask him.

Detective Armstrong: Did your father tell you about his argument with Mr. Beauchamp? The one they had in the restaurant on the night of the 20th?

Katherine Dixon: Some. He said they'd argued, and he felt bad. You know—this was after he found Dev—I guess he regretted that the last words between them were hostile. My daddy is a very sensitive man. He doesn't like to hurt people because he's seen a lot of hurt in his life and just wouldn't wish it on anybody.

Detective Armstrong: Did he specifically tell you what the argument was about?

Katherine Dixon: No, he didn't. They argued a lot. I figured it was about money or spending or something.

Detective Murphy: Would it surprise you to learn that part of the argument was about you and Mr. Beauchamp? Your father hired a PI to keep tabs on the two of you. Surprised?

Katherine Dixon: Not totally, no. I know my daddy knew how I felt about Dev, and I knew he didn't approve. Dev told me as much, not that he needed to. I knew. I guess I ought to be pissed off, but my daddy does this stuff because he cares, and I'm all he's got.

Detective Murphy: So, none of this makes you angry or feel violated? He had you followed. In essence, he spied on you. That doesn't bother you?

Katherine Dixon: No. You know, you put it in those terms, but that wasn't what he meant to do. He was just trying to protect me, you understand? I mean, how many people out there have parents who don't even give a damn? Truth be told, there wasn't anything for him to find out. Dev didn't want me. I knew that. Maybe that's why I went away for the weekend, to clear my head.

Detective Armstrong: So what Mickie Webster told us about the questions you asked her about Beauchamp wasn't true?

Katherine Dixon: I asked her about him. You know, if she cooked for him and what he liked, what kind of movies and things he liked, stuff like that.

Detective Murphy: Did you ask Ms. Webster about Mr. Beauchamp's sexual proclivities?

Katherine Dixon: I'm sorry? What do you… you mean, did I ask her what he liked in bed? Hell, no!

Detective Armstrong: How would you describe your relationship with Ms. Webster?

Katherine Dixon: It started out okay, but once she latched on to Dev, I guess I didn't like her much. I admit I was jealous… at first. But then I thought, well, you know, if that's what he wants and it makes him happy, then I should be happy for him. And I tried to like her, I really did. But there's something about her. I just don't trust her.

Detective Armstrong: Why? What did she do?

Katherine Dixon: Nothing I could ever put my finger on. She just seems… oh, I don't know… sneaky.

Detective Murphy: During or after their personal relationship?

Katherine Dixon: Both, but worse after they broke up. I'd catch her snooping around his desk in the office. If he was on the phone, I'd see her standing by the door, trying to listen in. When I busted her on it, she always denied it, but it was obvious.

Detective Murphy: Anything else?

Katherine Dixon: Well, if she thought one of the other waitresses was getting too chummy with Dev, she'd rewrite their schedule so they had bad hours, lousy shifts, the kind where you don't make the good tips, you know? Once they backed off of him, they would get their schedules back—that sort of thing.

Detective Murphy: We found two baseball bats under the bar in the restaurant.

Katherine Dixon: You found two? No, that's wrong. There's only supposed to be one. Are you sure?

Detective Murphy: Quite sure. One has blood traces.

Katherine Dixon: Are you saying it was the thing that was used to kill him? Right there, under the bar?

Detective Murphy: We don't have the results from the lab yet. Do you have any opinion on how two bats got under there in the first place? Or why one would have blood on it?

Katherine Dixon: It could be that somebody brought it another one. Maybe they were going to practice. Could have even been Dev's… Sometimes you get injuries when you play, so I guess you could get blood on a bat that way. I don't know. I didn't put it there, so I can't tell you.

Detective Armstrong: You're aware we found your journals in your room?

Katherine Dixon: My journals? I don't keep journals… oh, you mean my doodle books? Yes, I noticed they were missing. What about them?

Detective Armstrong: You have a lot to say about Mr. Beauchamp.

Katherine Dixon: I'm sorry, detective. Did my fantasies make you blush? So what if I had a few daydreams about him and wondered how his surname would fit? Is that a crime?

Jack Diamond: Kat, there is no reason to antagonize the detectives. Just answer the question.

Katherine Dixon: I will if they ask me one.

Detective Armstrong: Do you have any idea who Mickie Webster would have lent her truck to on the weekend of May 20th?

Katherine Dixon: No, sir. As I said, we're not exactly friends. I suggest you ask her.

Jack Diamond: Are we just about through here, detectives?

Detective Armstrong: Soon. Ms. Dixon, is there anything else you can tell us about Natalie Posner? Anything, no matter how small or insignificant, that Mr. Beauchamp might have said to you about her?

Katherine Dixon: He said that she worried him. He wondered what lengths he would need to go to.

Detective Armstrong: What lengths?

Katherine Dixon: Uh-huh. What lengths he would need to go to in order to keep her away from him.

Detective Murphy: What did you take that to mean?

Katherine Dixon: I don't know. I thought maybe like a restraining order or something.

Detective Murphy: Was Mr. Beauchamp afraid of her?

Katherine Dixon: I don't know. He was tense about it. Edgy. Maybe he was afraid in a way. Who is she? Did anybody ever find out?

Jack Diamond: Apparently, she's a witness in a murder case from years ago. The police are looking for her.

Katherine Dixon: Really? I thought she was following him. Do you think he knew something about the same murder or something?

Detective Armstrong: There are a few theories floating around, but we won't know anything until we locate her. Did he ever say where she was? If she was here in Oxford?

Katherine Dixon: She must have been here, at least for a while. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so tense about it. Right?

Detective Armstrong: Did he actually say she was here in Oxford?

Katherine Dixon: No, he didn't say.

Detective Murphy: Do you know if Mr. Beauchamp ever told anyone else about Natalie Posner? Or why he decided to confide in you about her?

Katherine Dixon: I don't know why he told me. He sometimes told me the most personal things. I know you think I'm making it up, but Dev and I did have a special relationship. He trusted me. I guess it made him feel good he could talk to somebody, you know, let his hair down?

Detective Murphy: Okay. Do you think he told anyone else about Natalie?

Katherine Dixon: I don't know. Maybe Daddy, but I think he would have said something to me if he had. Maybe Mickie, but I doubt it.

Detective Armstrong: Why do you doubt that he would have said anything to her?

Katherine Dixon: Well, because I think they were already broken up when this started bothering him, and you know… they had a hard time being in the same room.

Jack Diamond: Murph, seems to me this interview has pretty much come to an end.

Detective Murphy: Is there anything else you haven't told us that you feel we need to know?

Katherine Dixon: No.

Detective Murphy: All right, Ms. Dixon, you know the drill. We need you to remain available. Should you decide to leave Oxford, you will need to let us know.

Jack Diamond: She won't leave town, Murph, but of course, we'll inform your office if she should.

Detective Murphy: Okay, good. And thank you, Ms. Dixon.

Interview ended – 12:22 p.m.