RIDGE: This is Det. Bryn Ridge at the Mid Continent Building on the fourth floor at the office of Arkansas Home Health. Present in the interview is Lenora Beason. Todays date is 02/17/94, the time is 9:49AM. Lenora, uh what’s the address to where you live?
LENORA: 2706 S. Grove, West Memphis
RIDGE: And, how long have you lived there?
LENORA: About three months
RIDGE: Okay, do you know what month you moved in?
LENORA: The early part of, about the last part of November, going into December.
RIDGE: And, do you know when you moved into the trailer, did you know who lived there before you?
LENORA: No, not at first
RIDGE: Okay, and has things progessed, you found out who lived there?
LENORA: Yeah, through some mail that kept coming to my house and I just packed them up and took them back to the post office.
RIDGE: Okay, and whose mail was coming there?
LENORA: Damien Echols and Hutchinson, and some more people, but they were the main two people that I recognized.
RIDGE: Alright, uh when you moved in, was there any furniture or anything left in the trailer?
LENORA: No
RIDGE: Okay
LENORA: Well, there was a bed there, but we uh, that’s outside now.
RIDGE: Is that a water bed that I saw the frame to that was outside?
LENORA: Yeah
RIDGE: Uh, were the closets free of any clothing
LENORA: Yeah
RIDGE: Okay, that type of stuff was cleaned out of it?
LENORA: Yeah
RIDGE: Uh, I understand that you had lived there for a while and you had made a discovery
LENORA: Yeah
RIDGE: Tell me how that came about, what happened?
LENORA: I was looking for a, I was fixing to go some where and I was looking for my other shoe, and I moved further over to move a box back and as I bent, I kinda did like that and I looked back, and I saw a stick in a corner like, so
RIDGE: You’re talking about in a closet?
LENORA: Yeah, in my bedroom closet.
RIDGE: Okay, now which bedroom is that?
LENORA: The far bedroom on the end
RIDGE: Would that be the south bedroom?
LENORA: I don’t know my directions
RIDGE: Okay, uh
LENORA: I’m facing east so, it would be south, yeah
RIDGE: Okay, the bedroom that’s the closest to the projects?
LENORA: Yeah
RIDGE: Okay, alright, I’m clear that that is the south bedroom. Uh, about how long had you lived there before you found the stick?
LENORA: I just found it last month in January, I’ve been there since, over a month.
RIDGE: Okay, and when you found it, did you do anything with it immediately?
LENORA: No, I just put it back in the closet and didn’t worry about it.
RIDGE: Didn’t think of anything about it?
LENORA: No
RIDGE: Okay, and you said something about your husband came in with a conversation about something that he had seen on TV?
LENORA: Yeah, he was telling me he remembered seeing some sticks like that, big huge sticks and he had already told me about the stick that he had seen on TV before, but that was after, I had found the stick after he had told me about the stick he saw on TV.
RIDG: Okay, and when he told you about those sticks, did you tell him about the stick that you had found at that time?
LENORA: Yeah, I said well, don’t you remember telling me about some sticks you had found, he said, yeah, and I said, look what I just found. He said, put it back, I don’t know. We just thought it was something just propping up the wall or something, that was just in there.
RIDGE: Describe the stick for me
LENORA: It looked like a, it’s kinda, it’s painted red, and it looked like some of the paint had shedded off or something and it’s a, to me it looks like a piece of a tree limb, cause it’s got a lot of humps and stuff, where it had been painted.
RIDGE: Okay, now you’re describing with your hand, three inches in diameter maybe?
LENORA: Probably so, maybe four inches, it’s real long, it’s kinda long, some like a baseball bat.
RIDGE: Okay, that’s a good description.
LENORA: It’s big, the end of it, the end of a baseball bat, you know
RIDGE: Got-cha, okay now when you put this stick back, what’s the next time that this stick came up in a conversation?
LENORA: Yesterday, when the reportes came to my house. They wanted to talk to the man, the father that use to stay there, but he doesn’t live there anymore.
RIDGE: Okay, and what was talked about and how did you come to this conversation about a stick?
LENORA: Well, he asked me was anything unusual or anything like that and I told him no, or had I found anything that was, and I said, naw, not really, I found a stick, but. He said, a stick, and I said, yeah, and so, he asked me where it was and I told him where it was and I took him back to my closet and he asked where it was and I showed him, and he looked and found the little red stuff on the top, and he told me to call the police and I said, oh well, I don’t want to involve with this stuff, so that’s what come next.
RIDGE: So, you did call the police
LENORA: Yeah
RIDGE: And, he took pictures of this stick? Is that what I understood you to tell me?
LENORA: Yeah
RIDGE: This reporter, did you get his name?
LENORA: His card is at the house, but he’s from the Commercial Appeal.
RIDGE: Okay, and when you called the police, an officer showed up
LENORA: Yeah
RIDGE: Describe this officer for me.
LENORA: I hope he doesn’t hear this, he was nice looking, tall, light skin, with a short hair cut
RIDGE: Now, you said, light skin, you mean a white man?
LENORA: Naw, this was a black man.
RIDGE: Do you know what kind of vehicle he was in?
LENORA: A Dynasty, tinted windows, dark blue
RIDGE: Could it have been a Cadillac?
LENORA: I guess, I don’t
RIDGE: It was a big nice car?
LENORA: It was a sharp car
RIDGE: Alright, when you gave him the stick, did you know of anybody else that had handled or seen this stick, since you found it in the closet?
LENORA: My husband touched and myself, and the reporter took some measurements and stuff of it
RIDGE: Alright, he took some measurements, did he ever have that stick when you weren’t present? You were there the whole time
LENORA: Yeah, he touched it
RIDGE: Well, that’s what I mean, but you were right there when he was examining the stick?
LENORA: Yeah, yeah
RIDGE: He never went anywhere with the stick
LENORA: No
RIDGE: Or, he never took the stick out of your sight, it was always there?
LENORA: It was always in my sight.
RIDGE: Okay, and when he found this, what looked something that was on the end of the stick, he told you that you needed to call the police.
LENORA: Well, I spotted it first, and then he the little reddish stuff that was on it, and he said that it looked like some bloody hair and stuff, so he said that it might be some evidence, that we might need to call the police, like that.
RIDGE: Okay, and that’s what you did?
LENORA: Yeah
RIDGE: Okay, uh now I’ve shown you two pictures I have here, one is the back bedroom, whichh is that south bedroom, and it’s a picture of the closet from the outside, do you recognize that picture?
LENORA: Yeah
RIDGE: Okay, I am going to put an “A” on the front of that picture, and it’s just showing that that’s the first picture that we are referring too, and on that picture, the area where you saw the stick, uh the way you described it to me, it’s on the right side of that picture behind this panel
LENORA: Yes
RIDGE: Okay, the picture that I am going to put a “B” on the front, that’s a picture from an inside angle of your closet, and right in the center is like a cavity or open area behind that panel, is that correct?
LENORA: Yes
RIDGE: Okay, is that the area where you found the stick?
LENORA: Yes it is
RIDGE: Okay, alright is there anything else that you can think of, anything occurring since you have moved into the trailer park, that we may need to know about?
LENORA: No
RIDGE: Okay, alright, you are aware that I am taping this interview?
LENORA: Yes, I am
RIDGE: I’m going to conclude this interview, the time is 9:58AM
