Axyl Floyd interview

Sunday, March 7, 2021 – 2:00 p.m.

Axyl Floyd is a former Yoknapatawpha High School classmate of Daniel Collier.

Detectives Beckwith and Magee interviewed him at his garage-turned-studio in his rented duplex.

Participants:

• Detective P. Beckwith
• Detective J. Magee
• Axyl Floyd

Detective Beckwith: Mr. Floyd, I'm Detective Paul Beckwith, and this is Detective Jo Magee of the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department. Could we have a moment of your time?

Axyl Floyd: Why? What's this about? Whatever it is, I didn't do it. My uncle's a cop, and he says I never have to talk to y'all if I don't want to.

Detective Beckwith: Take it easy, kid. No one's in trouble. We just want to talk about Daniel Collier.

Axyl Floyd: Collier? That guy owes me money big time. If y'all are detectives, you should be looking for him, not me.

Detective Magee: That's what we're doing. We're looking for him now.

Axyl Floyd: What? You don't know where he is either? Look, I didn't do nothing to him if that's what you're thinking.

Detective Magee: That's why we need to ask you some questions—so we can find him. You are interested in getting your money back from him, right?

Axyl Floyd: Yeah, I am.

Detective Magee: Okay. Let's start with something easy. What is your full name and the address here?

Axyl Floyd: I'm Alexander Floyd, but everyone calls me Axyl. The address here is 620 Huntington Place.

Detective Magee: What do you do, Axyl?

Axyl Floyd: I play lead guitar for my band, Desolate Hours. Nothing you've heard, I'm sure.

Detective Beckwith: That's why you have the little studio going here?

Axyl Floyd: We're just starting out. We don't have any expectations of taking over Mississippi's music scene. We play music that Ole Miss students can bang their heads to, that's it.

Detective Beckwith: What music is that?

Axyl Floyd: Death metal. Don't read anything into it. It's only music.

Detective Magee: Okay, Axyl, I'd like to have you think back to this past New Year's Eve night. What were you doing?

Axyl Floyd: See, I knew y'all were trying to pin something on me. I didn't buy any drugs.

Detective Magee: No one said you did. I just asked what you were doing.

Axyl Floyd: I was at a party with my girl, Lexi Arant.

Detective Beckwith: Where?

Axyl Floyd: Down at a cabin at John Kyle Park, the one close to the reservoir. Keanu May rented it out that night.

Detective Beckwith: Was Keanu May there?

Axyl Floyd: He was when we got there, which was like 8:30 or 9:00 p.m.

Detective Beckwith: Who's "we"?

Axyl Floyd: Me, Lexi, my drummer, Troy Saffold.

Detective Magee: Were there any other people at the cabin when you got there?

Axyl Floyd: Besides Keanu?

Detective Magee: Yes.

Axyl Floyd: That one girl that always hangs with Keanu … Claire or Clarice … something like that. She's young. I don't know her last name. Lexi knows her. Anyway, Dan was there. Brandon Ebner was there.

Detective Beckwith: What's your relationship with Keanu May?

Axyl Floyd: I know you know, so I'll cop to it. I went to the party to score some weed off Keanu. You can't do anything about it now. Keanu wouldn't sell me any. 

Detective Beckwith: Well, you did just confess.

Axyl Floyd: C'mon, man. I can prove that I didn't buy any weed. I have an IOU from your missing boy, Danny, right here in my wallet. See?

Detective Magee: How does that IOU show that you didn't buy weed from Keanu?

Axyl Floyd: When Keanu wouldn't sell me his weed, Dan made me a deal. He wanted money to get to New York with, and I had $500 cash in my pocket. He said he had art to sell in New York that was worth a grand, so if I loaned him $500, he would pay me back double when he set up shop in the city.

Detective Beckwith: How long did you give him to repay the loan?

Axyl Floyd: I was thinking a couple of weeks or a month at the most. I was going to use the money to finish my tattoo sleeve on my right arm. I have like $1,500 worth of work to have done yet.

Detective Magee: Did you leave the party after you made the loan with Daniel?

Axyl Floyd: No, we stayed. I didn't really have any other place to go, and with no cash left, we couldn't go to any bars. Besides, Dan brought us some booze for the night.

Detective Beckwith: Booze?

Axyl Floyd: Yeah, some Beam and a fifth of Southern.

Detective Magee: Where did Daniel get the liquor from?

Axyl Floyd: Hell if I know. But the more I drank, the more uncomfortable Keanu got. He kept on looking at the door like his daddy was gonna come busting through to throw us all out. Serves him right for holding out on us on the weed deal. By 11:00 p.m., Dan and Troy got Keanu drinking too.

Detective Magee: Did Daniel speak to you about the details of your loan later that night?

Axyl Floyd: Nope. Last I saw him, he was going out for a smoke with Brandon after 1:00 in the morning. That girl Claire or whatever went with them. Since Keanu and Troy were bombed, I took Lexi to the bedroom to ring in the new year.

Detective Beckwith: You never spoke to Dan again that night?

Axyl Floyd: He left with Brandon before I could. He must have a cast-iron liver to drink like he did and still drive.

Detective Magee: When was the last time you had contact with Daniel?

Axyl Floyd: About a month after the party, I saw that Dan was posting on Facebook about his new digs in New York, how he was all "big-city" now. I messaged him personally on Facebook about paying me back, and I got crickets. Nothing.

Detective Magee: What did you do then?

Axyl Floyd: What could I do? Like I'm going to drive all the way to frickin' New York to get my money back? I kept messaging that scumbag.

Detective Magee: Did he ever respond?

Axyl Floyd: Yeah, once. He said I was a "total sucker" and not to message him anymore because I was "not getting a single cent back."

Detective Beckwith: Did that make you mad?

Axyl Floyd: What do you think? Hell, yeah, I was mad. I went over to Brandon Ebner's house and told him to get my money back.

Detective Magee: Why did you do that?

Axyl Floyd: Well, they were best friends, right? Anyway, Ebner said that Dan had a new life now, and he would talk to Dan about it when he sees him next. He gave me $50 to calm down.

Detective Magee: Did that work?

Axyl Floyd: Not much. I still wanted to kill the guy. I mean, not literally. I just want my money, so … when you find the guy, I want to know.

Detective Beckwith: I have a feeling that we may need to talk to you again before then.

Axyl Floyd: I'm pretty sure I've talked to y'all too much already.

Interview ended – 2:31 p.m.