Eddie Dooley interview

Friday, July 18, 2014 – 4:20 p.m.

Eddie Dooley was identified by multiple witnesses as being at Duffy's Bar & Grill the night Andy Fine disappeared.

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

Participants:

• Detective T. Armstrong
• Detective S. Murphy
• Eddie Dooley

Detective Murphy: What's up, Eddie?

Eddie Dooley: Not too much.

Detective Armstrong: You know the drill, Dooley. State your name for the record.

Eddie Dooley: Edward Dooley.

Detective Armstrong: And where do you live?

Eddie Dooley: 156 Peyton Circle in Oxford.

Detective Murphy: Do you know why we brought you in, Eddie?

Eddie Dooley: No, I don't reckon I do.

Detective Murphy: Were you at Duffy's the night of July 3rd?

Eddie Dooley: I don't really recall. I guess I might have been. I spend some time there right regular.

Detective Armstrong: It was the night before the 4th of July holiday. You don't remember that?

Eddie Dooley: Well, yeah, I know what I did the night before the 4th. Yeah, I was at Duffy's.

Detective Murphy: What time did you get there?

Eddie Dooley: I don't know. It wasn't dark yet, I don't think. 7:30? 8:00 p.m.?

Detective Murphy: And what time did you leave?

Eddie Dooley: Couldn't tell you.

Detective Murphy: Try.

Eddie Dooley: 10:30? 11:00 p.m.? I honestly don't recall.

Detective Murphy: And what did you do while you were there?

Eddie Dooley: I drank some beer. What do you think people do in a bar?

Detective Murphy: What else?

Eddie Dooley: I played a little pool. They got a jukebox, so I guess I listened to a little music. I ain't too much of a dancer though, so I don't reckon I danced none.

Detective Armstrong: Did you talk to Andy Fine during that evening?

Eddie Dooley: Oh, is that what this is about? Y'all working on Fine's case or something?

Detective Murphy: Yes, Eddie.

Eddie Dooley: Okay, I gotcha.

Detective Armstrong: So did you talk to Andy Fine?

Eddie Dooley: Yeah, sure. We hung out, played some pool, drank some beer.

Detective Armstrong: Do you remember anything different about Andy that evening?

Eddie Dooley: Shoot, Detective, I don't remember much of nothing from that night. I was pretty liquored up.

Detective Armstrong: Just try.

Eddie Dooley: It was a pretty normal night. Andy showed up, flashing cash and all happy, buying drinks for everyone. Then as the night went on, he got mean and wanted to fight everyone. Hell, that was pretty much any night out with them.

Detective Murphy: Did he say where he got the money?

Eddie Dooley: Just kept babbling about making some run or something. But that was well after he was drunk, so I never could tell if the money was from making some run or if he just had to run go take a leak.

Detective Armstrong: You said he wanted to fight everyone. Who specifically?

Eddie Dooley: Just everyone. He got in a argument with his wife. I don't know what about. Then he turned on everyone around him. After I left, I heard he even wanted to go at me.

Detective Murphy: Why would he have wanted to go at you?

Eddie Dooley: Don't know. Just mean, I suppose.

Detective Armstrong: Could it have anything to do with his watch?

Eddie Dooley: What watch?

Detective Murphy: As I'm sure you're well aware, Andy Fine had a nice watch his father had given him. It was a very important possession to Andy.

Eddie Dooley: Oh yeah, I know that watch. It weren't nothing special.

Detective Murphy: Did you ever see it up close?

Eddie Dooley: Nah, but you could tell it weren't all that. Andy acted like it was one of them Rolexes or something, but it was all tarnished and corroded in between the links and stuff. Clicked real loud too. Annoyed me.

Detective Murphy: You could hear the watch clicking in a bar?

Eddie Dooley: Well, no, not exactly. I mean, there were times when I was around Andy when it weren't so noisy. You could hear it then.

Detective Armstrong: Like when?

Eddie Dooley: Huh?

Detective Armstrong: When were you around Andy that you could hear the watch?

Eddie Dooley: Lots of times. You know.

Detective Murphy: Like what?

Eddie Dooley: Well, after closing time, when the bar was quiet. And we rode out to Yocona one night a couple of years ago. I could hear it then. You know.

Detective Armstrong: Did you take that watch, Eddie?

Eddie Dooley: Nah, I didn't take nothing.

Detective Murphy: You're sure of that?

Eddie Dooley: Yeah, I'm sure.

Detective Murphy: Even if I told you we've got witnesses who say the watch was there when you were there, and then it was gone when you were gone?

Eddie Dooley: I don't know why people'd tell you something like that. All I can say is I didn't take no watch or nothing else.

Detective Murphy: Somehow, Eddie, you're just not convincing me.

Eddie Dooley: What am I supposed to do about that?

Detective Armstrong: Why don't you tell us about the night Johnny Reagle brought the package to Duffy's?

Eddie Dooley: I don't reckon I recall that.

Detective Murphy: Come on! Eddie, you're trying to tell me that a man walked into a bar in Oxford, Mississippi, with a human hand in a plastic container, and you don't remember it?

Eddie Dooley: Oh, that. Well, you gotta be more specific. I mean, a package could be anything.

Detective Armstrong: Okay, the hand. The freaking hand!

Eddie Dooley: He just brung in this hand. Said it was his old lady's. No one really believed him. He passed it around, and it sure stank. But that's it. I was really drunk that night, so I don't remember much.

Detective Armstrong: You don't remember much of anything, do you, Eddie?

Eddie Dooley: I dropped out of school. Never was no good at learning.

Detective Armstrong: Get out of here. This is ridiculous.

Eddie Dooley: Whatever, man.

Detective Murphy: Before you go, what kind of car do you drive?

Eddie Dooley: Why?

Detective Murphy: I'm just naturally curious.

Eddie Dooley: Yeah, right. I got a Ford F-150.

Detective Murphy: What color?

Eddie Dooley: Green. Is that it? Can I go?

Detective Armstrong: One more thing. We have a warrant here authorizing us to collect samples of your blood and hair. We have a technician waiting outside to—

Eddie Dooley: What the hell? You're not taking my blood! Or my hair! Are you crazy?

Detective Murphy: Now, Eddie. You know how a warrant works. You give us a hard time, and this is going to get unpleasant for everyone. We don't want that. I don't think you want that. So why don't you just cooperate, and we can all get on with our lives?

Eddie Dooley: Is it gonna hurt?

Detective Armstrong: You afraid of a little pain, Dooley?

Eddie Dooley: What? No, I—

Detective Murphy: Gentlemen, please. Eddie, it may hurt a little, but I feel sure a man like you can handle it. Now just sit tight for a minute, and the technician will be right in.

Eddie Dooley: Yeah, whatever. This sucks.

Interview ended – 4:53 p.m.