Suspect interview

Saturday, February 15 – 10:00 a.m.

Rupert Coates was Diane Coates's husband.

Detectives Armstrong and Murphy talked to him again at the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department.

Participants:

• Detective T. Armstrong
• Detective S. Murphy
• Rupert Coates

Detective Murphy: Good morning, Mr. Coates. Thank you for coming in to talk to us.

Rupert Coates: That's okay. I guess you're just doing your job, and I'm glad to do anything I can to find out what happened to Diane.

Detective Murphy: You understand that you aren't in custody, and you don't have to talk to us if you don't want to, right?

Rupert Coates: Yeah.

Detective Murphy: And that you can have an attorney present while we talk if you want to?

Rupert Coates: Do I need an attorney?

Detective Murphy: That's entirely up to you, sir. We'd be glad to wait while you call an attorney, or we can connect you with one if you don't have one.

Rupert Coates: Well… no, let's just get this over with.

Detective Murphy: You're sure?

Rupert Coates: Yes, let's get on with it. I don't want to be here all day.

Detective Murphy: Okay, then. Just for the record, would you sign this form indicating that you've chosen to talk with us without an attorney present?

Rupert Coates: Why do I need to do that? I didn't have to do it before.

Detective Murphy: This job, it's all paperwork sometimes. Since we're talking to you here at the Sheriff's Department this time, we have a few more bases to cover.

Rupert Coates: Oh, fine. Give it here.

Detective Murphy: Thank you. Now, there's one more base we need to cover for the record. Would you please state your name and address?

Rupert Coates: Rupert Coates. 210 Elm Street, Oxford.

Detective Armstrong: Do you have any idea why we asked you to come in today, Mr. Coates?

Rupert Coates: I suppose it has something to do with why you searched my house. I can't figure out why you did that. What did you expect to find that would help tell what killed Diane?

Detective Armstrong: Well, we found some interesting things, and we'd like you to help us understand them.

Rupert Coates: Oh? And what would that be? I'm getting a little tired of you harassing me when I deserve to be left alone to grieve my wife's death. Last time, you were very rude and insulting.

Detective Murphy: I'm sorry you feel that way, but we need your assistance to answer some questions about your wife's death. Don't you want to help us with that, Mr. Coates?

Rupert Coates: Sure, but what can I add? I've told you everything I could think of to help. What else can I do?

Detective Murphy: Did your wife have trouble swallowing pills?

Detective Armstrong: Tablets.

Detective Murphy: Yes. Thank you, Detective Armstrong. Tablets. Did Diane have any trouble swallowing tablets?

Rupert Coates: No, I don't think so. Why?

Detective Murphy: We found traces of Coumadin in the mortar and on the pestle found in your home. We were just wondering if you have any idea what it was doing there.

Rupert Coates: Why would I know that?

Detective Murphy: Well, maybe you can help us understand why there were empty containers of your wife's Coumadin prescription in the medicine cabinet and in your garage. You didn't clean up very well, Mr. Coates.

Rupert Coates: What are you talking about? That was left from what the doctor prescribed for her when she had that TIA.

Detective Murphy: Well, that's what puzzles us. We understand she stopped taking it several months ago and was taking something else. Why would there be one empty prescription bottle, let alone two? According to her doctor, he prescribed enough for 90 days, but she stopped taking it after… well, how long would you say she took it, sir?

Rupert Coates: I don't remember. I didn't pay attention to what she took or when. I just knew she was taking something the doctor prescribed.

Detective Murphy: Did you ever order a refill for her prescription?

Rupert Coates: No. Why would I? Diane was very independent. I wouldn't have any reason to do that.

Detective Murphy: And that's what's curious. Someone ordered a refill and picked up the prescription. The pharmacist has identified you as the person who picked it up.

Rupert Coates: No. That's not possible! I didn't do that. He's mistaken. How could he even remember that long ago, anyway?

Detective Murphy: How long ago was it, Mr. Coates? Would you like to tell us about it? You'd feel a lot better if you got this off your chest.

Rupert Coates: You're crazy. I have nothing to get off my chest. What are you talking about?

Detective Armstrong: You told us you knew your wife was having an affair. That must have been hard on you, knowing she was making love to another man when you were working so hard to make a good living and maintain a nice home.

Rupert Coates: It wasn't easy.

Detective Armstrong: I'm sure it wasn't. She wouldn't have been able to have such a nice home without your income. She didn't deserve you. She was a disgrace. How were you supposed to hold your head up as a man with her acting like that?

Rupert Coates: I told you. It wasn't easy.

Detective Armstrong: I can imagine. Why don't you just tell us what happened? Help us understand. You'll feel so much better when you just get the truth out into the open.

Rupert Coates: You've got to understand. I didn't want to hurt her. I was just so humiliated. I only wanted things back the way they were before this all happened.

Detective Armstrong: I know. She was playing you for a fool. And when you work so hard. That must have been hard on you.

Rupert Coates: The night I met Talley—the night of her stroke—I couldn't believe it. She had betrayed me, our wedding vows, everything I believed in. I begged her to go to counseling with me. She just laughed in my face and called me a wimp. She said he was a real man. She laughed at me. I hated that. She had no right to laugh at me. I loved her. I really did love her.

Detective Armstrong: Is that when you decided to kill her?

Rupert Coates: Oh, God, no. I wanted to fix our marriage, but she wasn't interested. She said she liked things the way they were. She didn't want to go to counseling. Said she didn't need it because it was my fault I couldn't keep her happy. She said I was the one who should go to counseling to learn how to be a man.

Detective Armstrong: That couldn't have felt good.

Rupert Coates: I was crushed and humiliated. I finally offered to give her a divorce. I don't even believe in divorce, but I couldn't live with things the way they were, and she wouldn't do anything to change them. She expected me to just go on like nothing had ever happened and put up with her infidelity. I couldn't do that. I don't understand what happened to her. She was so different from the wonderful woman I married.

Detective Murphy: What did she say about a divorce?

Rupert Coates: She laughed at that, too. Why would she want a divorce, she said, when everything was perfect for her just the way it was? And she said I was gone so much that she had a right to live her life as she wished. That was so unfair! She knew traveling was a requirement of my job. It wasn't as if I had a choice. She acted like our problems were all my fault. She was shameless. I just couldn't stand it anymore.

Detective Armstrong: So you decided to get her out of your life?

Rupert Coates: It sounds so cold when you say it. Don't you understand? I couldn't live that way anymore. I had to do something. I didn't know which way to turn. She was shameless. She didn't seem to care if everybody knew about her affair. I could feel people laughing behind my back. It was horrible.

Detective Armstrong: When did you decide to give her the Coumadin, Mr. Coates?

Rupert Coates: I guess it was about the time she stopped taking it because of the side effects. I knew enough about it to know she shouldn't be taking it while she was taking the aspirin. My dad had a blood clot in his groin a couple of years ago, and I remember him saying he had to be careful while he was on Coumadin to avoid causing any bleeding. He couldn't even have dental work because of the possibility of excessive bleeding.

Detective Armstrong: And that's why you chose it?

Rupert Coates: Yeah. I did some research on it, too, just to be sure. And then, of course, the tablets were just sitting there in the medicine cabinet.

Detective Armstrong: And when did you actually start giving it to her?

Rupert Coates: I don't know. Maybe two weeks before she… you know. She told me she'd gotten a room at the YCCC for the conference. I knew what that meant. I knew she was planning to meet him there.

Detective Murphy: Didn't she have a recurrence of the mouth pain when you gave it to her?

Rupert Coates: No, there wasn't enough time, I guess. It took about a month for that to happen the last time. I was counting on something happening at the conference, so if anyone thought she didn't die from natural causes, Talley would be blamed. I never figured on y'all finding me out. I never thought the pharmacist could identify me.

Detective Armstrong: How did you give her the Coumadin without her knowing it?

Rupert Coates: In her food or her drinks, especially the Campari. That was her favorite. She drank it every day. She wouldn't notice anything in that. It's a dark enough red that you can't see anything in there. And I tasted one of the tablets, but it seemed tasteless.

Detective Armstrong: Did you have any trouble getting the tablets in there?

Rupert Coates: No, they ground up easily and dissolved quickly in the Campari bottle. She never noticed it.

Detective Murphy: So you put the Coumadin in the Campari just the one time?

Rupert Coates: No. Right before the conference, I just mashed up the tablets I had left and dumped all of them in there. She was the only one who drank it, and she drank lots of it. I didn't want her to suffer. Did she suffer?

Detective Murphy: I couldn't say, sir.

Rupert Coates: But you understand why I had to do it, right? I just wanted it to all go away, to go back to the way it was. Oh God. What have I done? Diane, I'm so sorry. Has anyone told Miguel? Oh, poor Miguel. What's he going to think? What have I done to him? I must have been out of my mind. What's going to happen now?

Detective Armstrong: Right now, we're going to arrest you for the murder of your wife. You'll be processed and taken to a cell. Then you might want to see about getting an attorney if you don't already have one.

Rupert Coates: Oh my God.

Interview ended – 10:27 a.m.